Chapter 6: RELIGIONWorld Population by Religion

- Over 2/3rds - world’s population adhere to Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism.

• Christianity is the single largest world religion with 2.1 billion followers.

Fundamentals of Religion Religion- set of beliefs & values concerning the cause, nature,

& purpose of the universe

Look @ beliefs, customs, values & practices

agreed upon by a society

Unifying factor

Separation factor

Core cultural values & beliefs conflict with other faiths

Globalization vs. Local Diversity

Can shape the Culture Landscape!!

SIMILARITIES AMONGST RELIGIONS

1. Value system

2. Notion of SACRED

3. Idea about place of human beings in nature

4. Many have: - Creation story- Teachings linked to law, politics, social morals, cleanliness, eating habits, & interior decorating

TYPES OF RELIGIONS:

Universalizing Religions –

GLOBALLY distributed

Appeals to people living in a wide variety of locations

Individual founder (prophet)

Diffused widely (missionaries) seek converts

Holidays based on events in founder’s life

Religions: __________________________________

TYPES OF RELIGIONS: Ethnic Religions –

Appeals one group living in one place (ISOLATED)

Seen as tied to a specific ethnic group & culture

Born into the faith do not seek converts

Meaning in particular place only

• Unknown origins

• Holidays based on local climate & agricultural practices

Religions: __________________________________

RELIGIOUS VOCABULARY MONOTHEISM –______________ ex.

POLYTHEISM – _______________ ex.

Sacred site / sacred place -

• Place with religious connection to divinity

• Holy infuse with religious meaning

• Divinity state of things that come from a supernatural power or deity

(god, spirit beings) which is regarded as sacred & holy

• Pilgrimage travel to a religious site; participate in a ritual

Christianity, Islam, and Judaism

ETHNIC

RELIGION

JUDAISM – Basic Information Monotheism Yahweh

ETHNIC RELIGION• Dispersed around the world in many regions

- Israel - Asia - E. Europe - Latin America

• due to migration, DIASPORA

• Hearth of Other Religions- _____ & ______

find their roots in Judaism- Torah – 1st Five books = Old Testament

JUDAISM – Basic Information3 Divisions:

•Orthodox

•Conservative

•Reform

•14 million followers:

- 6 million in the United States

-5 million in Israel

-2 million in Europe

-1 million in Asia and Latin America

• Main day of worship Saturday

JUDAISM – Basic Information

CALENDAR –

Ethnic Calendar based on events in the agricultural calendar in Israel

HOLIEST DAYS = HOLIDAYS:

Passover – practice of offering first fruits from spring harvest & sacrifice a calf

Yom Kippur – (Day of Atonement) in Autumn - 25 hour fast & prayer- reflection on behavior

Rosh Hashanah – (New Year) in Autumn

Maintaining Cultural Traditions Jewish people were scattered across

Europe & the world

They maintained language, religious & cultural traditions.

Synagogue / Temple Place of worship for Jews

Considered a sanctified place

Berlin, Germany

JUDAISM - History God chose Abraham to lead the

Hebrew people(4,000 years ago)

COVENANT – loyalty to Yahweh in exchange for promise to protect

No afterlife

Migrated to Canaan (Israel)

Hebrew People Fertile Crescent

Had contact w/ a large # of people & ideas

Created own religion

Migrated to Canaan in 2000 BC (modern day Palestine / Israel)

Forced to move to Egypt – flood and famine

Enslaved in Egypt

Story of Moses

Pharaoh heard chosen one

Ordered all male children to be killed

Moses escaped

Chosen to lead the Hebrew people to the promised land

Led them back to Canaan after 40 years in the Sinai Desert

10 Commandments guidelines for behavior = Hebrew Law

Israel : 1000 B.C. – 66 C.E.

1000 BC Kingdom of Israel

Key Rulers: David & Solomon (son of David)

David defeated Goliath huge Philistine warrior

United Hebrew tribes formed (nation) Israel

Solomon made Jerusalem the capital of Israel

Built elaborate temples & palaces

Led to over taxation & shortage of $ / resources

Built a temple (twice) in Jerusalem

Jews BELIEVE they have the rightful claim to the Holy Land HISTORY

Conquered

722 BC by the Assyrians

586 BC by the Babylonians

King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temples & forced the Jews to Babylon but returned after his rule

Roman Empire = Conquered

Romans tolerant of Jews – initially

Jews rebel against Romans in Judah 66 C.E.

Romans stop the rebellion & destroyed Jerusalem & many temples

Many Jews scatter across the Mediterranean by the Romans

- known as the Diaspora

- What kind of migration is this?

JUDAISM – Recap History

History

Abraham Canaan (Israel)

Flood & famine moved to Egypt Egypt enslaved

Moses lead them back to Canaan 10 Commandments

Kingdom of Israel there until . . .

ROMANS

DIASPORA = forced migration as the Romans destroyed Jerusalem

GHETTOS

– Jews were forced to live in areas within cities

BELIEVE they have the rightful claim to the Holy Land

Ghetto

Defined as a city

neighborhood set up by

law to be inhabited only

by Jews

Warsaw Ghetto in Poland

‘New Israel’ During the mid- late 1800’s ‘Zionist’

Jews begin to migrate back to Canaan (called Palestine)

When would the Jews receive their own state? ____________________

Result of European Anti-Semitism & the Holocaust thousands of Jews move

to Israel, new, modern nation-state.

What is a nation-state? Nation: a group of people with a common cultural

- Tightly knit group of people possessing shared cultural beliefs:- Ancestry or historical events - Language - Ethnicity - Religion

State: an organized independent political area Defined territory - Permanent population - Government

Recognized by international community

Control over its internal & foreign affairs = sovereign COUNTRY

Nation-State: state whose territory corresponds to that occupied by a particular nation (90% or greater)

State settled by a certain group of people

Jews BEFORE were a:

Stateless nation: a nation with NO boundaries & NO government of its own A nation without a state!

Now what people would be considered a stateless nation?

Judaism BEFORE/AFTER World War II

1939-1945 Nazis transported European Jews concentration camps

& exterminated them

4 million died in camps, 2 million in other ways

POST WORLD WAR II:

Survivors migrated to Israel – UN created Israel

Hebrew + Arabic are the official languages

Today, less than 15% of the world’s 15 million Jews live in Europe, compared to 90% a century ago

SACRED PLACES Jerusalem1. Western Wall (Wailing Wall) – site of 2 great temples of

the Jewish people which both were destroyed by 2 invaders. - Western Wall remains from the 2nd temple destroyed by the Romans- “Wailing Wall” evokes the sounds of mourning over the temple’s demise

(& the suffering of Jews over time)

2. Temple Mount – top of mound where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Isaac

Praying at the

Western Wall in Jerusalem

SACRED PLACES Jerusalem

The Old City of Jerusalem

contains holy sites

for Judaism,

Christianity, and

Islam.