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.