Human Geography Emergency Remote Learning Resources Culture Unit Part 3 (Religion)

Hello Geography family; here are the resources to answer the key questions for the religion part of the culture unit.

In order to understand "Where Are Religions Distributed"? discover as much as you can about: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam or Christianity. Consider how many followers there are, where the followers are distributed, beliefs and teachings (including books and or scriptures), branches (or subdivisions), and Holy locations. You may also use the website adherents.com or the website religionfacts.com or the BBC links above. In addition to the major religions also consider Confucianism, Taoism, Bahá’í, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Cao Dai and Jainism.  To end you'll have the following questions to work on:

1. How are the differences between universalizing and ethnic religions similar to the differences between folk and popular culture? List several similarities.  
2. Refer to the small pie charts in Figure 6-3. Which regions have enough adherents of each of the three universalizing religions that all three appear on the pie charts?
3. What are some similarities and differences between Buddhism and Chinese ethnic religions?

"Why Do Religions Have Different Distributions?" Universalizing religions have diffused from specific places of origin (or hearths) to other regions of the world, while most ethnic religions have generally remained clustered in a defined area. Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism all originated in Asia and diffused the world over from there. So we'll try to find out how and why religions spread the way they do. To help:



Don't forget the three major universalizing religions of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism diffused from specific places of origin, or hearths, to other regions of the world, while most ethnic religions have generally remained clustered in a defined area. Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism all originated in Asia and diffused the world over from there. You'll have a chart to fill in and then some questions to answer about about the diffusion of Christianity and Islam...From Bridging World History (Annenberg Media)

Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam alike were proselytized by their followers, adapted to different cultural settings, and used to provide religious sanctions for rulers. Unlike Buddhism, however, both Christianity and Islam used military power to conquer and convert peoples and created their own governments. 

From its origins in sixth-century B.C.E. India, Buddhism was transmitted through central to east Asia by the beginning of the first millennium C.E. to become one of the great proselytizing, universal religions of world history. Emerging from the Sumerian and Judaic traditions of early West Asia, both Christianity and Islam were, by the close of the first millennium C.E., institutionalized universal religions with large populations of adherents in lands that stretched from northern Europe to North Africa and from the Mediterranean to East Africa and the Himalayas. As all three of these religions were introduced into different cultures and societies, they underwent significant adaptations to indigenous belief systems at the same time that they dramatically altered the religious ideals and values of peoples around the globe. 

All three early universal religions—Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam—were further expanded by those who held the reins of power in the areas where they took root. Although Buddhism interacted with political authority in various cultural settings, lending its sanction to some rulers, it did not become the engine of empire that Christianity, and especially Islam, did. Just as political forces shaped the growth and spread of these religions, so Christianity and Islam both played powerful roles in legitimizing political authority. 

"Why Do Religions Organize Space in Distinctive Patterns"? Look at places of worship, organizational structure, holy places, calendars, and cosmogony. Generally speaking universalizing religions are more likely to consider places holy that are associated with key events in the founder’s life, whereas ethnic religions’ holy places are tied to physical features present in their hearths, such as mountains, rivers, or rock formations. So here are a few things to consider:




"Why Do Territorial Conflicts Arise Among Religious Groups"?  It probably comes as no surprise that various conflicts have occurred between religions and governments and between governments or ethnicity using religion as an excuse. See if you can watch the Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown episode on Jerusalem

Bourdain's words...

“One can be forgiven for thinking, when you see how similar they are, that two peoples, both of whom cook with pride, eat with passion, love their kids, love the land in which they live or the land they dream of returning to, who live so close, who are locked in such an intimate, if deadly, embrace, might somehow, someday, figure out how to live with each other? But that would be very mushy thinking. Those things, in the end, probably don’t count for much at all.”

To understand religious conflict, use these four examples:

1. Hinduism, the Caste System and social equality (tradition vs modernism);
2. The "Troubles" in Northern Ireland (sectarian violence Catholic vs Protestant);
3. Jerusalem (symbolic significance); and
4. China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama (religion, culture, language, environment, oppression and control)