Where Are Religions Distributed? Chapter 6 Key Issue 1 Where Are Religions Distributed?

Geographers distinguish two types of religions 16% of world’s population are atheists or agnostics. Atheism is the least that God does exist. Agnosticism is belief that nothing can be known about whether God exists.

1.) UNIVERSALIZING religions that attempt to be GLOBAL by appealing to all people, not just those in a particular location.

58% of the world’s population practices a universalizing religion.

The LARGEST THREE Universalizing religions are- Christianity – 2.1 billion adherents Islam – 1.5 billion adherents Buddhism – 376 million adherents

2.) Ethnic religions appeal primarily to one group of people living in one place.

26% of world’s population practices an ETHNIC religion.

The LARGEST Ethnic religions are- HINDUISM – 900 million adherents CHINESE TRADITIONAL (Confucianism/Taoism) - 394 million ASIAN PRIMAL-INDIGENOUS – 300 million AFRICAN TRADITIONAL – 100 million

FIGURE 6-3 WORLD DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS The pie charts show the share of major religions in each world region.

FIGURE 6-4 ADHERENTS OF WORLD RELIGIONS Nonreligious includes atheists and agnostics.

ATHETISTS reject the existence of God altogether 16% of the Earth’s population is nonreligious, either rejecting religion or simply not taking part in it. ATHETISTS reject the existence of God altogether AGNOSTICS reject that anything can truly be known about God- “I don’t know, and neither do you”

UNIVERSALIZING religions tend to be internally divided into BRANCHES, DENOMINATIONS, and SECTS

A branch is a large and fundamental division within a religion Examples include: CHRISTIANITY – CATHOLIC / PROTESTANT/ ORTHODOX ISLAM – SUNNI v. SHIITE

A denomination is a division of a branch that unites a number of congregations in a single legal and administrative body PROTESTANT = Baptist, Episcopal, Congregational, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal… BAPTIST = Southern, NBC USA/America, Nat’l Missionary Baptist, Progressive Nat’l…

A sect is a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

DENOMINATIONS & DISTRIBUTION OF UNIVERSALIZING RELIGIONS

BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY ) Roman Catholic (51% of world’s Christians) ) Protestant (24% of world’s Christians) ) Orthodox (11% of world’s Christians) Division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism often have sharp boundaries even if the dividing line is in the middle of a country.

DISTRIBUBUTION CHRISTIANITY OF CHRISTIANITY

Christianity in Europe Roman Catholicism southwestern and eastern Europe. Protestantism northwestern Europe. Orthodoxy eastern and southeastern Europe.

Christianity in the Western Hem. 93% of Christians in Latin America are Roman Catholic. Only 40% in North America Division between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism often have sharp boundaries even if the dividing line is in the middle of a country.

Protestant churches have approximately 82 million US members Baptist churches have largest number of US adherents (37 million), mostly in the South. Other Christian denominations such as Lutherans, Mormons, and Methodists also have significant geographic concentrations.

DISTRIBUTION OF ISLAM

FIGURE 6-7 DISTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES The shaded areas are U.S. counties in which more than 50 percent of church membership is concentrated in either Roman Catholicism or one Protestant denomination. The distinctive distribution of religious groups within the United States results from patterns of migration, especially from Europe in the nineteenth century and from Latin America in recent years.

2 Main Branches of ISLAM- SUNNI – 83% of Muslims SHIA (SHIITE) – 17% of Muslims

SUNNIS are evenly dispersed throughout the Islamic world. SHIA are highly concentrated in Iran and surrounding countries, as well as in Syria and Yemen.

Three branches of BUDDHISM 1.) Mahayana – 56% of Buddhists 2.) Theravada – 38% 3.) Vajrayana – 6%

FIGURE 6-9 DISTRIBUTION OF BUDDHISTS AND SIKHS At least 40 percent of the population adheres to Buddhism in East Asia and Southeast Asia. At least 40 percent of the population adheres to Sikhism in northwestern India.

ETHNIC RELIGIONS Often remain within the culture where they originated. Have more clustered distributions than do universalizing religions. Often do not widely attract adherents from other cultures.

Ethnic religion with largest number of followers is HINDUISM. 900 million adherents Nearly all concentrated in India and Nepal

FIGURE 6-10 DISTRIBUTION OF HINDUS All but 10 percent of the world’s Hindus live in India.

RELIGIONS OF ASIA All three UNIVERSALIZING religions form the majority in some Asian countries. Christianity: the Philippines Islam: Indonesia & Malaysia Buddhism: Many continental countries (also Japan)

Nearly 400 million Chinese practice either Confucianism or Taoism

Most of these lack a literary tradition and are transmitted ORALLY 300 million people throughout Asia practice ‘primal-indigenous’ religions. Most of these lack a literary tradition and are transmitted ORALLY

Religion in AFRICA Like in Asia, universalizing religions dominate in most countries, though ethnic religions continue to exist in remote places.

Animists believe that inanimate objects or natural events- like natural disasters- have spirits and conscious life. 100 million Africans adhere to animism.

As universalizing religions have expanded, ethnic religions have begun to disappear in Africa FIGURE 6-12 DISTRIBUTION OF AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS The percentage of animists in sub-Saharan Africa has declined from more than 70 percent in 1900 to around 12 percent in 2010. As recently as 1980, some 200 million Africans—half the population of the region at the time—were classified as animists. Followers of traditional African religions now constitute a clear majority of the population only in Botswana. The rapid decline in animists in Africa has been caused by increases in the numbers of Christians and Muslims.

An Ethnic Outlier: Judaism Though it has deeply influenced both Islam and Christianity, Judaism is a decidedly ETHNIC religion.

The world’s first MONOTHEISTIC religion World’s 12 million Jews are highly clustered, almost exclusively found in Israel (2/5) and the United States (2/5). Unlike Islam and Christianity, Judaism is not a PROSELYTIZING religion, meaning its adherents do not actively promote the conversion of others.