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

Universalizing Religions As a cultural trait, religion helps to define people and how they understand the world around them. There are essentially two major types of religions, universalizing and ethnic. Universalizing religions appeal to people of many cultures, regardless of where they live in the world. Nearly 60% of the world’s population adheres to a universalizing religion. Ethnic religions appeal primarily to one group of people living in one place. About 25% of the world’s population follows an ethnic religion. Some religions are monotheistic, believing in one god, whereas other religions are polytheistic, believing in many gods.

Universalizing Religions Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam are the three major universalizing or global religions. Each is divided into branches, denominations, and sects. A branch is a fundamental division within a religion. A denomination is a division of a branch; this term is most commonly used to describe the Protestant denominations of Christianity. A sect is a group that is smaller than a denomination.

Buddhism Buddhism is the oldest of the world’s universalizing religions, with over 300 million adherents, mostly in China and Southeast Asia. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama in the sixth century B.C., Buddhism teaches that suffering originates from our attachment to the material world. The key concepts of Buddhism are outlined in the Four Noble Truths. Buddhism split into two main branches, Theravada and Mahayana, as followers disagreed on interpreting statements by Siddhartha Gautama. Theravada Buddhism is found in Southeast Asia, whereas Mahayana Buddhism is more prevalent in East Asia as well as Mongolia and Tibet. Unlike Christians and Muslims, most Buddhists also follow an ethnic religion, too.

Christianity Christianity has about 2 billion adherents and is the world’s most geographically widespread religion. Christians believe in one God and his son, Jesus, was the Messiah. Christianity has three major branches: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. The Roman Catholic Church, with its hearth at Vatican City in Rome, is the most important religion in large parts of Europe and North America, and is dominant in Latin America. Catholicism also exists on other continents. The Protestantism began in the 1500s with Martin Luther’s protests against the abuses of the Catholic Church. It is the most important religion in large parts of northern Europe as well as the regions of North America to which many people from northern Europe migrated. The Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity is only dominant in Eastern Europe and Russia, but also has adherents in smaller populations throughout the world.

Islam Islam, with more than one billion followers, is the dominant religion in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as Bangladesh and Indonesia. Islam is a monotheistic religion, based on the belief that there is one God, Allah, and that Mohammed was Allah’s prophet. The word Islam in Arabic means submission to the will of God, and an adherent is a Muslim or one who surrenders to God. Islam is divided into two branches: Sunni and Shiite. In recent years there has been a rise in radical fundamentalism that has caused more division and conflict in the Muslim world. Most fundamentalists accept the holy book of Islam, the Koran, as the unquestioned guide on both religious and secular matters. Generally Islamic fundamentalism avoids Western influence and can contribute to intense conflict.

Ethnic Religions Hinduism, with nearly 300 million adherents, is the largest ethnic religion. Ethnic religions have much more clustered distributions than universalizing religions; the vast majority of Hindus live on the Indian subcontinent. For thousands of years Hindus in India have developed a unique society that integrates spiritual practices with daily life. Hindus believe that there is more than one path to reach God; there are thousands of deities in the Hindu belief system and thus the religion is polytheistic.

Judaism The other major ethnic religion is Judaism, which was the first major monotheistic religion. Both Christianity and Islam have some of their roots in Judaism; Jesus was born a Jew, and Mohammed traced his ancestry to Abraham. Judaism is based on a sense of ethnic identity in the lands bordering the eastern Mediterranean. Jewish people have been returning to this land since the end of the 19th century, and in 1948 the Jewish state of Israel was created. Today most Jews live in Israel and the United States. Other ethnic religions include Shintoism, the ancient ethnic religion of Japan, which is still practiced today. Some Africans still practice animism, or traditional ethnic religions.