Chapter 8 Ethnicity and Religion: Deep Roots and Unholy Hate

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Ethnicity: Ties That Bind and Divide Ethnicity is based on a sense of common heritage, common culture Race originally referred to nothing more than a collection of tribes or ethnic groups: –As in the German races Ethnocentric White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, or WASP

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Faith and Fervor: Religious Diversity Tribal Religions –Shamanism –Animist –Christianity Christianity –A full one-third of the world claims some type of Christian affiliation

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Faith and Fervor: Religious Diversity Islam –Muhammad –The center of Arab power shifted from Arabia to Baghdad, in what is now Iraq Asian Religions –Hindus –Buddhism

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Figure 8.1 Major World Religions Ranked by Number of Adherents

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Ethnicity, Religion, and Power Much hate seems distinctly modern Resurgent Fundamentalism –“religious right ” –Islamic fundamentalism –Taliban The God of the Poor: Liberation Theology –Religious extremists

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Identity and International Terrorism Revolutionary and State Terror –The dominant form of terror grabbing the headlines has become the suicide bomber –The bloodshed in Sri Lanka –Many troubled locations are trapped in cycles of revolutionary terror

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Identity and International Terrorism The Power and Weakness of Terror –The weakness of terror lies in its inability to: Effect the lasting changes the terrorists and their supporters so desire –The power of terror lies in its ability to grab headlines and command attention –National unity and a resurgence of patriotism

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Alternatives to Terror Religion as Resilience –Gandhi –The Dalai Lama –Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma Ethnicity as Resilience –Zapatista

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Alternatives to Terror –Mexican Revolution Their main weapon seems to be the Internet Moral Leadership as Resilience –Nonviolent groups often aren’t as good at grabbing headlines as the violent counterparts –The danger that nonviolent actions will be overtaken by more spectacular violence