1. Other Religions
Do Now: Brainstorm world religions not covered in your research project

2. Religions by Number of Followers
Christianity 2,200,000,000 Islam 1,600,000,000 Hinduism 1,100,000,000 Chinese folk religions 1,000,000,000 Buddhism 500,000,000 Taoism 100,000,000 + Shintoism 100,000,000 + Sikhism 30,000,000 Judaism 14,000,000 Confucianism 6,000,000 Baha'i Faith 5,000,000 Jainism 4,000,000

3. Backtrack: Religious Diffusion

4. Dharmic Religions Originated in the Indian subcontinent
Namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism
Dharmic worldview
dharma – harmonious and eternal truth within each human being

5. Minority Religions in India

6. Sikhism Arose in the 15th century
Hearth = Pakistan  Punjab state of northwestern India
Attempted to unify Hinduism and Islam
Syncretic?
Universalizing
Monotheistic
Holy book = the Guru Granth Sahib
Beliefs:
Live honestly and work hard
Treat everyone equally
Be generous to those less fortunate

8. Golden Temple – Sikh Sacred Site

9. Jainism Ancient outgrowth of Hinduism Almost all Jains live in India
Over 2500 years old
Almost all Jains live in India
Ethnic religion
Reject Hindu scriptures, rituals, and priesthood
Share Hindu beliefs in reincarnation and ahimsa (do no harm)
Strictly ascetic – e.g., vegan

10. Jain Temples - Gujarat

11. Baha’i Faith Founded in the 19th century Founder = Baha’u’llah
Hearth = present-day Iran
Beliefs:
All people are the same regardless of background or religion
Progressive revelation: Baha’i is preferable because it is more recent
Seeks to unite all the peoples of the world = universalizing
Has spread to most world countries

12. Shrine of the Bab Haifa, Israel

13. East Asian Ethnic Religions
Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism
All three considered “Taoic Religions”
Center on Tao, the force that balances and orders the universe
May be seen more as way of life than religion
Polytheistic

14. Confucianism Daoism (Taoism) (c. 6th century BCE)
Founder: Confucius / Kong Fu-tzu, Chinese philosopher
Built a system of morals and a way of life for Chinese in religion, government, education, philosophy
Focuses on worldly life
Daoism (Taoism)
Founder: Laozi / Lao-Tzu
Believe in introspection to live in harmony with nature and the universe
Feng shui – harmoniously organized living spaces

15. Shintoism
Syncretic, ethnic religion blending principles of Buddhism with local Japanese religion
Nature and ancestral worship
From 1800s until after WWII, Shintoism was the official state religion of Japan

16. Animism
Indigenous ethnic religions of people in diverse parts of the world
Usually not “organized religion,” but practiced by a particular clan or tribe
Usually follow oral traditions  no holy books
Believe that inanimate objects or naturally occurring phenomena are ‘animated’ and have a spirit and consciousness
Rivers, mountains, forests, earthquakes, storms, stars, even everyday objects

17. Shamanism
Any ethnic (animist) religion in which a community follows a shaman
Religious leader, healer, truth knower
Intermediary between people and spirits
Strongest presence in Africa
Historically existed in North America, Southeast Asia, East Asia
Still important in the Amazon and parts of Mexico and Guatemala

18. Animism in Africa
Approx. 12% of all Africans (about 100 million people) follow traditional African animist religions
Increase in Islam & Christianity in Africa has caused decline in Animism
Growth of universalizing religions at expense of ethnic religions reflects fundamental geographic differences
What other key geographic concepts does this relate to?

19. 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 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.
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 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.

20. Closure:
Compare the role of global languages and universalizing religions: What do we lose when ethnic religions give way to universalizing religions? What do we gain?