1. Religion Introduction
Overview of Religions and their Distribution

2. What is religion?
A value system that people place on themselves and others based on a spiritual or divine aspect of the world.

3. All religions have an object of FAITH present.
Faith= the belief in things not seen or the things that cannot be proven

4. One Main Characteristic of Religions
Monotheistic
Believe in only 1 god
Polytheistic
Believe in multiple gods

5. 2nd main characteristic: How the worshipers enter the faith
Ethnic Religions
Person is born into faith
Little or no effort is put forth to convert others into the religion
Universalizing Religions (Proselytic)
Members actively try to convert others to the religion

6. Universalizing & Ethnic
Usually larger than
ethnic due to efforts of
conversion
Ex: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism
Ethnic
Ex: Hinduism, Judaism, African (tribal religions)

7. 5 Major World Religions
They have their foundations in one of two places… India or the Middle East
Buddhism (origin: India)
Hinduism (origin: India)
Christianity (origin: Middle East)
Islam (origin: Middle East)
Judaism (origin: Middle East)

8. Christianity Universalizing religion 2 billion adherents
Roman Catholic
Protestant
Eastern Orthodox
Universalizing religion
2 billion adherents
There are three major divisions of Christianity….
1. Roman Catholic
2. Protestant
3. Eastern Orthodox

9. Distribution of Christianity

10. Church

11. Islam Universalizing religion 1.5 billion adherents
There are two major divisions in Islam…
1. Sunni
2. Shiite

13. Sunni vs. Shia

14. Sunni / Shiite

15. Distribution of Islam

16. Mosque

17. Judaism
14 million Jews worldwide – 2/5 of them live in the United States, another 2/5 in Israel
Ethnic religion
First recorded monotheistic religion
Christianity and Islam both stem from Judaism

18. Distribution of Judaism

19. Synagogue

20. Hinduism 900 million adherents Ethnic religion, polytheistic
Mostly concentrated in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh
Belief in caste system

21. Distribution of Hinduism

22. Hindu Temple

23. Buddhism Clustered in South East Asia Universalizing
Three main branches:
Mahayana – China, Japan, Korea
Theravada – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand
Vajrayana – Tibet and Mongolia

24. Distribution of Buddhism

25. Buddhist Pagoda

26. Spread of Religions

27. People who don’t believe in any god
Atheist- people who do not believe in any god or god-like figure
Agnosticism- belief that nothing can be known about whether God exists
Secularist- a person who wants to separate religion from all other aspects of society (government, marriage)
Ex: Jainism- based on non-materialism but at its core is considered atheist.

28. You need to know which religions are universalizing and which are ethnic…..
1. Christianity
2. Islam
3. Buddhism
4. Hinduism
5. Judaism

29. Religion in the USA

31. Religious Landscape in America