1. Chapter 15 Religion and Magic
The Universality of Religion
Variation in Religious Beliefs
Variation in Religious Practices
Religion and Adaptations
Religious Change
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2. What is a religion?

3. Religion
Religion is defined as any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power, whether that power be forces, gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons.

4. What do people’s religious experiences around the world tell us about religion for the human experience?

5. Religion as a Worldview
Religion is Universal and can be described as an interpretive effort to express a set of shared assumptions about how the world works….
Let’s take a look…..
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6. How would you explain the Universality of religion?
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7. The Universality of Religion
The Need to Understand
Reversion to Childhood Feelings
Anxiety and Uncertainty
The Need for Community
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8. Variation in Religious Beliefs
There is no general agreement among scholars as to why people need a religion. Yet there is general recognition of the enormous variation in the details of religious beliefs and practices around the world.
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9. Types of Supernatural Forces and Beings
Supernatural Beings
Gods are named personalities, they can be conceived in the image of a person, animals, or celestial bodies
Spirits are beings which are beneath the gods in prestige, and live closer to people
Ghosts are supernatural beings who were once human
Ancestor Spirits are ghosts of dead relatives

10. Celebrating our ancestors…
Aquí no existe la tristeza Solo existe la alegría El baile de los queridos De los queridos del pasado Mira como baila mi mama Bailando con mi hermano del pasado Sus espíritus se juntan bailando Llenos de alegría y gozando Cierta gente puede ver Espíritus bailando entre la gente Si pueden verlos bailando mis hermanos Serán bendecidos entre los cielos Mira como baila mi mama Bailando con mi hermano del pasado Sus espíritus se juntan bailando Llenos de alegría y gozando

11. Variation in Religious Beliefs
Polytheistic Religions
Monotheistic Religions
Can Catholicism be considered a polytheistic religion?
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12. Variation in Religious Practices
Ways to Interact with the Supernatural
Various methods have been used to attempt communication with the supernatural.
Prayer, ethnogens, simulation, feasts, and sacrifices are some examples.
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13. Variation in Religious Practices
Magic compelling the supernatural to act in some particular and intended way
Sorcery may include the use of materials, objects, and medicines to invoke supernatural malevolence.
Witchcraft may be said to accomplish the same ills by means of thought and emotion alone.
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14. Variation in Religious Practices
Types of Practitioners
The Shaman
Sorcerers and Witches
Mediums
Priests
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15. Variation in Religious Practices
Practitioners and Social Complexity
The number of types of practitioners seems to vary with degree of cultural complexity
The more complex the society, the more types of practitioners.
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16. Religion and Adaptation
Following Malinowski, many anthropologists take the view that religions are adaptive because they reduce the anxieties and uncertainties that afflict all peoples.
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17. Religious Change
Conversion to one of the world religions has often been associated with colonization and the expansion of state societies.
Can you think of some negative issues associated with religious conversion?
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18. Cargo Cults
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