1. Questions Religion Cornell Notes
1. Types of Religions
A. Universalizing Religions (62%) – appeal to all people in every country
i. Christianity – 2 billion followers
ii. Islam – 1.2 billion followers
iii. Buddhism - 400 million followers
iv. Sikh – 25 million – started in Punjab (India)
v. Baha’i – 8 million – started in Iran and tries to unite religions
B. Ethnic Religions (24%) – appeal primarily to people in a given area
i. Shamanism – local religion in which a single person takes the roles of
priest, counselor,, and physician and conduit to supernatural world
ii. Animism – natural world is filled with spirits and supernatural life
iii. Syncretic Religions – mixture of different religions (eg. Druze mixture
of Christian and Islamic, or Sikh combines Islam and Hinduism, or
Voodoo combining Christianity and African ethnic religions, etc.)
iv. Hinduism - 860 million followers – mostly in India and Nepal
v. Confucianism – a system of rules that govern behavior
vi. Daoism (Taoism) – encourages living in harmony with nature
vii. Shintoism – Japanese mixture of worshipping natural spirits and
deceased ancestors
viii. Judaism – 14 million followers, 6 million USA, 5 million in Israel
ix. Ethnic African Religions – 100 million Africans follow animism –most of
Africa is Christian (46%) or Muslim (40%)
2. Religious Distribution within the USA
A. Christian Branches
i. Baptist – largest denomination. Mostly in southeast. Evolved in USA
from Calvinist European immigrants. Attracted African Americans who
could not join other churches. New immigrants were not attracted to
farming in the southeast, and so no new religions competed for members.
ii. Roman Catholic – northeast and southwest (large Hispanic population)
iii. Mormonism – started in eastern USA during Great Awakening. Followers
migrated to Utah. Other believers migrated later. Through 19th and 20th
centuries few non-Mormons migrated to Utah area.
iv. Lutheranism – Railroad companies recruited German and Scandinavian
immigrants to move to the Mid-West and Great Plans. Chain migration
followed. Most were Lutherans. Few other immigrants moved into area.
B. Judaism
i. large population in New York. Mostly came from Eastern Europe and
Russia during the late 19th century.
C. Islam
i. traditionally a small population within USA. However, since the 1990s,
many have immigrated. Michigan has a large population. 7 million today.
D. Ethnic Religions
i. Native American – animist
ii. other ethnic religions brought to the USA by immigrants (relocation
diffusion), but none make up a majority anywhere
Summary
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2. Questions 3. Religious Conflict Around the World
A. Fundamentalism – literal and strict interpretation of religious texts
B. Secularism – emphasis on nonreligious life (eg. separation of church and
state). Some countries have very large atheist (belief that there is no god)
and agnostic (believe that the existence of god cannot be known) populations
– USA 10%, Sweden 85%, Vietnam 81%, Denmark 80%, Japan 64-64%, Russia
24-48%.
C. Religion Versus Government Policies
i. Taliban versus Western influences in Afghanistan. The Taliban took
control in 1996 and imposed strict old-fashioned Sharia. They destroyed
non-Islamic sites, but lost power when the US-led coalition expelled the
Taliban and tried to introduce a democratic government in 2001.
ii. Hinduism versus social equality. The Indian government wants to end the
caste system that Hindus believe in.
iii. Communist countries conflict with religions (like Russia, China, etc.)
iv. Fundamentalist Christians within the USA who want greater religious
emphasis in the country, and extreme groups who bomb family planning
clinics and kill doctors who perform abortions
D. Interfaith Conflict (conflict between religious groups)
i. Conflict over the Holy Land/Palestine (Judaism and Islam)
ii. Nigeria – Northern part is Islamic and Southern part is Christian and
the two compete for power within the country
iii. India – Sikh separatists are pushing for autonomy from Hindu India
iv. India and Pakistan are constantly competing over Kashmir
v. Former Yugoslavia (in the Balkan Peninsula) has seen conflict between
Roman Catholic Croatians, Eastern Orthodox Serbians, and Muslims in
Bosnia. The Serbs wanted to make Bosnia Serbian, and so they started
killing and evicting Muslims that lived in the area.
E. Intrafaith Conflict (within the same religion)
i. Iraq – Sunni and Shi’ite Islam for political control.
ii. USA – Christian fundamentalists and liberal Christianity over issues
such as homosexuality, abortion, etc.
iii. Northern Ireland – Roman Catholic and Protestant differences has led
to war and violence.
Summary
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