The Geography of Religion Basics Page
The texts we used in the study of the geography of religion in 1996 were
A World Religions Reader by Ian S. Markham (Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.,
1996) and Geography of Religions by David E. Sopher (Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967). The book by Sopher is currently out of print
but is an excellent study of the subject with an emphasis on the geographical
aspects of religion. Check your library or look into an interlibrary loan
for a copy. In 1999, we used Sacred Worlds by Chris C. Park (New York:
Routledge, 1994). What is presented here is information from these texts as
well as material presented as lecture and discussion in class by Tim Pitts.
The material and order of this webpage closely follows that of Sopher.
There are several methods used in the study of religion. The first is the
historical comparative method which involves the comparison of a faith's
history and traditions. It focuses on orthodoxy, or "correct
thought". The second method is the phenomenological method, which
is centered on orthopraxy, or "correct practice". Information on a
faith is gathered through unbiased, empirical observations.
Other methods involve subjective modes of study such as the confessional
method of study. The confessional method interprets a religion based on
the particular point of view of the religion. This approach can lead to
bias in comparing differing religions. The final method is the empathetic
approach, which is based on putting oneself in the place of the practitioner
of a particular religion. You see with their eyes and feel as they feel.
All of these approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. They can give
us a start in understanding as well as labeling the world's religions.
Religions can be labeled along several axes.
All of the world's religions can be labeled along an axis of exclusivity
and non-exclusivity. This is based on how false a religion regards
other religions. Exclusive religions are more often than not
monotheistic and occidental. Examples include Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam. Non-exclusive religions are usually polytheistic and oriental.
They include Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shintoism. It is
not uncommon for a practicer of one of these traditions to also practice
another non-exclusive religion. This does not usually happen in the
practice of exclusive religions.
Another axis is whether a religion is ethnic or universalizing.
Ethnic religions are based on place, ethnic group, or nationality.
Simple ethnic religions are usually based on place or kinship groups and
include animism and shamanism. Compound ethnic religions lose some
of the kinship characteristic but is more tied to nationality, ethnicity,
and state. Shintoism is an example of this. Complex ethnic religions
exist when ethnicity and religion become inseparable. An example of this is
Hinduism, where social order is determined by religious ideals.
A universalizing religion is dependent on how open the religion is to
accepting outsiders. Universalizing religions have four characteristics:
Religions may also be classed according to organization. A church is
a comprehensive and balanced set of teachings as found in Roman Catholicism,
Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Anglican Church. A denomination is
comprehensive, but has more strict rules as with the Presbyterian Church.
A sect is a group in which the characteristics of that group are more
important. Examples of various sects are Pentecostals, Assembly of God
churches, and Mormonism. A cult is a very small, geographically
isolated group usually with a charismatic figurehead. Examples of cults
include Moonies and the Peoples' Temple. Note that this definition
of cult does not include doctrinal definitions used by
certain "cult bashing" organizations
and deprogrammers, although major departures from orthodox doctrines are
often characteristic of cults.
What often separates these groups are some variation of orthodoxy, or
correct thought. Heresy is some violation of orthodoxy.
Rocks also had religious significance. Stonehenge and Easter Island provide
examples from ethnic religions of the past. The Kotel (the "Wailing
Wall" in Jerusalem), being the last vestiges of the Second Temple, is a
modern example.
Other physical features have had religious significance as well. Trees were
used to create totems. The Nile River was sacred in ancient Egyptian
religion and the Ganges Rivers is sacred today to the Hindus. Water is used
as a means of purification in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The desert
is often seen as a means of spiritual refinement. It is seen by many
as having given rise to monotheism.
When Christianity began, it had many of the values from the Mediterranean
agricultural societies from which it originated. Gradually, freed from the
strictures of Jewish law, and with the relative ease of transmission through the
Roman road system, Christianity began to take on the characteristics of the
peoples who accepted it. The Jewish Passover became Easter. Christmas was
not originally celebrated by early Christians, but absorbed the pagan
celebration of the winter solstice. Christianity lacks the celebration of
the harvest season, and eventually allowed the observance of Hallowe'en.
The celebration of Thanksgiving Day in North America has also come to fill
this gap in the Christian calendar.
Religion can have a number of different effects on landscape. The most well
known is that of sacred structures. Sacred structures would include such
things as cathedrals, churches, temples, cemetaries, shrines, and monuments.
These structures represent organization within the society and an economic
level which allows for surplus and specialization.
Study of these structures include form, orientation, and density. Places of
worship occur in areas of concentrated population, and tend to be larger than
other concentrations of people. Dwelling places of God(s) such as shrines
or temples can be located anywhere. Orientation of houses of worship in
both Islam and Judaism is important. Function often dictates form. The
density of places of worship is often dictated by function as well. For
example, orthodox Judaism teaches that a mikvah (a pool for ritual
cleansing) is the most important structure in a Jewish community, and
should be built even before a synagogue.
Locally dominant religions may affect a landscape to provide it with certain
characteristics. Amish settlements exist without electric power or
automobiles. Mormon settlements in the western United States resulted in
cities having wide streets, square blocks, centered around a concentration
of religious, administrative, and economic institutions, and were usually
surrounded by irrigated fields.
As religion becomes more complex, space is divided and often separated from
the outside world. The divided space may then be divided into varying
degrees of holiness, or separation. In an ethnic religion, a national land
itself may become holy as found in Zionism and other nationalist movements.
Sacred places may be found in lakes, rivers, rocks, mountains, and groves,
possibly in association with a particular person or event. Unusual physical
features, the birthplace of a religion or religious figure, may also
contribute sacred places. Shrines may be constructed, becoming a focal
point within the religious system. Shrines were an important feature of the
medieval Catholic Church, and may be found throughout India today.
Eventually sacred places may become religious centers as religious systems
evolve. The sacredness of a religious site might be transferred to another,
conquering religion. Churches were often built over pagan sites, and
mosques were often built over destroyed Hindu temples.
Hierachical religious systems often follow systems theory in setting up nodes and linkages to these nodes. In medieval Europe, the Church provided nodes in the form of monasteries which provided a hierarchical diffusion of knowledge. They were often resting places for travelers on pilgrimages. Ethnic religions with strong ties to place may either stay or become dispursed. As a result of interaction with a new environment, a religion may exhibit cultural divergence, a tendency to change after separation from the homeland. Cultural convergence occurs when a religion maintains connections with the homeland. Sacred languages may become an important element in the religious organization of space. Although Latin died out of common usage, it's continued use as an ecclesiatical language within the Roman Catholic Church allowed learned people across Europe to communicate. Hebrew was the liturgical language of the Judaism. The use of Hebrew helped to maintain Jewish identity and was actually revived for use as a living language when modern settlers arrived in Palestine. Old Church Slavonic was an early slavic tongue used by missionaries to the slavic lands. It became the uniting force behind much of the eastern Orthodox Churches, becoming the language of the liturgy and the common version of the Bible. Arabic is the only language of the Koran. Any translations of the Koran is not considered a translation, but the rendering of the meaning of the Koran. The influence of religion has historically been great in government. The idea of a truly secular state is a recent invention, although the idea has existed since the Greeks. A complete merging of religion with political power is called a theocracy, where the religious organization provides the body of government. This form of government has rarely existed, but Israel in the time of the judges is an ancient example and the Mormon church in early Utah is a modern example. State religions provide the state with rituals and validation and the state in turn provides the religion official recognition and protection. State religions were established in England, Scandinavia, and in some Roman Catholic countries. A prohibition against a state religion was one of the central planks in the constitution of the United States. States proscribe religions either because it already has an officially sanctioned religion or because it provides a political threat to the state. Religion can also provide justification for both national unification as well as independence. The protestant characters of the churches of Scotland and Wales has allowed integration into the greater identity of a protestant United Kingdom. Religious difference divided colonial India into the independent nations of India and Pakistan.
Migration is one of the ways of transmitting religion spatially. It can occur through the natural expansion of population or through the processes of conquest and exile. One result of conquest and exile may be a diaspora, where there is a lack of a core area of dominance for a particular religion. An example of a diaspora is found in history of Judaism. The Jewish Diaspora was scattered in small villages and ghettos throughout Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia. Only in our day has the Jewish people again found a home in their ancient homeland of Israel. Religions can also grow through contact conversion. This usually happens when two groups are in close contact with each other. Buddhism spread from it's land of origin in India into China and beyond by means of contact conversion, even after Buddhism virtually disappeared in India. Islam often spread through trade which resulted in the mosques now found on the far flung islands of Indonesia. Intermarriage is also brings conversion, depending upon how universalizing the religion is. Another means is through missionary work. Many of the churches of the west have been well known for their organized missions to many different parts of the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or "Mormons" are known today for their practice of sending missionaries not only door-to-door in most western nations, but also to many other parts of the world as well. Peaceful co-existence occurs when two systems not only tolerate each other, but may actually be compatible with each other. This unique balance is often found in the eastern Asia where people may be either Taoist, Confucian, Buddhist, or any combination thereof. It is not necessary for one religion to dominate or replace another. On the other hand, Christianity has a strict and narrow set of teachings which do not allow for a diversity of opinions or a piecemeal selection of important doctrines. Ecumenicism is that movement now found among most of the major Christian denominations which seeks to minimize differences and to strengthen and unite the church. Competition exists when at least one of the religious systems involved is characterized by instability. When Christianity sent missionaries to the simple ethnic religions of the world, the ethnic religions often showed the greatest instability. Interaction does not always result in a complete adherence, but may result in more of a transfer of culture rather than religion. Intolerance may be found in religious systems that exclude the religious beliefs of others as being incompatible with truth, as understood by the adherents of that religion. This attitude has historically been found in the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Spatially, enforced religious orthodoxy usually creates large homogeneous blocks marked by sharp boundaries. Political power may also be used to enforce this orthodoxy as was the case among the Zoroastrians of Persia, in the imposition of Christianity by the late Roman Empire, the Inquisition conducted by the Catholic Church, and in our day by the Ayatollah Khomeini within the Islamic Republic of Iran. Holy wars backed by politically empowered religious institutions were, for example, fought in Palestine during the Crusades, and have been proclaimed today by certain Muslim extremists as jihads. The universalizing religions have shown the greatest distribution and growth as a result of being able to open their doors to the peoples of the world. These faiths place the responsibility for an individual's ultimate destiny within the hands of the individual--not through the actions of another or the vagaries of enchantment. We hope that this basic introduction to the Geography of Religion will encourage you to explore this interesting topic. Return to the Website Menu for webpages about the geography of several of the World's Religions. LinksBerkeley's Geography of Religion (with a great reading list!)
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