Religion
Belief and ritual concerned with supernatural beings, powers and forces (Wallace)
Cultural universal
Provides order in society
Explains world
Provides moral guidance
Creates and maintains group solidarity
Animism
Belief in a spirit essence that "animates" (gives life) to people, animals, plants and sometimes geographic features
Tylor believed animism with a belief in souls started in attempts to explain trances and dreams
Tylor’s evolutionary scheme of animism, polytheism and monotheism was ethnocentric and has no basis
Impersonal forces
Mana
Sacred impersonal force
Melanesia
Similar to concept of "luck"
Objects with mana could give success
Polynesia
Hawaiian chiefs so charged with mana that they were dangerous to touch
Mauna Loa – sacred volcano with mana
Spirit forces
Deities
Gods and nature spirits
Demons
Negative (evil) forces
Spirits of the dead
Ancestor spirits maintain social relationships
Ghosts surrender social relationships and cause trouble
Rituals
Formal, performed in sacred contexts
Convey information about participants and their traditions
Social acts
Rites of passage
Van Gennep "ceremonial patterns which accompany a passage from one situation to another"
Three phases
Separation- person removed from the previous state
Liminality (or marginality)- period between states, symbolically dangerous
Incorporation- person assumes a new social identity
Rites of intensification
Occurs on a cyclical basis and is aimed to reinforce solidarity
Easter, Ramadan
Harvest rites
New Year
Social control
Religion can be used to mobilize large segments of a population
Holy wars (Crusades, Jihads)
Discrimination of groups and individuals (pogroms, witch hunts)
Formal code of ethics
Can be used to reinforce the status quo by promising rewards in afterlife or next life
Types of religions (Wallace)
Shamanic
Part-time religious practitioners mediate between people and supernatural beings or forces
Common among foraging bands
Communal
Part-time specialists
Several deities with some control over nature
Common among food-producing tribes
Types of religions (Wallace)
Olympian
Full-time priesthood
Powerful deities hierarchically organized
Common in chiefdoms and archaic states
Monotheistic
Full-time priesthood
One supreme deity
Common in states
Witchcraft
Belief that certain individuals can cause harm
Azande
Inherited ability
Acts motivated by envy or hate, witch sends spirit of witch craft
Acts as social control, accusations of witch craft must have group support, wrong-doings may result in accusation
Konso
Witches have evil eye, can cause sickness and destruction
Acts motivated by envy
World religions
(religioustolerance.org)
Christianity
Monotheistic
Belief in Jesus as son of God and Trinity
Belief in life after death (heaven, purgatory, hell)
Code of ethics from Old and New Testament
Started as reform movement within Judaism, adopted by the Roman empire in the 4th century, split into Catholic and Orthodox church in 1054 A.D., protestant reform movements started in the 16th century
33% world wide, 75% United States
World religions continued
Islam
Monotheistic
Muhammad last prophet of Allah
Balance of good and bad deeds determine whether a person goes to heaven or hell
Code of ethics- Qur’an (words of Allah revealed to Muhammad by archangel Jibrel), Hadith (sayings of Muhammad)
Started by Muhammad in 622 A.D. but recognizes previous messengers of God (Abraham, Moses, Jesus), largest divisions: Sunni and Shiite
21% world wide, 0.5-2% United States
World religions continued
Hinduism
Polytheistic
Brahman with three manifestations highest god
Belief in reincarnation, Karma: accumulated sum of good and bad deeds determines next life
Sacred texts- Vedas (hymns and rituals), Upanishadas (how the soul can be united with the ultimate truth
Start before 1500 BC, combination of many beliefs
Third largest religion world wide, 1.1 million in United States
World religions continued
Buddhism
No deities
Siddharta Gautama promoted middle way to reach Nirvana (state of liberation and freedom from suffering), teachings collected in Sutras
Belief in reincarnation
Code of ethics – 8-fold path to Nirvana
Started in the 6th century BC, two main divisions Therevada and Mahayana
Fourth largest religion world wide, about 0.5% in United States
World religions continued
Judaism
Monotheistic
Abraham entered covenant with God, Moses received the 10 commandments
Texts: Tanakh (include Old Testament) and Talmud (stories, laws debates about moral choices)
Started about 2000 BC, 4 major sects, diaspora in Roman times, Israel became state in 1945.
About 18 million world-wide, 2nd largest religion in United States (7 million)
World religions continued
Vodun
Highest god: Olorun remote and unknowable
Belief in Loa spirits, good and bad
Soul has two parts and the lesser leaves during sleep and when person is possessed by spirit
About 60 million world wide, West Africa, Haiti, U.S.
Taoism
Founded by Lao Tse 6th century BC
Tao a force that flows through all life, goal to become one with Tao. Spirits pervade nature. Yin (earth) and Yang (heaven) opposed
Ethics- promote health, develop virtue
About 20 million in China, most in Taiwan
World religions continued
Sikh
Single formless god with many names
Founded by Shri Guru nanale Dev Ji about 1500 AD
Belief in reincarnation and Karma
Texts: writings by first 10 gurus and Muslim and Hindu religious texts
22 million world wide, 5th largest in U.S. (500,000)
Shinto
Belief in Kami- deities/spirits related to natural objects, exceptional people, abstract creative forces
Japanese emperor divine as descendant of daughter of the first divine couple
Morality based on benefit to group
About 3 million world wide, maybe 1000 in U.S.
World religions continued
Many more religions with members in more than one country
Baha’i, Jainism, Confucianism for example
Some syncretic, others single belief in deities or ethical systems
Many individuals non-religious
Agnostic, Atheist
Neopagan religions
Built on pre-Christian beliefs (Wiccan, Norse)