World Religion

The Nature of Religion

Prayers, teachings, rituals, and rules of behaviour are usually maintained by religious leaders, who act as caretakers of tradition and sometimes as guides or disciplinarians for those within the faith. Religion is participatory—ordinary practising members of a religious society help to perpetuate sacred traditions by attending religious services in community churches, mosques, synagogues, or temples. For an individual, a religion can offer an explanation for their existence and a framework for directing life’s decisions.

The Geography of Religion

Geographers are interested in the distribution of religions as a way of studying how such faiths start and spread, and as a means of providing statistical data about the beliefs of a country’s population. It is difficult to interpret the results of such studies because geographers from various countries collect data in different ways. Studies of religion may be biased by political considerations, particularly in countries where government and religion are closely tied. Despite these obstacles, some general patterns characterize the major world religions.

Islam, prevalent in North Africa and throughout much of the Middle East, also extends into South Asia and some areas of Southeast Asia. Europe is predominantly Christian—Protestant in the north, and Roman Catholic in the south. Both North and South America are mostly Christian, although Roman Catholicism is more common in South America. Australia, since its settlement by the British in the late 18th century, has also had a large Christian population. Orthodox Christianity remains the main religion of Russia. The major religions of India include Hinduism, Islam, and Sikhism. Buddhism, which originated in India, is now found primarily in East Asia and in some areas of Central and Southeast Asia. Judaism is centred in Israel, although the larger cities of Europe and the United States also have significant Jewish populations.

It is important to note that these examples of the general and historical distribution of world religions have many exceptions, and that most countries are home to members of a variety of faiths. There are many small religions and distinct sects of larger religions within the distributions outlined above. The region of Africa south of the Sahara is home to many local religions, and shamanism is still practised throughout Central Asia and in areas of South Asia. Some native peoples of North, Central, and South America still engage in religions they practised before the arrival of Europeans.

Human activities such as evangelism, migration, and trade can make the distribution of religions quite fluid. Some religions are spread by evangelists, who openly preach the virtues and beliefs of their faith, inviting others to join. Migration also serves change the distribution pattern of religion. Countries with particularly rich religious diversity include those with large immigrant populations, such as Australia, Brazil, and the United States, and those situated on ancient cultural crossroads, such as Egypt, India, Israel, and Turkey.

In the modern world, ancient religious traditions are frequently mixed with modern ones to form cross-cultural, or syncretic, religions. This phenomenon can be seen throughout South and Central America and Mexico, where the Roman Catholicism practised by conquering European cultures has only partially subdued native religions. Many festivals are based on both Christian and pagan beliefs, and in some Andean villages, earth and water deities are still worshipped alongside images of the Virgin Mary. Likewise, people of African descent in the Americas have retained some of their traditional beliefs, which are sometimes mixed with Catholicism. An example is the Santería religion practised in Cuba.

Most religions are complex, incorporating ideas, traditions, and technologies that may be specific to certain cultures or regions. It would be difficult to make a precise map outlining the range of religious practices, but general distributions and trends of change in religious traditions give geographers a valuable tool for studying the widespread movement of peoples and ideas throughout history.

Sacred Sites

In many cultures mountains are viewed as links between humans and the spiritual world. In addition to Mount Kailas, Mount Katherine in Egypt, Mount Olympus in Greece, Mount Fuji in Japan, and Navajo Mountain in the western United States are all examples of mountains that are considered sacred. Rivers and other natural features can also acquire religious significance. For example, Hinduism celebrates seven holy rivers, the holiest of which is the Ganges. In pre-Christian Europe, forests were regarded as the dwellings of gods, and the Celts worshipped at springs and pools throughout the British Isles and Europe. Similar beliefs about nature were held in Japan before the spread of Buddhism.

In addition to sacred natural places, humans have built religious shrines, churches, temples, and observatories—often on sites that had been considered holy from prehistoric times. An example is Stonehenge in England, which is believed to have been built for the observation of stars, planets, eclipses, and the sun, possibly for religious purposes. Smaller structures such as roadside shrines in Japan or rock cairns at mountain passes in the Himalayas are all markers to identify sacred sites. All of these represent places that, to the religious believer, have a special spiritual quality that sets them apart from ordinary places.

As well as recognizing specific sacred sites, religion has played a central role in the development of secular aspects of the community. Religion has influenced architecture, commerce, and settlement patterns throughout history. In areas dominated by Islam, the mosque serves as an urban orientation point. In Hindu towns, the sacred space extends from the temple to include neighbouring areas. Likewise, in medieval Europe, monasteries and cathedrals were focal points for communities as well as for trade.

Religious attitudes toward death also affect the landscape. Shrines, tombs, and graves are established according to religious tradition in order to honour deceased ancestors. The Taj Mahal in India, the Pyramids of Giza, and the terracotta army of Xi'an in China are all examples of tombs marked by striking structures that define their surroundings, drawing in visitors of many faiths. The beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and other religions have led to the dedication of areas of land as cemeteries. Some of these cemeteries have become integral parts of urban landscapes, serving as parks, historical sites, and even neighbourhoods. Examples include the City of the Dead in Cairo, the National Cemetery in Jerusalem, and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C..

Pilgrimage

Lourdes, a town at the foot of the Pyrenees in southern France, is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Europe. Catholics believe that the Virgin Mary appeared in visions here in 1858, and that the water from a nearby underground spring has healing powers. This site is an example of a location that became sacred because a divine being was believed to have been present there. The influence of this holy site extends into the local community—Lourdes has grown quickly with new hotels, restaurants, and facilities to support the many pilgrims visiting the shrine.

The largest religious pilgrimage takes place each year when more than a million Muslims travel to Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia. Birthplace of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, Mecca is the spiritual centre of the Islamic world. All Muslims try to make this pilgrimage, called the hajj, at least once in their lives. The primary destination of the hajj is the main mosque, where a windowless cube-shaped stone building, the Ka’abah, is the focus of the main courtyard. The ceremonies associated with the hajj take several days, during which time most pilgrims stay in Mecca to take trips to other sacred locations, placing heavy demands on regional food supplies, sanitation, and medical facilities. Another effect of the pilgrimage has been to shape transport routes throughout the region, as Muslims arrive from all directions and by a variety of means.

Spiritual Journeys

This type of spriritual view of the landscape can also be found among the Aboriginal people of Australia. They believe that their ancestors sang into being the physical characteristics of the Earth, the its many forms of life, and the codes governing conduct and relationships among humans. They define their landscape with symbolic markers that both organize the territory and give spiritual meaning to the land. The most famous of these markers is the massive red sandstone mound called Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, in the heart of the Australian continent. The Australian Aborigines are another example of how a religion provides a way of ordering space that imbues the landscape with spiritual meaning. Religion has a profound, ever-changing effect on the landscape and on our fundamental perception of the place of humanity in the world.