Chapter 6: Religion
Learning Objectives- After studying this chapter you should be able to:
1. Explain the difference between universalizing and ethnic religions, and the circumstances surrounding the origins of the four major world religions.
2. Explain how religions are subdivided and identify the major branches of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.
3. Accurately describe the geographical distribution of the major ethnic and universalizing religions.
4. Identify the historical factors behind the diffusion of Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.
5. Identify the other Christian churches and universalizing religions and their unique charachteristics.
6. Describe the distribution of Christians in the United States
7. Identify and describe the attributes of the distribution of holy places among the larger universalizing religions.
8. Identify the notion of cosmogony and explain its significance regarding ethnic and universalizing religions.
9. Contrast the role of calendars in ethnic and universalizing religions.
10. Identify and explain  the cause of the tensions between Christians, Muslims and Jews in Western Asia and between Catholics and 
      Protestants in Northern Ireland.

Terms- You should understand these terms and be ready to identify them:
Animism Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.
Branch (of a religion) A large and fundamental division within a religion.
Caste The class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned according to religious law.
Cosmogony A set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.
Denomination A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body.
Ethnic religion A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location where it originated.
Fundamentalism Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).
Ghetto During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure.
Missionary An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.
Monotheism The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.
Pagan A follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times.
Pilgrimage A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.
Polytheism Belief in or worship of more than one god.
Sect A relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.
Syncretism  A hybrid of different cultural beliefs or practices.
Universalizing religion A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.