Geographers study the ways in which religious beliefs and practices can have a significant impact on the landscape through the organization of space and people. The distribution of religions and their activities across the Earth are a reflection of people's values and identity, for many religious people believe that their life on Earth ought to be spent in service to God.
The impact of religion is clearly seen in the arrangement of human activities on the landscape at several scales, from relatively small parcels of land to entire communities. How each religion distributes its elements on the landscape depends on its beliefs.
Key Issue 3: Why Do Religions Organize Space in Distinctive Patterns?
Geographers examine the impact of religion on the landscape at several scales. The ways people use the landscape are influenced by their beliefs.
Places of Worship Sacred structures are physical “anchors” of religion. Some structures are designed for a group to gather, while others are designed for individual meditation.
Religious Structures for Assembly Familiar names that identify places for collective religious expression include church, basilica, mosque, temple, and synagogue.
Christian Churches The word church can be traced back to the Greek term meaning “lord,” “master,” and “power.” Church refers both to a gathering of believers and the structure at which the gathering occurs. All three branches emphasize the congregation of people in a church to worship. In the past, churches dominated the landscape, often being the tallest building. Today churches may not dominate the landscape in large cities, but may still do so in smaller cities and towns. Church architecture varies based on religious heritage from the ornate Byzantine-style of the domed Orthodox churches to simplistically-styled Protestant churches.
Islamic Mosques The word mosque is rooted in the Arabic for “place of worship.” Mosques are generally found in larger cities, with simpler structures present in rural villages – both serve as a place for people to gather together for worship. A mosque is designed around a central courtyard – traditionally open-air, although it may be enclosed in harsher climates. The pulpit is placed at the end of the courtyard facing Makkah. Minarets are a distinctive feature of mosques, a tower where people are summoned to worship by a man known as a muezzin.
Sikh Gurdwara Sikh places of worship are known as gurdwaras. The Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India, is the most important gurdwara in the world. The holiest book in Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is kept at the Golden Temple.
Jewish Synagogues The word synagogue derives from the Greek word for “assembly.” The building is often referred to by the Yiddish word shul. The origin of the synagogue is unclear—it is theorized to have emerged in the sixth century B.C.E. when Jews were exiled in Babylonia.
Bahá’í Houses of Worship Bahá’i Houses of Worship have been built in every continent in the world to represent Bahá’í as a universalizing religion with adherents the world over. All Bahá’í Houses of Worship are required to be built in the shape of a nonagon (a nine-sided building).
Religious Structures for Individual Meditation Rather than a place for groups to gather, some religious structures serve as a place of introspection and meditation.
Buddhist Pagodas Following Buddha’s death, his clothes and parts of his body were collected by followers as relics. These relics are kept in Buddhist religious structures known as pagoda. Pagodas typically include tall, many sided towers arranged in a series of tiers, balconies, and slanting roofs. Pagodas are not intended for congregational worship; rather, individual prayer and meditation takes place at an adjacent temple, at a remote monastery, or in a home.
Hindu Temples Homes are generally the location of important Hindu religious functions. A Hindu temple is a structure designed to bring individuals closer to their gods, and serves as a place for individual reflection and meditation. The size of temples is determined by local preferences and availability of resources, rather than mandated religious standards.
Pilgrimages to Religious Shrines Universalizing religions are more likely to consider places holy that are associated with key events in the founder’s life. Places are considered sacred because they are locations of key events in the lives of Buddha and Muhammad. Pilgrimages, journeys to places considered sacred by religions, are part of religious rituals in Buddhism and Islam.
Holy Places in Islam The holiest places in Islam are in cities associated with the life of Muhammad. The Great Mosque, Masjid al-Haram, located in Makkah is the largest mosque in the world. In the Great Mosque is the al-Ka’ba, a cube like structure thought by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and Ishmael. Inside the Ka’ba is a black stone given to Abraham by Gabriel that is considered by Muslims to signify the covenant with Ishmael and the Muslim people. Muslims, if financially and physically able, are expected to undertake a pilgrimage, or hajj, to Makkah in their lifetimes. Madinah is also a holy city in Islam, and is home to the world’s second-largest mosque.
Buddhist Shrines Buddhism recognizes eight holy places because of their association with events in Buddha’s life. The holiest is Lumbini in Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha. Four other sites in northeast India are sacred because they were the location of Buddha’s miracles.
Religious Settlements and Toponyms While churches and burial sites represent smaller-scale anifestations of religion on the landscape, entire settlements centered around a religion reflect larger- scale examples of religion’s imprint on the landscape.
Utopian Settlements An utopian settlement is a community based around a religious way of life. Buildings and economic activities are planned to integrate religious principles into all aspects of daily life. The first utopian settlement in America was Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, founded by Moravian Christians in 1741. Today, Salt Lake City remains as the most prominent utopian city, founded in 1848 and designed around a plan of the city of Zion. Many utopian communities fell by the wayside due to minimal economic prospects or the members of the community maintaining celibacy.
Religious Place Names Roman Catholic immigrants regularly bestowed religious place names, or toponyms, to their settlements in the New World. These religious toponyms are especially prevalent in Québec and the U.S. Southwest.
Administration of Religious Space The method of communication and consistency of doctrine varies between universalizing religions, branches, and denominations, although some administration is present. In ethnic religions, centralized authorities generally do not exist.
Locally Autonomous Religions Other faiths, known as autonomous religions, give authority to individual churches and only loosely coordinate their operations. Islam and some Protestant denominations are examples.
Local Autonomy in Islam Islam provides a great deal of local autonomy because it does not have a formal religious hierarchy or formal territorial organization. Strong unity within the Islamic world is maintained by a relatively high degree of communication, migration and Islamic doctrine.
Protestant Denominations Protestant Christian denominations vary in geographic structure from extremely autonomous to somewhat hierarchical. Episcopalian, Lutheran, and most Methodist churches resemble the Roman Catholic Church in its hierarchical structure, while Baptist and United Church of Christ congregations are extremely autonomous.
Ethnic Religions Hinduism is an example of a highly autonomous religion, because worship is generally performed alone or with others in a household. Hinduism has no centralized structure of religious authority.
Hierarchical Religions have a well-defined geographic extent, with territory organized into local administrative units.
Latter-Day Saints The Mormons have a strong organizational structure. The territory occupied by Mormons is managed by the president and board of the Mormon Church. Small-scale units of territory known as wards contain several hundred people. These wards then make up stakes, a larger unit of territory with a population of roughly 5,000 people.
Roman Catholic Hierarchy The Roman Catholic Church has organized much of Earth’s inhabited land into an administrative structure ultimately accountable to the Pope in Rome. The basic geographic unit is a diocese administered by a bishop. A diocese is then divided into parishes which vary in size. Dioceses are organized into provinces headed by archbishops. Archbishops report to the Pope who is also the bishop of the Diocese of Rome.
The Landscape in Ethnic Religions Ethnic religious holy places are typically based on the physical environment of the hearth region of that religion. Pilgrimages may be taken to those specific physical features.
Cosmogony and Spirits A set of beliefs that seek to explain the origin of the universe defines cosmogony. Christians and Muslims belief that God created the physical environment and humans. Chinese traditional religion explains the universe with two forces, yin and yang, interacting to reach balance and harmony. Religion provides a conception of the relationship between humans and nature. Primal-indigenous folk religions view the universe as mystical and believe that spirits and gods can be placated. They accept environmental hazards as normal and unavoidable.
Hinduism’s South Asian Landscape The physical geography of India is integral to Hinduism. Indian riverbanks and coastlines are likely to rank among the holiest shrines in Hinduism, according to the geographer Surinder Bhardwaj. Hindus undertake pilgrimages, known as tirthas, to these holy sites as an act of purification. The Ganges is the holiest river in India based on the Hindu belief that it sprang forth from the hair of Shiva. Many Indians travel from other parts of the country to bathe in the Ganges at Haridwar. Another pilgrimage site is Mt. Kailās, located at the source of the Ganges, which is sacred because Shiva lives there.
Disposing of the Dead Climate, topography, and religious doctrine account for differences in methods for disposing of the dead.
Burial Christians, Muslims, and Jews all practice burial in dedicated cemeteries. Cemeteries are used as parks in Muslim countries, where the idea of using a cemetery as public open space faces less opposition than in Christian societies. In some countries, burying of the dead can remove arable land from use. In China, for instance, roughly 10 percent of the land from productive agriculture is removed by burial sites. The Chinese government encourages cremation.
Other Methods of Disposing of Bodies Hindus favor cremation to burial. Hindus consider cremation an act of purification because it frees the body from the soul for departure to the afterworld. Other groups, such leave the bodies exposed to scavengers or dispose of the human remains at sea.
Religious Calendars & the Environment Calendars used by different religions can be described as solar, lunar, and lunisolar. Months in the solar calendar used by Christians correspond to the position of the sun in relation to the stars. Months in a lunar calendar used by Muslims correspond to the phases of the moon. A lunisolar calendar used by Jews has lunar months adjusted periodically to align with the solar year. In universalizing religions, major holidays reflect events in the life of the founder rather than traits of the physical landscape. In ethnic religions, the physical geography of their hearths may play a role in determining holidays and reflect the shared history and culture.
The Calendar in Several Religions The main purpose of calendars in universalizing religions is to commemorate events in the founder’s life.
Islam Islam uses a lunar calendar. Within its 30-year cycle, the calendar includes 19 years with 354 days and 11 years with 355 days. As a result, Muslim holidays occur on different dates in different seasons from generation to generation. This is of importance to the timing of Ramadan, the period during which Muslims fast from sun rise to sundown. Because of variations in the calendar over time Ramadan cycles through different seasons.
Christianity A major holy day in Christianity is Easter, observed on the first Sunday after the first full Moon following the spring equinox. However Roman Catholics and Protestants use the Gregorian calendar whereas Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar, so Easter is seldom celebrated on the same day.
Buddhism Buddhists celebrate the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and death. However, not all Buddhists commemorate these holidays on the same days.
Sikhism Sikhs observe the birthdays and dates of death of the 10 Sikh guru. Holidays in Sikhism commemorate historical events centering around the birth or death of a guru.
Bahá’í Bahá’í employs a calendar established by the Báb and confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, in which the year is divided into 19 months of 19 days each, with the addition of 4 extra days (with 5 in leap years). Their year begins on the first day of spring.
The Calendar in Judaism Judaism bases its calendar on the agricultural calendar of the religion’s homeland in present-day Israel. Major holidays include Pesach (Passover) celebrating the liberation of the Jews from slavery in Egypt; Shavuot, considered the date Moses received the Torah from God, which also coincides with the barley harvest; and Sukkot which recalls the 40 years Jews wandered in the desert around the time of the final harvest of the year. The holiest observances, Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) occur in the fall.
The Solstice The solstice, derived from the Latin to “stand still,” holds a significant purpose in some ethnic religions. The winter solstice (December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere) is a major holiday in some pagan religions. Stonehenge is an ancient monument in southwestern England that is apparently constructed to align with the sun in the summer and winter solstices.
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Autonomous religion A religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally.
Branch A major division within a religion
Cosmogony A set of beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.
Denomination A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body.
Ethnic religion A religion that is focused on a single ethnic group (often in a centralized area) that doesn't attempt to appeal to all people
Hierarchical religion A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.
Lunar calendar A calendar with months that correspond to cycles of moon phases.
Lunisolar calendar A calendar with lunar months that are brought into alignment with the solar year through some process.
Pilgrimage A journey to a location that has religious significance
Solar calendar A calendar that relates to the season or the apparent position of the sun in relation to the stars.
Solstice An astronomical event that happens twice each year, when the tilt of Earth's axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun's apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme, and resulting in the shortest and longest days of the year.
Utopian settlement A community built around an ideal way of life, often based on a religion.