Prepare for AP Human Geography with these ethnic religion questions. This guide covers the difference between ethnic and universalizing religions, diffusion patterns, and religious landscapes.
Q: Animism
Answer: Def: Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and life. This is important because a lot of cultures around the world believe in Animism!Sentence: Animism has to do with a lot of non-living things.Example: water god, earth god, fire god
Q: Buddhism
Answer: Def: The third of the world’s major universalizing religions. It has 365 million adherents especially in China and Southeast Asia. This is important because a large percent of the earth’s population follow Buddhism beliefs!Sentence: Buddhism is the world’s third largest religion.Example: mainly in Southeast Asia
Q: Christianity (and Protestant Sects)
Answer: Def: Is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. This is important because it’s the most popular religion in the world!Sentence: Christianity is the largest religion in the world.Example: started in Europe spread throughout world
Q: Ethnic Religion
Answer: Def: A religion with a rather concentrated distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location where its adherents are located. This is important because most religions start off as a Ethnic Religion!Sentence: Ethnic Religions are very small and clustered.Example: Judaism, hinduism in the Caribbean
Q: Fundamentalism
Answer: Def: Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of religion. This is important because there are a lot of Fundamentalists in all religions!Sentence: Fundamentalism is the base of all religions.Example: Al-Queda and the Taliban are both examples of Islamic Fundamentalist.
Q: Hadj (Hajj)
Answer: Def: The pilgrimage to Mecca for Islam followers. It’s the fifth of the five pillars. This is important because just about all Islam followers try the pilgrimage there!Sentence: Hadj has to be done at least once in an Islamic followers life.Example: Mecca gets over a million tourists a year
Q: Hinduism
Answer: Def: Created in India, approximately one billion followers. Unlike other religions, heaven isn’t always the ultumate goal in life. Third largest in world behind Christianity and Islam. Talk about Karma (what goes around comes around). This is important because such a large number of people follow the religion and it’s unlike any other one!Sentence: Hinduism is also the third largest religion in the world.Example: almost all of hindus are in India
Q: Interfaith boundaries
Answer: Def: The boundaries between the world’s major faiths, such as Christianity, Muslim, and Buddhism. This isn’t the same as Intrafaith boundaries which describes the boundaries within a major religion. This is important because it seperates different groups of people for different reasons!Sentence: Interfaith boundaries seperate different groups of people.Example: christianity believes in God, Muslims believe inAllah, Buddhism believes in no God
Q: Islam
Answer: Def: It means the submission to the will of god. It’s a monotheistic religion origination with the teachings of Muhammad, a key religious figure. It is the second largest religion in the world. This is important because it has impacted the world greatly, especially boundaries!Sentence: Islamic people don’t eat pork.Example: Mostly practiced in the Middle East
Q: Jainism
Answer: Def: Religion and philosophy originating in ancient India. Stresses spiritual independence and equality throughout all life. This is important because a lot of people believe in it in India!Sentence: Jainism started in ancient India.Example: It is almost everywhere in India like Hinduism
Q: Judaism
Answer: Def: It is the religion of ancient Hebrews, said to be one of the first monotheistic faiths. This is important because many other religions have been based off it!Sentence: Judaism came from ancient Hebrews.Example: Many moved from their diaspora to Israel
Q: Monotheism/ Polytheism
Answer: Def: Monotheism is the belief in one god and polytheism is the belief of many gods.This is important because many religions spread throughout the world fall under these two categories!Sentence: Almost all religions are monotheistic. Hinduism is polytheistic.Example: M: christianity, islam, judaism P: hinduism
Q: Proselytic Religion
Answer: Def: Referred to as a Universalizing Religion, which is an attempt to be global, to appeal to all people wherever they may live in the world, not just to those of one culture or location. There are three religions that practice this they are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. To proselytize is to try to convert another person to your religion. This is important because these are three of the biggest religions in the world they are practiced all over the world!Sentence: The three biggest proselytic religion are the most practiced all over the world.Example: christianity, islam, buddhism
Q: Religious Cultural Hearths
Answer: Def: This is where most religions are born. Most major religions have come from the Middle East near Israel, but a few have come from India too. This is important because where religions are created, civilizations are too!Sentence: Most religions have religious cultural hearths in the Middle East.Example: Southern Saudi Arabia around Mecca for Islam, Jerusalem/Bethlehem for Christianity
Q: Sacred Space
Answer: Def: The place where religious figures and congregations meet to perform religious ceremonies. This is important because a lot of history has taken place at sacred spaces!Sentence: There are eight sacred spaces in Buddhism.Example: hindi temples, buddhist stupas
Q: Secularism
Answer: Def: This is the belief that humans should be based on facts and not religious beliefs. This is important because this has caused conflicts in a lot of different places including politics!Sentence: Many people are against Secularism.Example: people who go to church say that people who believe in Secularism don’t believe in Jesus
Q: Sharia Law
Answer: Def: The legal framework within which public and some private aspects of life are regulated for those living in a legal system based on Muslim principles. This is important because it affects many Muslims around the world!Sentence: Sharia Law is very important to Muslims.Example: cannot eat pork rule and pilgrimage rule
Q: Shintoism
Answer: Def: Said to be the way of god. It is the native religion of Japan and was once its state religion. It involves the worship of kami (a god). Not very significant anymore and lost importance to today. This is important because before WWII it was very popular and affected a lot of people in Japan!Sentence: Shintoism was one of the very popular religions in Japan during WWII.Example: Almost all are in Japan and mostly the rest is in South Korea and Canada
Q: Sikhism
Answer: Def: Is a religion that began in sixteenth century Northern India. The principal belief in Sikhism is faith in Vāhigurū. Emphasizes faith in god. This is important because its another minor religion in India that affects a lot of people!Sentence: Sikhism has spread a lot to the United States.Example: the religion is mostly in India
Q: Syncretic Religion
Answer: Def: Separate religions that combine into a new religion.Sentence: Baha’i faith is a syncretic religion.Example: Baha’i is made up of almost all well known religions
Q: Theocracy
Answer: Def: A system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god.Sentence: There are only two state theocracies in world.Example: the Vatican and Iran
Q: Universalizing Religion
Answer: Def: A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.Sentence: There are three major universalizing religions.Example: christianity, islam, buddhism
Q: Zoroastrianism
Answer: Def: A monotheistic pre-Islamic religion of ancient Persia founded by Zoroaster in the 6th century bc.Sentence: There are not a lot of people that practice Zoroastrianism.Example: The few zoroastrianists are spreaded all around the world in some places including England, Australia, and Canada
Q: Cultural Shatterbelt
Answer: Def: A politically unstable region where differing cultural elements come into contact and conflict. Cultural clashes.Sentence: There are a lot of cultural shatterbelts in Asia.Example: Indonesia with a background of multicultural, ethnicities and religions.
Q: Ethnic Cleansing
Answer: Def: Process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region.Sentence: There were many ethnic cleansings during WWII.Example: Nazis wiping out Jews, Stalin wiping out peasant Ukranians
Q: Ethnic Enclave
Answer: Def: When a community or ethnic group is trapped and is completely surrounded by an unfriendly population or government.Sentence: There are many ethnic enclaves in the Middle East.Example: The gaza strip, but can also mean the ghettos in U.S.
Q: Ethnic Homeland
Answer: Def: The homeland of the ethnic groups.Sentence: A lot of ethnic homelands are in Asia.Example: The homeland of the Amish: Switzerland, Alsace, south Germany.
Q: Ethnicity
Answer: Def: Identity with a group of people that share distinct physical and mental traits as a product of common heredity and cultural traditions.Sentence: The ethnicity of someone also almost usually has to do with race.Example: Jewish, Muslim, Kurd
Q: Ethnocentrism
Answer: Def: Beliefs of an ethnic group that their ethnicity is better.Sentence: There were many people who thought of ethnocentrism.Example: Hitler, Stalin, Ivan the Terrible
Q: Daoism(Taoism)
Answer: philosophical system developed by of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu advocating a simple honest life and noninterference with the course of natural events
Q: Bahá’í
Answer: The Bahá’í Faith is a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity and equality of all people.
Q: Confucianism
Answer: The system of ethics, education, and statesmanship taught by Confucius and his disciples, stressing love for humanity, ancestor worship, reverence for parents, and harmony in thought and conduct.
Q: Ethnic neighborhood
Answer: An area within a city containing members of the same ethnic background.
Q: Segregation
Answer: A system that keeps different groups separate from each other, either through physical dividers or using social pressures and laws.
Q: Dowry death
Answer: Deaths of women who are murdered or driven to suicide by continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased dowry(the money, goods, or estate that a wife brings to her husband at marriage). Dowry deaths are found in Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Iran.
Q: Enfranchisement
Answer: A statutory right or privilege granted to a person or group by a government (especially the rights of citizenship and the right to vote).
Q: Gender gap
Answer: A difference between men and women in their opportunities, rights, benefits, behavior, or attitudes.
Q: Infanticide
Answer: Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants. Parental infanticide researchers have found that mothers are far more likely than fathers to be the perpetrator for neonaticide (the deliberate act of a parent murdering their own child during the first 24 hours of life) and slightly more likely to commit infanticide in general.
Q: Maternal mortality rate (MMR)
Answer: The annual number of female deaths per 100,000 live births from any cause related to or aggravated by pregnancy or its management (excluding accidental or incidental causes).