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Ethnic religious and cultural issues. Types of ethnic religions

Religion is a phenomenon of culture, it is aimed at finding the meaning and purpose of existence, it determines the scale of human values. The role of religion in art, architecture, the spread of writing and printing is great.

Geography of world religions. Religion is an essential element in the differentiation of human cultures. At different stages of history, in different countries and regions, the positions and influence of religion on the life of society and economic activity differ significantly.

Holy places

For each religion, special territories are important - holy places. They are connected either with the territories where religion originated, or with sacred landscapes, or with places where holy people lived (or live).

Jerusalem is a holy city for Christians, Muslims and Jews. This city attracts pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.

For the Orthodox of Russia, monasteries are considered holy places.

In Islam, it is believed that every Muslim at least once in his life should make a hajj (pilgrimage) to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. About 2 million people visit these cities every year.

Buddhism also has its own religious shrines that attract believers. These are places associated with the main stages of the life of the Buddha - birth, life, enlightenment. Monasteries in India, Nepal, Tibet and other countries are also pilgrimage centers.

Holy places in Hinduism are located in India, Nepal, Tibet. They are usually associated with the life of spiritual teachers, with their burial places (temples and temple complexes, ashrams, monasteries). Varanasi is considered the holy city of Hindus. In addition, sacred mountains (Arunachala in southern India, Kailash in Tibet), as well as rivers (Ganges, Yamuna, etc.), lakes and wells are of particular importance in India.

Rice. 171. Sunday sermon of the Pope in the Vatican. For Catholics, the Vatican is of particular importance, where the residence of the Pope is located.

Religions and beliefs are widespread in clearly localized geographical areas and have a specific impact on the social, political and economic life of people, on psychology, moral and legal consciousness and behavior. The influence of religion on the peculiarities of resource use and on the susceptibility to the introduction of innovations is especially great.

Religious causes have given rise to most of the major political conflicts in the history of mankind, and territorially they were confined to the borders of regions with different beliefs.

The religions of the world that exist today are divided into two large groups - monotheistic, which are characterized by belief in one main deity, and polytheistic, which have an extensive pantheon of gods.

Rice. 172. The centers of origin of religions and the main directions of their distribution

Career. Tourism

With the growth of incomes of the population, the importance of tourism, the most important branch of the service sector, is also growing. Everything more people go on trips, more and more people professionally connect their lives with tourism.

For specialists in the tourism industry, it is important not only to master the skills of practical organization of trips (logistics of tours, the selection of target market segments, the creation and promotion of a tourist product, knowledge of tourist formalities), but also knowledge of geography as such - climate features, population and culture of the countries of the world.

An important place among tourist trips (holidays at sea, holidays in the mountains, acquaintance with the culture of the past) is occupied by religious tourism - pilgrimages to holy places (pilgrims participate in religious cults) and excursions with visits to monasteries and temples.

Therefore, for those who want to work in the tourism business, it is important to know the geography of the culture of the peoples of the world, religious centers and holy places.

To become a specialist in the field of tourism, you need to get an education in the specialty "Hotel business and tourism".

Rice. 173. Tourism exhibition in Moscow - one of the main events of the new season of the tourism industry

Rice. 174. Information center for tourists on the Champs Elysees in Paris (France). Here you can get free cards, guides, find out the necessary information

Geographically, religions are subdivided into local traditional beliefs held by scattered, isolated tribes; national, as a rule, distributed within state borders or areas of residence of ethnic groups, and world ones, which have overcome the national framework and become common religion many ethnic groups and states (Fig. 172).

Table 17. The main religions of the world and the number of their followers at the beginning of the 21st century million people

local traditional beliefs. They arose at the very dawn of mankind and in the conditions of geographical isolation of the communities. The objects of their worship are varied: animism - belief in the soul, its immortality and the existence of spirits; ancestor worship - belief in the existence of people after physical death and their influence on the living; totemism - belief in the origin of all members of a given tribe from a plant or animal that is considered sacred; fetishism - belief in inanimate objects and their supernatural power (Fig. 175); shamanism - belief in the ability of human shamans to communicate with spirits. Many of these beliefs, originating at the dawn of the primitive system, are still preserved today in isolated and hard-to-reach areas. South-East Asia, Latin America, in the arctic latitudes of North America and Eurasia. By the beginning of the XXI century. the total number of followers of traditional beliefs was about 200 million people.

Rice. 175. The spirit of the pass is respected by both locals and tourists (Altai, Russia)

Evolution of early religious beliefs followed the evolution of society. The unification of disparate tribes into a single state was accompanied by the emergence of the cult of the leader-man, which in the early class society was transformed into the image of an abstract man-god.

To II millennium BC. e. relates to the emergence of religions that have survived to this day.

Zoroastrianism(parsism). This is one of ancient religions, which originated in Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. e. Its occurrence is associated with the name of the prophet Zoroaster. The doctrine is based on belief in two divine principles - the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Andromache. The divine service includes the rites of priests with sacred fire in a metal bowl (hence another name for the Zoroastrians - fire worshipers). Fear of defilement and the need for purification gave rise to many prohibitions: restrictions on sharing meals and bathing, eating from the hands of strangers, contact with garbage and sewage. The number of Zoroastrians does not exceed 200 thousand people.

national religions. Judaism considered one of the earliest beliefs that have survived to this day. It arose in the territory of modern Israel, first as a polytheistic religion, later moving to monotheism. For Judaism, in addition to belief in a single God, faith in the immortality of the soul, posthumous retribution, in heaven, hell and God's chosen Jews are characteristic. This last circumstance, as well as the fact that only those born of a Jewish mother can be considered a Jew, prevented the transformation of Judaism into a world religion. Judaism in orthodox form is the dominant religion of the State of Israel; it is professed by Ashkenazi (Jews - immigrants from Western, Northern and of Eastern Europe) and Sephardim (Jews - immigrants from North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkan and Iberian Peninsulas), as well as Jews living on all other continents. By the beginning of the XXI century. There were about 14 million followers of Judaism in the world, and about half of them live in America.

Rice. 176. Torah and Talmud (Sephardi Museum in Toledo, Spain). The sacred books of the Jews are the Tanakh (the Old Testament part of the Bible) and the Talmud (the basis of practice and theology, ideological, legal and folk interpretations of biblical texts)

In Judaism, prayers, fasting, the rite of circumcision, numerous holidays (Easter, Judgment Day, New Year, Saturday, etc.). Rabbis are actually teachers of the law, judges in Judaic communities, and not priests of a cult (Fig. 176). Some followers of Judaism do not recognize the Talmud. Such are, for example, the Karaites - the descendants of those who migrated to the Crimea from Khazaria in the 11th century. children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers who, according to Judaism, are not "real" Jews. Samaritans, mostly living in the Samaria region (Israel) and in Jordan, recognize only some parts Old Testament(Toru and Nebim).

Hinduism. In the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. developed out of Brahmanism. It is practiced by a significant part of the population of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Large communities of Hindus live in Indonesia, Guyana, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and Mauritius.

The spread of Hinduism outside the Hindustan peninsula was hindered by two main factors: geographical (Himalayas) and conservative dogmas of the religion itself, and first of all its basis - the caste system.

Caste system of India

The French geographer, Professor Pierre Guru, known for his descriptions of tropical countries, tells in his book "Asia" about the caste division of labor in one of the Indian villages between the Ganges and Jamma. The description refers to the first half of the 20th century.

“All peasants belong to the four main castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishis and Shudras. The castes are interconnected by economic ties in such a way that the village is a closed organism that satisfies all its own needs. Services and commodities are distributed without the medium of monetary circulation, through exchange based on the traditional duties of each caste. The amount of payment for services is determined by custom. Each villager occupies his own economic and social position, determined by the fact of his birth in one caste or another.

There are 43 families in the Brahmin caste. Two of them are bhats, i.e. bards and genealogists who recite poems during wedding ceremonies. Three families of priests divide the rural parishioners among themselves. The rest of the Brahmins are engaged in agriculture. They have a leadership role in the community. According to tradition, only brahmins can be teachers in a school.

There are few representatives of the Kshatriya caste in the village - only one family of scribes (kayastas) and two families of jewelers (sunars). There are no Vaishas in the village at all. Most of the villagers belong to the Shudra caste. They are divided into mali (flower growers who, as needed, supply flowers, garlands and henna leaves for coloring the feet and nails), kachhi (skillful gardeners), lodha (rice growers), nai (hairdressers), kahar (water carriers, men supply water for irrigating the fields, and women for supplying the village), gadaria (cattle breeders), bharbhunja (roasters of chickpea grains), darzi (tailors, men are engaged in sewing), kumbar (potters), ahajan (merchants).

With representatives of the caste of outcasts, or untouchables, fellow villagers do not have any communication. One family of dhobi (washerwomen) washes clothes for the whole village: once every two weeks for the richest families, once a month for middle-class families, once every two months for the poor.

Danuk - manufacturers of mats (7 families in total), but they do little of this, but breed pigs and are engaged in agriculture, the main duty of Danuk women is midwifery.

Chamars dress and tan leather. The most untouchable of all untouchables are bhangis, sweepers.

Rice. 177. Fakir. The untouchable caste includes mendicant fakirs, who are allowed by the Brahmins to smoke their pipes on holidays, maniharas (sellers of glass bracelets), dhunas who comb cotton, and the tawaif caste (dancers and singers)

In Hinduism, there is no single dogmatics, rituals, organized church. It includes elements of Brahmanism, Vedic and local religions, primitive beliefs: veneration of water (“sacred waters” of the Ganges River), animals (“sacred cows”), cult of ancestors.

The followers of Hinduism recognize the Vedas as sacred books, follow the doctrine of samsara - the wanderings of the soul, reincarnating after death into various living beings according to the law of karma, that is, depending on the deed. Hinduism affirms the inequality of people before the gods and the divinity of caste division. People are obliged to fulfill the order of life established for each caste, to choose a profession and social circle (Fig. 177).

The caste system is changing very slowly. The Caste Abolition Act, which came out after India gained independence, did little to change the life of Hindu society. The government of Rajiv Gandhi in the late 80s. 20th century introduced the reservation of 30% of seats in the state apparatus and in higher educational institutions for representatives of the untouchable caste, which caused protests from almost all sections of Hindu society - both representatives of the higher castes and the untouchables themselves.

The pantheon of Hindu gods is large. The main God in Hinduism is the Triune God (Trimurti), who has the properties of creation (Brahma), preservation (Vishnu), destruction and creation (six-armed Shiva). Many temples have been built in their honor.

Jainism arose as an "opposition" to the caste system in the VI century. BC e., he proclaimed the main principle of faith not to kill living beings.

In the XV-XVI centuries. at the junction of the cultural influence of Islam and Hinduism on the territory of the modern state of Punjab (India) was born Sikhism, who rejected the caste system and absorbed elements of Islam and Hinduism. The dogmas of Hinduism indirectly contributed to the penetration of Islam into the borders of Hindustan. There were few representatives of the Kshatriya (warriors) caste in the western regions, and other castes did not have the right to engage in military affairs, so the Muslim conquerors did not receive a worthy rebuff here. To distinguish themselves among Hindus and Muslims, Sikhs wear "five Ks": kesh (long hair), kachha (short pants), kanha (comb), kara (steel bracelet), kirpan (dagger). The colorful turbans and beards of the Sikhs are clearly visible in the street crowd. The number of Sikhs is about 15 million people, this is the third largest confessional community in India (after Hindus and Muslims). Since the mid 60s. 20th century Sikhs are fighting for the creation of an independent state of Khalistan. Sikhs have influential communities in many countries of Asia and Africa, where they control the tailoring business and trade.

Religions of East Asia: Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism. On the territory of modern China arose philosophical systems- Confucianism and Taoism. Over time, these systems acquired the status of religions. They did not have strict church hierarchy, did not oblige believers to think and act in a certain way. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism have never been implanted with a sword and fire, they have never resorted to missionary work.

Confucianism. Confucius is a statesman of Ancient China (V-VI centuries BC), his followers wrote the treatise "Lun - Yu" ("Conversations and Judgments") - the main literary source of Confucianism. Strictly speaking, Confucianism is not a religion, since it never had the institution of the church, priesthood, or mystical elements. The ideas of Confucius are the ideas of an earthly person, not of God. A person must observe the norms of social behavior, traditional rituals. Other ethical norms of Confucianism are mandatory moral self-improvement and observance of the rules of etiquette - to act in accordance with one's social position, unconditionally obey the higher authorities. The power of the rulers is considered to be granted by heaven, and therefore sacred, and the division of people into "higher" and "lower" is a fair law. Confucian morality preaches five basic virtues: humanity, justice, self-improvement, nobility and loyalty.

From the 2nd century n. e. before the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 - 1913. Confucianism was the official state ideology of China, an authoritative ethical system that determined the thinking and character of millions of people. Nowadays, about 300 million people follow Confucianism in China, on the Korean Peninsula, in Japan, in countries with a large Chinese diaspora (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.).

Confucian values included in the scope economic activity and education, have greatly contributed to the economic success in the territories where this religion is practiced.

Taoism- one of the religions of China, the ideological source of which was philosophy Lao Tzu, who lived at about the same time as Confucius. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism focuses on the individual. According to this teaching, people should follow the natural course of events and not try to change it. The ideal of this religious philosophical school is a life that does not violate the harmony of the surrounding world, the achievement of unity with nature and the acquisition of immortality. The central place is occupied by divination and rituals that exorcise evil spirits. The highest deities are recognized as Shang-di (Jasper lord - the God of heaven and the Father of emperors), Lao-tzu and the creator of the world Pan-gu (Fig. 179).

Taoism had a strong influence on culture, contributed to the development of chemistry, traditional medicine based on the principle of harmony human body(acupuncture, physiotherapy, pharmacology). Closely connected with Taoism is the doctrine of opposite principles - yin and yang. Yin - feminine, weakness, passivity, north, even numbers, yang - masculine, strength, activity, south, odd numbers. Their unity creates a perfect whole. Ancient books preserved prescriptions for medicines, descriptions of the properties of metals and minerals. About 30 million people in China, Singapore and other countries where the Chinese live, consider themselves adherents of Taoism.

Rice. 178. Shinto shrine in Japan

Rice. 179. Temple in China

Shintoism- philosophical and religious system - formed in Japan, based on the cult of the deities of nature and ancestors (Fig. 178). The main deity is the sun goddess Amaterasu, the progenitor of all Japanese emperors. Gods and spirits inhabit and spiritualize all nature, are able to incarnate in any object, which becomes the object of worship. The religious goal is to achieve salvation in this, and not in other world by spiritual merging with the deity through prayers and rituals. Shinto is characterized by lavish festivals with sacred dances and processions. Shinto overlaps and peacefully coexists with Buddhism. The Japanese, for example, are adherents of both Shintoism and Buddhism. For almost a century (from the middle of the 19th century) Shinto was the state religion of Japan.

Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto did not become world religions and did not spread beyond the formation areas.

Yezidis(Yazidis). At the heart of the doctrine, which the followers try to keep secret, is the belief in the one God Ezda. At the same time, followers recognize Jesus Christ as God, revere the Muslim prophet Muhammad and the Jewish Abraham. They recognize the Bible and the Koran as sacred books, they have Christian baptism and circumcision of boys, like Muslims and Jews. Yezidis are Kurds living in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia.

world religions. Religions such as Buddhism, Islam and Christianity, more tolerant of the human weaknesses of their followers, spread over vast territories and became world-wide.

Buddhism- the most ancient world religion. Appeared in the VI century. BC e. as an opposition to the caste system, enshrined in Brahmanism: the dignity of a person and his social status do not depend on his origin, but on behavior. All people, regardless of class and ethnic differences, can accept the teachings of the Buddha and find the path to salvation. According to Buddhist canons, life is a continuous chain of suffering, which can be alleviated righteous behavior and non-killing of living beings (Fig. 180).

Buddhism is widespread in China, Japan, Korea, is the dominant religion in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mongolia, Bhutan, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. Large Buddhist communities live in India, Nepal, Singapore, Indonesia and Russia, where it is practiced by Buryats, Tuvans and Kalmyks.

The followers of Buddhism are vegetarians: they do not eat meat products. These ethical standards have a direct impact on economic life, especially on the specialization Agriculture.

There are two main branches in Buddhism. Adherents of the Hinayana (which means "narrow path") consider the Buddha to be a real historical person, strictly follow the principles of early Buddhism; those who want to achieve salvation must leave the worldly life. The followers of Ma-hayana (“broad path”) deify the Buddha and believe that monasticism is not necessary for salvation.

The three most important values of Buddhism are the teacher Buddha, the teaching of the drachma, the keeper of the truth - sagha, which indicates and facilitates the path of the believer. These ideas of Buddhism, as well as the relative indifference to rituals and adaptation to local conditions, contributed to its spread beyond India. In the southern and southeastern direction, Buddhism spread mainly in the form of the teachings of the Hinayana (in the 3rd-1st centuries BC). From the beginning of our era, its movement to the north and northeast begins in the form of the teachings of the Mahayana. In India itself, Buddhism was supplanted by Hinduism with a caste system that does not accept equality.

AT Lamaism, more late form Buddhism, special importance is attached to magic spells, meditation, with which you can achieve nirvana - a state of supreme bliss and detachment from life's worries. Lamaism is widespread among the population of Mongolia, in eastern Buryatia, among the Kalmyks and Tuvans.

Rice. 180. The centers of spiritual life in Buddhism are monasteries with a hierarchically organized way of life (disciples, novices, monks, abbots, incarnations - "living gods")

Rice. 181. Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Sourozh Monastery, XI century. in Pskov (Russia)

Rice. 182. Catholic Cathedral in Rouen (France)

Christianity appeared at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD in the east of the Roman Empire, on the territory of modern Israel, as a protest against Jewish exclusivity. It quickly spread among the slaves and the poor. Having proclaimed the equality of all people, Christianity rejected the existing slave-owning social order, giving the desperate hope of gaining freedom through the knowledge of the divine truth that Christ brought to earth.

Craftsmen, merchants, farmers, and the nobility began to join the Christian communities. Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337), by his edict of 324, initiated the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of the Roman Empire.

The creeds were defined in the first seven Ecumenical Councils. They are preserved unchanged in the Orthodox Church, which gives it additional arguments as a truly Christian dogma.

According to Christianity, God exists in three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God the Son accepted martyrdom to atone for the sins of people and come a second time to Earth to establish the kingdom of heaven. The holy book of Christians is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The main ethical norms are patience and forgiveness.

In 1054, there was a complete break between the Roman (western) and Constantinople (eastern) branches of Christianity, it was divided into Catholicism and Orthodoxy (Fig. 181, 182). The main differences between them are in the question of the origin of the Holy Spirit: Catholics believe that he came from God the Father and God the Son, Orthodox - from God the Father. Catholics, unlike the Orthodox, believe that in addition to hell and heaven, there is also purgatory. In the Orthodox Church, only choral singing without music is allowed, in the Catholic Church, worship is accompanied by organ music. There are also differences in rituals, in the architecture of church buildings, in the organization of the church (strict centralization and the omnipotence of the Pope in Catholicism).

Orthodox the church is not controlled from a single center, it is represented by 15 autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria (Egypt and some African countries), Antioch (Syria, Lebanon), Jerusalem (Palestine), Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Cypriot , Helladic (Greek), Albanian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, American. From a number of autocephalous churches, autonomous churches having great rights to self-government (Sinai - the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Patriarch, Japanese - the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia).

In the 90s. 20th century As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the question arose of the formation of an independent Ukrainian Church and its separation from the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Macedonia, and Cyprus, those who profess Orthodoxy make up the majority of the population. There are large Orthodox communities in the USA, Kazakhstan, the Baltic countries, Kyrgyzstan, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, and the Middle East.

Uniate(or Greek Catholic Church), recognizing the supremacy of the Pope of Rome, appeared in the areas of "contact" between the western and eastern branches of Christianity, absorbed the ethical norms and rituals of both branches. The most widespread in Western Ukraine.

Monophysite Church, which considers Jesus Christ not a God-man, but God, is common among Egyptian Copts, in Ethiopia, in Armenia.

Catholic Church strictly centralized, has one center - the state-city of the Vatican, a single head - the Pope (Vicar of Jesus on Earth). The clergy in Catholicism take a vow of celibacy. For many centuries, worship in Catholicism was performed on Latin, only Vatican II (1962-1965) allowed services in national languages.

In most countries Western Europe Catholicism is the dominant religion (Fig. 183), and in a number of countries - Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland - there are large communities. In all states of America, the majority of the believing population professes Catholicism: almost a third of the US population and half of Canadians are Catholics.

Rice. 183. Cathedral Santa Maria in Seville (Spain). This is the third largest Christian church and the largest Gothic building in the world. The temple was rebuilt from the Almohad mosque in the XIII - XV centuries.

Catholic colonization of the New World

The Catholic Church actively participated in the conquest and economic development of the New World.

The ideological inspirers of the development of America - the Catholic kings of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella (1479-1505) finally expelled the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula, having made the last victorious Crusade in history. The discovery and conquest of America began to be seen by the Vatican as a new crusade, since America was seen as a pagan country whose population must be converted to Christianity. Special papal bulls "bestowed" New World Catholic kings. Soon the church turned into a large landowner, whose income exceeded the income of the Spanish crown. Groups of missionary monks followed the conquistadors. Along the way, settlements were built - church missions, buildings for the residence of monks, schools for Indian children, armed fortifications for detachments of Spanish soldiers. All this became the centers of Christianization of the surrounding tribes, in fact, these missions became the boundaries of the possessions of Spain. These frontiers were to move inland every ten years as far as possible. After converting to Christianity, missionaries eradicated local elements of culture. One way or another, Catholic missionaries contributed to the synthesis of cultures and the emergence of a special civilizational world - Latin America.

Rice. 184. Archive of the Indies in Seville (Spain). The archive contains the original reports of the conquistadors and missionaries on the exploration of the New World

Rice. 185. Arrival of the conquistadors in the New World

Economic ethics of the Old Believers

The Old Believers, followers of ancient piety, did not accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon in 1653-1656. Since that time, Russian Orthodoxy has split into two warring camps; Repressions began against the Old Believers (or schismatics). The Old Believers were forced to flee to the outskirts of Russia and beyond.

The Old Believers strictly observe the external forms of ancient piety - they wear beards and clothes of an old cut, do not drink or smoke, strictly observe fasts, do not welcome theaters and music. Thrift, mutual assistance, honest work were considered the most important means of combating poverty. It was these qualities that led to the fact that large entrepreneurs and merchants appeared among the Old Believers of Russia.

Rice. 186. Ivanov family of Old Believers in the state of Goias (Brazil) - large landowners and producers of agricultural products

The Catholic Church has a huge, disciplined army of clergy, numerous monastic orders, charitable organizations.

The spread of Christianity, primarily Catholicism, outside of Europe and its transformation into a world religion began with the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Often, colonization was explained by the need to bring true faith to new territories. Outside of European countries, Christian rites were modified in accordance with local conditions. In the XVI century. Catholicism spread in Latin America (Fig. 187), in the Philippines, where the position of this religion is strong to this day. In the 19th century Catholicism entered Australia and New Zealand with the settlers.

Rice. 187. Modern Catholic Cathedral in Brasilia (Brazil)

The colonial governments declared Catholicism the state religion in a number of countries in South and Tropical Africa (Cabo Verde, Reunion), about 50% of the population of Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroon are Catholics. catholic faith adhere to more than a third of the population of Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Uganda; 20% of the population of Mozambique. There are large groups of Catholics in Namibia, Lesotho, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Madagascar.

In Asia, the Philippines and East Timor are Catholic countries, there are many Catholics in Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

At the beginning of the XX century. Catholicism spread to the islands of the Pacific Ocean: Guam, Samoa, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia.

As a result of the Reformation in Europe in the XVI century. Protestants separated from the Catholics, rejecting the primacy of the Pope as an intermediary between God and believers. They began to recognize the atonement of sins only by faith in God, to consider the Bible as the only source of doctrine. The Protestants, in turn, were divided into anglican church, Lutheranism, Calvinism, from which Reformers, Presbyterians, Baptists, and others broke away. Protestants predominate among the population of Northern Europe, Canada, the USA, Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.

Islam(Fig. 188). The founder of Islam is a real historical person, the Arab merchant Mohammed (509-623). Archangel Jabrail appeared to him in 609 or 610 in the month of Ramadan and announced that Muhammad was chosen by God to give people the true faith and save them from doomsday. Mohammed's homeland, Hijaz, lay on a mountain-lined coastline between the Sinai Peninsula and Mecca. This area, where Bedouin tribes used to roam and caravans slowly passed, gradually became a place of permanent residence for merchants and usurers.

Rice. 188. Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul (Turkey). The mosque was converted from the Christian church of Hagia Sophia, founded in 553.

Wars required a constant influx of goods, and the inhabitants of Mecca, located at the crossroads of the most important trade routes, did everything possible to develop trade. "Holy months" were introduced, when blood feuds and any military actions near the walls of the city were prohibited. The situation in the vicinity of Mecca was unstable: the nomads robbed peasants and caravans, the Bedouins were at enmity among themselves because of pastures and wells.

Thus, circumstances demanded an ideology that would smooth out social contradictions, put an end to civil strife and robbery, and direct the militancy of the inhabitants to external goals. All this was given by Muhammad. At first ridiculed for his obsession, he united his countrymen under the green banner of Islam.

In Islam, unlike other religions, there are provisions that promote geographical discoveries, this is the "holy war", the obligatory pilgrimage to holy places and the recognition of trade as charitable activities. For example, sura 17 of the Qur'an directly insists on sea voyages, arguing that Allah drives forward the ships of the faithful, on which they strive for abundance. Muhammad himself, being a merchant, argued that one who leaves his native hearth in search of knowledge follows the path of God.

The main center of Islam is Mecca, where the black stone of the Kaaba is located. Muslims pray five times a day, facing this place.

In Europe, Islam spread within the Iberian Peninsula - in southern and eastern Spain. Here the Arab-Moorish rule lasted almost eight centuries - from 711 to 1492.

A distinctive feature of Arab palaces is the abundance of carpets, the division into ceremonial halls, services and the female half (harem), where it is forbidden for outsiders to enter. A park necessarily adjoined the palaces (Fig. 190).

Arab trade caravans brought Islam to North and Tropical Africa. We are indebted to Arab travelers for the description of the "country of gold" - the West African empire of Ghana (in the south of modern Mauritania), the kingdom of Bornu and Kanem, the East African coast, where Azanian civilization was formed under their influence.

In the VI century. aggressive campaigns led Arab nomads to Asia Minor and the Indus Valley, in the VIII century. - North Africa. In the X century. "holy war" brought Islam to Iran, Iraq, Central Asia, by the XII century. - to the territory of modern Pakistan and India, where he faced the resistance of Hinduism. This huge Islamic empire did not last long, but the cultural community of the Arabs has survived to this day.

Rice. 189. The interior of the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet) in Istanbul (Turkey). There is a special place for praying women in the mosque

Rice. 190. Alhambra - Moorish palace in Granada (Spain)

The most significant monuments of the Arab-Moorish rule in Spain are the Alhambra and the Generalife gardens in Granada, the Cordoba mosque, Arab fortresses (alcazars)

Unlike all other religions, Islam spread among all peoples who were ready to accept it, regardless of skin color and local beliefs. The result of such a campaign was the flourishing of Islamic culture, due to the joint actions of the Indians, Persians, Egyptians, united Arab power. In Islamic literature, along with studies in mathematics, medicine and astronomy, descriptions of travel became especially popular.

Muslims, or Mohammedans, believe in the one God of Allah, Muhammad is considered his messenger on earth. holy book Muslims consider the Koran, which consists of sermons, instructions regulating property, legal, family relationships, it also contains household rules and teachings.

In Islam, three main directions have been formed, differing in their approach to the issue of the head of the Muslim community. Followers Sunnism in addition to the Koran, the “sacred tradition” of the Sunnah is recognized, and worthy representatives of the elite are elected as the head of the Muslim community. For followers Shiism the role of Muhammad's son-in-law, the prophet Ali, is important (only his descendants can inherit power). Kharijism- Orthodox Islam, close to Sunnism, requires compliance with strict rules of conduct in life. Kharijites condemn luxury, forbid games and music, and choose the most worthy as the head of the community.

Almost 90% of Muslims in the world are Sunnis. Shiism prevails in Iran, Bahrain, Yemen, Azerbaijan. Large Shiite communities live in Lebanon, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Kairouan - Muslim shrine in Africa

In 671, Okba ibn Nafi, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, the conqueror of North Africa, founded this city 70 km from the coast, in a valley, halfway to the mountain range occupied by the Berbers. He argued that this city should serve Islam until the end of the world.

In the 7th century, after the final defeat of the Berbers, Kairouan became the main Muslim center of the Maghreb, one of the most revered places in the Muslim world - the fourth holy city after Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem.

Rice. 191. Cemetery of the followers of the Prophet Muhammad in Kairouan (Tunisia)

Rice. 192. Mosque in Kairouan (Tunisia)

Islamic economics

Sharia - a set of Islamic laws, regulates economic relations - inheritance law, taxation, usury. Thus, the Qur'an encourages lending money to Muslim brothers, but requires unconditional repayment on time. If there are several children in the family, then all children must receive their shares in the inheritance. The system of taxes (khums - taxation of property, zakat - a tax in favor of the poor, jizya - a poll tax from the Gentiles) in many countries exists unchanged. Sharia prohibits the sale of pork and alcohol, gambling and usury are prohibited. Obviously, as the global market develops, many of these regulations clearly threaten the well-being of Muslim countries (for example, receiving interest on capital invested in banks). The realities of life lead to the revision of provisions that contradict economic practice and their rejection.

At the end of XX - beginning of XXI century. in the world there was a sharp increase in the role of Islam in the economic, political, spiritual life of countries. There are Muslim communities in almost 120 countries of the world. Islam is recognized as the state (official) religion in almost 30 countries. In 43 countries, Muslims make up the absolute majority of the population. These are 16 countries of North and West Africa, 26 countries of Southwest and Central Asia, Albania. In almost 30 countries, Muslims form an influential minority of the population. These include Russian Federation in which many nations North Caucasus, Tatars and Bashkirs profess Islam.

Rice. 193. Islamic women. Despite the fact that in 1928 Turkey became the first country in the Islamic world where the church is separated from the state, many women wear traditional clothes (they cover either only their faces or their entire bodies with a veil or veil)

Religions and social life. Most religions of the world attach special importance to continuity, traditions, and following certain norms of behavior. From this point of view, religions play a conservative role in the life of society. Religions are often a hindrance in the conduct of demographic policy.

Religions have an indirect influence on the development of agriculture, limiting the consumption of certain foods (at certain times of the year) and giving symbolic meaning pets. More than 260 million Buddhists are vegetarians, Hindus do not eat beef, Muslims do not eat pork.

Geography of world religions

Religion is an essential element in the differentiation of human cultures. At different stages of history, in different countries and regions, the positions and influence of religion on the life of society and economic activity differ significantly.

Religious causes have given rise to most of the major political conflicts in the history of mankind, and territorially they were confined to the borders of regions with different beliefs.

The religions of the world that exist today are divided into two large groups - monotheistic, which are characterized by belief in one main deity, and polytheistic who have an extensive pantheon of gods.

Geographically, religions are subdivided into local traditional beliefs held by scattered, isolated tribes; national, as a rule, distributed within state borders or areas of residence of ethnic groups, and world religions "> world, which overcame the national framework and became the common religion of many ethnic groups and states.

local traditional beliefs

They arose at the very dawn of mankind and in the conditions of geographical isolation of communities. The objects of their worship are varied: Animism"> animism- belief in the soul, its immortality and the existence of spirits; the cult of ancestors - the belief in the existence of people after physical death and their influence on the living; Totemism"\u003e totemism is the belief in the origin of all members of a given tribe from a plant or animal that are considered sacred; Fetishism"\u003e fetishism- belief in inanimate objects and their supernatural power; shamanism is the belief in the ability of shaman people to communicate with spirits.

Many of these beliefs, originating at the dawn of the primitive system, are still preserved today in isolated and hard-to-reach areas of Southeast Asia, Latin America, and in the Arctic latitudes of North America and Eurasia. By the beginning of the XXI century. the total number of followers of traditional beliefs was about 200 million people.

The evolution of early religious beliefs followed the evolution of society. The unification of disparate tribes into a single state was accompanied by the emergence of the cult of the leader of man, who in the early class society was transformed into the image of an abstract man of god.

By the II millennium BC. e. relates to the emergence of religions that have survived to this day.

Zoroastrianism (parsism). This is one of the oldest religions that originated in Central Asia in the 1st millennium BC. e. Its occurrence is associated with the name of the prophet Zoroaster. The doctrine is based on belief in two divine principles - the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Andromache. The divine service includes the rituals of priests with sacred fire in a metal bowl (hence another name for the Zoroastrians - fire worshipers). Fear of defilement and the need for purification gave rise to many prohibitions: restrictions on sharing meals and bathing, eating from the hands of strangers, contact with garbage and sewage. The number of Zoroastrians does not exceed 200 thousand people.

National religions

Judaism"\u003e Judaism is considered one of the earliest beliefs that have survived to this day. It arose in the territory of modern Israel, first as a polytheistic religion, which later switched to monotheism. For Judaism, in addition to faith in one God, faith in the immortality of the soul, posthumous retribution, to heaven, hell and God's chosen Jews. This last circumstance, as well as the fact that only one born of a Jewish mother can be considered a Jew, prevented the transformation of Judaism into a world religion. Judaism in its orthodox form is the dominant religion of the state of Israel; it is professed by Ashkenazi (Jews - immigrants from Western, Northern and Eastern Europe) and Sephardim (Jews - immigrants from North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkan and Iberian Peninsulas), as well as Jews living on all other continents. By the beginning of the XXI century in the world there were about 14 million followers of Judaism, with about half of them living in America.

In Judaism, prayers, fasting, the rite of circumcision, numerous holidays (Easter, Judgment Day, New Year, Saturday, etc.) occupy a large place. Rabbis are actually teachers of the law, judges in Jewish communities, and not priests of a cult. Some followers of Judaism do not recognize the Talmud. These are, for example Karaites- descendants of those who migrated to the Crimea from Khazaria in the 11th century. children of Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers who, according to the dogmas of nudaism, are not "real" Jews. Samaritans, mainly living in the region of Samaria (Israel) and in Jordan, recognize only some parts of the Old Testament (Torah and Nebim).

Hinduism"> Hinduism. In the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. developed from Brahminism, which appeared in South Asia, sanctifying the caste system of India. It is practiced by a significant part of the population of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Large communities of Hindus live in Indonesia, Guyana, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, and Mauritius.

The spread of Hinduism outside the Hindustan peninsula was hindered by two main factors: geographical (Himalayas) and conservative dogmas of the religion itself, and, first of all, its basis - the caste system.

In Hinduism, there is no single dogmatics, rituals, organized church. It includes elements of Brahmanism, Vedic and local religions, primitive beliefs: the veneration of water (“sacred waters” of the Ganges River), animals (“sacred cows”), the cult of ancestors.

The caste system is changing very slowly. The Caste Abolition Act, which came out after India gained independence, did little to change the life of Hindu society. The government of Rajiv Gandhi in the late 80s. 20th century introduced the reservation of 30% of places in the state apparatus and in higher educational institutions for representatives of the untouchable caste, which caused protests from almost all sectors of Hindu society - both representatives of the higher castes and the untouchables themselves.

Jainism arose as an "opposition" to the caste system in the VI century. BC e., he proclaimed the main principle of faith not to kill living beings.

In the XV-XVI centuries. at the junction of the cultural influence of Islam and Hinduism in the territory of the modern state of Punjab (India), Sikhism was born, rejecting the caste system and absorbing elements of Islam and Hinduism. The dogmas of Hinduism indirectly contributed to the penetration of Islam into Hindustan. There were few representatives of the Kshatriya (warriors) caste in the western regions, and other castes did not have the right to engage in military affairs, so the Muslim conquerors did not receive a worthy rebuff here. To distinguish themselves among Hindus and Muslims, Sikhs wear "five Ks": kesh (long hair), kachha (short pants), kanha (comb), kara (steel bracelet), kirpan (dagger). The colorful turbans and beards of the Sikhs are clearly visible in the street crowd. The number of Sikhs is about 15 million people, this is the third largest confessional community in India (after Hindus and Muslims). Since the mid 60s. Sikhs are fighting for the creation of an independent state of Khalistan. Sikhs have influential communities in many countries of Asia and Africa, where they control the tailoring business and trade.

Religions of East Asia: Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto. On the territory of modern China, philosophical systems arose - Confucianism"> Confucianism and Taoism"> Taoism. Over time, these systems acquired the status of religions. They did not have a strict church hierarchy, they did not oblige believers to think and act in a certain way. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism have never been implanted with a sword and fire, they have never resorted to missionary work.

Confucius

Confucianism. Confucius, a statesman of Ancient China (V - VI centuries BC) and his followers wrote the treatise "Lun - Yu" ("Conversations and Judgments") - the main literary source of Confucianism. Strictly speaking, Confucianism is not a religion, since it never had the institution of the church, the priesthood, or mystical elements. The ideas of Confucius are the ideas of an earthly person, not of God. A person must observe the norms of social behavior, traditional rituals. Other ethical norms of Confucianism are mandatory moral self-improvement and observance of the rules of etiquette - to act in accordance with one's social position, unconditionally obey the higher authorities. The power of the rulers is considered to be granted by heaven, and therefore sacred, and the division of people into "higher" and "lower" is a fair law. Confucian morality preaches five basic virtues: humanity, justice, self-improvement, nobility and loyalty.

From the 2nd century n. e. before the Xinhai Revolution of 1911-1913. Confucianism was the official state ideology of China, an authoritative ethical system that determined the thinking and character of millions of people. Nowadays, about 300 million people follow Confucianism in China, on the Korean Peninsula, in Japan, in countries with a large Chinese diaspora (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.).

Confucian values, included in the sphere of economic activity and education, have largely contributed to economic success in the territories where this religion is practiced.

Temple in China

Taoism- one of the religions of China, the ideological source of which was the philosophical teachings of Lao Tzu, who lived peacefully at the same time as Confucius. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism focuses on the individual. According to this teaching, people should follow the natural course of events and not try to change it. The ideal of this religious and philosophical school is a life that does not violate the harmony of the surrounding world, the achievement of unity with nature and the attainment of immortality. In Taoism, fortune-telling and rites that expel evil spirits occupy a central place. The highest deities are recognized as Shang di (Jasper lord - the God of heaven and the Father of emperors), Lao tzu and the creator of the world Pan gu.

Taoism had a strong influence on culture, contributed to the development of chemistry, traditional medicine based on the principle of harmony of the human body (acupuncture, physiotherapy, pharmacology). Closely connected with Taoism is the doctrine of opposite principles - yin and yang.

Yin - feminine, weakness, passivity, north, even numbers, yang - masculine, strength, activity, south, odd numbers. Their unity creates a perfect whole. Ancient books preserved prescriptions for medicines, descriptions of the properties of metals and minerals. About 30 million people in China, Singapore and other countries where the Chinese live, consider themselves adherents of Taoism.

Shinto shrine in Japan

Shintoism "\u003e Shintoism - a philosophical and religious system - was formed in Japan, based on the cult of deities of nature and ancestors. The main deity is the goddess of the Sun Amaterasu - the progenitor of all Japanese emperors. Gods and spirits inhabit and spiritualize all nature, are able to incarnate in any object that becomes an object of worship.The religious goal is to achieve salvation in this, and not in the other world, by spiritual merging with the deity through prayers and rituals.Shintoism is characterized by magnificent holidays with sacred dances and processions.Shintoism partially coincides and peacefully coexists with Buddhism.The Japanese, for example, they are adherents of both Shintoism and Buddhism.For almost a century (from the middle of the 19th century), Shintoism was the state religion of Japan.

Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto did not become world religions and did not spread beyond the formation areas.

Yezidis (Yazidis). At the heart of the doctrine, which the followers try to keep secret, is the belief in the one God Ezda. At the same time, followers recognize Jesus Christ as God, revere the Muslim prophet Muhammad and the Jewish Abraham. They recognize the Bible and the Koran as sacred books, they have Christian baptism and circumcision of boys as among Muslims and Jews. Yezidis are Kurds living in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia.

world religions

Buddhism is the world's oldest religion. Appeared in the VI century. BC e. as an opposition to the caste system, enshrined in Brahmanism: the dignity of a person and his social status do not depend on his origin, but on behavior. All people, regardless of class and ethnic differences, can accept the teachings of the Buddha and find the path to salvation.

According to Buddhist canons, life is a continuous chain of suffering, which can be alleviated by righteous behavior and not killing living beings.

The followers of Buddhism are vegetarians: they do not eat meat products. These ethical standards have a direct impact on economic life, especially on the specialization of agriculture.

There are two main branches in Buddhism. Adherents of the Hinayana (which means "narrow path") consider the Buddha to be a real historical person, strictly follow the principles of early Buddhism; those who want to achieve salvation must leave the worldly life. Followers of the Mahayana ("wide path") deify the Buddha and believe that monasticism is not necessary for salvation.

The three most important values of Buddhism are the teacher Buddha, the teaching of the drachma, the keeper of the truth - sagha, which indicates and facilitates the path of the believer. These ideas of Buddhism, as well as the relative indifference to rituals and adaptation to local conditions, contributed to its spread beyond India. In the southern and southeastern direction, Buddhism spread mainly in the form of the teachings of the Hinayana (in the 3rd - 1st centuries BC). From the beginning of our era, its movement to the north and northeast begins in the form of the teachings of the Mahayana. In India itself, Buddhism was supplanted by Hinduism with a caste system that does not accept equality.

AT Lamaism, a later form of Buddhism, special importance is attached to magic spells, meditation, with which you can achieve nirvana - a state of supreme bliss and detachment from life's worries. Lamaism is widespread among the population of Mongolia, in eastern Buryatia, among the Kalmyks and Tuvans.

Christianity appeared at the beginning of the first millennium AD in the east of the Roman Empire, on the territory of modern Israel, as a protest against Judaic exclusivity. It quickly spread among the slaves and the poor. Having proclaimed the equality of all people, Christianity rejected the existing slave-owning social order, giving the desperate hope of gaining freedom through the knowledge of the divine truth that Christ brought to earth.

Craftsmen, merchants, farmers, and the nobility began to join the Christian communities. Emperor Constantine (c. 285 - 337), by his edict of 324, initiated the transformation of Christianity into the state religion of the Roman Empire.

The creeds were defined at the first seven Ecumenical Councils. They are preserved unchanged in Orthodox Church, which gives it additional arguments as a true Christian dogma.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral of the Sourozh Monastery in the 11th century. in Pskov (Russia)

According to Christianity, God exists in three persons - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God the son accepted martyrdom in order to atone for the sins of people and come to Earth a second time to establish the kingdom of heaven. The holy book of Christians is the Bible, which consists of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The main ethical norms are patience and forgiveness. In 1054 there was a complete break between the Roman (western) and Constantinople (eastern) branches of Christianity, it was divided into Catholicism "> Catholicism and Orthodoxy"> Orthodoxy. The main differences between them are in the question of the origin of the Holy Spirit: Catholics believe that it originated from God the Father and God the Son, Orthodox - from God the Father.

Catholics, unlike the Orthodox, believe that in addition to hell and heaven, there is also purgatory. In the Orthodox Church, only choral singing without music is allowed, in the Catholic Church, worship is accompanied by organ music. There are also differences in rituals, in the architecture of church buildings, in the organization of the church (strict centralization and the omnipotence of the Pope in Catholicism).

The Orthodox Church is not governed from a single center, it is represented by 15 autocephalous (independent) churches: Constantinople, Alexandria (Egypt and some African countries), Antioch (Syria, Lebanon), Jerusalem (Palestine), Russian, Georgian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Helladic (Greek), Albanian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, American. Autonomous churches have been singled out from a number of autocephalous churches, which have great rights for self-government (Sinai - the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Japanese - the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia).

In the 90s. 20th century As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the question arose of the formation of an independent Ukrainian Church and its separation from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Uniate(or the Greek Catholic Church), recognizing the primacy of the Pope, appeared in the areas of "contact" between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, absorbed the ethical norms and rituals of both branches. The most widespread in Western Ukraine.

Monophysite Church, which considers Jesus Christ not a god-man, but a god, is common among Egyptian Copts, in Ethiopia, in Armenia.

Catholic Church strictly centralized, has one center - the state of the city of Vatican City, a single head - the Pope (Vicar of Jesus on Earth). The clergy in Catholicism take a vow of celibacy. For many centuries, worship in Catholicism was performed in Latin, only the II Vatican Council (1962-1965) allowed services in national languages.

In most countries of Western Europe, Catholicism is the dominant religion, and in a number of countries - Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland - there are large communities. In all states of America, the majority of the believing population professes Catholicism: almost a third of the US population and half of Canadians are Catholics.

The Catholic Church has a huge army of clergy subject to strict discipline, numerous monastic orders, and charitable organizations.

The spread of Christianity, primarily Catholicism, outside of Europe and its transformation into a world religion began with the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries. Often, colonization was explained by the need to bring true faith to new territories. Outside of European countries, Christian rites were modified in accordance with local conditions. In the XVI century. Catholicism spread in Latin America, in the Philippines, where the position of this religion is strong to this day. In the 19th century Catholicism entered Australia and New Zealand with the settlers.

The colonial governments declared Catholicism the state religion in a number of countries in South and Tropical Africa (Cabo Verde, Reunion), about 50% of the population of Equatorial Guinea, Seychelles, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroon are Catholics. More than a third of the population of Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Congo, the Central African Republic, Kenya and Uganda adhere to the Catholic faith; 20% of the population of Mozambique. There are large groups of Catholics in Namibia, Lesotho, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Madagascar.

In Asia, the Philippines and East Timor are Catholic countries, there are many Catholics in Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.

At the beginning of the XX century. Catholicism spread to the islands of the Pacific Ocean: Guam, Samoa, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia.

As a result of the Reformation in Europe in the XVI century. seceded from the Catholics Protestants who rejected the primacy of the pope as an intermediary between God and the faithful. They began to recognize the atonement of sins only by faith in God, to consider the Bible as the only source of doctrine. The Protestants, in turn, were divided into Anglicanism, Lutheranism, Calvinism from which broke away Reformers, Presbyterians, Baptists and others. Protestants predominate among the population of Northern Europe, in Canada, the USA, Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.

Islam. The founder of Islam is a real historical person, the Arab merchant Muhammad (509-623). In 609 or 610, in the month of Ramadan, the archangel Jabrail appeared to him and announced that Muhammad was chosen by God to give people the true faith and save from the Last Judgment. Mohammed's birthplace, Hijaz, lay on a mountain-lined coastline between the Sinai Peninsula and Mecca. This area, where Bedouin tribes used to roam and caravans slowly passed, gradually became a place of permanent residence for merchants and usurers.

Wars required a constant flow of goods, and the people of Mecca, located at the crossroads of the most important trade routes, did everything possible to develop trade. "Holy months" were introduced, when blood feuds and any military actions near the walls of the city were prohibited.

The situation in the vicinity of Mecca was unstable: the nomads robbed peasants and caravans, the Bedouins were at enmity with each other because of pastures and wells.

The main center of Islam is Mecca, where the black stone of the Kaaba is located. Muslims pray five times a day, facing this place. In Europe, Islam spread within the Iberian Peninsula - in southern and eastern Spain. Here the Arab Moorish rule lasted for almost eight centuries - from 711 to 1492.

Unlike all other religions, Islam spread among all peoples who were ready to accept it, regardless of skin color and local beliefs. The result of such a campaign was the flourishing of Islamic culture, due to the joint actions of the Indians, Persians, Egyptians, united by Arab power. In Islamic literature, along with studies in mathematics, medicine and astronomy, descriptions of travel became especially popular.

Muslims, or Mohammedans, believe in the one God of Allah, Muhammad is considered his messenger on earth. The holy book of Muslims is the Koran, which consists of sermons, instructions regulating property, legal, family relations, it also contains household rules and teachings.

At the end of the twentieth century. - the beginning of the XXI century. in the world there was a sharp increase in the role of Islam in the economic, political, spiritual life of countries.

There are Muslim communities in almost 120 countries of the world. Islam is recognized as the state (official) religion in almost 30 countries. In 43 countries, Muslims make up the absolute majority of the population. These are 16 countries in North and West Africa, 26 countries in South West and Central Asia, Albania. In almost 30 countries, Muslims form an influential minority of the population. Among them is the Russian Federation, in which many peoples of the North Caucasus, Tatars and Bashkirs, profess Islam.

Religions and social life

Most religions of the world attach special importance to continuity, traditions, and following certain norms of behavior. From this point of view, religions definitely play a conservative role in the life of society. Religions are often a hindrance in the conduct of demographic policy.

Religions have an indirect influence on the development of agriculture, restricting the consumption of certain foods (at certain times of the year) and giving symbolic meaning to domestic animals. More than 260 million Buddhists are vegetarians, Hindus do not eat beef, Muslims do not eat pork.

- 94.00 Kb

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF RUSSIA

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

"Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University"

(FGBOU VPO "VGSPU")

Faculty of History and Law

Department of Russian History

The influence of religion on the formation and existence of ethnic groups

Volgograd 2013

Introduction………………………………………………………. ..3

Chapter I The main factors influencing the formation and formation of ethnic groups .................................……… ……………………………………….. four

1.1Main ethno-forming factors ...............................................................4

1.2 Peculiarities of the religious factor………………………………………………………….. ....6

Chapter II The role of religion in the formation of ethnic groups……………………………………………………….. ...10

2.1 Ethno-confessional communities ............................................... 10

2.2 The influence of religion on the formation and preservation of ethnic groups…………………………………………………………. eleven

Conclusion…………………………………………………… .14

Sources and literature……………………………………..15

Introduction

Religion in no way correlates with the reflection and essence of the existing reality, it is only interested in spiritual human values.

Religion exists in the form of certain norms and sets of rules that regulate relations not only between individuals, but also between entire nations. It certainly acts as a form of social consciousness and human self-expression.

The subject of this work is the influence of the religious principle on the formation and existence of ethnic groups, from the moment of their emergence to the final formation and formation of an ethnic group.

The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that since ancient times, religion has played a colossal role in the self-consciousness of peoples, in their lives and attitudes towards the world as a whole.

The purpose of our work is to reveal the essence of the concept of religion and consider the aspect of how religion can influence a person's attitude to the world and, in particular, values in his life.

The tasks that need to be addressed are as follows: to study the features of religion as a form of reflection of people's self-consciousness, to analyze the role and degree of influence of religion on the process of formation of various ethnic groups.

Religion, undoubtedly, is the foundation for the subsequent formation, origin and formation of an ethnos, its culture, self-consciousness. Religion is the force, the basis that unites people and gives them the basis for unity, interaction with each other, the emergence of the foundations of morality, moral values.

Chapter I. The main factors influencing the formation and formation of ethnic groups.

1.1. The main ethno-forming factors

Usually, an ethnos begins to take shape in a certain territory, where various numerous groups of people are already located and interact with each other. In connection with the community of residence, people change their behavior, and they begin to form a common worldview. Single territory - the most important aspect, contributing to the emergence and consolidation of various groups of people living in a separate territory for a long time. Ethnos is a stable intergenerational community of people, the existence of which predetermines the unity and integrity of a certain territory. Sometimes, a part of one ethnic group separates from the main part, moving to a new territory or in connection with the emergence of a new religion. So, for example, the American ethnos was formed.

Having lived together on the same territory for quite a long time, people eventually develop self-awareness, the people begin to distinguish themselves from other people, collectives, groups. All this happens after some time, after about three generations. Ethnic self-consciousness is one of the most significant parameters for the formation and further formation of an ethnos. The people feel themselves as a whole, as one inseparable mechanism, united by common features of culture, language and other features. Any ethnic community carries some knowledge and ideas about its origin, historical original path of development, events that took place in different time periods, has an understanding of its historical purpose, connection with the past and future, historical memory, the ability to evaluate past events, correlating them with events of other ethnic groups. formations.

Ethnic self-consciousness is national-special in the existence and development of any ethnic group.

1 See in detail: The concept and essence of ethnic self-consciousness / [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.superinf.ru/view_helptud.php?id=2321

At the same time, the spiritual side is perceived as a kind of dual unity of a private individual consciousness and a general ethnic consciousness.

Ethnogenesis can also occur under the influence of one common or different languages. Language is a necessary connecting link of a single culture of the people, the basis for rallying people and folding one single ethnic group. As a rule, the people speak their native language, which indicates their ethnicity. Any language is a product of a given ethnic group, it creates the basis of ethnic unity, provides not only social interaction, but also the socio-cultural attitude of all members of the ethnic group to each other. Hegel drew attention to a significant factor in the characterization of the national community - "the ethno-social orientation of self-consciousness, which implies an emotional and evaluative attitude towards representatives of one's own and another ethno-national group." But after some time, this idea was framed in the form of a thesis - "we" and "they".

Ethnic self-consciousness generates the emergence and spread of culture.

Any form, any manifestation of human culture is always associated with an ethnos, since it is impossible for culture to exist outside of a person, outside of his traditions, values, creativity. Thanks to this, a person feels himself an integral part of an ethnos, its necessary element. What gives the ethnic culture to the members of the ethnos?

Culture is the most important factor influencing the formation of ethnic groups and is inextricably linked with the spiritual development of the people, their religion. Culture ensures the unity of any people and stability within ethnic groups. Undoubtedly, it happens that culture plays a differentiating role and opposes one part of an ethnos to another, but often culture is that unifying cohesive force that adds up, forms and stably keeps an ethnos in a certain territory for many years.

2 See in detail: Folk culture and national traditions. M., 1998. / [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://www.textfighter.org/ raznoe/Culture/Chern/kultury_ chernyavskaya_yu_narodnaya_ kultura_i_natsionalnye_ traditsii.php

In addition, culture is inextricably linked with the identity of an ethnic group, due to the fact that each nation creates its own culture, which distinguishes it from all other ethnic groups and sub-ethnic groups. Each people has its own set of moral, spiritual and moral values created by certain representatives of the ethnic group, contributing to the formation of the independence of various ethnic groups. An ethnos, having created its own culture, already puts itself on a certain level and differs from other peoples, while the national self-consciousness significantly increases.

1.2. Features of the religious factor

Religion is a special factor that determines the formation and existence of ethnic groups. The religious factor has a number of features and characteristics that distinguish it from other factors influencing the formation and development of peoples. No culture can be considered as such if its representatives do not have religious outlook. Religion has been the bearer of cultural values since ancient times; it is itself one of the forms of culture. Majestic temples, masterfully executed frescoes and icons, wonderful literary and religious-philosophical works, church rituals, moral commandments have greatly enriched the cultural fund of mankind. The level of development of spiritual culture is measured by the volume of spiritual values created in society, the scale of their distribution and the depth of assimilation by people, by each person.

Religion is a special form of human consciousness, with the help of which people break away from objective reality and face a completely different new world. This form of consciousness is associated with the peculiarities of the human psyche, with the mentality of the people. Each ethnic group chooses a religion depending on the totality of its mental traits, spiritual and moral values. In turn, it is worth distinguishing between the concept of religion for a certain ethnic group and religion for some ethnic groups. Ethnic religions belong to the cultures of small societies, such as the religions of the natives of Africa, Polynesia, Australia, North American Indians. These religions are sometimes called primitive. They do not have a wide global distribution and, as a rule, refer only to certain ethnic groups.

But whether it be a world religion or a primitive one, it cannot exist without faith in images and concepts that are considered sacred and are called supernatural. People believe that otherworldly reality, unlike the real one, can help them in solving problems, will certainly indicate the right path in life. Any religion includes several essential elements. Among them: faith - religious feelings, moods, emotions, teaching - a systematized, specially designed for a given religion set of principles, ideas, concepts, a religious cult - a set of actions that believers perform in order to worship the gods, namely rituals, prayers, sermons. Sufficiently developed religions also have their own organization - the church, which regulates the life of the religious community. Faith is a special psychological state of people in which they believe in the obligatory occurrence of an event. religious faith- belief in the truth of religious canons, cults and dogmas. The people believe in the existence of a superpower capable of manipulating people's lives and controlling their destinies. The assimilation of religious canons, ideas occurs in the process of human socialization. Gradually, a religious consciousness comes to a person, which is characterized by the imagination of various mythical images, the presence of faith in otherworldly forces, strong emotionality, expressed in religious gestures, vocabulary and other rituals. And religious institutions, in turn, control the minds of believers, their behavior. What are the characteristics of religious faith? Its first element is faith in the very existence of God as the creator of everything that exists, the manager of all deeds, deeds, and thoughts of people. So, for all the actions of a person, those who control him are responsible. higher power? According to modern religious teachings, a person is endowed by God with free will, has freedom of choice, and because of this, he himself is responsible for his actions and for the future of his soul.

Religious consciousness is impossible without religious rites and worship.

The totality of religious rituals do not carry any practical value, but are an integral part of the religious worldview. Rituals are symbols of the visual expression of belief in supernatural powers. The people believe that some peculiar rituals connect them with the other world. Since ancient times, people have performed mysterious rituals over the dead, put in the grave objects that were used in life, weapons, sometimes flowers. The ancient Egyptians, Romans, Hindus, Persians and other peoples sought to propitiate their gods and brought gifts to the gods, prayed to them for wealth and good luck. Every religion that exists today has its own rites. Rites can be collective (joint) or individual, when each believer performs them alone. They can be daily, weekly, calendar (holiday) or those that a person performs only once in his life. They are associated with major events in a person's life, such as birth, marriage, or death. Religiosity is not aimed at obtaining specific objective knowledge, but at an attempt to identify oneself with another world. Faith, belief in the existence of something invisible, in the presence of something whose existence has not been proven - all this distinguishes religion from other forms of attitude to the world. The peculiarity of the religious worldview is also that

Religion is interested in the meaning and values of human existence, its ethical, moral, moral components. Religion answers those questions that do not and cannot exist in scientific knowledge.

3 See in detail: Culturology, - M .: Higher School, 2001 - 511 p. [Electronic resource]: Access mode: http://studentam-esipova. narod.ru/kulturologia/ Bagdasarian.pdf

These questions go back to the forms of existence, worldview and worldview.

Religion cannot answer the questions why we live this way and why, how life works and why the world is exactly this and some other.

Religion is interested in questions more essential and deeper than science. She answers the questions of human life, human essence and his being. The mechanism for searching for these answers is not related to conducting experiments that could contribute to the solution of a specific issue, a specific task, it is associated with a deeply individual specificity of human experience.

Religion is very closely and firmly connected with the traditions of peoples. There are religions that are an integral part, the basis of the unity of a certain ethnic group, its essence. In a number of modern countries there is the concept of a "religious nation", according to which religion is the main powerful force for rallying people. Religion cannot be considered in isolation from the ethnic community, its formation and the formation of religious beliefs. Since religion is a product of some ethnic community, it bears the imprint of the everyday consciousness of people, their true culture and mentality.

Short description

Religion, unlike science, is not based on obtaining objective knowledge about reality, but is based on the formation of a person's attitude to the world through belief in supernatural forces, in the existence of gods and various other fantastic creatures. Religion in no way correlates with the reflection and essence of the existing reality, it is only interested in spiritual human values. Religion exists in the form of certain norms and sets of rules that regulate relations not only between individuals, but also between entire nations. It certainly acts as a form of social consciousness and human self-expression.

Content

Introduction………………………………………………………...3
Chapter I The main factors influencing the formation and formation of ethnic groups ..................................…………………………………………….. four
1.1Main ethno-forming factors...............................................4
1.2 Features of the religious factor………………………………………………………......6
Chapter II The role of religion in the formation of ethnic groups……………………………………………………….....10
2.1 Ethno-confessional communities ....................................................... 10
2.2 The influence of religion on the formation and preservation of ethnic groups…………………………………………………………. eleven
Conclusion……………………………………………………….14
Sources and literature……………………………………..15

Theory and history of religion. ethnic religions.

Introduction to the course "Ethnic Religions".

Goals, objectives and structure of the course;

The concept of "ethnic religions". Character traits ethnic religions;

Types of ethnic religions;

Fundamentals of dogma, structure and cult;

Problems of modern ethnic religions.

Rudolf Otto "The Sacred", "On the Emotional in the Idea of the Social and its Relationship with the Rational".

Concepts of ethnic religions. Character traits.

Ethnic religions existed everywhere. At different stages of human development, they existed constantly. Ethnic religions are also called "folk" religions, state, because. they are characteristic of one state-va, without going beyond its limits.

Their significance lies in the fact that such religions have a significant impact on the formation of the mentality of the people. Ethnic religions regulate the behavior and life of its representatives. Contribute to the development and preservation of the respective ethnic group. Prevents its cultural and linguistic assimilation.

Ethnic religions are such religious beliefs that cover with their influence all segments of the population within the same nationality or state.

Character traits:

Small number (from several hundreds and thousands to several million people);

Limited geographical area of distribution;

Traditionally oral reproducibility;

Types of ethnic religions

Ancient Greek religion is a system of polytheistic beliefs.

ancient egyptian religion

Ancient Indian religion - as a set of religious views and rituals

Ancient Iranian religious beliefs

ancient roman religion

Confucianism
Sintaism

Fundamentals of dogma, structure and cult in ethnic religions

Kinship. In the foreground is the ethnic community. Religion and the people represent a single whole, therefore, in tribal religions, the concept of missionary work is not familiar. Elderly people play an important role in the ethnic community. It is they who pass on their experience to younger generations. There are gods, ancestors (mostly polytheism). The existence of two languages - inside the faith, the language of the initiates (shamans, priests) and the language of everyone else.

Worship is an act that expresses worship (faith).

European Congress of Ethnic Religions and World Congress of Ethnic Religions. The first congress of the World Congress took place in 1998 in Vilnius. Supreme Council of Ethnic Hellenes. The Asatrup organization operates in Iceland, the Native Faith Association in Poland, and so on. Modernization for popular religions in Europe is their improvement in relation to others.

Definition and classification of religion

Definition and philosophical meanings religion;

Problems and principles of classification of religion;

Yablokov "Tutorial and educational dictionary at least"; Hegel "Philosophy of Religion"; Tylor "Primitive Culture"; Freud, Obsessive Actions and Religious Rites, Totem and Taboo.

Religion is a special form of understanding the world, due to belief in the supernatural.

The religious point of view goes back to Lactantius, who defined religion as the doctrine of the reunion of man with God. Man initially had a direct connection with God, but then, in the course of some events, he lost it.

Irreligious. Religion - as one of the forms of social consciousness, a set of spiritual ideas based on faith in the supernatural; religion as organized worship of higher powers.

Religion is understood in the subjective-personal plane. Religion is seen as a personal faith.

Objective-general plan. Religion is seen as a general institutional phenomenon.

Problems and principles of classification of religion

Principles:

Consolidation of pre-existing historical communities

Unification of similar religious phenomena (allowing to reveal the structure of the religious experience of mankind)

Signs: ethnographic, philosophical, morphological, phenomenological, normative, geographical, linguistic.

Normative features are the most common and divide religions into two groups: true and false. The disadvantage is that it is unscientific. The truth of a religion is mainly supported by the apologists, who in turn may hold that only one religion is true. It's also not tolerant.

Geographic principles are based on the geographical distribution of communities. Highlight religions such as oceanic, american, classical religions ancient greece and ancient Rome (their Hellenistic variants are added to the same group). Many religions are not limited to existing in one region.

Ethnographic and linguistic principles. There are such races as oceanic, American, Mongoloid (Semites, Aryans).

At present, the term "world religions" denotes only three religions, indicated in Fig. 10.1 (listed in chronological order).

Rice. 10.1.

In order for a religion to be considered global, it must have a significant number of followers around the world and have followers in many countries and among various peoples. Other monotheistic religions have the status of regional (Fig. 10.2).

Rice. 10.2.

Each religion represents certain beliefs, a certain experience of communication with the divine, a system of rituals, cults. Religion also includes various organizations.

The number of followers of the most common religions in the world is shown in Table. 10.1

Table 10.1

Number of followers of the most widespread religions in the world

	Number of followers
Christianity	Over 2.3 billion
Catholicism	Over 1.2 billion
Protestantism	About 800 million
Orthodoxy	About 315 million
Other Orthodox groups	About 17 million
	Over 1.6 billion
	About 982 million
	About 510 million
Chinese folk religions	About 433 million
New religions	About 63 million
ethnic religions	About 243 million
	About 25 million
	About 15 million
Non-believers (agnostics)	About 684 million
	About 136 million

Buddhism

Buddha is an Indian thinker, the founder of the religion of Buddhism, which is most widespread in Tibet, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Korea, China and Japan. On the territory of Russia, Buddhism is the main religion in Buryatia, Tuva and the Kalmyk steppe.

The religious and philosophical teaching of Buddhism arose in the 6th century. BC. in North India. Its founder was Prince Sidartha (Siddhartha) Gautama, whose name is shrouded in legends and legends. He was born in Northeast India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, into a noble family and brought up in luxury. He married early, and he had everything you could wish for. But one day he met a weak old man, sick, with ulcers, and then he saw a dead man. And then for the first time Gautama realized that he could not avoid illness, old age and death. The joys of life faded for him. His meeting with the hermit, who calmly and with dignity went his own way, decided everything. At that time Sidarte was 30 years old. Leaving a rich palace, wife and son, he wandered for several years, talking with people. One day, after much thought, an insight descended on him, he comprehended the truth. Thus, the foundations of his doctrine of the meaning of life were formed.

Since then, he has traveled the country preaching his teachings. He was called the Buddha, i.e. illumined, wise, or Shakya Muni (sage from the Shakya tribe). Once, Siddhartha Gautama, who had reached the age of 35, was sitting under a large fig tree, where he made a solemn vow that he would not rise from his seat until he solved the riddle of human suffering, even if he had to stay there so long that he would dry up. his blood and his bones will rot. So he sat for 49 days. Despite the devilish temptations, Gautama unraveled the mystery of suffering, understood why the world is full of sorrows and disasters. He figured out how to defeat them, that's why he was nicknamed buddha(Enlightened).

Some of his commandments are simple and accessible to everyone: be honest and firm; do not be lazy in the search for truth; do not do to another what you would not wish for yourself; avoid doing evil even in response to evil. The Buddha believed that the world is imperfect and unfair, therefore one must go deep into oneself, renounce the world, and the highest degree of such a departure from the world is nirvana. So he died while in nirvana. It is believed that the oral teachings that survived after him are collected in the book "Jammapada"

In his very first sermon, which the Buddha gave in the Deer Park to the five hermits, he spoke "four noble truths."

1. Life inevitably entails suffering, it is imperfect and unsatisfactory.
2. Suffering comes from our desires.
3. There is a state in which there is no suffering.
4. There is a way to achieve this state.

The two main symbols of this religion are the image of the Buddha sitting in a lotus position (Fig. 10.3) and the Wheel of the Law (Fig. 10.4) with eight spokes. The eight spokes symbolize the eight noble principles of Buddhist teachings: right belief, right values, right speech, right conduct, right pursuit of livelihood, right aspirations, right evaluation of one's actions, and right meditation. All together should lead to the ultimate goal - enlightenment.

As mentioned above, the Buddhist picture of being is a cosmological pyramid, consisting of 31 levels of existence. The four lower levels of the pyramid are reserved for beings whose consciousness is completely clouded. People who are on the fifth level find themselves, as it were, in a suspended state between the four gross and six gentle (heavenly) forms of existence; The 12th and 27th levels are the seat of Brahma or Brahman; Levels 28-31 are the sphere of pure thought, or the cosmic body of Bulla.