R ELIGION

W HAT IS RELIGION ? Any set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power, e.g. forces, gods, spirits, ghosts, or demons The supernatural elements are outside the observable world Non-empirical Accepted on faith The supernatural elements differ within and between societies

T HE ETIC APPROACH Anthropology ’ s concern is not which religion is superior Its concern is WHY religions exists and HOW and WHY it varies from culture to culture

O RIGINS AND R EASONS FOR R ELIGION Neandertal & early Homo sapiens Burial of the dead, art, decoration

R EASON #1: T HE N EED TO U NDERSTAND Edward Tylor & R.R. Marett Religion was born as people tried to understand conditions and events that normal experience could not explain Dual existence: physical/visible and psychic/invisible Animism: the belief in souls Animatism: the belief in the impersonal supernatural forces Preceded the creation of spirits

R EASON #2: R EVERSION TO C HILDHOOD F EELINGS Freud Totems and taboos represent projected oedipal desires

R EASON #3: C OPING WITH A NXIETY AND U NCERTAINTY Bronislaw Malinowski Religion helps us deal with death, stress, and anxiety Can be a very therapeutic, positive aspect Jung, James, Maslow

R EASON #4: T HE N EED FOR C OMMUNITY Emile Durkheim Communitas Religion is social It helps us feel part of a community Affirms our place in society Enhances feelings of community Gives people confidence Fights alienation

R EASON #5: S OCIAL C ONTROL Religion mobilizes people and their emotions Crusades Jihad The Taliban Witch crazes

E LEMENTS AND V ARIATION IN R ELIGION Supernatural forces Mana: a sacred, impersonal force (i.e., luck, karma) Taboo: things not to be touched, places not to be entered, animals not to be killed, etc. Gods: named personalities, often anthropomorphic Spirits: beneath gods, closer to humans Ghosts: beings that were once human (ancestors)

M ONOTHEISTIC VS. P OLYTHEISTIC Monotheistic Religion: One supreme god Polytheistic Religion: Many gods, none supreme over all others

R ITUALS AND R ITES OF P ASSAGE Rituals Convey information about the participants and their traditions Generally very formal Rites of Passage Customs associated with transition from one stage of life to another

I NTERACTING WITH THE S UPERNATURAL Prayer Physiological Experience Simulation/Divination Getting the supernatural to provide guidance Ouija boards, fortune tellers Feasts Sacrifices Magic The belief that a person ’ s action can compel the supernatural to act in some particular way

W ITCHCRAFT Witchcraft: using thought and emotion to evoke supernatural malevolence Sorcery: using materials and objects to evoke supernatural malevolence i.e., voodoo doll

R ELIGIOUS P RACTITIONERS Priests: full-time, usually male Highly educated and specialized High standing in society Can communicate with the supernatural Shamans: part-time specialist, generally a healer Often enters into trances to communicate with gods or spirits Mediums: generally female, thought to heal while possessed or in a trance Sorcerers and Witches: low economic or social status, generally feared in society

R ELIGION AND A DAPTATION Syncretisms: cultural mixes Cargo Cults Fundamentalism (or anti-modernism) i.e., the Taliban Revitalization i.e., early Christianity, the Protestant Reformation

R ELIGIONS OF THE W ORLD