Textbook 6.1: Where Are Religions Distributed?

The spatial distribution of religions is important to geographers because it helps to determine

• how many people follow a certain religion at multiple locations.

• whether or not people adhere to their religion after they migrate.

• how certain religions are dispersed over wide areas while others are clustered.

• how often people practice their religion.

• how long it will take for folk religions to diffuse from their original location.

The universalizing religion with the most adherents worldwide is

• Buddhism

• Christianity

• Hinduism

• Islam

• Shintoism

Which of the following would NOT be included among the world's four largest religions in terms of the number of adherents?

• Christianity

• Buddhism

• Hinduism

• Judaism

• Islam

Chinese traditional and African traditional represent which type of religion?

• unaffiliated

• universalizing

• ethnic

• folk

• syncretic

Which of the following belief systems states that the existence of God cannot be proven empirically?

• Agnosticism

• Atheism

• Unaffiliation

• Assimilation

• Amalgamation

The ethnic religion which has the most adherents worldwide is

• Confucianism

• Taoism

• Hinduism

• Shintoism

• Islam

A classification of a religion that is spatially widespread and philosophically inclusive of all potential adherents is described as

• universalizing

• folk

• ethnic

• tribal

• animistic

Which of the following is an ethnic religion?

• Buddhism

• Baháʹí

• Islam

• Judaism

• Christianity

Which is a common characteristic of an ethnic religion?

• based on only one language

• appealing mostly to one group of people in one place

• based on belief in one particular spiritual leader

• younger than a universalizing religion

• more peaceful than a universalizing religion

Use Figure 6-1 to answer the question.

Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding religious adherents among the world's population?

• more than half of the people are nonreligious

• less than one-fifth of the people are non-religious

• more than half of the people are Christian

• about half of the people are Muslim

• about two-thirds of the people are Christian