Chapter 6: Religion

Question 1

Agnosticism

Answer 1

Belief that nothing can be known about whether God exists

Question 2

Animism

Answer 2

– Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms or earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

Question 3

Atheism

Answer 3

Belief that God does not exist

Question 4

Autonomous religion

Answer 4

A religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally.

Question 5

Branch

Answer 5

A large and fundamental division within a religion

Question 6

Caste

Answer 6

A class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned, according to religious law.

Question 7

Cosmogony

Answer 7

A set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.

Question 8

Denomination

Answer 8

A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body

Question 9

Ethnic religion

Answer 9

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated.

Question 10

Fundamentalism

Answer 10

– Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination or sect.)

Question 11

Ghetto

Answer 11

During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal or economic pressure

Question 12

Hierarchical religion

Answer 12

A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.

Question 13

Missionary

Answer 13

An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.

Question 14

Monotheism

Answer 14

The doctrine of or belief in the existence of only one god.

Question 15

Pagan

Answer 15

A follower of a polytheistic religion.

Question 16

Pilgrimage

Answer 16

A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes

Question 17

Polytheism

Answer 17

Belief in or worship of more than one god.

Question 18

Sect

Answer 18

A relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

Question 19

Solstice

Answer 19

An astronomical event that happens twice each year when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach its most northernmost or southernmost extreme, and resulting in the shortest and longest days of the year.

Question 20

Syncretic

Answer 20

A religion that combines several traditions.

Question 21

Universalizing religion

Answer 21

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.