that all religions establish boundaries fortheir adherents. Each of these boundaries,
be they territorial (sacred land) or symbolic(beliefs, values, identity), are impor-
tant to the religion. When there is a perceived threat to these boundaries, real or
imaginary, most religions sense they are under attack. This is one reason people
will murder others and even sacrifice their own lives in the name of religion. We
have observed this form of violent behavior for centuries. Whether it be the Cru-
sades, the Inquisition, the Reformation, the Holocaust, the events in Rwanda and
Bosnia, what happened on 9/11/2001, or China’s treatment of Buddhists in Tibet,
violent behavior has plagued much of organized religion since its inception. And
recent events tell us that not much has changed in this“modern era.”In fact, in
the first fifteen years of this century we have seen an unprecedented wave of vio-
lence among people of various religious groups. The bloodshed in the Philippines,
Nigeria, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Myanmar continues at an alarming rate.
When you add to these the reports of the worldwide increase in anti-Semitism,^40
you can understand why people perceive a connection between globalization, reli-
gion, and aggression. You should also be able to appreciate the words of Paden:
“The study of religion...prepares us to encounter not only other centers and
calendars, and numerous versions of the sacred and profane, but also to decipher
and appreciate different modes of language and behavior. Toward that end, knowl-
edge about others plays its indispensable role.”^41 That knowledge about the“other”
will help reduce the level of religious violence we have witnessed all over the
world. As Van Voorst tells us,“Religious violence committed by groups must be
understood in its cultural context—not to excuse it, but to understand it.”^42 By
introducing the major worldviews of six of the most important religious traditions
we hope to contribute to that understanding.Selecting Religious Traditions for Study
It is obvious that we must omit numerous worldviews and religions from our analysis.
From animism to Zoroastrianism, from Rastafarianism to Scientology, there is no
shortage of religions. Many of these religions have within their“tent”thousands of
affiliations. For example, as previously noted, there are approximately 41,000 different
Christian denominations.^43 There are also people who follow New Age philosophies
as a worldview or who practice Wicca (a modern pagan tradition). Turning to Asia,
we did not include Sikhism, Taoism, Baha’i, or Shintoism. We also omitted primal
religions practiced in parts of Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands as well as in
the American Indian cultures of North and South America. In short, with thousands
of religions, cults, movements, philosophies, and worldviews to choose from, how can
we decide which orientations to examine? Drawing on the research of religious scho-
lars, we have decided to examine Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism,
and Confucianism. And though we grant the importance of other religious traditions
and worldviews, our decision was based on three widely accepted criteria—numbers,
diffusion, andrelevance.
First, while statistics of the world’s religions are only approximations, most studies
reveal that, worldwide, Christianity and Islam have over a billion adherents each, and
Hinduism is rapidly approaching that number.^44 Combined, these three religious tra-
ditions represent about 66 percent of the world’s population. Second, by including
diffusion as a criterion, we are referring to the notion of dispersion of a religion
throughout the world. For example, while the Jewish population is numerically small112 CHAPTER 4•Worldview: Cultural Explanations of Life and Death
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