Sociology Now, Census Update

Mohammed, a new sacred text, the Koran. Islam means “Submission to God,” and

Muslim, “one who has submitted to God.” Islam is far more communal than Chris-

tianity, especially its Protestant variety, and requires the fusion of religion and gov-

ernment. Only a Muslim government is seen as legitimate. There are two main

branches, Shi’ite and Sunni, which differ in a number of beliefs and practices; for

instance, Shi’ite Muslims revere holy men, or imams. In Iraq under Saddam Hussein,

the Shi’ite majority was severely persecuted. Today about 20 percent of the world’s

population is Muslim. Like Christianity, the numbers have increased dramatically,

from 529 million to 1.3 billion (Figure 15.1).

All three of these religions are divided into various denominations and sects,

based on interpretations of their religious texts. Some interpret these texts liberally

and thus enable religious belief to casually coexist with modern life. Others are more

demanding. At the extreme ends of all these religions are fundamentalist groups,

which claim to be the purest and truest followers of their religion. Fundamentalism

tries to return to the basic precepts, the “true word of God,” and live exactly accord-

ing to His precepts.

However, even within a fundamentalist group, there is much debate about what

precisely God expects of his followers, and there is little agreement between funda-

mentalist groups. For example, al-Qaeda’s interpretation of jihad,or holy war, to

mean acts of terrorism against non-Muslims, is viewed with horror by most funda-

mentalist Muslims. Some fundamentalist Christians believe that going to the movies

is immoral, while others play movies during “fellowship hour.” Some Orthodox Jews

will not push the buttons on an elevator on the Sabbath because they believe that the

restriction against working on the Sabbath extends to elevator buttons.

All fundamentalist groups are selective in the application of their chosen texts.

Even if you believe that the Bible is literally true, you must decide which parts are

496 CHAPTER 15RELIGION AND SCIENCE

Buddhism

Christianity

Islam

Taoism

Hinduism

Judaism

Sikkism

Others

Multi-Religion

FIGURE 15.1World Religions, 2005

Source:“World Religions” from Maps of the World website, http://www.mapsoftheworld.com. Reprinted with permission.