religion related to geography?

[dorlandt]

ignoring mass crusades of converstion, simply for the sake of argument please, would you care to entertain the notion that different religious traits stem from their respective geographical regions?
this doesnt have to deal only with 'us' vs. 'them' situations, but is it not note-worthy that the most 'violent' of religions always stem from populous areas of differing politics?

(i suppose one could simply argue that one would not have a water god if no large body of water was imposing 'threat' to the native population during daily tasks...)

and please, no pagan hating? just an objective overlook?

[Drooperdoo]

Dorlandt,
I've noticed that religions can never really start in their place of origin--probably because local people know the alleged prophet (and know him for the phony he is). So Buddhism, invented in Northern India, only took root in China. Jesus was spurned by the actual Jews who knew him and his alleged religion spread only after hitting Europe. Or Islam. Only something like 17% of all Muslims are Arabs. The Southeast Asian country of Indonesia is the world's largest Islamic nation.
It seems that exoticism has a lot to do with a religion's attractiveness.
Look at all the Brits in the mid-60's who followed the Beatles' cue and started chanting Hare Krishna. Many wore ridiculous Nehru jackets.
Half of the appeal was the perceived exotic nature of the religion's cultural backdrop.
The less we know, the more mysterious it seems--and the more susceptible we are to it.
So my theory: The next great religious revolutionary will be a Brazilian, but his religion won't take off until it hits Timbuktu.

P.S.--Regarding the effects of geography on a people, the poet Wallace Stevens wrote: "Man is the intelligence of his soil,
The sovereign ghost. As such, the Socrates
Of snails, musician of pears, principium
And lex. Sed quaeritur: is this same wig
Of things, this nincompated pedagogue,
Preceptor to the sea?"

[Igu]

drooperdoo said:

Dorlandt,
I've noticed that religions can never really start in their place of origin--probably because local people know the alleged prophet (and know him for the phony he is). So Buddhism, invented in Northern India, only took root in China. Jesus was spurned by the actual Jews who knew him and his alleged religion spread only after hitting Europe. Or Islam. Only something like 17% of all Muslims are Arabs. The Southeast Asian country of Indonesia is the world's largest Islamic nation.
It seems that exoticism has a lot to do with a religion's attractiveness.
Look at all the Brits in the mid-60's who followed the Beatles' cue and started chanting Hare Krishna. Many wore ridiculous Nehru jackets.
Half of the appeal was the perceived exotic nature of the religion's cultural backdrop.
The less we know, the more mysterious it seems--and the more susceptible we are to it.
So my theory: The next great religious revolutionary will be a Brazilian, but his religion won't take off until it hits Timbuktu.

P.S.--Regarding the effects of geography on a people, the poet Wallace Stevens wrote: "Man is the intelligence of his soil,
The sovereign ghost. As such, the Socrates
Of snails, musician of pears, principium
And lex. Sed quaeritur: is this same wig
Of things, this nincompated pedagogue,
Preceptor to the sea?"

Very correct, Exotism plays a lot, just look at how the Koran is worshipped, Arabs do not understand all the words of the Koran becaus they do not speak proper arabic, it sounds complicated to them therfore divine.

[Tautalos]

Some people in Portugal state that «nobody is a prophet in it's own land». However, that's not always correct, and, apart from some universalistic religions, people tend to practice the religion of their own land.

Concerning Islam, it must be noted that the most purely islamic country in the world, is precisely Saudi Arabia, that is, the place of birth and life of Mahomet.
Concerning Hinduism, it was born and is still based in India.
Concerning Shinto, it's the Japanese national religion, practiced only in Japan.
The same goes for Judaísm, practiced by people of Jewish ascendency, specially in Israel.