© Tori M Saneda 2005-2008 Religion IV. Religious practitioners Individuals who specialize in use of spiritual power to influence others - shamans – most common - term taken from nomadic people called Chuckchee (Siberia) - = person w/access to supernatural power that can be used for benefit of specific clients - may only be part-time specialist - trance state used to communicate w/supernatural - often innovative in practices - priests - practitioners trained to perform rituals for benefit of group - may be full-time specialists - ritual is the thing – innovation and creativity not prized among priests - sorcerers - uses supernatural power to harm humans (illness, misfortune, death) - often role is similar to our law enforcement – used by people to punish someone who has violated rule - uses magic rituals - witches - person believed to have innate supernatural power to harm others w/out use of ritual - may not even intend harm, but b/c power is innate can inadvertently harm people - very few societies tolerate presence of witches b/c often associated w/ acts outside social norm Patterns of belief Pattern of belief focused on one or more god of extrahuman origin = theism May be a reflection of way society organized - more centralized and stratified = fewer and fewer gods - Monotheistic: belief in one god (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) - Henotheistic: worship of only one god, while acknowledging that other gods exist. Henotheists do not necessarily view other gods as legitimate objects of worship, even while acknowledging they exist (Hinduism) - Polytheistic: belief in many gods (Aztec, ancient Greeks, Egyptians) - Atheism = positive belief there is no god; or absence of belief that there is a god - have personal moral code - agnosticism = concept; idea that existence of God cannot be proved or disproved based on existing evidence Religious Change© Tori M Saneda 2005-2008 Religion beliefs and rituals can be catalysts/vehicles of social change - syncretism = borrowing of beliefs, practices and organizational characteristics from other religions o e.g., Voodoo borrowed heavily from Catholicism  one god = Bondye  St. Patrick = Dambella – rainbow serpent diety  Catholic feast day – St James the Elder (1st martyred apostle) = voodoo patron of soldiers o e.g., Zuni art and Catholicism  Catholicism adopted by many Zuni  Christ often picture clothed in Zuni cloth and jewelry  Kachinas = remind people to be attentive during services (mediators b/t humans and divine) - revitalization = conscious efforts to build an ideology that will be relevant to changing cultural NN o often occur in disorganized societies (war, revolutions, acculturation, etc.) o often radically destructive of existing institutions o revitalization movements provide way to resolve conflict and promote stabilization thru reorganization o adaptation to external forces that threaten to overwhelm society o e.g., Ghost Dance – 1880s  begun by Pauite – Wovoka - during eclipse, brought before God and given message for people of earth: peace and right living - circle dance – represent movement of harmony around sun - prohesized that dead Indian forebears would return soon to take possession of technology of whites, who would be simultaneously exterminated in huge explosion = renewal of earth  many Indian nations rallied to the Ghost Dance; e.g., Lakota, Ute, Washoe, Shoshone, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Mandan, Comanche  some practitioners changed meaning and intent - Lakota (Sioux) suffered greatly at hands of US Army - lands taken away by miners; RR given rights to build thru reservation, etc. - Lakota warrior, Kicking Bear, visited Wovoka, came back w/message but injected militancy into it - wear special costume for dance (eagle feathers) = impervious to bullets - made US govt nervous; Nov 1890 – thousands of troops sent into Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations – Sitting Bull (peace chief) arrested and murdered - Another leader, Big Foot, went to negotiate over right to practice religion and get increased rations for winter - camp along Wounded Knee creek attacked by soldiers on Dec. 29, 1890 o 153 Lakota and 39 soldiers died Why Are People Religious? Function of religion psychological reasons: - by answering existential questions, help people cope o why do we die/suffer, etc.© Tori M Saneda 2005-2008 - provides clear cut way to deal w/frightening uncertainties o Trobriand Islanders = excellent mariners yet perform elaborate rituals before set sail o what happened after 9/11? – many people went to church social reasons - mediate tension b/t social roles and relationships o husbands/wives, etc. o way to achieve consensus - provides guidelines for how should live and what values to hold o motivates compliance of customs - gives us social rules to maintain order o supernatural punishment o e.g., Viking warriors promised Valhalla for