Deck 13: Religion: Ritual and Belief

Question 1

A symbolic system socially enacted through rituals and other aspects of social life is

A) mana.
B) religion.
C) worldview.
D) totemism.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The conceptualization of the world offering a set of unquestioned assumptions about it and how it works is called

A) religion.
B) perspective.
C) worldview.
D) fundamentalism.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The interpretivist approach to religion

A) is one of understanding religion as belief in supernatural things.
B) is one of stylized performances involving symbols that are associated with social, political, and religious activities.
C) argues there was nothing simpleminded about the myths, legends, and religious practices of tribal leaders.
D) looks at the underlying symbolic and cultural interconnections within a society.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A key feature of religious beliefs and behavior is that they are rooted in:

A) social behavior and social action.
B) phenomena.
C) historical documents.
D) dogma.

Question 5

Polytheism is

A) belief in one God.
B) belief in many Gods.
C) belief in the power of plants and animals.
D) an explanatory system of causation that does not follow naturalistic explanations.

Question 6

Which of these acts as objects for group ritual activity and represents powerful symbols for people to focus on?

A) Totems
B) Mana
C) Magic
D) Religion

Question 7

A trance is

A) a semiconscious state typically brought on by hypnosis, ritual drumming, and singing, or hallucinogenic drugs such as mescaline or peyote.
B) an incantation and the manipulation of special objects.
C) a symbolic system that is socially enacted through rituals and other aspects of social life.
D) raw supernatural power.

Question 8

In some Pentecostal and charismatic Christian religions adherents experience an ecstatic religious happening (often associated with shamanism), which is known as

A) praying.
B) speaking in tongues.
C) pilgrimage.
D) meditation.

Question 9

What is a life cycle ritual that marks a person's or group of persons' transition from one social state to another?

A) Magic
B) Animism
C) Totemism
D) Rite of passage

Question 10

For early anthropologists, primitive religions were based on a fundamental error in thinking.

Question 11

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam became state religions, whose religious message and ritual supported the government of the state.

Question 12

Which of the following is not a feature of sympathetic magic?

A) It works with the help of a specific supernatural being.
B) It relies on supernatural powers to produce its outcome.
C) It works on the principles of similarity contagion.
D) Informally, it can also be called imitative magic.

Question 13

An example of the law of contagion is

A) throwing darts at a picture of your enemy.
B) creating a voodoo doll.
C) casting a love spell using a shirt of the person you have a crush on.
D) dressing like your idol.

Question 14

A rise in fundamentalism is often seen when

A) things are stable.
B) there are many changes in society.
C) there is peacetime.
D) people are in rural settings.

Question 15

Hawaiians and other Polynesian islanders traditionally believed that mana, sacred or supernatural power, existed within certain objects, at sacred spaces, and in persons, including all of the following except

A) the chief's shadow.
B) things the chief had touched.
C) the sites where rituals were performed.
D) the sun.

Question 16

Which approach to religious beliefs and behaviors do the textbook authors feel is most effective at explaining why people engage in religious behaviors, especially behaviors?

A) The idea that religion began with a belief in spirits
B) The notion that religion concerns beliefs and behaviors about the supernatural
C) The idea that religion is a system of symbols
D) The idea that religion is a system of social action

Question 17

Does Anthony F. C. Wallace's definition of religion as beliefs and behaviors with respect to the supernatural cause us to abandon E. B. Tylor's notion that the core of religion is the belief in spirits?

Question 18

Why would baseball players be particularly prone to using various kinds of personal magic, while football player tend not to do so?

Question 19

Most Americans associate the Arabic term jihad (which literally means "struggle") with terrorists and suicide bombers, but for most Muslims the term jihad also refers to the personal struggle that good Muslims have following God's will. How can these two conflicting meanings help us achieve a better understanding of what motivates the groups currently fighting to overthrow the Syrian government?

Question 20

Religious rituals are powerful ways of creating the sense of belonging and being part of a special group. How are rituals enhanced by making them frequent events (such as a daily ritual), and how can the meaning of these rituals be made more powerful by having them be almost unique events (such as the pope's visit to Brazil)?

Question 21

Why do you think religious institutions have been historically associated with the arts? Why are the arts something that is good to "think" with?

Question 22

If you were working with administrators at your school to encourage college students to feel more connected to the academic goals of your college or university, what kind of ritual might you propose that might enhance the feeling of belonging?

Question 23

Is symbolic analysis restricted to analysis of religious behavior, or can it also be used to explain most human phenomena? Explain your answer and give one example.

Question 24

If religious beliefs and practices are as diverse as they have been presented in this chapter, what is the justification for calling all of them religious beliefs and practices?

Question 25

How can we explain the rise of fundamentalism both in the Middle East and in the United States over the past four decades. In your answer identify the factors that are economic, political, and religious.