Deck 17: Religion: Ritual and Belief

Question 1

The earliest anthropologist to compare religious and spiritual beliefs around the world was E. B. Tylor. For him the heart of religious beliefs was the belief in

A) spirits
B) magic
C) the sacred
D) totems

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Stylized performances involving symbols that are associated with social, political, and religious activities are called

A) rituals
B) magic
C) ceremonies
D) witchcraft

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The core of Anthony F. C. Wallace's understanding of religion was belief in

A) supernatural things
B) the afterlife
C) Jesus
D) God

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Geertz's approach to religion is a style of analysis that looks at the underlying symbolic and cultural interconnections within a society; this is often referred to as

A) structural-functionalism
B) neo-evolutionism
C) symbolic anthropology
D) the interpretive approach

Question 5

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C) historical documents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 6

Which of the following is an example of American totemism?

A) the Cross
B) Money
C) Beauty
D) sports team mascots

Question 7

A voodoo doll is a good illustration of

A) magic that follows the law of contagion
B) magic that follows the law of similarity
C) Animism
D) totemism

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

Magical techniques may involve

A) Spells
B) the manipulation of special objects
C) Incantations
D) all of the above

Question 10

Anthropologist George Gmelch studied which sport where he found that players used a lot of magic?

A) Soccer
B) Basketball
C) Baseball
D) hockey

Question 11

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 12

What are people who belong to conservative religious movements that advocate a return to traditional principles called?

A) Believers
B) Practitioners
C) Faithful
D) fundamentalists

Question 13

__________ refers to the belief that inanimate objects such as trees, rocks, cliffs, hills, and rivers are animated by spiritual forces or beings.

Question 14

__________ can be understood as raw supernatural power that is not caused by a person or spirit.

Question 15

__________ is a major world religion that is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

Question 16

__________ is a symbolic system that is socially enacted through rituals and other aspects of social life.

Question 17

__________ the system of thought that associates particular social groups with specific animal or plant species.

Question 18

The religious leader who communicates the needs of the living with the spirit world, usually through some form of ritual trance or other altered state of consciousness, is called a __________.

Question 19

For early anthropologists, "primitive" religions were based mumbo jumbo and their adherents' limited intellectual capacity.

Question 20

Beliefs get most of their power from being socially enacted repeatedly through rituals and other religious behaviors.

Question 21

Most anthropologists currently see the traditional religions of small-scale tribal societies as "primitive," based on ideas not linked to reality.

Question 22

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

Question 23

The prophet Muhammad had a Christian wife.

Question 24

A limitation of Wallace's definition of religion is that it is

A) too flexible
B) not ethnographically informed
C) too static
D) too variable

Question 25

The ghost dance among the Sioux in the 1890s was

A) a new religious movement responding to white encroachment on their lands
B) drawing on a mix of older and newer religious concepts
C) an attempt to recover self-respect
D) all of the above

Question 26

Totems help create social cohesiveness by

A) stressing group identity
B) representing powerful symbols for people to focus on
C) acting as objects for group ritual activity
D) all of the above

Question 27

Until the 1920s anthropologists interpreted totemism as evidence of a group's

A) spiritual flexibility
B) Sophistication
C) Solidarity
D) limited intellectual capacity

Question 28

Anthropologist Ralph Linton reported that Americans in the military during the First World War adopted ananimal name for their military units, a practice that resembled the ways tribal people revered their

A) Totems
B) Witchcraft
C) bush spirits
D) none of the above

Question 29

Anthropologists now understand that magic

A) is at the basis of many rituals
B) usually involves working at a distance without direct physical contact
C) is often frightening or dangerous
D) all of the above

Question 30

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 31

Which of the following is not true about how anthropology interprets how and why somebody would become a suicide bomber?

A) the person is an evildoer
B) the person is a member of a community with a particular model of and for reality
C) there is a social support system that helps shape the person's attitudes
D) there is ideological support for viewing self-sacrifice as virtuous

Question 32

A common element among fundamentalists is

A) a desire to be violent
B) a disregard for the law and for science
C) a pervasive sense of belonging to their group
D) a superficial understanding of religious texts

Question 33

The ancient Egyptians believed in a particular type of social order, which was reflected in

A) their worship of a host of minor deities
B) their belief that the pharaoh was a divine king
C) their egalitarian social structure
D) their worship of cats

Question 34

Researchers have found that fundamentalists

A) see themselves as promoting proper ways of life
B) are willing to engage in political battles to defend their ideas
C) work to return their society to important traditional values that seem to be slipping away as the world around them changes
D) all of the above

Question 35

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 that do not directly benefit the individual, such as the actions of the jihadists who attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris?

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 36

Clifford Geertz proposed an interpretive approach to religion, arguing that religion was a system of __________.

Question 37

The way a peopleconceptualize the world provides a set of unquestioned assumptions about the world and how it works. Anthropologists call these conceptualizations a __________.

Question 38

A good illustration of a __________ is a funeral, wedding, graduation, or initiation,in which an individual or group of individuals change social position.

Question 39

A central assertion of the __________ is that religious thinking is gradually giving way to secular thought without relying on references to any form of supernatural power.

Question 40

Shamans usually act simultaneously as political leaders and healers in their communities.

Question 41

Nearly all the ancient societies in the Middle East and the Mediterranean were monotheistic.

Question 42

Buddhism is neither monotheistic nor polytheistic.

Question 43

Secular rituals that celebrate the state or nation, particular occupations, or other identities may achieve many of the same ends as religious rituals.

Question 44

Interpretive perspectives on religion and religious symbolism such as those of anthropologist Clifford Geertz are applicable to which of the following religious settings?

A) the belief that Evangelical Christians have about human evolution
B) the belief in passivism and calm encouraged by the Dalai Lama
C) the practice of communion as a re-creation of the last supper
D) the worldview of the scientific community about global warming
E) none of the above

Question 45

Religious ideas are typically associated with beliefs about the supernatural, but what argument can be used to explain the beliefs and worldviews of physicists or geneticists, who may consider themselves nonbelievers?

A) most religions are really no more than a particular worldview
B) it would be unfair to leave scientists out of the afterlife, even if they do not believe in it
C) nonbelievers may not have a religion, but deep down they must believe in something
D) we don't need to study physicists or geneticists because they are well educated, and it would be better to learn from their experiences

Question 46

Which of the theories of totemism discussed in the text could help us understand the importance of mascots in American sports?

A) mascots are not religious icons, so religious theories cannot help us understand them
B) mascots are symbols of the team and celebrate team identity
C) sports fans are so enthusiastic about their sports that they think their mascots actually are spiritually connected with their teams
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 47

If you wanted to understand how state rituals reinforce support for the nation and its government, what method would you use to study state funerals?

A) interviews with the event planners
B) interviews with people who watched the event on television
C) analysis of the eulogies
D) videos of the event
E) all of the above

Question 48

Symbolic analysis is applicable and an appropriate analytical strategy for which of the following activities that are not, strictly speaking, religious?

A) understanding the attachments people have to their home communities
B) interpreting protests against abortions at American clinics
C) explaining why people believe things that most people think are either silly or just plain wrong
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 49

Why do fundamentalists often use the language of "returning" to "traditional values" in their ideologies and rituals?

A) because the past is seen as purer and closer to God's original intent than the present
B) because traditional values can be associated with wise elders, prophets, and religious leaders known to be successful
C) because traditions and the past are both symbols of a known and well-understood world, especially in the context of rapidly changing conditions of the present
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 50

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 51

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

Question 52

Senator John McCain made elaborate plans for his state funeral shortly before he died. What do you think he was trying to accomplish with the rituals and symbols he included in the ceremony and accompanying events?

Question 53

Religious rituals are powerful ways of creating a sense of belonging and being part of a special group. How are rituals changed or 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 54

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 55

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 would you propose that might enhance the feeling of belonging?

Question 56

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 57

What ideas and theories discussed in this chapter can help us understand why people feel so strongly about their views on abortion, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty in America over the past forty years?

Question 58

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 59

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.