| Folk Religion |
Article Index for Folk |
Website Links For Folk |
Information AboutFolk Religion |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT FOLK RELIGION | |
| anthropology | |
| anthropology of religion | |
| religious faiths, traditions, and movements | |
| folklore | |
| paganism | |
|
The folk religion with the largest number of adherents is the Chinese Folk Religion , accounting for some 6% of World Population . Various "primal indigenous" religions ( Animism , Shamanism ) account for another 4%, but elements of folk religion exist as part of all religious traditions and should be regarded as popular currents (as opposed to a theological or institutionalized) rather than as separate religions, so that folk religion like " Superstition " is a truly Endemic phenomenon present in every society. ETHNIC RELIGION In antiquity, religion was one defining factor of Ethnicity , along with Language , regional Customs , national costume, etc. As Xenophanes famously comments: : ''Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians have blue eyes and red hair.'' Ethnic religions may include officially sanctioned and organized Civil Religion s with an organized Clergy , but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation to the people in question. The notion of '' Gentiles '' ("nations") in Judaism reflect this state of affairs, the implicit assumption that each nation will have its own religion''Italic text''. Historical examples include Germanic Polytheism , Celtic Polytheism , Slavic Polytheism and pre-Hellenistic Greek Religion Contrasted to this are Imperial Cult that are defined by political influence detached from ethnicity. With the rise of Christianity , Islam and Buddhism , ethnic religions came to be marginalized as "leftover" traditions in rural areas, referred to as Paganism or Shirk (idolatry). Contemporary ethnic religions are ) or Buddhism (e.g. Tibetan Buddhism ). Over time, even revealed religion will assume local traits and in a sense will revert to an ethnic religion. This has notably happened in the course of the History Of Christianity , which saw the emergence of National Church es with "ethnic flavours" such as Germanic , Ethiopian , Armenian , Greek , Russian and others.''' FOLK RELIGION The term is also applied to the blending of folk practice with those of major religions, so that folk practices amongst people in Christian countries are called " Folk Christianity ," in Islam ic countries " Folk Islam ", and so on. The term is also used, especially by the Clergy of the faiths involved, to describe the desire of people who otherwise infrequently attend religious Worship , do not belong to a Church or similar religious society, and who have not made a formal profession of Faith in a particular Creed , to have religious Wedding s or Funeral s, or (among Christians) to have their children Baptised . Folk religion can also be thought of as the practice of religion by lay people outside of the control of Clergy or the supervision of Theologians (e.g. outside of organized religion -- Popular Culture ). There is occasionally tension between the practice of folk religion and the formally taught doctrines and teachings of a faith. For "folk religion" to be a meaningful category, there must be an institutional religion with a traditional teaching or professional clergy to contrast it against; in cultures that lack these things, it is difficult to speak of folk religion as a meaningful category. Folk religion answers human needs for reassurance in times of trouble, and many of its . EXAMPLES
LITERATURE
SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|