Sociology

Religion is as old as time.  Every group of people created their own understanding of the world and the creation of their being.  Some created it through their own traditions and rituals within the tribe or clan.  Others gained their sacred knowledge from writings and teaching from prophets.  No matter how the religion was started it began small within a group and from there reached out.  The strong religions were able to gain more members or were acknowledged as the national religion.  The other weaker religions fell out of use or remained only with the indigenous people in the forests and deserts of the world.

What is Religion
The question, what is religion, begs to be answered before the discussion commences any further.  For it must be assumed that all understand religion to mean the same thing.  Unfortunately, there is no definitive definition that can be used to represent every religion around the world.  Merriam-Webster defines religion as the service or worship of God or the supernatural or the commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance or even a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices (religion 2010).  If a definition expert such as Merriam-Webster has a hard time defining religion, it should be assumed that the definition will have to be broad.  In the book The concept of monotheism in Islam and Christianity uses the International Progress Organizations (IPO) definition which states that is a mutual understanding based upon respect for each others traditions and value systems (Kchler 1981). This last definition is much broader and definitely better suited for the needs of this discussion.  In fact the cross-cultural beliefs of religions are required to hold a respect for other cultures, but even in todays modern globalized world, respect is sometimes hard to find even when the basic tenets of the religion are the same (Turner 2006).

There are many types of religions, but there are four basic foundational structures.  The first is monotheism.  Monotheism is the religious belief of one major force or Supreme Being, God, Higher Power, or what ever one may call the force (Baring-Gould 1884 Beyer 1998 monotheism 2010). The majority of Christian, Muslim, Catholic and Islamic religions systems use this type of religious foundation and the one true God.  Polytheism is the belief in more than one force, such as many gods and goddesses within the Hindu Greek, Roman, pagan and Druidic religious systems (Baring-Gould 1884 Beyer 1998 polytheism 2010).  Then there is Shamanism in which the shaman will enter a trance to find solutions to the tribes problems or to gain insight into illness.  Often times the Shamanistic societies also are involved in animism and fetishism, such as many of the Native American Indian tribes of the Untied State and in Siberia in Russia (Neusner 2003 Beyer 1998 Turner 2006).  A fourth is based on the concept of knowledge as in Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, which are found originally in the Orient, but can be found in every nation around the world today (Beyer 1998).

The ways of the polytheistic religions of the past are gone, but the new age belief system and neo-paganism is slowly bringing the polytheistic religion back, but on a fairly small scale (Beyer 1998 Turner 2006).  The Buddhists Confucianism and Taoists as well are still small in countries around the world, but their religious center lies in China.  The indigenous societies around the world, especially in Australia, South and Central America and Africa, still rely on the holy man of their Shamanistic religion (Beyer 1998 Neusner 2003 Znamenski 2004).  Even Judaism is not considered a major player in the cross-cultural beliefs in religions.  The main groups are Christianity, Catholicism, and Islam.  Within these groups cross-cultural boundaries are pushed against one another, but that is only the half of it.  The fact is that even when a specific religion can be found all over the world, there will be cultural differences that are intrinsic to the values and traditions of the given society (Beyer 1998 Gumucio 2008 Turner 2006).

Western Religion
The concept of Western religious beliefs is imperative as a starting point, so as to understand how the world religions are compared.  The fact is that since the time of the French expansion and even before, the religion of Western Europe was the standard by which all other religions were compared.  This comparison based on the Western European ideals does not seem exactly fair and it is not, which is why the need for cross-cultural and intercultural religious beliefs and research needs to be continued (Gumucio 2008 Tomka 2006).

Emmanuel Kant came up with two distinctions in relation to religion.  The first is the view of religion as a cult in which the individual or group prays for health and wealth from the one God (Turner 2006).

This is similar to the binary code explanation offered by Peter Beyer (1998) in his article The modern emergence of Regions and a global social system for religion in which he states that the first binary code is salvation and damnation of the member of a religion.  Taken together, then the members will pray and give offerings and thanks in hopes of obtaining health in this life and salvation in the next.

The second distinction by Kant is his understanding of religion based on moral actions or as Beyer (1998) states the binary code of good and bad.  This combination of moral actions and the difference between good and bad is equivalent.  Thereby Kant in the 1960s understood the concepts of good and bad in relation to the secondary requirement of religion that 30 years later Beyer describes as a secondary binary code of religion. Examining both distinctions, it is obvious that the first distinction is a requirement for the second distinction to be understood.  

The Enlightenment in Europe was a major factor in the classification of religion based on the Western European religion.  In the 15th century the Renaissance gave religion humanism.  The 16th century Reformation created new denominations (Gumucio 2008 Tomka 2006 Turner 2006).  During this time in history religion was so powerful that the church touched every part of life, from bureaucratic offices to raising armies for the Crusades.  The political powers of the time did not like this powerful church and pushed hard enough to take the power from the church and give it back to the state.  By the 18th century the broad Western Europe religious framework was established, and the Enlightenment philosophers refused to accept institutionalized religion especially in the form of Catholicism.  The powerful church of the past was gone but the new outgrowth of religion was based not just on the dogma of the religion but on the political and traditional values of the state (Beyer 1998 Tomka 2006).  This is when the concepts of religion split and cross-cultural religious beliefs began to prove more powerful than the Western European religious power.

Eastern Europe
In Eastern Europe after coming under Soviet control, often tried to emulate the Western European states even though they were not as modernized or socio-economically stable, but they tried to keep up with the developments in economy and society, and even religiously.  After the down fall of communism, the Eastern Orthodox Church is gaining new vitality and new members.  In the article by Miklos Tomka (2006), the Eastern Orthodox Church is now more protestantized and more Christian than before communism.  Tomka (2006) explores the differences between Eastern Christianity in traditional society and then in post-traditional, or modern, society.  The result is not a fair or clear cut analysis of the two types of Christianity, for the fact that culture and traditional rituals, and values interfere with the understanding and teaching of the Christian religion in the two separate areas of Europe.  The following section will compare and contrast the Western and Eastern versions of Christianity.

Differentiations between Western and Eastern Christian Societies
Trying to compare and contrast the two sides of Europe, one must first put aside all preconceived beliefs that all religions must follow the Western Christian ideology to be correct (Beyer 1998 Neusner 2003 Turner 2006).  Based on the article by Tomka (2008) there are six categories in which to evaluate the Eastern and Western Christian Philosophies.  The first section is a comparison of the institutionalizationand formalization of religion (Tomka 2008, 259).  For the West, this is the standard views of religion, church oriented or the individual choice to become a member.  The Eastern Church is much weaker, and therefore the form of the religion is a devout practitioner that also believes in magick, and extreme views of religion (Tomka 2008).

The second part is the differences culturally between the West and the East.  The Western Christian culture is based on a specific set of beliefs, in other words faith, but the practice and membership of the church is not a requirement.  The Eastern Christian culture swings all the way to the other side with an emphasis on practice and ritual and the spiritual experience (Tomka 2008).  Religion as a subject is the next category in the comparison of the two sides of Europe.  

Religion to the Western Christian is a very individualized belief and value.  In the East the religious view is more societal and universally symbolic of all and not the individual (Tomka 2008).

Religious transmission and the social control of the religious views are again at opposite ends of the spectrum. For the Western Christian the need for dogma and catechisms are required as is the following of the laws of the religion through commandments and biblical study.  The Eastern view, on the other hand, is more mystical, and often blurs the distinction between the secular and the profane parts of society (Tomka 2008).  The fifth category is the participation by the members of the church.

The Eastern religion relies on the act of liturgy and the required actions by the churchgoers.  There is little individualistic power to change the service.  The service is considered a performance in which the members gain their knowledge and spiritual enlightenment (Tomka 2008).  The last category is the separation of church and state as is seen in the Western European states and the United States.  Most Eastern European states have not completely separated the two institutions where by nationalism and tradition are parts of the church, just as the Christian views are part of the state (Tomka 2008).

Differences in Regards to Islam
Islam is another major religious view that is gaining membership across the world.  It began in the Middle East and Asia, but has most recently been associated with Iran, Pakistan, and China.  The major difference in Islam and Christianity is the inclusion of the political system with the religious system.  This differs from Eastern Europe religion as well, because there is still a minor separation between state and church in Eastern Europe, in Islam there is no separation.  This can possibly account for the religious violence that has become prevalent in that part of the world.  Islam is an outcry of those who have felt used by the previous governments and believe that they deserve to be avenged.  Also the jihad has changed from a spiritual struggle to an all out holy war because of the definitions of those who are currently the leaders of the religion and the country.  There is no separation, and thereby can not even feasibly be compared to Western religion.  It must be understood based on the culture and political system rather than just on the dogma of the religion (Beyer 1998 Tomka 2006 Turner 2008).

Cross-Cultural Religious Beliefs
Through various trials and errors and research in the field, there have been 5 actions identified in helping to gain a cross-cultural understanding of religion.  The first is that the person must look and define whether the religion is part of the culture or if it is separate.  While the religion may be similar to another, the cultural aspects of the nation may create the difference. The second action is to acknowledge the limitations of the most cross-cultural analyses of tradition, religion and diversity.  Third is to look at the complex relationship between the culture of the nation and the religion and to identify other possible cultural influences from other nations or states. The fourth is to expand the theoretical analysis of the religions by expanding the understanding of oppositional cultural. The last action is to challenge the current views of cross-cultural religious understandings and continue to research and learn and gain knowledge about the religion and the state (Gumucio 2008).

Conclusion
No matter where a person lives, there are religious values and more than likely several types of religion.  The differences in religion are more than just dogma and creed.  The culture of the nation influences how and why the people of that nation believe and practice the religions as they do.  By gaining a better understanding of the differences in religions it will create a better analysis and less friction between nations.

Even within the concept of Christianity, which is supposed to be based on the Bible, is different between Western Europe and Eastern Europe.  Add the United States in their and it is even more different.  As a religion moves from one nation to another not only does the religion move, but the traditions, and sometimes the pagan beliefs become incorporated into the religion.  This incorporation does not make a new religion, but a different arm off of the mother religion.

Using the five steps to analyze the religions of a nation can give other a better understanding not just of the religion, but the culture and how the two work together.  It creates more knowledge and understanding about other countries and the religions within our own country and the same religions in other countries.  This knowledge will help to create a more globalized religious philosophy and will hopefully incorporate the global ideology in the future.