Deck 3: Religion and Politics

Question 1

Latin America's Christian (Ecclesial)Base Communities (CEBs)

A) advocate Christian unity between Catholics and Protestants.
B) are allied with Opus Dei and the conservative wing of the Church.
C) are mostly located in Mexico.
D) favor allowing some Catholic priests to marry.
E) have particularly appealed to the urban poor.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Christianity is the world's largest religion.What religion is second largest?

A) Eastern Orthodoxy
B) Buddhism
C) Traditional Third World religions
D) Hinduism
E) Islam

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following terms is used as an alternative to "Islamic fundamentalism"?

A) Jihadism
B) Islamism
C) Islamic terrorism
D) Sharia
E) Orthodox Muslim

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Indonesia's Muslims

A) mostly belong to the Sufi branch of Islam.
B) have had many members convert to Christianity.
C) are particularly fervent in their opposition to Zionism.
D) generally have a moderate religious and political ideology.
E) have no groups linked to terrorism.

Question 5

What did political scientists think would be the effect on religion of modernization in developing countries?

A) It would reduce the influence of religion on the political system
B) It would lead to a religious backlash against the West
C) It would lead to a more harmonious relationship between Church and state
D) It would African and Asian populations to gravitate toward Western religions
E) It would lead to greater tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India

Question 6

The fastest growing religion in Latin America is

A) Islam.
B) Mormonism.
C) Pentecostalism and other forms of Protestant, Evangelical Christianity.
D) Catholicism.
E) Unitarianism.

Question 7

In Latin America,the Catholic church

A) supported most military regimes from the 1970s until the 1990s.
B) recently has often taken a political stance at odds with the Vatican.
C) has usually had smooth relations with the revolutionary government in Mexico, Nicaragua and, Cuba.
D) has historically supported the established political regime.
E) has refrained from taking a position on social and economic conditions.

Question 8

Religious fundamentalists

A) are a significant force in the Muslim religion.
B) wish to restore and preserve their religion's traditional or idealized worldview.
C) wish to modernize their religion so it stresses fundamental values.
D) have been losing political influence in North Africa and the United States.
E) generally support feminist goals, but are cautious about it.

Question 9

In Islamic countries,the clerical hierarchy

A) has been deeply involved in politics since that religion's inception.
B) has usually tried to maintain a position independent of the government.
C) has always sided with its Shi'a branch.
D) has only been involved in politics since the beginning of the 20th century.
E) has had deep internal conflicts regarding its proper relationship with the state.

Question 10

In recent decades organized religion in the less developed countries

A) has experienced a resurgence.
B) has declined as a result of modernization.
C) has rarely affected Third World politics.
D) has generally supported the separation of Church and state.
E) has experienced increased unity between the branches of Islam.

Question 11

Latin America's Progressive Church

A) lost allies and support when military dictatorships were established in much of South America in the 1970s and 1980s.
B) drew its primary support from Latin America's urban middle class.
C) lost support with the end of the region's military dictatorships.
D) is becoming stronger and stronger as time goes by.
E) has close links to the mainstream Catholic bishops in the United States and Germany.

Question 12

Liberation theology

A) was imported to Latin America from theologians in Spain and Germany.
B) has been used by Protestant missionaries in Latin America trying to "liberate" the region from Catholicism .
C) has drawn strong support from the Vatican.
D) calls on the Church to minister to and organize the poor in their battle against political and economic repression.
E) suggests that Catholics liberate their souls by abstaining from political involvement.

Question 13

Which of the following has NOT been true of Iran's revolutionary government?

A) It represents an extremist version of Sunni Islam
B) It called itself "the government of God"
C) It toppled the Shah's repressive regime
D) It grew out of a resentment of Western-style modernization
E) It engaged in a bloody war with Iraq

Question 14

Why has Turkey's current government often been cited as a model by many supporters of the Arab Spring?

A) Because of its desire to control the Kurdish minority in its territory
B) Because it has followed a moderate form of Islamism
C) Because of its relations with its own population of Armenian Christians
D) Because it has given shelter to tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees
E) Because of its support for the pro-democracy revolt in Syria (its neighbor)

Question 15

What are "theocratic states" (theocracies)in the Islamic world?

A) Governments that are especially concerned about theory
B) Governments dominated by religious authorities and institutions
C) States that have a more modern interpretation of the a Koran
D) Governments that are divided by theological differences
E) States that depend on religious taxes

Question 16

In countries with Buddhist or Hindu majorities,

A) there are intense conflicts between church and state.
B) those religions are less involved in politics because they have a hierarchically well-organized clergy.
C) those religions are less involved in politics because they lack a hierarchically organized clergy.
D) those religions never challenge the government.
E) those religions are more involved in politics because of their holy scriptures.

Question 17

Prior to the mid-twentieth century,the Church hierarchy in Latin America was frequently allied with

A) socialists.
B) the rural peasants.
C) the urban working class.
D) urban industrialists.
E) powerful, rural landowners.

Question 18

Al Qaeda's emergence can be traced to

A) civil conflict in Sudan.
B) the war against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
C) the pro-democracy movement in Egypt.
D) the conflicts between Sunnis and Shi'a.
E) its backing by the Pakistani intelligence service.

Question 19

A jihad is

A) a spiritual exercise to bring the believer closer to God.
B) the Muslim holy book.
C) a spiritual uprising from within the church.
D) a Hindu term to express their hostility toward Muslims in India.
E) an Islamic holy war.

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT true of Buddhism?

A) One of its major schools is Theravada Buddhism
B) One of its major schools is Mahayana Buddhism
C) Its caste system is derived from Hinduism
D) It is the major religion in Southeast Asia
E) In most of Asia it lacks a strong religious hierarchy

Question 21

Among the major religions,Catholic countries maintain the strictest separation of church and state.

Question 22

Many fundamentalists in various religions are opposed to the use of political violence to further religious goals.

Question 23

Many of the worst terrorist attacks in Europe have been perpetrated by Islamists who were born and raised in Europe.

Question 24

The Catholic Church was a major voice for democracy during the Third Wave.

Question 25

The separation of Church and state is generally greater in Western Europe than in the United States.

Question 26

Early modernization theorists viewed organized religion as an important base of support for political development.

Question 27

The U.S.and other western nations are antagonistic toward all Islamic fundamentalist states.

Question 28

Iran's Grand Ayatollah Khomeini declared that the new revolutionary government was "the government of God."

Question 29

Hinduism is the dominant religion in

A) India and Thailand.
B) India and Pakistan.
C) India and Tibet.
D) India and Nepal.
E) only India.

Question 30

Aside from religious belief,what is another factor that motivates some young Muslims to join Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups?

A) A desire for adventure
B) A desire for a clean break with their families
C) The wish to escape from criminal prosecution in their home towns
D) Depression
E) A suicidal urge

Question 31

The majority of Arab governments are controlled by their Shi'a populations.

Question 32

Osama bin Laden spoke of the "near enemy" and the "far enemy." By the "near enemy" he meant certain Arab governments that were geographically closer to Afghanistan and Pakistan than the U.S.

Question 33

The failures of western-style modernization in most of the Middle East caused many people there to turn to fundamentalism.

Question 34

The current Islamist government in Turkey plans to require female students to wear headscarves at school.

Question 35

Of the world's major religions,which is the only one to have penetrated extensively into both the industrialized western nations and the Third World?

A) Islam
B) Evangelical Christianity
C) Buddhism
D) Hinduism
E) Catholicism

Question 36

In recent decades the influence of the "progressive church" in Latin America has declined.

Question 37

Support for Al Qaeda and bin Laden among the general public in Muslim countries

A) was never very high (never over 50 percent) in any country.
B) continued to rise up to the time of bin Laden's death.
C) fell substantially from its height in the years soon after the 9/11 attack until bin Laden's death.
D) has remained fairly steady.
E) has not varied substantially from country to country.

Question 38

Since the start of the Third Wave,the gap between the levels of freedom in different countries with different religions has diminished.

Question 39

According to Freedom House,Buddhist nations on average had a higher level of freedom than Catholic countries.

Question 40

The "Supreme Leader," Iran's most powerful political figure,is

A) appointed by the president.
B) subject to removal by a two-thirds vote of parliament.
C) the most powerful Muslim cleric in the country.
D) able to run for reelection every six years.
E) cannot be a Muslim clergyman.

Question 41

Which four religions have the most adherents in the developing world? Which of these has been most directly involved in politics (i.e.,which religions are associated with a limited separation of church and state)? What are the most important internal characteristics that enable those two religions to be more involved in politics and what conditions limit the political influence of the other two?

Question 42

What factors led to the rise of the progressive church in Latin America? What have been its major goals and accomplishments? What factors have led to its decline?

Question 43

What are the basic beliefs and goals of religious fundamentalism? What are some factors that have led to an upsurge in fundamentalism in recent times? Which world religions have been most affected by the spread of fundamentalism? What is the difference between radical and conservative fundamentalism?

Question 44

Discuss the factors that led to the birth and growth of Al Qaeda.What are some of the factors that lead some young Muslim men to join Al Qaeda or other Islamist terrorist groups? What has been the level of popular support for bin Laden and Al Qaeda in the Muslim world?

Question 45

Discuss the relationship between religious beliefs and democracy.What are some of the dangers of generalizing about the propensity of a particular religion to support democracy or authoritarianism?