ANTHROPOLOGY (Part 1 of 2).

The science that studies human cultures is called anthropology. It is a discipline that deals with the origins and development of human societies and the differences between them. The word anthropology is derived from two Greek words: anthropos meaning "man" or "human"; and logos, meaning "thought" or "reason." Anthropologists attempt, by investigating the whole range of human development and behaviour, to achieve a total description of cultural and social phenomena.

The Spheres of Anthropology

The science of anthropology is divided into two major disciplines, physical anthropology and cultural anthropology. Each of these is basically an independent science, although specialists in one field frequently consult and cooperate with scholars in the other. Physical anthropology is generally classified as a natural science, while cultural anthropology is considered a social science.

Physical anthropology is concerned with the biological aspects of human beings. In trying to learn about racial differences, human origins, and evolution, the physical anthropologist studies fossil remains and observes the behaviour of other primates. Primates are an order of mammals that includes human beings as well as apes and monkeys.

Cultural anthropology deals primarily with the growth of human societies in the world. It is a study of group behaviour, the origins of religion, social customs and conventions, technical developments, and family relationships. A major sub field of cultural anthropology is linguistics, the study of the history and structure of language. Linguistics is a valuable tool of the anthropologist because it enables him to observe a people's system of communication and to learn the ideas by which they view the world. It also enables him to collect an oral history of the group being studied. Oral histories are constructed from a society's poems, songs, myths, proverbs, and folk tales.

Physical and cultural anthropology are connected by two other fields of study: archaeology and applied anthropology. In excavations, archaeologists find the remains of ancient buildings, tools, pottery, and other artefacts by which a past culture may be dated and described.

Applied anthropology makes use of the research done by physical and cultural anthropologists in order to help governments and other institutions form and implement policies for specific population groups. It may, for instance, aid governments of underdeveloped countries in showing backward peoples how to cope with the complexities of 20th-century civilization. It may also be used by governments in the formulation of social, educational, and economic policies for ethnic minorities within their borders. The work of applied anthropology is often done by specialists in the fields of economics, sociology, history, and psychology.

Because anthropology is such a wide-ranging discipline, investigating as it does every facet of all human societies, it must draw upon research done in other disciplines to form its conclusions. Among these disciplines are history, geography, geology, biology, anatomy, genetics, economics, psychology, and sociology, along with the highly specialized tasks of linguistics and archaeology already mentioned.

The Problem of Terminology

Different terms are used to describe the fields of anthropology in the United States and Europe. While in the United States the term anthropology is used to name the whole subject, in Europe the name ethnology is applied. (Ethnology is defined as the science that studies the many races of mankind their beginnings, characteristics, differences, and distribution.) What is called "cultural anthropology" in the United States is also termed "ethnology" in European countries. The term physical anthropology is used in both parts of the world.

The sub areas of cultural anthropology in the United States are three: historical anthropology (or ethnology), prehistory (or prehistoric archaeology), and linguistics (or linguistic anthropology). In Europe the sub areas are: ethnology (in the strictest sense as the historical description and comparison of races), prehistory (or prehistoric ethnology), and linguistics (or linguistic ethnology).

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

The science of physical anthropology has focused to a great extent on determining the place of human beings in nature, on comparing them with lower primates, and on interpreting the physical differences among the races. In pursuing its goals, physical anthropology has used the sciences of comparative anatomy, evolution, and genetics.

Early Investigations

Modern physical anthropology began taking shape in the first half of the 19th century when there arose a great interest in studying the origins of mankind, the biological relationships between the races, and the changeability of man as an animal species. In working out their theories, anthropologists devised a framework called the "great chain of being." This was a model of nature that arranged all species in a hierarchical order, from the lowest to the highest. The point of this notion was to discover if there was steady progression from lower life forms up through the lower primates (apes and monkeys) to human beings. Since no continuous progression to human beings could at first be found, scientists theorized that there must be a "missing link" between the lower primates and man.

In order to classify and distinguish between the apes, monkeys, and races of man, the anthropologists have used comparative anatomy, measuring brain size, cranial capacity, arm and leg length, and height. They have also noted the colour of skin and personality traits as clues for putting animals and races in their proper order.

The work of most 19th-century anthropologists was hampered by ignorance in a number of areas, including an ignorance that has since been dissipated by geology, astronomy, archaeology, and the biological sciences. The age of the Earth was unknown. Many people, in accordance with the religious teachings of the time, believed it to be about 6,000 years old. Religious teaching also suggested that all species were created at one time, thus precluding any evolution from lower to higher forms. The first archaeological discoveries indicating the very ancient origins of mankind were not made until the middle of the 19th century, and then many anthropologists ignored or disputed them. The first major breakthrough for anthropologists came in the natural sciences when in 1859 Charles Darwin published his 'Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'.

Evolution, as first described by Darwin, was a crucial concept for anthropologists in reaching an understanding of the origins of man. The essential impact for the evolution of man was the idea of natural selection, although many decades passed before its implications were appreciated or employed. Darwin showed that nature selects those forms that are better adapted to a particular geographic zone and way of life. The notion of adaptation implied that organisms changed slowly over millions of years. It also disqualified any need for a "missing link," although this theory persisted well into the 20th century. The missing link had not been considered to be a product of evolutionary development but a creature placed between man and ape in the natural order of things.

Modern Physical Anthropology

A major shift in the approach to physical anthropology occurred at the beginning of the 20th century with the discovery of genetic principles and of the ABO blood groups. Genetics was actually rediscovered. In 1865 an Austrian monk, Gregor J. Mendel, had formulated the first laws of heredity and laid the foundation of the science of genetics. His findings were almost entirely ignored at the time. In 1900 three other European botanists arrived at the same conclusions that Mendel had published 35 years earlier, and in researching the literature on the subject they found his work.

Genes are the units within sex cells such as the sperm and egg that transmit specific hereditary traits from one generation to the next. The study of inherited traits has become essential to anthropologists in seeking to understand human variations and differences between races. Genetics has modified the theory of progressive evolution somewhat, because it has been shown by experiment that there may be genetic reversals that is, reversions back to traits and characteristics thought to be discarded in the hereditary process.

Early in the 20th century another Austrian, a physician named Karl Landsteiner, discovered the blood groups, or types, known as O, A, B, and AB. This led anthropologists to investigate blood differences among the races. They have noted that certain races and sub races have particular distributions of one or another blood type. This has enabled scientists to categorize the races and, since blood types are genetically determined, to trace early migration patterns.

Dating is crucial for physical anthropologists, as well as for geologists and archaeologists. It is a method that allows them to determine how old something is whether it be a layer of rocks, a human-like fossil, or a collection of pottery.

There are two kinds of dating: relative and absolute. Relative dating shows the order in which events occurred but does not tell exactly when they occurred. Methods of absolute dating indicate with a fair degree of precision how old something is. Of the two types of dating, the determination of relative age relationships came into use first. Absolute dating depends upon technological advances that have been made in the 20th century.

Geologists and archaeologists have long used relative dating methods to determine the approximate age of the Earth and of fossils and artefacts Geologists examine the many strata of the Earth's crust to determine the intervals of time from one layer of rock to another. Archaeologists also use the principle of layering to verify the sequence of human cultures.

Another method of determining relative age is fluorine dating. It is based upon the principle that fossil bones absorb the element fluorine from the soil in which they are buried. The longer they are buried, the more fluorine the bones will contain. Determining the amount of fluorine is often not a practical means of relative dating because it requires many samples from an immediate area.

Absolute dating attempts to pinpoint when a given rock, fossil, or other object reached its present condition. The basic method for determining absolute age is called radiometry measuring the rate of radioactive decay of an element. This can be done with a high degree of accuracy, although no method is infallible without a great deal of corroborative testing.

One of the types of absolute dating that has been used by physical anthropologists is potassium-argon dating. It is a method of determining the time of origin of rocks and thereby of the fossils found within them by measuring the amount of decay of potassium-40, a radioactive isotope of the element potassium, into the element argon, one of the rare gases. The half-life of potassium-40, which is the time it will take one half of any quantity of it to decay into potassium, is 1,265,000,000 years. Potassium-argon dating has been used to measure the ages of a wide variety of objects, from meteorites 4,500,000,000 years old to volcanic rocks only 20,000 years old. Such dating techniques applied to the remains and surroundings of ancient human beings have constantly pushed back the estimated age of mankind. By the early 1980s man was believed to be at least 3 million years old. This is based on the dating of a number of remarkable discoveries of fossil remains made in the Great Rift Valley of Africa, at sites in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural anthropologists are concerned with the origin and development of human societies in all their complexity. Cultural anthropology attempts to devise theories to explain the origin of aspects of various human cultures, each of which has unique features as well as characteristics in common with other societies.

Within the field of cultural anthropology, several schools of thought have arisen some mutually contradictory since the 19th century. Among them are evolutionism, historical particularism, diffusionism, functionalism, structuralism, and neo-evolutionism.

Evolutionism

The theory of biological evolution was first formally presented by Charles Darwin in 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859. This theory argued that man is an animal and possesses many of the same instincts and needs as do other social animals. Darwin stated that successful species adapted to changing environmental conditions, and that through a process he called natural selection only the most adaptable individuals or groups survive.

Lewis Henry Morgan, (1818-81), U.S. archaeologist and ethnologist, born near Aurora, N.Y. ('League of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or Iroquois'; 'Ancient Society'); bequeathed fund to found women's college in University of Rochester.

Nineteenth-century anthropologists applied these theories to their cultural studies. They believed that all societies follow a universal sequence in their development, and that all men possess the same thought processes and basic mental structure. In 1855, for example, sociologist Herbert Spencer claimed that all societies develop from simple to more complex groups. According to Lewis H. Morgan of the United States, the three basic stages that all societies must pass through are savagery, barbarism, and civilization. Each of these stages, he believed, is characterized by specific technological developments.

A related 19th-century approach that applied evolution to society focused on stages of religious thought. Sir Edward Tylor, an English anthropologist, argued that these stages are animism, or a belief in the soul and in spirits; polytheism, or a belief in more than one god; and monotheism, or a belief in one god. Tylor also suggested that some groups could skip particular stages in their cultural development by learning from other cultures.

Another kind of cultural evolution was proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This theory defined a society by its method of producing goods and services and presented a developmental sequence that included necessary social conflict.

Cultural evolutionists analysed aspects of modern cultures that seemed to have survived from previous stages. They developed a number of points of view that are considered valuable contributions to anthropology. Among these are the concept of culture itself, the methods of comparing different cultures, and concepts for the study of social organizations.

Two major works in the field of anthropology, Sir James Frazer's 'Golden Bough' (1890) and Ernest Crawley's 'Mystic Rose' (1902), contained vast amounts of research on primitive and traditional societies and tended to reinforce the theories of evolutionists. Both were encyclopaedic collections of customs, religious and magical practices, and much other curious data. Evolutionists saw evidence of a sequence of magical, religious, and scientific thought that seemed to be part of the development of every human society.

Historical Particularism

By the beginning of the 20th century, anthropologists in Great Britain, Germany, and the United States were questioning the belief that all societies developed in much the same way. They suggested that each culture was unique because each had its separate geography, history, creativity, and degree of contact with its neighbours

One of the first to reject evolutionism was a German-born American anthropologist, Franz Boas. Boas emphasized the importance of fieldwork and observation. Fieldwork involves seeking information about a particular group's behaviour by gathering data and recording observable behaviours in that group's natural environment.

Boas believed that every aspect of a culture should be recorded and that the anthropologist studying a native culture should not only learn its language but should attempt to think like its people. Boas emphasized the importance of collecting information that described the individuals and their interrelationships in a particular culture. Such information was gathered through the recording of life histories and folklore, and then connecting these details with archaeological and historical data. Boas also believed that similarities among different cultures were the result of similar outside influences rather than to the similarity in thought processes or to any universal laws of development. He stressed the importance of analysing a culture within its historical context.

Boas is known as the founder of the culture history school of anthropology, which dominated American cultural anthropology for much of the 20th century. Anthropologists who followed Boas' theories included Ruth Benedict, Alfred L. Kroeber, Margaret Mead, and Edward Sapir.

ANTHROPOLOGY (Part 2 of 2).

Diffusionism

A group of Austro-German anthropologists, led by Fritz Graebner and Wilhelm Schmidt, rejected 19th-century evolutionism in favour of a belief that a few core cultures influenced all later societies. This diffusion, or spreading, of culture traits was believed to be the basic force in human development. By analysing the cultural behaviours and aspects of a society, a diffusionist believed that he could determine from which core culture that society derived its civilization. Because the diffusionists called the original ancient civilizations "kulturkreise" (or "cultural clusters") they were also known as the kulturkreise school of anthropology.

A British group of diffusionists, led by Grafton Elliot Smith and William J. Perry, argued that only one civilization was responsible for all cultural development. They believed that the civilization fitting their theory was ancient Egypt and that ideas such as irrigation, kingship, and navigation were spread from the ancient civilization along the Nile throughout the world by voyagers who were seeking precious jewels. This theory was called the Manchester, or heliocentric (self-centred) school of thought. The metaphor of the sun suggested that all cultures radiated from but a single source.

Although the diffusionist approach to anthropology was dominant in early 20th-century Europe, it was thought an inadequate point of view by later scholars. They claimed that it disregarded important geographical and psychological differences in culture.

Functionalism

After World War I a school of thought developed that rejected historical approaches to the study of cultures. A leading proponent of this theory was Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish-born British anthropologist. He believed that to understand a culture one must perceive its totality and the interrelationship of all its parts, much as if culture were a machine and the individual traits the cogs and gears that made it operate. Culture was to be interpreted at one point in time. The age of the elements composing it were of no importance. What mattered was the function the traits performed at any given time. Functionalism provided the field of anthropology with valuable contributions in the analysis of family, kinship roles, rites of passage, and political organization.

Closely related to functionalism was a theory proposed by the American anthropologist Ruth Benedict in the 1930's. She believed that each culture had, over the ages, given its members a unique orientation toward reality that determined how members saw and processed information from their environment. She believed it was necessary to study such mental or psychological conditioning to see how it functioned in a given society.

Structuralism

Another influential 20th-century school of thought is structuralism, which is similar in many ways to functionalism. Its leading early proponents were the British anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brown and Claude Levi-Strauss, a Belgian-born French ethnologist. They asserted that by taking all of the many aspects of a society into consideration one could arrive at a clear structural description, or model, of it a model that the members of the society themselves are not fully aware of.

Radcliffe-Brown stated that all aspects of a society exist in order to maintain the social structure of the society. Levi-Strauss was convinced that a culture, like a language, has a structure that can be similarly analysed The model that the anthropologist constructs is correct when it can account for all the observed data on a given society. One of the difficulties with structuralism is that it presumes a static condition and may find difficulty in taking historical changes into account.

Neo-evolutionism

Since World War II there has been a revival of interest in evolutionism. The American anthropologist Julian Steward believed that similar stages of development are apparent in the cultural histories of various civilizations. His theory, termed "multi linear evolution" or "specific evolution," states that such similarities develop quite independently. A comparison of the sequences of change in sets of cultures should reveal regular patterns of change that are common to all of them.

Another American, Leslie White (1900-75), viewed culture as an inevitable natural process that develops from mankind's increasing ability to harness energy and use it effectively. The social and psychological make-up of a culture is therefore determined by its technology. From the work of Steward and White has come the term cultural ecology. This school of thought states that because a culture tends to reflect efficient use of the environment, similar environments will inevitably produce cultures that are similar.

HISTORY

At least since the earliest times of the Greeks the study of mankind has been a major intellectual endeavour, a subject for speculation and for investigation. Philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, speculated on what it meant to be human and on what mankind's place was in nature and in the universe. Herodotus, on the other hand, was an investigator. In Western society he is considered the first historian and the first ethnologist.

In the 5th century BC he travelled over much of the known world, to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Thrace, Macedonia, Scythia, and eastward into what is now southern Ukraine and Russia. The observations he made on his travels were published in his 'History'. Along with his narrative of the Persian Wars and other events involving the Greek city-states, he described the customs, social habits, religions, and political structures of many of the peoples he visited on his travels.

There were other ancient precursors of anthropology. In the 1st century BC the Roman philosopher Lucretius, in his 'On Nature', discoursed on the origin of religion, the arts, language, the division of labour, and the differences between the sexes. In AD 98 the Roman historian Tacitus wrote his 'Germania', an anthropological study of the Germanic tribes to the north of the Roman Empire.

In the Middle Ages the Christian religion dominated the thought of Europe. Mankind was not viewed as existing for itself. Mankind's status was that of creatures of God whose ideal behaviour reflected religious values. During the period called the Renaissance a change in attitude took place. Poets, painters, and scholars gained a renewed interest in the classical writings of Greece and Rome. They rediscovered the notion of studying mankind for its own sake.

It was during the 16th century that the term anthropology was coined and used by philosophy teachers in German universities. Anthropology was understood to be the systematic study of man as a physical and moral being. From the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century anthropology remained within the province of philosophy. Among the many writers who reflected upon the nature of man were the Frenchmen Michel de Montaigne, Jean Bodin, Rene Descartes, and Blaise Pascal; the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza; the English philosophers John Locke and David Hume; and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon, comte de (1707-88), French philosophic naturalist and writer ('Natural History').

With the work of the French naturalist Georges Buffon the divergence of anthropological studies from philosophy began to take place. He devoted two volumes of his 44-volume 'Histoire naturelle' (Natural History), published in the years 1749 to 1804, to man as a zoological species. Since that time anthropology has continued to diversify its approaches. Scholars have also maintained the necessity of using data from other sciences in their work.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, (1752-1840), German naturalist and anthropologist, born in Gotha; founded science of anthropology; placed comparative anatomy on scientific basis.

Physical anthropology developed as a separate science under the influence of Johann F. Blumenbach in Germany. He was the first scholar to divide humanity into races. By the middle of the 19th century geologists and archaeologists had thrown a good deal of light on the age of the Earth and of human societies. For the first time, anthropologists saw the possibility of tracing mankind's origins into the very remote past.

Some Major Anthropologists

Some prominent persons are not included below because they are covered in the main text of this article or in other articles.

Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich (1752-1840). The founder of physical anthropology. Born in Gotha, Germany, on May 11, 1752. Professor of medicine at Gottingen University. The first scholar to show the value of comparative anatomy in the study of man's history. Divided mankind into five families, or races. Died on Jan. 22, 1840.

Johanson, Donald C. (born 1943). A leading American anthropologist. Born in Chicago on June 28, 1943. Curator of physical anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In Ethiopia in 1970s, he found the oldest fossils showing man's bipedal stature and locomotion.

Kroeber, Alfred Louis (1876-1960). One of the major American anthropologists in the first half of the 20th century. Born in Hoboken, N.J., on June 11, 1876. Earned his doctorate under Franz Boas at Columbia University in 1901. Author of one of the first general texts in anthropology (1923). His field investigations centred on the Indians of California. Died in Paris on Oct. 5, 1960.

Mauss, Marcel (1872-1950). French anthropologist and sociologist. Born in Epinal on May 10, 1872. A nephew and student of pioneer sociologist Emile Durkheim. Professor of primitive religion at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. A major influence in the field of ethnographic studies. Died in Paris on Feb. 10, 1950.

Morgan, Lewis Henry (1818-81). American ethnologist and pioneer in the study of kinship systems. Born near Aurora, N.Y., on Nov. 21, 1818. His major work, 'Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family' (1871), inaugurated the scientific study of kinship. Died in Rochester, N.Y., on Dec. 17, 1881.

Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald (1881-1955). British social anthropologist. Born on Jan. 17, 1881, in Birmingham. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Did fieldwork in the Andaman Islands and in Western Australia. Taught at University of Sydney, the University of Chicago, and Oxford University. His major contribution was in systematizing social structures of simple societies. Died in London on Oct. 24, 1955.

Sapir, Edward (1884-1939). American linguist and anthropologist. Born in Lauenburg, Pomerania (now in Poland), on Jan. 26, 1884. Educated at Columbia University, where he earned his doctorate under Franz Boas. Taught at the University of Chicago and at Yale University. His most significant contributions were in the study of American Indian languages. Died in New Haven, Conn., on Feb. 4, 1939.

Tylor, Edward Burnett (1832-1917). English anthropologist credited with originating the scientific study of culture. Born in London on Oct. 2, 1832. Investigation of primitive societies led him to develop the theory of an evolutionary, progressive relationship between preliterate and literate, technologically advanced cultures. His major work was 'Primitive Culture' (1871). Died in Wellington in Somerset, on Jan. 2, 1917.

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ANTHROPOLOGY

Alland, Alexander, Jr. To Be Human (Random, 1981).

Benedict, Ruth. An Anthropologist at Work (Greenwood, 1977).

Benedict, Ruth. Patterns of Culture (Houghton, 1989).

Boas, Franz. Race, Language and Culture (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1988).

Campbell, Bernard. Humankind Emerging, 4th ed. (Scott Foresman, 1985).

Coon, C.S. and others. Races: A Study of the Problem of Race Formation in Man (Greenwood, 1981).

Coon, C.S. The Story of Man, 2nd rev. ed. (Knopf, 1962).

Fisher, M.P. Recent Revolutions in Anthropology (Watts, 1986).

Foster, G.M. and others. Medical Anthropology (Random, 1978).

Gregor, A.S. Life Styles: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Scribner, 1978).

Haviland, William. Cultural Anthropology, 5th ed. (Holt, 1987).

Johanson, Donald and Maitland, Edey. Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind (Warner, 1982).

Jolly, Clifford, ed. Early Hominids of Africa (St. Martin, 1978).

Malinowski, Bronislaw. Scientific Theory of Culture (Univ. of N.C. Press, 1944).

Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa, reprint (Morrow, 1971).

National Geographic Society. Primitive Worlds: People Lost in Time (National Geographic, 1973).

Steward, J.H. Theory of Culture Change (Univ. of Ill. Press, 1972).

White, L.A. The Concept of Cultural Systems: A Key to Understanding Tribes and Nations (Columbia Univ. Press, 1975).

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (Part 1 of 2).

Industrial Pollution

Efforts to improve the standard of living for humans through the control of nature and the development of new products have also resulted in the pollution, or contamination, of the environment. Much of the world's air, water, and land is now partially poisoned by chemical wastes. Some places have become uninhabitable. This pollution exposes people all around the globe to new risks from disease. Many species of plants and animals have become endangered or are now extinct. As a result of these developments, governments have passed laws to limit or reverse the threat of environmental pollution.

All living things exert some pressure on the environment. Predatory animals, for example, reduce the population of their prey, and animal herds may trample vast stretches of prairie or tundra. The weather could be said to cause pollution when a hurricane deposits tons of silt from flooded rivers into an estuary or bay. These are temporary dislocations that nature balances and accommodates to. Modern economic development, however, sometimes disrupts nature's delicate balance. The extent of environmental pollution caused by humans is already so great that some scientists question whether the Earth can continue to support life unless immediate corrective action is taken.

Ecology and Environmental Deterioration

The branch of science that deals with how living things, including humans, are related to their surroundings is called ecology. The Earth supports some 5 million species of plants, animals, and micro-organisms These interact and influence their surroundings, forming a vast network of interrelated environmental systems called ecosystems. The Arctic tundra is an ecosystem and so is a Brazilian rain forest. The islands of Hawaii are a relatively isolated ecosystem. If left undisturbed, natural environmental systems tend to achieve balance or stability among the various species of plants and animals. Complex ecosystems are able to compensate for changes caused by weather or intrusions from migrating animals and are therefore usually said to be more stable than simple ecosystems. A field of corn has only one dominant species, the corn plant, and is a very simple ecosystem. It is easily destroyed by drought, insects, disease, or overuse. A forest may remain relatively unchanged by weather that would destroy a nearby field of corn, because the forest is characterized by greater diversity of plants and animals. Its complexity gives it stability.

Every environmental system has a carrying capacity for an optimum, or most desirable, population of any particular species within it. Sudden changes in the relative population of a particular species can begin a kind of chain reaction among other elements of the ecosystem. For example, eliminating a species of insect by using massive quantities of a chemical pesticide also may eliminate a bird species that depends upon the insect as a source of food.

Such human activities have caused the extinction of a number of plant and animal species. For example, over hunting caused the extinction of the passenger pigeon. The last known survivor of the species died at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. Less than a century earlier, the passenger pigeon population had totalled at least 3 billion. Excessive hunting or infringement upon natural habitats is endangering many other species. The great whales and the California condor are among the endangered.

Population Growth and Environmental Abuse

The reduction of the Earth's resources has been closely linked to the rise in human population. For many thousands of years people lived in relative harmony with their surroundings. Population sizes were small, and life-supporting tools were simple. Most of the energy needed for work was provided by the worker and animals. Since about 1650, however, the human population has increased dramatically. The problems of overcrowding multiply as an ever-increasing number of people are added to the world's population each year.

The rate of growth of the world's population has finally begun to slow, after reaching an all-time high of about 2 percent in 1970. In 1987 there were 5 billion people on the planet.

The United Nations predicts the population growth rate will decline to 1.5 percent by the year 2000. Even so, there will be 6.1 billion people living on Earth at the beginning of the 21st century twice the number of people living on Earth in 1960.

The booming human population is concentrated more and more in large urban areas. Many cities now have millions of inhabitants. In less developed countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, many of these cities are overpopulated because of an influx of people who have left rural homes in search of food, shelter, and employment. Some farmers have been forced off their land by drought and famine.

Environmental pollution has existed since people began to congregate in towns and cities. Ancient Athenians removed their refuse to dumps outside the main part of the city. The Romans dug trenches outside the city to hold garbage and wastes (including human corpses), a practice which may have contributed to outbreaks of viral diseases.

The ancient Romans may have been among the first people to experience the effects of toxic pollution in the form of lead poisoning. Like many other minerals and metals, lead can enter the body with food or drink or may be inhaled with particles of dust. The accumulation of lead in the blood and other tissues can cause severe illness or, in large quantities, death. The Romans used lead to line the inside of bowls and pitchers. It was also used for plates, cups, and spoons. In some areas, it was used in plumbing systems.

Some historians believe that the long-term exposure to lead was a major health risk for the Romans.

The adverse effects of pollution became more noticeable as cities grew during the Middle Ages. In Europe, medieval cities passed ordinances against throwing garbage into the streets and canals, but those laws were largely ignored. In 16th-century England, efforts were made to curb the use of coal in order to reduce the amount of smoke in the air again with little effect.

In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution placed greater pressures on the environment, and pollution changed and increased dramatically. Although industrial development improved the standard of living, there was a great environmental cost.

Air Pollution

Factories and transportation depend on huge amounts of fuel billions of tons of coal and oil are consumed around the world every year. When these fuels burn they introduce smoke and other, less visible, by-products into the atmosphere. Although wind and rain occasionally wash away the smoke given off by power plants and auto mobiles, the cumulative effect of air pollution poses a grave threat to humans and the environment.

Smog, combination of fog and smoke; common in industrial areas.

In many places smoke from factories and cars combines with naturally occurring fog to form smog. For centuries, London, England, has been subjected to the danger of smog, long recognized as a potential cause of death, especially for elderly persons and those with severe respiratory ailments. Air pollution in London originally resulted from large-scale use of heating fuels.

A widespread awareness of air pollution dates from about 1950. It was initially associated with the Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Basin is ringed for the most part by high mountains. As air sinks from these mountains it is heated until it accumulates as a warm layer that rises above the cooler air from the Pacific Ocean. This results in a temperature inversion, with the heavier cool air confined to the surface. Pollutants also become trapped at surface levels. Because of air-circulation patterns in the Los Angeles Basin, polluted air merely moves from one part of the basin to another part.

Scientists believe that all cities with populations exceeding 50,000 have some degree of air pollution. Burning garbage in open dumps causes air pollution. Other sources include emissions of sulphur dioxide and other noxious gases by electric power plants that burn high-sulphur coal or oil. Industrial boilers at factories also send large quantities of smoke into the air. The process of making steel and plastic generates large amounts of smoke containing metal dust or microscopic particles of complex and sometimes even deadly chemicals.

The single major cause of air pollution is the internal-combustion engine of auto mobiles Gasoline is never completely burned in the engine of a car, just as coal is never completely burned in the furnace of a steel mill. Once they are released into the air, the products of incomplete combustion particulate matter (soot, ash, and other solids), unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, various nitrogen oxides, ozone, and lead undergo a series of chemical reactions in the presence of sunlight. The result is the dense haze characteristic of smog. Smog may appear brownish in colour when it contains high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, or it may look blue-grey when it contains large amounts of ozone. In either case, prolonged exposure will damage lung tissue.

The costs of air pollution are enormous. The American Lung Association sites sulphur-dioxide exposure as the third leading cause of lung disease after active and passive smoking. Contaminants in the air also have been implicated in the rising incidence of asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema, a serious and debilitating disease of the lung's air sac.

pH, quantitative measure of the acidity or basicity of liquid solutions.

In the mid-1970s, people became aware of the phenomenon called acid rain. When sulphur dioxide emissions from electric power plants combine with particles of water in the atmosphere, they fall to ground as acid rain or snow. The acidity or basicity of liquids, including rainfall and snow, is measured by a special scale, called the pH scale. Developed in 1909 by the Danish biochemist S.P.L. Sorensen, the pH scale is used to describe the concentration of electrically charged hydrogen atoms in a water solution. A pH of 7.0 means that the solution is neutral. A pH above 7.0 means the solution is basic; below 7.0 means the solution is acidic. Normal rainwater has a pH of 5.5. The National Center for Atmospheric Research has recorded storms in the north-eastern United States with a pH of 2.1, which is the acidity of lemon juice or vinegar. In Canada, Scandinavia, and the north-eastern United States, acid rain is blamed for the deaths of thousands of lakes and streams.

These lakes have absorbed so much acid rain that they can no longer support the algae, plankton, and other aquatic life that provide food and nutrients for fish. Acid rain also damages buildings and monuments. Scientists are concerned that the deaths of thousands of trees in the forests of Europe, Canada, and the United States may be the result of acid rain.

Freon (CFC, or chlorofluorocarbon), various chemical compounds used as refrigerants.

Another new and troubling form of air pollution comes from a variety of chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, also known as CFCs. These chemicals are used for many industrial purposes, ranging from solvents used to clean computer chips to the refrigerant gases found in air conditioners and ice boxes. CFCs combine with other molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere and then, by attaching themselves to molecules of ozone, transform and destroy the protective ozone layer. The result has been a sharp decline in the amount of ozone in the stratosphere. At ground level, ozone is a threat to our lungs, but in the upper atmosphere ozone works as a shield to protect against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. If the ozone shield gets too thin or disappears, exposure to ultraviolet radiation can cause crop failures and the spread of epidemic diseases, skin cancer, and other disasters. In late 1987, more than 20 nations signed an agreement to limit the production of CFCs and to work toward their eventual elimination.

Congress of the United States, legislative branch of the government, composed of Senate and House of Representatives.

Air pollution has been the target of some of the most complicated and far-reaching legislation ever enacted. In 1970, the United States Congress passed legislation aimed at curbing sources of air pollution and setting standards for air quality. A few years later, Congress passed laws designed to phase out the use of lead as an additive in gasoline.

Since 1975, the level of lead in the average American's bloodstream has declined. Further action against the causes of acid rain is continually debated in North America and throughout Europe.

Bhopal, India, capital of Madhya Pradesh state; formerly a Muslim state; ruled 1844-1926 by women (begums, or princesses); Sultan Jahan Begum (1858-1930) did much to advance position of women, education, and medical aid; in 1926 abdicated in favour of son; state acceded to India 1947; disaster in 1984 caused by leak of deadly gas from Union Carbide Corp. plant; pop. 309,285. Circa 1995.

Although the release of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere is against the law in most countries, accidents can happen, often with tragic results. In 1984, in Bhopal, India, a pesticide manufacturing plant released a toxic gas into the air that within a few hours caused the deaths of more than 2,000 people.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (Part 2 of 2).

Water Pollution

Since the beginning of civilization, water has been used to carry away unwanted refuse. Rivers, streams, canals, lakes, and oceans are currently used as receptacles for every imaginable kind of pollution. Water has the capacity to break down or dissolve many materials, especially organic compounds, which decompose during prolonged contact with bacteria and enzymes. Waste materials that can eventually decompose in this way are called biodegradable. They are less of a long-term threat to the environment than are more persistent pollutants such as metals, plastics, and some chlorinated hydrocarbons. These substances remain in the water and can make it poisonous for most forms of life. Even biodegradable pollutants can damage a water supply for long periods of time. As any form of contamination accumulates, life within the water starts to suffer. Lakes are especially vulnerable to pollution because they cannot cleanse themselves as rapidly as rivers or oceans.

A common kind of water pollution is the effect caused by heavy concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus, which are used by plants for growth. The widespread use of agricultural fertilizers and household detergents containing these elements has added large amounts of plant nutrients to many bodies of water. In large quantities, nitrogen and phosphorus cause tiny water algae to bloom, or grow rapidly. When the algae die, oxygen is needed to decompose them. This creates an oxygen deficiency in the water, which causes the death of many aquatic animals. Plant life soon reduces the amount of open water. These events speed up the process of eutrophication, the ageing and eventual drying up of a lake.

Sedimentation also pollutes water. It is the result of poor soil conservation practices. Sediment fills water-supply reservoirs and fouls power turbines and irrigation pumps. It also diminishes the amount of sunlight that can penetrate the water. In the absence of sufficient sunlight, the aquatic plants that normally furnish the water with oxygen fail to grow.

Factories sometimes turn waterways into open sewers by dumping oils, toxic chemicals, and other harmful industrial wastes into them. In mining and oil-drilling operations, corrosive acid wastes are poured into the water. In recent years, municipal waste treatment plants have been built to contend with water contamination. Some towns, however, still foul streams by pouring raw sewage into them. Septic tanks and cesspools, used where sewers are not available, may also pollute the groundwater and adjacent streams, sometimes with disease-causing organisms. Even the purified effluent from sewage plants can cause water pollution if it contains high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus.

Farm fertilizers in some regions fill groundwater with nitrates, making the water unfit to drink. Agricultural run-off containing dangerous pesticides and the oil, grime, and chemicals used to melt ice from city streets also pollute waterways.

Land and Soil Pollution

In order to sustain the continually growing human population, current agricultural methods are designed to maximize yields from crop lands In many areas, the overuse of land results in the erosion of topsoil. This soil erosion, in turn, causes the over-silting or sedimentation of rivers and streams.

One of the most hazardous forms of pollution comes from agricultural pesticides. These chemicals are designed to deter or kill insects, weeds, fungi, or rodents that pose a threat to crops. When airborne pesticides drift with the wind or become absorbed into the fruits and vegetables they are meant to protect, they can become a source of many illnesses, including cancer and birth defects.

Pesticides are often designed to withstand rain, which means they are not always water-soluble, and therefore they may persist in the environment for long periods of time. Some pests have developed a genetic resistance to these chemicals, forcing farmers to increase the amounts or types of pesticide.

The pesticide DDT provides the best-known example of the dangers of introducing synthetic chemical compounds into the environment. Chemically a chlorinated hydrocarbon, DDT was widely used for many years after World War II. At first it was highly regarded because it reduced the incidence of malaria throughout the world. Then, evidence began to show that DDT might be doing more harm than good. DDT, like other chemically stable pesticides, is not readily biodegradable. It has been found in the tissues of every organism tested for its presence. DDT is now known to affect biological activities. It reduces the rate of photosynthesis in marine phytoplankton, organisms that form the basis of most ocean food chains.

Although DDT has been banned in the United States and most other countries, it is still manufactured and used in some parts of the world. Many other pesticides also have been banned. Thousands of pesticides remain in use and, in some cases, their agricultural value may balance out their risks.

Some urban areas are beginning to experience a serious problem regarding the disposal of garbage and hazardous wastes, such as solvents and industrial dyes and inks. In many areas landfill sites are approaching their full capacity and many municipalities are turning to incineration as a solution. Giant high-temperature incinerators have become another source of air pollution, however, because incineration ashes sometimes contain very high concentrations of metals as well as dioxins, a dangerous family of chemical poisons.

One answer to the garbage problem is recycling. Some towns have passed ordinances that encourage or require residents to separate glass and aluminium cans and bottles from other refuse so that these substances can be melted down and reused. Although lightweight steel, cardboard, and paper are also economically recyclable, most industries and cities still burn or bury large amounts of scrap metal and paper products every day.

Radioactive Pollutants

Cosmic rays, highly penetrating radiations reaching the Earth from outer space.

Radioactivity has always been part of the natural environment. An example of natural radioactivity is the cosmic radiation that constantly strikes the Earth. This so-called background radiation has little effect on most people. Some scientists are concerned, however, that humans have introduced a considerable amount of additional radiation into the environment.

Since the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, there has been an increased awareness of the environmental threat posed by nuclear weapons and radioactive fallout. Many scientists are concerned about the long-term environmental impacts of full-scale nuclear war. Some suggest that the large amounts of smoke and dust thrown into the atmosphere during a nuclear explosion would block out the sun's light and heat, causing global temperatures to drop.

Even the testing of nuclear weapons directly affects the environment. Such tests are rarely conducted above ground or in the ocean. International concern over the effects of these tests led the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to sign the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1963.

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union malfunctioned creating the worst peacetime nuclear disaster. Many details of the Chernobyl accident remain undisclosed, but it is known that the radioactive core of the power plant became exposed, and there was a partial meltdown, releasing large amounts of radioactive materials. Because the medical effects of exposure to nuclear radiation can take years to become apparent, it is not yet known how many additional cases of cancer, birth defects, and skin disease will have been caused by the Chernobyl accident.

Another immediate environmental problem is the disposal of nuclear wastes. Some radioactive substances have a half-life of more than 10,000 years, which means they remain radioactive and highly dangerous for many thousands of years. In nuclear physics, a half-life is the period of time required for the disintegration of half of the atoms in a sample of a radioactive substance. Science has not yet found a safe method of permanent disposal of high level radioactive wastes. Even temporary storage of these wastes is a dangerous and expensive problem. Experiments are under way to investigate the possible use of salt mines several thousand feet below the surface of the Earth as repositories for spent nuclear fuel rods and similar highly radioactive substances.

Thermal, or Heat, Pollution

While the concept of heat as a pollutant may seem improbable on a cold winter day, at any time of year an increase in water temperature has an effect on water life. Heat can be unnaturally added to streams and lakes in a number of ways. One is to cut down a forest completely. The brooks and streams that flowed through it are then exposed to the sun. Their temperatures begin to rise. As they flow into larger bodies of water, these in turn are warmed. This can kill fish and other water animals incapable of tolerating the higher temperatures.

Heat pollution is a consequence of the rising energy needs of man. As electric power plants burn fossil fuels or nuclear fuel to provide this energy, they release considerable amounts of heat. Power plants are usually located near bodies of water, which the plants use for heat-dissipation purposes. Some stretches of the Hudson River in New York no longer freeze in winter because of the flow of hot water into the river from adjacent power plants. Living things especially such cold-blooded animals as fish are very sensitive to even small changes in the average temperature. Because of the added heat in waters affected by power plants, many aquatic habitats may be undergoing drastic change. In some instances, the warmer water may cause fish eggs to hatch before their natural food supply is available. In other instances, it may prevent fish eggs from hatching at all.

In addition, a very small rise in the average temperature of the Earth's surface could produce profound climatic changes. Some experts believe that it would cause the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps to melt, raising ocean levels and inundating large areas of land.

Average worldwide temperatures can be affected when the products of combustion carbon monoxide, water vapour, and carbon dioxide are emitted into the air, especially at high altitudes. Since the normal level of carbon dioxide in the air is quite small, any significant addition is a potential threat. Although solar energy on its way to the Earth's surface easily passes through layers of carbon dioxide, some of the heat escaping from the Earth would be absorbed by increased amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, much as heat is trapped in a greenhouse. A worldwide greenhouse effect of this type might produce a dangerously warmer world. Since the late 19th century, the average global temperature has increased between 0.54°F and 1.08°F (0.3°C and 0.6°C). Internationally, 1990 was the hottest year on record since official weather records first started being kept by the British in about 1860.

Noise Pollution

The hearing apparatus of living things is sensitive to certain frequency ranges and sound intensities. Sound intensities are measured in decibels. For example, a clap of thunder has an intensity of about 100 decibels. A sound at or above the 120-decibel level is painful and can injure the ear. Noise pollution is becoming an unpleasant fact of life in cities, where the combination of sounds from traffic and building construction reverberates among high-rise buildings, creating a constant din.

In addition, the intense volume at which some popular music, especially heavy metal rock music, is played has resulted in the loss of some or all of the hearing of a few musicians and members of their audiences. There is some evidence that extreme levels of noise can produce other deleterious effects on human health and on work performance.

Efforts to Halt Pollution

The solution of some pollution problems requires cooperation at regional, national, and international levels. For example, some of the acid rain that falls in Canada is caused by smokestacks of coal-burning power plants in the United States. Thus, rejuvenating the lakes of eastern Canada requires the cooperation of electric utilities in Indiana and Ohio.

Greenpeace Foundation, international organization for the protection of the environment.

In the United States laws have been passed to regulate the discharge of pollutants into the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was formed through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, oversees most federal anti pollution activity. The National Environmental Policy Act also mandated the use of environmental impact statements, which require that businesses or governments examine alternatives and acknowledge the possible harmful effects of such activities as opening new factories, building dams, and developing new oil wells. With the advent of massive oil spills from supertankers, the washing up of medical wastes on shores in New York and New Jersey, and an increased build-up of toxic wastes, such international organizations as Greenpeace have become ever more dedicated to preventing environmental abuses and heightening public awareness of environmental issues.

The Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (known as Super fund) are among the laws that set standards for healthy air and water and the safe disposal of toxic chemicals.

In 1990 President George Bush signed the Clean Air Act of 1990, the second amending legislation since the original Clean Air Act of 1970. The new law called for reductions in emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide by half, carbon monoxide from vehicles by 70 percent, and other emissions by 20 percent. The number of toxic chemicals monitored by the EPA would increase from 7 to about 250, and industry would be required to control their waste release by means of the best technology available. In the same year, the California Air Resources Board introduced the strictest vehicle-emission controls in the world. By 2003 the hydrocarbon emission of all new cars sold in California would have to be at least 70 percent less than that of 1993 models, and by 1998, 2 percent of all cars (rising to 10 percent by 2003) would have to release no harmful emissions at all. Several North-eastern states followed suit by introducing similar, though slightly less severe, controls.

Assisted by John H. Thomas, professor of biology at Stanford University, and Paul J. Allen, Director of Communications at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Caplan, Ruth. Our Earth, Ourselves (Bantam, 1990).

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring (Houghton, 1987).

Luoma, Jon. The Air Around Us (Acid Rain Foundation, 1989).

Mott, Lawrie and others. Pesticide Alert (Sierra Club and National Resource Defense Council, 1988).

Newton, David. Taking a Stand Against Pollution (Watts, 1990).

Thackray, Sue. Looking at Pollution (David and Charles, 1987).

Trager, Oliver, ed. Our Poisoned Planet: Can We Save It? (Facts on File, 1989).

Tripathi, A.K. and Pandey, S.N. Water Pollution (South Asia Books, 1990).

PORNOGRAPHY.

Perhaps the lowest level of artistic or literary endeavour, pornography may be defined as the presentation of sexual behaviour in books, pictures, or films solely to cause sexual excitement. The word pornography is derived from a Greek term meaning "the writings of harlots," or prostitutes. Closely related, and in legal terms virtually identical, is obscenity, which is behaviour or material that is immoral and designed to produce lust.

West Germany, (or Federal Republic of Germany), until 1990 reunification, nation in central Europe; cap. Bonn; area 95,963 sq mi (248,543 sq km), pop. 60,924,000, both excluding West Berlin. Circa 1995.

Throughout the centuries such material has been both banned and regulated by law. Most nations have laws concerning pornography, though in some places public attitudes are quite permissive. Denmark, for example, removed all restrictions on the sale of pictorial and written material in the years 1967 to 1969. In other places Germany and the United States, for example pornography is readily available in major cities, though laws regulate its distribution.

Legal issues. Pornography, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder. Neither legislative bodies nor courts have been able to give clear-cut definitions of what it is or by what standards it should be regulated. In nations like the United States, where freedom of speech is written into the Constitution, it has been virtually impossible to ban pornography outright.

There have been three major court rulings that have determined public policy toward obscene matter in the United States. The earliest, in 1868, was a British case, Regina vs. Hicklin, which influenced American law for many decades. The others were rulings by the United States Supreme Court: Roth vs. United States in 1957 and Miller vs. California in 1973.

The Hicklin case set a strict test for determining obscenity: a book can be declared pornographic if only isolated passages in it are offensive. This ruling stood until the famous case in 1933 of United States vs. One Book Entitled Ulysses, in which a federal court ruled that a work must be judged in its entirety.

Freedom of speech, guaranteed in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In the Roth case the Supreme Court attempted for the first time to give standards for judging pornography. It ruled that obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech, and for a work to be pornographic it must appeal "to the prurient [unwholesome] interest" and be "utterly without redeeming social importance." Justices on the court who were against the Roth decision found it to be vague, imprecise, and flexible. Modifications in later cases proved this to be true. The Miller case of 1973 removed some vagueness but not the flexibility.

The ruling in the Miller case stated that a work does not have to be "utterly without redeeming social value" to be considered obscene, and obscenity was defined as material that is "patently offensive." Most significantly, the ruling asserted that it is not possible to set a national standard for obscenity. Such material must be judged by the prevailing standards of a community: local laws and enforcement are needed. The Miller decision has not solved the pornography problem because application of it has tended to vary widely.

Radio and television. The regulation of the broadcast media is more stringent than that of other materials because access to them is as easy as turning a knob on a receiver. The United States Congress and the Federal Communications Commission govern the way programming may be presented, and they have consistently ruled against obscenity.

Cable television, system that distributes television signals by means of transmission cables; originated in U.S. in 1950s; improves picture and sound quality in areas with poor reception; provides additional motion picture and sports channels to subscribers; a few systems allow viewers to call up various materials or participate in public opinion polls through two-way channels.

Cable television, on the other hand, is not so regulated because though available to millions it is not considered a public medium. It must be purchased and installed. A great amount of pornography appears on cable.

Child pornography. A serious form of child abuse, child pornography had become a multimillion-dollar international industry by the mid-1970s. To deal with it governments have passed laws making it a felony punishable by heavy fines and jail sentences.

RELIGION.

It has been said that thoughts of death lead necessarily to the development of religion. It is difficult to imagine what need there would be for religion in a world in which no one ever died or became ill. All religions attempt to give answers to basic questions: From where did the world come? What is the meaning of human life? Why do people die and what happens afterwards? Why is there evil? How should people behave? In the distant past these questions were answered in terms of mythology. Much of literature deals with them. Modern sciences try to investigate them.

As a word religion is difficult to define, but as a human experience it seems to be universal. The 20th-century German-born American theologian Paul Tillich gave a simple and basic definition of the word: "Religion is ultimate concern." This means that religion encompasses that to which people are most devoted or that from which they expect to get the most fundamental satisfaction in life. Consequently, religion provides adequate answers to the basic questions posed above.

Four centuries earlier the German reformer Martin Luther spoke in similar terms about God. He stated that to have a god was to "have something in which the heart trusts completely," whether such a god was a supernatural being or something in the world like wealth, power, career, or pleasure. Putting Tillich's and Luther's definitions together, it is possible to see that religion does not necessarily have to be involved with shrines, temples, churches, or synagogues. It does not need complex doctrines or clergy. It can be anything to which people devote themselves that fills their lives with meaning.

In Western civilization religion has traditionally been defined as belief in and worship of one God. This is true for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The statements by Tillich and Luther make it clear, however, that such a definition may be too narrow. In original Buddhism in India and Confucianism in China, there was no recognition of a supreme being. Both of these philosophies were basically concerned with patterns of human behaviour

Regardless of definitions, all religions (as the word is normally used) have certain elements in common. These include common rituals to perform, prayers to recite, places to frequent or avoid, holy days to keep, means by which to predict the future, a body of literature to read and study, truths to affirm, charismatic leaders to follow, and ordinances to obey. Many have buildings set aside for worship, and there are activities such as prayer, sacrifice, contemplation, and perhaps magic.

Closely associated with these elements is personal conduct. Although it is possible to separate ritual observances from moral conduct, worship has normally implied a type of relationship with a god from which certain behaviour patterns are expected to follow. A notable exception in history is the official state religion of ancient Rome, which was kept separate from personal commitment and morality.

Religion and Belief

The existence of religion is rooted fundamentally in human ignorance. People do not know the origin of the world, why there is death, or the answers to other basic questions. Explanations must be devised on the basis of a complete lack of evidence. The first explanations gave the world the fascinating mythologies of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and other civilizations. Under the influences of Judaism and Christianity, mythology was replaced in Western civilization by religions based on historical events. Nevertheless, all acceptance of religion is based on belief, not on the weight of evidence or the reaching of reasonable conclusions.

Atheism, the belief that there is no Supreme Being or God; usually associated with materialism (the belief that matter is the sole guiding force of the universe); the term comes from the Greek word atheos, meaning "without God".

This means, for example, that all statements about God or the gods are statements of belief. Even the assertion that there is no God atheism is a statement of belief. In the case of religions based on historical events, interpretations of those events are accepted by believers as true. Non-believers arrive at completely different interpretations.

If belief is the key to religion, it is also the chief problem. If religion were a form of knowledge, then its teachings would have to be supported by visible evidence that could be examined by everyone. There would then be widespread acceptance of it as knowledge as there is in mathematics or the natural sciences. But there can be no evidence, as science understands the term, that a supreme being created the universe. Nor can there be any evidence of life after death. These and other beliefs are not open to verification; they are matters of faith. One trusts that they are true, and they seem to give valid explanations to fundamental questions.

Religion and Science

Modern science had its origins in the late Middle Ages, especially during the period called the Renaissance. Many of its discoveries brought it into conflict with the traditional beliefs held by the medieval church. The assertion by Galileo and others that the Earth was not the centre of the universe outraged many church leaders, and Galileo was brought to trial for teaching unacceptable doctrines.

Conflicts between religion and science did not cease with the Renaissance. Today there are many religious people who condemn all teaching about the theory of evolution. They assert that the Biblical account of creation is literally true; therefore, evolution is unacceptable to them.

Opposition between religion and science arose from the mistaken notion that religion could present its doctrines as undisputed knowledge that would hold true for all time. The medieval church had incorporated into its system of belief certain ancient scientific assertions about the Earth and the heavens. As these assertions were slowly proved false, the church reacted because it had used ancient science to support its doctrine. In other words, it had attempted to use assumed facts of science to support belief. It feared, consequently, that if the facts were swept away, the belief would crumble. As it happened, religious resistance to science alienated many educated people.

The church did not realize that real belief cannot be supported by evidence from science. Nor can belief be undone by scientific evidence. The sciences deal with what they can see, inspect, and experiment with. They can make no valid statements about the existence or non-existence of a god because such statements must be made without any available evidence. On the other hand, religion cannot pretend to invalidate the findings of scientists for fear that belief will be challenged. If the objects of faith are true and the objects of scientific discovery true as well, then the objects are equally true and cannot contradict each other.

The uneasiness between science and religion has not been limited to Christianity. Marxist communism of the 20th century has become a kind of religion. It has an all-embracing world-view, and it has a faith in the historical process for which no evidence exists. During Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union, scientific theories that seemed to contradict his version of Marxism were suppressed. Stalin's favourite scientist was Trofim Lysenko, a biologist and agronomist who supported theories on heredity completely at variance with the genetic principles developed by Gregor Mendel. Through Lysenko's influence and under Stalin's insistence, all other approaches to biology were outlawed. Some scientists who had previously taught Mendelian genetics were forced to change their opinion and teach Lysenko's version of biology.