1.

Traditional cultural geographical approaches to the study of religion mainly seek to determine religion’s impact
on the landscape. Religious experiences and the belief in religious meanings transform physical spaces into
sacred spaces. In a more recent example that is still evidenced today, the practice of attending church in certain
parts of the world is a strong pillar of cultural practice. This is prominent in places such as the southern area of
the United States or even in the attendance of Mass in many areas of the world that were built upon the
Catholic tradition. Even though many people do not go to a service on Sundays, the attendance of church is still
widely regarded as a cultural practice, though it is fundamentally a religious one.
2. On the contrary, religion and culture, though often mistaken for each other are two distinct issues. In fact, this is
a common discussion among circles of reverts/converts to Islam. How to identify as a Muslim without losing
one’s own culture? What does a Muslim-American look like? Prior to the 2000’s there wasn’t a lot of western
resources for Islamic Sciences and the western countries imported a lot of foreign Imams and Islamic literature
from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan. While this was critical for the successful integration of new Muslims in
the wider faith community, it did come with the indirect consequence of converts adopting foreign culture along
with the sacred knowledge. For example, a revert to Islam would have to stop eating pork bacon and sausage for
breakfast, per the teaching that consumption of pork is forbidden in Islam. However they wouldn’t have to start
eating foul medemas and kifir (Egyptian breakfast – fava beans and cheese) when turkey bacon or chicken
sausage could be a suitable alternative.