Religions of the word

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Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements^[1]—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.^[2][3] Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine,^[4] sacredness,^[5] faith,^[6] and a supernatural being or beings.^[7]

Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, matrimonial and funerary services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance or public service. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred texts, symbols and holy places, that primarily aim to give life meaning. Religions may contain symbolic tales that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena; some followers believe these to be true stories. Traditionally, both faith and reason have been considered sources of religious beliefs.^[8]

There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide,^[9] though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—account for over 77% of the world’s population, and 92% of the world either follows one of those four religions or identifies as nonreligious,^[10] meaning that the remaining 9,000+ faiths account for only 8% of the population combined. The religiously unaffiliated demographic includes those who do not identify with any particular religion, atheists, and agnostics, although many in the demographic still have various religious beliefs.^[11] A portion of the population, mostly located in Africa and Asia, are members of new religious movements.^[12] Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having generally higher birth rates.^[13]

The study of religion comprises a wide variety of academic disciplines, including theology, philosophy of religion, comparative religion, and social scientific studies. Theories of religion offer various explanations for its origins and workings, including the ontological foundations of religious being and belief.^[14]

Concept and etymology

The term religion comes from both Old French and Anglo-Norman (1200s AD) and means respect for sense of right, moral obligation, sanctity, what is sacred, reverence for the gods.^[15][16] It is ultimately derived from the Latin word religiō. According to Roman philosopher Cicero, religiō comes from relegere: re (meaning «again») + lego (meaning «read»), where lego is in the sense of «go over», «choose», or «consider carefully». Contrarily, some modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell have argued that religiō is derived from religare: re (meaning «again») + ligare («bind» or «connect»), which was made prominent by St. Augustine following the interpretation given by Lactantius in Divinae institutiones, IV, 28.^[17][18] The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders: «we hear of the ‘religion’ of the Golden Fleece, of a knight ‘of the religion of Avys'».^[19]

Religiō

In classic antiquity, religiō broadly meant conscientiousness, sense of right, moral obligation, or duty to anything.^[20] In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religiō was understood as an individual virtue of worship in mundane contexts; never as doctrine, practice, or actual source of knowledge.^[21][22] In general, religiō referred to broad social obligations towards anything including family, neighbors, rulers, and even towards God.^[23] Religiō was most often used by the ancient Romans not in the context of a relation towards gods, but as a range of general emotions which arose from heightened attention in any mundane context such as hesitation, caution, anxiety, or fear, as well as feelings of being bound, restricted, or inhibited.^[24] The term was also closely related to other terms like scrupulus (which meant «very precisely»), and some Roman authors related the term superstitio (which meant too much fear or anxiety or shame) to religiō at times.^[24] When religiō came into English around the 1200s as religion, it took the meaning of «life bound by monastic vows» or monastic orders.^[19][23] The compartmentalized concept of religion, where religious and worldly things were separated, was not used before the 1500s.^[23] The concept of religion was first used in the 1500s to distinguish the domain of the church and the domain of civil authorities; the Peace of Augsburg marks such instance,^[23] which has been described by Christian Reus-Smit as «the first step on the road toward a European system of sovereign states.»^[25]

Roman general Julius Caesar used religiō to mean «obligation of an oath» when discussing captured soldiers making an oath to their captors.^[26] Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder used the term religiō to describe the apparent respect given by elephants to the night sky.^[27] Cicero used religiō as being related to cultum deorum (worship of the gods).^[28]

Threskeia

In Ancient Greece, the Greek term threskeia (θρησκεία) was loosely translated into Latin as religiō in late antiquity. Threskeia was sparsely used in classical Greece but became more frequently used in the writings of Josephus in the 1st century AD. It was used in mundane contexts and could mean multiple things from respectful fear to excessive or harmfully distracting practices of others, to cultic practices. It was often contrasted with the Greek word deisidaimonia, which meant too much fear.^[29]

Religion and religions

The modern concept of religion, as an abstraction that entails distinct sets of beliefs or doctrines, is a recent invention in the English language. Such usage began with texts from the 17th century due to events such as the splitting of Christendom during the Protestant Reformation and globalization in the Age of Exploration, which involved contact with numerous foreign cultures with non-European languages.^[21][22][30] Some argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply the term religion to non-Western cultures,^[31][32] while some followers of various faiths rebuke using the word to describe their own belief system.^[33]

The concept of religion was formed in the 16th and 17th centuries,^[34][35] despite the fact that ancient sacred texts like the Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in the original languages and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written.^[36][37] For example, there is no precise equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities.^[38] One of its central concepts is halakha, meaning the walk or path sometimes translated as law, which guides religious practice and belief and many aspects of daily life.^[39] Even though the beliefs and traditions of Judaism are found in the ancient world, ancient Jews saw Jewish identity as being about an ethnic or national identity and did not entail a compulsory belief system or regulated rituals.^[40] In the 1st century AD, Josephus had used the Greek term ioudaismos (Judaism) as an ethnic term and was not linked to modern abstract concepts of religion or a set of beliefs.^[3] The very concept of «Judaism» was invented by the Christian Church,^[41] and it was in the 19th century that Jews began to see their ancestral culture as a religion analogous to Christianity.^[40] The Greek word threskeia, which was used by Greek writers such as Herodotus and Josephus, is found in the New Testament. Threskeia is sometimes translated as «religion» in today’s translations, but the term was understood as generic «worship» well into the medieval period.^[3] In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations, but up to the mid-1600s translators expressed din as «law».^[3]

The Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion,^[42] also means law. Throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a similar union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power.^[43][44]

Though traditions, sacred texts, and practices have existed throughout time, most cultures did not align with Western conceptions of religion since they did not separate everyday life from the sacred. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, and world religions first entered the English language.^[45][46][47] Native Americans were also thought of as not having religions and also had no word for religion in their languages either.^[46][48] No one self-identified as a Hindu or Buddhist or other similar terms before the 1800s.^[49] «Hindu» has historically been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people indigenous to the Indian subcontinent.^[50][51] Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of religion since there was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning, but when American warships appeared off the coast of Japan in 1853 and forced the Japanese government to sign treaties demanding, among other things, freedom of religion, the country had to contend with this idea.^[52][53]

According to the philologist Max Müller in the 19th century, the root of the English word religion, the Latin religiō, was originally used to mean only reverence for God or the gods, careful pondering of divine things, piety (which Cicero further derived to mean diligence).^[54][55] Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, and India, as having a similar power structure at this point in history. What is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law.^[56]

Definition

Scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. There are, however, two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.^{[57][58][59][60][61]}

Modern Western

The concept of religion originated in the modern era in the West.^[32] Parallel concepts are not found in many current and past cultures; there is no equivalent term for religion in many languages.^[3][23] Scholars have found it difficult to develop a consistent definition, with some giving up on the possibility of a definition.^[62][63] Others argue that regardless of its definition, it is not appropriate to apply it to non-Western cultures.^[31][32]

An increasing number of scholars have expressed reservations about ever defining the essence of religion.^[64] They observe that the way the concept today is used is a particularly modern construct that would not have been understood through much of history and in many cultures outside the West (or even in the West until after the Peace of Westphalia).^[65] The MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions states:

The very attempt to define religion, to find some distinctive or possibly unique essence or set of qualities that distinguish the religious from the remainder of human life, is primarily a Western concern. The attempt is a natural consequence of the Western speculative, intellectualistic, and scientific disposition. It is also the product of the dominant Western religious mode, what is called the Judeo-Christian climate or, more accurately, the theistic inheritance from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The theistic form of belief in this tradition, even when downgraded culturally, is formative of the dichotomous Western view of religion. That is, the basic structure of theism is essentially a distinction between a transcendent deity and all else, between the creator and his creation, between God and man.^[66]

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz defined religion as a

… system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.»^[67]

Alluding perhaps to Tylor’s «deeper motive», Geertz remarked that

… we have very little idea of how, in empirical terms, this particular miracle is accomplished. We just know that it is done, annually, weekly, daily, for some people almost hourly; and we have an enormous ethnographic literature to demonstrate it.^[68]

The theologian Antoine Vergote took the term supernatural simply to mean whatever transcends the powers of nature or human agency. He also emphasized the cultural reality of religion, which he defined as

… the entirety of the linguistic expressions, emotions and, actions and signs that refer to a supernatural being or supernatural beings.^[7]

Peter Mandaville and Paul James intended to get away from the modernist dualisms or dichotomous understandings of immanence/transcendence, spirituality/materialism, and sacredness/secularity. They define religion as

… a relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that addresses the nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies of time, space, embodiment and knowing.^[69]

According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Religions, there is an experiential aspect to religion which can be found in almost every culture:

… almost every known culture [has] a depth dimension in cultural experiences … toward some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life. When more or less distinct patterns of behavior are built around this depth dimension in a culture, this structure constitutes religion in its historically recognizable form. Religion is the organization of life around the depth dimensions of experience—varied in form, completeness, and clarity in accordance with the environing culture.^[70]

Classical

Friedrich Schleiermacher in the late 18th century defined religion as das schlechthinnige Abhängigkeitsgefühl, commonly translated as «the feeling of absolute dependence».^[71]

His contemporary Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel disagreed thoroughly, defining religion as «the Divine Spirit becoming conscious of Himself through the finite spirit.»^[72]

Edward Burnett Tylor defined religion in 1871 as «the belief in spiritual beings».^[73] He argued that narrowing the definition to mean the belief in a supreme deity or judgment after death or idolatry and so on, would exclude many peoples from the category of religious, and thus «has the fault of identifying religion rather with particular developments than with the deeper motive which underlies them». He also argued that the belief in spiritual beings exists in all known societies.

In his book The Varieties of Religious Experience, the psychologist William James defined religion as «the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine».^[4] By the term divine James meant «any object that is godlike, whether it be a concrete deity or not»^[74] to which the individual feels impelled to respond with solemnity and gravity.^[75]

Sociologist Émile Durkheim, in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, defined religion as a «unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things».^[5] By sacred things he meant things «set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them». Sacred things are not, however, limited to gods or spirits.^{[note 1]} On the contrary, a sacred thing can be «a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred».^[76] Religious beliefs, myths, dogmas and legends are the representations that express the nature of these sacred things, and the virtues and powers which are attributed to them.^[77]

Echoes of James’ and Durkheim’s definitions are to be found in the writings of, for example, Frederick Ferré who defined religion as «one’s way of valuing most comprehensively and intensively».^[78] Similarly, for the theologian Paul Tillich, faith is «the state of being ultimately concerned»,^[6] which «is itself religion. Religion is the substance, the ground, and the depth of man’s spiritual life.»^[79]

When religion is seen in terms of sacred, divine, intensive valuing, or ultimate concern, then it is possible to understand why scientific findings and philosophical criticisms (e.g., those made by Richard Dawkins) do not necessarily disturb its adherents.^[80]

Aspects

Beliefs

Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has been considered a source of religious beliefs. The interplay between faith and reason, and their use as perceived support for religious beliefs, have been a subject of interest to philosophers and theologians.^[8] The origin of religious belief as such is an open question, with possible explanations including awareness of individual death, a sense of community, and dreams.^[81]

Mythology

The word myth has several meanings.

1. A traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon;
2. A person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence; or
3. A metaphor for the spiritual potentiality in the human being.^[82]

Ancient polytheistic religions, such as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia, are usually categorized under the heading of mythology. Religions of pre-industrial peoples, or cultures in development, are similarly called myths in the anthropology of religion. The term myth can be used pejoratively by both religious and non-religious people. By defining another person’s religious stories and beliefs as mythology, one implies that they are less real or true than one’s own religious stories and beliefs. Joseph Campbell remarked, «Mythology is often thought of as other people’s religions, and religion can be defined as misinterpreted mythology.»^[83]

In sociology, however, the term myth has a non-pejorative meaning. There, myth is defined as a story that is important for the group, whether or not it is objectively or provably true.^[84] Examples include the resurrection of their real-life founder Jesus, which, to Christians, explains the means by which they are freed from sin, is symbolic of the power of life over death, and is also said to be a historical event. But from a mythological outlook, whether or not the event actually occurred is unimportant. Instead, the symbolism of the death of an old life and the start of a new life is most significant. Religious believers may or may not accept such symbolic interpretations.

Practices

The practices of a religion may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity (god or goddess), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, religious music, religious art, sacred dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture.^[85]

Religions have a societal basis, either as a living tradition which is carried by lay participants, or with an organized clergy, and a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership.

Academic study

A number of disciplines study the phenomenon of religion: theology, comparative religion, history of religion, evolutionary origin of religions, anthropology of religion, psychology of religion (including neuroscience of religion and evolutionary psychology of religion), law and religion, and sociology of religion.

Daniel L. Pals mentions eight classical theories of religion, focusing on various aspects of religion: animism and magic, by E.B. Tylor and J.G. Frazer; the psycho-analytic approach of Sigmund Freud; and further Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, E.E. Evans-Pritchard, and Clifford Geertz.^[86]

Michael Stausberg gives an overview of contemporary theories of religion, including cognitive and biological approaches.^[87]

Theories

Sociological and anthropological theories of religion generally attempt to explain the origin and function of religion.^[88] These theories define what they present as universal characteristics of religious belief and practice.

Origins and development

The origin of religion is uncertain. There are a number of theories regarding the subsequent origins of religious practices.

According to anthropologists John Monaghan and Peter Just, «Many of the great world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, as the vision of a charismatic prophet fires the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to their problems than they feel is provided by everyday beliefs. Charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world. It seems that the key to long-term success—and many movements come and go with little long-term effect—has relatively little to do with the prophets, who appear with surprising regularity, but more to do with the development of a group of supporters who are able to institutionalize the movement.»^[89]

The development of religion has taken different forms in different cultures. Some religions place an emphasis on belief, while others emphasize practice. Some religions focus on the subjective experience of the religious individual, while others consider the activities of the religious community to be most important. Some religions claim to be universal, believing their laws and cosmology to be binding for everyone, while others are intended to be practiced only by a closely defined or localized group. In many places, religion has been associated with public institutions such as education, hospitals, the family, government, and political hierarchies.^[90]

Anthropologists John Monoghan and Peter Just state that, «it seems apparent that one thing religion or belief helps us do is deal with problems of human life that are significant, persistent, and intolerable. One important way in which religious beliefs accomplish this is by providing a set of ideas about how and why the world is put together that allows people to accommodate anxieties and deal with misfortune.»^[90]

Cultural system

While religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who simply called it a «cultural system».^[91] A critique of Geertz’s model by Talal Asad categorized religion as «an anthropological category».^[92] Richard Niebuhr’s (1894–1962) five-fold classification of the relationship between Christ and culture, however, indicates that religion and culture can be seen as two separate systems, though with some interplay.^[93]

One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings.^[94] Among the main proponents of this theory of religion are Daniel Dubuisson, Timothy Fitzgerald, Talal Asad, and Jason Ānanda Josephson. The social constructionists argue that religion is a modern concept that developed from Christianity and was then applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures.

Cognitive science

Cognitive science of religion is the study of religious thought and behavior from the perspective of the cognitive and evolutionary sciences.^[95] The field employs methods and theories from a very broad range of disciplines, including: cognitive psychology, evolutionary psychology, cognitive anthropology, artificial intelligence, cognitive neuroscience, neurobiology, zoology, and ethology. Scholars in this field seek to explain how human minds acquire, generate, and transmit religious thoughts, practices, and schemas by means of ordinary cognitive capacities.

Hallucinations and delusions related to religious content occurs in about 60% of people with schizophrenia. While this number varies across cultures, this had led to theories about a number of influential religious phenomena and possible relation to psychotic disorders. A number of prophetic experiences are consistent with psychotic symptoms, although retrospective diagnoses are practically impossible.^[96][97][98] Schizophrenic episodes are also experienced by people who do not have belief in gods.^[99]

Religious content is also common in temporal lobe epilepsy, and obsessive–compulsive disorder.^[100][101] Atheistic content is also found to be common with temporal lobe epilepsy.^[102]

Comparativism

Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the world’s religions. In general, the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics, and the nature and form of salvation. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.^[103]

In the field of comparative religion, a common geographical classification^[104] of the main world religions includes Middle Eastern religions (including Zoroastrianism and Iranian religions), Indian religions, East Asian religions, African religions, American religions, Oceanic religions, and classical Hellenistic religions.^[104]

Classification

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the academic practice of comparative religion divided religious belief into philosophically defined categories called world religions. Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories:

1. world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international religions;
2. indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and
3. new religious movements, which refers to recently developed religions.^[105]

Some recent scholarship has argued that not all types of religion are necessarily separated by mutually exclusive philosophies, and furthermore that the utility of ascribing a practice to a certain philosophy, or even calling a given practice religious, rather than cultural, political, or social in nature, is limited.^{[106][107][108]} The current state of psychological study about the nature of religiousness suggests that it is better to refer to religion as a largely invariant phenomenon that should be distinguished from cultural norms (i.e. religions).^{[109][clarification needed]}

Morphological classification

Some scholars classify religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Jainism, while ethnic religions are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts.^[110][111] Others reject the distinction, pointing out that all religious practices, whatever their philosophical origin, are ethnic because they come from a particular culture.^{[112][113][114]}

Demographic classification

The five largest religious groups by world population, estimated to account for 5.8 billion people and 84% of the population, are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism (with the relative numbers for Buddhism and Hinduism dependent on the extent of syncretism) and traditional folk religion.

Five largest religions	2015 (billion)[115]	2015 (%)	Demographics
Christianity	2.3	31.2%	Christianity by country
Islam	1.8	24.1%	Islam by country
Hinduism	1.1	15.1%	Hinduism by country
Buddhism	0.5	6.9%	Buddhism by country
Folk Religion	0.4	5.7%
Total	6.1	83%	Religions by country

A global poll in 2012 surveyed 57 countries and reported that 59% of the world’s population identified as religious, 23% as not religious, 13% as convinced atheists, and also a 9% decrease in identification as religious when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries.^[116] A follow-up poll in 2015 found that 63% of the globe identified as religious, 22% as not religious, and 11% as convinced atheists.^[117] On average, women are more religious than men.^[118] Some people follow multiple religions or multiple religious principles at the same time, regardless of whether or not the religious principles they follow traditionally allow for syncretism.^{[119][120][121]} A 2017 Pew projection suggests that Islam will overtake Christianity as the plurality religion by 2075. Unaffiliated populations are projected to drop, even when taking disaffiliation rates into account, due to differences in birth rates.^[122][123]

Scholars have indicated that global religiosity may be increasing due to religious countries having higher birth rates in general.^[124]

Specific religions

Abrahamic

Abrahamic religions are monotheistic religions which believe they descend from Abraham.

Judaism

Judaism is the oldest Abrahamic religion, originating in the people of ancient Israel and Judah.^[125] The Torah is its foundational text, and is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible. It is supplemented by oral tradition, set down in written form in later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. Judaism includes a wide corpus of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah; historically, this assertion was challenged by various groups. The Jewish people were scattered after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Today there are about 13 million Jews, about 40 per cent living in Israel and 40 per cent in the United States.^[126] The largest Jewish religious movements are Orthodox Judaism (Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism), Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism.^[125]

Christianity

Christianity is based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (1st century) as presented in the New Testament.^[127] The Christian faith is essentially faith in Jesus as the Christ,^[127] the Son of God, and as Savior and Lord. Almost all Christians believe in the Trinity, which teaches the unity of Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead. Most Christians can describe their faith with the Nicene Creed. As the religion of Byzantine Empire in the first millennium and of Western Europe during the time of colonization, Christianity has been propagated throughout the world via missionary work.^{[128][129][130]} It is the world’s largest religion, with about 2.3 billion followers as of 2015.^[131] The main divisions of Christianity are, according to the number of adherents:^[132]

• The Catholic Church, led by the Bishop of Rome and the bishops worldwide in communion with him, is a communion of 24 Churches sui iuris, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic churches, such as the Maronite Catholic Church.^[132]
• Eastern Christianity, which include Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and the Church of the East.
• Protestantism, separated from the Catholic Church in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and is split into thousands of denominations. Major branches of Protestantism include Anglicanism, Baptists, Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Methodism, though each of these contain many different denominations or groups.^[132]

There are also smaller groups, including:

• Restorationism, the belief that Christianity should be restored (as opposed to reformed) along the lines of what is known about the apostolic early church.
• Latter-day Saint movement, founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses, founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell.

Islam

Islam is a monotheistic^[133] religion based on the Quran,^[133] one of the holy books considered by Muslims to be revealed by God, and on the teachings (hadith) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a major political and religious figure of the 7th century CE. Islam is based on the unity of all religious philosophies and accepts all of the Abrahamic prophets of Judaism, Christianity and other Abrahamic religions before Muhammad. It is the most widely practiced religion of Southeast Asia, North Africa, Western Asia, and Central Asia, while Muslim-majority countries also exist in parts of South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Europe. There are also several Islamic republics, including Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania, and Afghanistan.

• Sunni Islam is the largest denomination within Islam and follows the Qur’an, the ahadith (ar: plural of Hadith) which record the sunnah, whilst placing emphasis on the sahabah.
• Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam and its adherents believe that Ali succeeded Muhammad and further places emphasis on Muhammad’s family.
• There are also Muslim revivalist movements such as Muwahhidism and Salafism.

Other denominations of Islam include Nation of Islam, Ibadi, Sufism, Quranism, Mahdavia, and non-denominational Muslims. Wahhabism is the dominant Muslim schools of thought in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Other

Whilst Judaism, Christianity and Islam are commonly seen as the only three Abrahamic faiths, there are smaller and newer traditions which lay claim to the designation as well.^[134]

For example, the Baháʼí Faith is a new religious movement that has links to the major Abrahamic religions as well as other religions (e.g. of Eastern philosophy). Founded in 19th-century Iran, it teaches the unity of all religious philosophies^[135] and accepts all of the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as additional prophets (Buddha, Mahavira), including its founder Bahá’u’lláh. It is an offshoot of Bábism. One of its divisions is the Orthodox Baháʼí Faith.^{[136]: 48–49}

Even smaller regional Abrahamic groups also exist, including Samaritanism (primarily in Israel and the State of Palestine), the Rastafari movement (primarily in Jamaica), and Druze (primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel). The Druze faith originally developed out of Isma’ilism, and it has sometimes been considered an Islamic school by some Islamic authorities, but Druze themselves do not identify as Muslims.^{[137][138][139]} Mandaeism, sometimes also known as Sabianism (after the mysterious Sabians mentioned in the Quran, a name historically claimed by several religious groups),^[140] is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion.^{[141]: 4 [142]: 1} Its adherents, the Mandaeans, consider John the Baptist to be their chief prophet.^[141] Mandaeans are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity.^[143]

East Asian

East Asian religions (also known as Far Eastern religions or Taoic religions) consist of several religions of East Asia which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese), Dō (in Japanese or Korean) or Đạo (in Vietnamese). They include:

Taoism and Confucianism

• Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.

Folk religions

• Chinese folk religion: the indigenous religions of the Han Chinese, or, by metonymy, of all the populations of the Chinese cultural sphere. It includes the syncretism of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, Wuism, as well as many new religious movements such as Chen Tao, Falun Gong and Yiguandao.
• Other folk and new religions of East Asia and Southeast Asia such as Korean shamanism, Chondogyo, and Jeung San Do in Korea; indigenous Philippine folk religions in the Philippines; Shinto, Shugendo, Ryukyuan religion, and Japanese new religions in Japan; Satsana Phi in Laos; Vietnamese folk religion, and Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo in Vietnam.

Indian religions

Indian religions are practiced or were founded in the Indian subcontinent. They are sometimes classified as the dharmic religions, as they all feature dharma, the specific law of reality and duties expected according to the religion.^[144]

Hinduism

• Hinduism is also called Vaidika Dharma, the dharma of the Vedas.^[145] It is a synecdoche describing the similar philosophies of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and related groups practiced or founded in the Indian subcontinent. Concepts most of them share in common include karma, caste, reincarnation, mantras, yantras, and darśana.^{[note 2]} Hinduism is one of the most ancient of still-active religious belief systems,^[146][147] with origins perhaps as far back as prehistoric times.^[148]

Jainism

• Jainism, taught primarily by Rishabhanatha (the founder of ahimsa) is an ancient Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence, truth and anekantavada for all forms of living beings in this universe; which helps them to eliminate all the Karmas, and hence to attain freedom from the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra), that is, achieving nirvana. Jains are found mostly in India. According to Dundas, outside of the Jain tradition, historians date the Mahavira as about contemporaneous with the Buddha in the 5th-century BCE, and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha, based on the c. 250-year gap, is placed in 8th or 7th century BCE.^[150]
  • Digambara Jainism (or sky-clad) is mainly practiced in South India. Their holy books are Pravachanasara and Samayasara written by their Prophets Kundakunda and Amritchandra as their original canon is lost.
  • Shwetambara Jainism (or white-clad) is mainly practiced in Western India. Their holy books are Jain Agamas, written by their Prophet Sthulibhadra.

Buddhism

• Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in the 5th century BCE. Buddhists generally agree that Gotama aimed to help sentient beings end their suffering (dukkha) by understanding the true nature of phenomena, thereby escaping the cycle of suffering and rebirth (saṃsāra), that is, achieving nirvana.
  • Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced mainly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia alongside folk religion, shares some characteristics of Indian religions. It is based in a large collection of texts called the Pali Canon.
  • Mahayana Buddhism (or the Great Vehicle) under which are a multitude of doctrines that became prominent in China and are still relevant in Vietnam, Korea, Japan and to a lesser extent in Europe and the United States. Mahayana Buddhism includes such disparate teachings as Zen, Pure Land, and Soka Gakkai.
  • Vajrayana Buddhism first appeared in India in the 3rd century CE.^[151] It is currently most prominent in the Himalaya regions^[152] and extends across all of Asia^[153] (cf. Mikkyō).
  • Two notable new Buddhist sects are Hòa Hảo and the Navayana (Dalit Buddhist movement), which were developed separately in the 20th century.

Sikhism

• Sikhism is a panentheistic religion founded on the teachings of Guru Nanak and ten successive Sikh gurus in 15th-century Punjab. It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 30 million Sikhs.^[154][155] Sikhs are expected to embody the qualities of a Sant-Sipāhī—a saint-soldier, have control over one’s internal vices and be able to be constantly immersed in virtues clarified in the Guru Granth Sahib. The principal beliefs of Sikhi are faith in Waheguru—represented by the phrase ik ōaṅkār, meaning one God, who prevails in everything, along with a praxis in which the Sikh is enjoined to engage in social reform through the pursuit of justice for all human beings.

Indigenous and folk

Indigenous religions or folk religions refers to a broad category of traditional religions that can be characterised by shamanism, animism and ancestor worship, where traditional means «indigenous, that which is aboriginal or foundational, handed down from generation to generation…».^[156] These are religions that are closely associated with a particular group of people, ethnicity or tribe; they often have no formal creeds or sacred texts.^[157] Some faiths are syncretic, fusing diverse religious beliefs and practices.^[158]

• Australian Aboriginal religions.
• Folk religions of the Americas: Native American religions

Folk religions are often omitted as a category in surveys even in countries where they are widely practiced, e.g. in China.^[157]

Traditional African

African traditional religion encompasses the traditional religious beliefs of people in Africa. In West Africa, these religions include the Akan religion, Dahomey (Fon) mythology, Efik mythology, Odinani, Serer religion (A ƭat Roog), and Yoruba religion, while Bushongo mythology, Mbuti (Pygmy) mythology, Lugbara mythology, Dinka religion, and Lotuko mythology come from central Africa. Southern African traditions include Akamba mythology, Masai mythology, Malagasy mythology, San religion, Lozi mythology, Tumbuka mythology, and Zulu mythology. Bantu mythology is found throughout central, southeast, and southern Africa. In north Africa, these traditions include Berber and ancient Egyptian.

There are also notable African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, such as Santeria, Candomble, Vodun, Lucumi, Umbanda, and Macumba.

Iranian

Iranian religions are ancient religions whose roots predate the Islamization of Greater Iran. Nowadays these religions are practiced only by minorities.

Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster in the 6th century BCE. Zoroastrians worship the creator Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrianism, good and evil have distinct sources, with evil trying to destroy the creation of Mazda, and good trying to sustain it.

Kurdish religions include the traditional beliefs of the Yazidi,^[159][160] Alevi, and Ahl-e Haqq. Sometimes these are labeled Yazdânism.

New religious movements

• The Baháʼí Faith teaches the unity of all religious philosophies.^[135]
• Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, established in Vietnam in 1926.^[161]
• Eckankar is a pantheistic religion with the purpose of making God an everyday reality in one’s life.^[162]
• Epicureanism is a Hellenistic philosophy that is considered by many of its practitioners as a type of (sometimes non-theistic) religious identity. It has its own scriptures, a monthly «feast of reason» on the Twentieth, and considers friendship to be holy.
• Hindu reform movements, such as Ayyavazhi, Swaminarayan Faith and Ananda Marga, are examples of new religious movements within Indian religions.
• Japanese new religions (shinshukyo) is a general category for a wide variety of religious movements founded in Japan since the 19th century. These movements share almost nothing in common except the place of their founding. The largest religious movements centered in Japan include Soka Gakkai, Tenrikyo, and Seicho-No-Ie among hundreds of smaller groups.^[163]
• Jehovah’s Witnesses, a non-trinitarian Christian Reformist movement sometimes described as millenarian.^[164]
• Neo-Druidism is a religion promoting harmony with nature,^[165] named after but not necessarily connected to the Iron Age druids.^[166]
• Modern pagan movements attempting to reconstruct or revive ancient pagan practices, such as Heathenry, Hellenism, and Kemeticism^[167]
• Noahidism is a monotheistic ideology based on the Seven Laws of Noah,^[168] and on their traditional interpretations within Rabbinic Judaism.
• Some forms of parody religion or fiction-based religion^[169] like Jediism, Pastafarianism, Dudeism, «Tolkien religion»,^[169] and others often develop their own writings, traditions, and cultural expressions, and end up behaving like traditional religions.
• Satanism is a broad category of religions that, for example, worship Satan as a deity (Theistic Satanism) or use Satan as a symbol of carnality and earthly values (LaVeyan Satanism and The Satanic Temple).^[170]
• Scientology^[171] is a religious movement that teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as auditing, in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience and understand painful or traumatic events and decisions in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects.
• UFO Religions in which extraterrestrial entities are an element of belief, such as Raëlism, Aetherius Society, and Marshall Vian Summers’s New Message from God
• Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and has no accepted creed or theology.^[172]
• Wicca is a neo-pagan religion first popularised in 1954 by British civil servant Gerald Gardner, involving the worship of a God and Goddess.^[173]

Law

The study of law and religion is a relatively new field, with several thousand scholars involved in law schools, and academic departments including political science, religion, and history since 1980.^[174] Scholars in the field are not only focused on strictly legal issues about religious freedom or non-establishment, but also study religions as they are qualified through judicial discourses or legal understanding of religious phenomena. Exponents look at canon law, natural law, and state law, often in a comparative perspective.^[175][176] Specialists have explored themes in Western history regarding Christianity and justice and mercy, rule and equity, and discipline and love.^[177] Common topics of interest include marriage and the family^[178] and human rights.^[179] Outside of Christianity, scholars have looked at law and religion links in the Muslim Middle East^[180] and pagan Rome.^[181]

Studies have focused on secularization.^[182][183] In particular, the issue of wearing religious symbols in public, such as headscarves that are banned in French schools, have received scholarly attention in the context of human rights and feminism.^[184]

Science

Science acknowledges reason and empirical evidence; and religions include revelation, faith and sacredness whilst also acknowledging philosophical and metaphysical explanations with regard to the study of the universe. Both science and religion are not monolithic, timeless, or static because both are complex social and cultural endeavors that have changed through time across languages and cultures.^[185]

The concepts of science and religion are a recent invention: the term religion emerged in the 17th century in the midst of colonization and globalization and the Protestant Reformation.^[3][21] The term science emerged in the 19th century out of natural philosophy in the midst of attempts to narrowly define those who studied nature (natural science),^{[21][186][187]} and the phrase religion and science emerged in the 19th century due to the reification of both concepts.^[21] It was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged.^[21] In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin roots of both science (scientia) and religion (religio) were understood as inner qualities of the individual or virtues, never as doctrines, practices, or actual sources of knowledge.^[21]

In general the scientific method gains knowledge by testing hypotheses to develop theories through elucidation of facts or evaluation by experiments and thus only answers cosmological questions about the universe that can be observed and measured. It develops theories of the world which best fit physically observed evidence. All scientific knowledge is subject to later refinement, or even rejection, in the face of additional evidence. Scientific theories that have an overwhelming preponderance of favorable evidence are often treated as de facto verities in general parlance, such as the theories of general relativity and natural selection to explain respectively the mechanisms of gravity and evolution.

Religion does not have a method per se partly because religions emerge through time from diverse cultures and it is an attempt to find meaning in the world, and to explain humanity’s place in it and relationship to it and to any posited entities. In terms of Christian theology and ultimate truths, people rely on reason, experience, scripture, and tradition to test and gauge what they experience and what they should believe. Furthermore, religious models, understanding, and metaphors are also revisable, as are scientific models.^[188]

Regarding religion and science, Albert Einstein states (1940): «For science can only ascertain what is, but not what should be, and outside of its domain value judgments of all kinds remain necessary.^[189] Religion, on the other hand, deals only with evaluations of human thought and action; it cannot justifiably speak of facts and relationships between facts^[189]…Now, even though the realms of religion and science in themselves are clearly marked off from each other, nevertheless there exist between the two strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies. Though religion may be that which determine the goals, it has, nevertheless, learned from science, in the broadest sense, what means will contribute to the attainment of the goals it has set up.»^[190]

Morality

Many religions have value frameworks regarding personal behavior meant to guide adherents in determining between right and wrong. These include the Triple Jems of Jainism, Judaism’s Halacha, Islam’s Sharia, Catholicism’s Canon Law, Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, and Zoroastrianism’s good thoughts, good words, and good deeds concept, among others.^[191]

Religion and morality are not synonymous. While it is «an almost automatic assumption,»^[192] in Christianity, morality can have a secular basis.

The study of religion and morality can be contentious due to ethnocentric views on morality, failure to distinguish between in group and out group altruism, and inconsistent definitions of religiosity.

Politics

Impact

Religion has had a significant impact on the political system in many countries.^[193] Notably, most Muslim-majority countries adopt various aspects of sharia, the Islamic law.^[194] Some countries even define themselves in religious terms, such as The Islamic Republic of Iran. The sharia thus affects up to 23% of the global population, or 1.57 billion people who are Muslims. However, religion also affects political decisions in many western countries. For instance, in the United States, 51% of voters would be less likely to vote for a presidential candidate who did not believe in God, and only 6% more likely.^[195] Christians make up 92% of members of the US Congress, compared with 71% of the general public (as of 2014). At the same time, while 23% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, only one member of Congress (Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona), or 0.2% of that body, claims no religious affiliation.^[196] In most European countries, however, religion has a much smaller influence on politics^[197] although it used to be much more important. For instance, same-sex marriage and abortion were illegal in many European countries until recently, following Christian (usually Catholic) doctrine. Several European leaders are atheists (e.g. France’s former president Francois Hollande or Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras). In Asia, the role of religion differs widely between countries. For instance, India is still one of the most religious countries and religion still has a strong impact on politics, given that Hindu nationalists have been targeting minorities like the Muslims and the Christians, who historically^[when?] belonged to the lower castes.^[198] By contrast, countries such as China or Japan are largely secular and thus religion has a much smaller impact on politics.

Secularism

Secularization is the transformation of the politics of a society from close identification with a particular religion’s values and institutions toward nonreligious values and secular institutions. The purpose of this is frequently modernization or protection of the populations religious diversity.

Economics

One study has found there is a negative correlation between self-defined religiosity and the wealth of nations.^[199] In other words, the richer a nation is, the less likely its inhabitants to call themselves religious, whatever this word means to them (Many people identify themselves as part of a religion (not irreligion) but do not self-identify as religious).^[199]

Sociologist and political economist Max Weber has argued that Protestant Christian countries are wealthier because of their Protestant work ethic.^[200] According to a study from 2015, Christians hold the largest amount of wealth (55% of the total world wealth), followed by Muslims (5.8%), Hindus (3.3%) and Jews (1.1%). According to the same study it was found that adherents under the classification Irreligion or other religions hold about 34.8% of the total global wealth (while making up only about 20% of the world population, see section on classification).^[201]

Health

Mayo Clinic researchers examined the association between religious involvement and spirituality, and physical health, mental health, health-related quality of life, and other health outcomes.^[202] The authors reported that: «Most studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes, including greater longevity, coping skills, and health-related quality of life (even during terminal illness) and less anxiety, depression, and suicide.»^[203]

The authors of a subsequent study concluded that the influence of religion on health is largely beneficial, based on a review of related literature.^[204] According to academic James W. Jones, several studies have discovered «positive correlations between religious belief and practice and mental and physical health and longevity.»^[205]

An analysis of data from the 1998 US General Social Survey, whilst broadly confirming that religious activity was associated with better health and well-being, also suggested that the role of different dimensions of spirituality/religiosity in health is rather more complicated. The results suggested «that it may not be appropriate to generalize findings about the relationship between spirituality/religiosity and health from one form of spirituality/religiosity to another, across denominations, or to assume effects are uniform for men and women.^[206]

Violence

Critics like Hector Avalos^[207] Regina Schwartz,^[208] Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have argued that religions are inherently violent and harmful to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders.^{[209][page needed][210][page needed]}

Anthropologist Jack David Eller asserts that religion is not inherently violent, arguing «religion and violence are clearly compatible, but they are not identical.» He asserts that «violence is neither essential to nor exclusive to religion» and that «virtually every form of religious violence has its nonreligious corollary.»^[211][212]

Animal sacrifice

Some (but not all) religions practise animal sacrifice, the ritual killing and offering of an animal to appease or maintain favour with a deity. It has been banned in India.^[213]

Superstition

Greek and Roman pagans, who saw their relations with the gods in political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods (deisidaimonia), as a slave might fear a cruel and capricious master. The Romans called such fear of the gods superstitio.^[214] Ancient Greek historian Polybius described superstition in ancient Rome as an instrumentum regni, an instrument of maintaining the cohesion of the Empire.^[215]

Superstition has been described as the non-rational establishment of cause and effect.^[216] Religion is more complex and is often composed of social institutions and has a moral aspect. Some religions may include superstitions or make use of magical thinking. Adherents of one religion sometimes think of other religions as superstition.^[217][218] Some atheists, deists, and skeptics regard religious belief as superstition.

The Roman Catholic Church considers superstition to be sinful in the sense that it denotes a lack of trust in the divine providence of God and, as such, is a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that superstition «in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion» (para. #2110). «Superstition,» it says, «is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22» (para. #2111)

Agnosticism and atheism

The terms atheist (lack of belief in any gods) and agnostic (belief in the unknowability of the existence of gods), though specifically contrary to theistic (e.g. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim) religious teachings, do not by definition mean the opposite of religious. There are religions (including Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism), in fact, that classify some of their followers as agnostic, atheistic, or nontheistic. The true opposite of religious is the word irreligious. Irreligion describes an absence of any religion; antireligion describes an active opposition or aversion toward religions in general.

Interfaith cooperation

Because religion continues to be recognized in Western thought as a universal impulse,^[219] many religious practitioners^[who?][220] have aimed to band together in interfaith dialogue, cooperation, and religious peacebuilding. The first major dialogue was the Parliament of the World’s Religions at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which affirmed universal values and recognition of the diversity of practices among different cultures.^[221] The 20th century has been especially fruitful in use of interfaith dialogue as a means of solving ethnic, political, or even religious conflict, with Christian–Jewish reconciliation representing a complete reverse in the attitudes of many Christian communities towards Jews.^[222]

Recent interfaith initiatives include A Common Word, launched in 2007 and focused on bringing Muslim and Christian leaders together,^[223] the «C1 World Dialogue»,^[224] the Common Ground initiative between Islam and Buddhism,^[225] and a United Nations sponsored «World Interfaith Harmony Week».^[226][227]

Culture

Culture and religion have usually been seen as closely related.^[42] Paul Tillich looked at religion as the soul of culture and culture as the form or framework of religion.^[228] In his own words:

Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning-giving substance of culture, and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself. In abbreviation: religion is the substance of culture, culture is the form of religion. Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture. Every religious act, not only in organized religion, but also in the most intimate movement of the soul, is culturally formed.^[229]

Ernst Troeltsch, similarly, looked at culture as the soil of religion and thought that, therefore, transplanting a religion from its original culture to a foreign culture would actually kill it in the same manner that transplanting a plant from its natural soil to an alien soil would kill it.^[230] However, there have been many attempts in the modern pluralistic situation to distinguish culture from religion.^[231] Domenic Marbaniang has argued that elements grounded on beliefs of a metaphysical nature (religious) are distinct from elements grounded on nature and the natural (cultural). For instance, language (with its grammar) is a cultural element while sacralization of language in which a particular religious scripture is written is more often a religious practice. The same applies to music and the arts.^[232]

Criticism

Criticism of religion is criticism of the ideas, the truth, or the practice of religion, including its political and social implications.^[233]

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

• Saint Augustine; The Confessions of Saint Augustine (John K. Ryan translator); Image (1960), ISBN 0-385-02955-1.
• Barzilai, Gad; Law and Religion; The International Library of Essays in Law and Society; Ashgate (2007), ISBN 978-0-7546-2494-3
• Bellarmine, Robert (1902). «Sermon 48: The Necessity of Religion.» . Sermons from the Latins. Benziger Brothers.
• James, Paul & Mandaville, Peter (2010). Globalization and Culture, Vol. 2: Globalizing Religions. London: Sage Publications.
• Lang, Andrew; The Making of Religion. Third Edition. Longmans, Green, and Co. (1909).
• Marx, Karl; «Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right», Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, (1844).
• Noss, John B.; Man’s Religions, 6th ed.; Macmillan Publishing Co. (1980). N.B.: The first ed. appeared in 1949, ISBN 9780023884306. OCLC 4665144.
• Inglehart, Ronald F., «Giving Up on God: The Global Decline of Religion», Foreign Affairs, vol. 99, no. 5 (September / October 2020), pp. 110–118.

External links

• Kevin Schilbrack. «The Concept of Religion». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Religion Statistics from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Religion at Curlie
• Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents^[Usurped!] by Adherents.com August 2005
• IACSR – International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion
• Studying Religion – Introduction to the methods and scholars of the academic study of religion
• A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right – Marx’s original reference to religion as the opium of the people.
• The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of «Religion» in International Law – Harvard Human Rights Journal article from the President and Fellows of Harvard College (2003)
• Sociology of Religion Resources
• Video: 5 Religions spreading across the world

While the word religion is difficult to define, one standard model of religion used in religious studies courses defines it as

Religious symbols in clock-wise form from top: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baháʼí Faith, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Slavic neopaganism, Celtic polytheism, Heathenism (Germanic paganism), Semitic neopaganism, Wicca, Kemetism (Egyptian paganism), Hellenism (Greek paganism), Italo-Roman neopaganism.

[a] system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.^[1]

Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws, or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions, churches, denominations, religious bodies, faith groups, tribes, cultures, movements, ultimate concerns, which at some point in the future will be countless.^[2]

The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with the words «faith» or «belief system», but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviours, including clerical hierarchies, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, congregations of laity, regular meetings or services for the purposes of veneration of a deity or for prayer, holy places (either natural or architectural) or religious texts. Certain religions also have a sacred language often used in liturgical services. The practice of a religion may also include sermons, commemoration of the activities of a God or gods, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, rituals, liturgies, ceremonies, worship, initiations, funerals, marriages, meditation, invocation, mediumship, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. Religious beliefs have also been used to explain parapsychological phenomena such as out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, and reincarnation, along with many other paranormal and supernatural experiences.^[3][4]

Some academics studying the subject have divided religions into three broad categories: world religions, a term which refers to transcultural, international faiths; Indigenous religions, which refers to smaller, culture-specific or nation-specific religious groups; and new religious movements, which refers to recently developed faiths.^[5] One modern academic theory of religion, social constructionism, says that religion is a modern concept that suggests all spiritual practice and worship follows a model similar to the Abrahamic religions as an orientation system that helps to interpret reality and define human beings,^[6] and thus believes that religion, as a concept, has been applied inappropriately to non-Western cultures that are not based upon such systems, or in which these systems are a substantially simpler construct.

Eastern religionsEdit

Dharmic religionsEdit

The four main religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.

BuddhismEdit

• Pre-sectarian Buddhism (theorized)
  • Mahayana
    • Chinese Buddhism
      • Tiantai
        • Tendai
        • Cheontae
      • Huayan school
        • Daśabhūmikā
      • Chan Buddhism
        • Seon Buddhism
        • Thiền Buddhism
          • Trúc Lâm (syncretic)
        • Zen Buddhism
        • Caodong school
          • Sōtō
            • Keizan line
            • Jakuen line
            • Giin line
        • Linji school
          • Otokan line
            • Rinzai
          • Ōbaku
          • Fuke-shū
        • Sanbo Kyodan
    • Madhyamaka
      • Sanlun
      • Jonang
      • Prasaṅgika
      • Svatantrika
    • Nichiren Buddhism
      • Honmon Butsuryū-shū
      • Kempon Hokke
      • Nichiren Shōshū
      • Nichiren Shū
    • Pure Land Buddhism
      • Jōdo Shinshū
        • Honganji-ha
        • Ōtani-ha
        • Yuzu Nembutsu
        • Seizan
      • Jōdo-shū
    • Yogācāra
      • East Asian Yogācāra
  • Nikaya Buddhism (incorrectly called «Hinayana»^{[citation needed]})
    • Theravada
      • Sangharaj Nikaya
      • Mahasthabir Nikaya
      • Dwara Nikaya
      • Shwegyin Nikaya
      • Thudhamma Nikaya
      • Amarapura–Rāmañña Nikāya
        • Galduwa Forest Tradition
      • Siam Nikaya
      • Sri Lankan Forest Tradition
      • Dhammayuttika Nikaya
        • Thai Forest Tradition
      • Maha Nikaya (Thailand)
        • Dhammakaya Movement
    • Vipassana movement (United States)
  • Vajrayana
    • Azhaliism
    • Bongthingism
    • Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
    • Newar Buddhism
    • Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
    • Shingon Buddhism
    • Southern Esoteric Buddhism
    • Tibetan Buddhism
      • Bon (syncretic)
      • Gelug
        • Yellow Shamanism (syncretic)
      • Kagyu
        • Dagpo Kagyu
          • Karma Kagyu
          • Drukpa Kagyu
        • Shangpa Kagyu
      • Nyingma
      • Sakya
      • Jonang
      • Bodongpa

Dharmic philosophy schoolsEdit

• Āstika (Orthodox schools)
  • Nyaya
  • Mimamsa
  • Samkhya
  • Vaisheshika
  • Vedanta
    • Advaita Vedanta
    • Akshar-Purushottam Darshan
    • Bhedabheda
      • Achintya Bheda Abheda
      • Dvaitadvaita
    • Dvaita Vedanta
    • Pratyabhijna
    • Shaiva Siddhanta
    • Shiva Advaita
    • Shuddhadvaita
    • Vishishtadvaita
  • Yoga (philosophy)
• Nāstika (Heterodox schools)
  • Ajivika
  • Ajñana
  • Akiriya
  • Buddhism
  • Charvaka^[7]
  • Jainism
  • Sassatavada

HinduismEdit

• Sant Mat
  • Dadupanth
  • Kabir panth
  • Ravidassia religion
  • Sadh
• Shaivism^[8]
  • Aghori
  • Kapalika
  • Kashmir Shaivism
  • Kaumaram
  • Nath
    • Adinath Sampradaya
    • Inchegeri Sampradaya
  • Pashupata Shaivism
  • Shaiva Siddhanta
  • Veerashaivism
    • Lingayatism
• Shaktism^[8]
  • Srikula
• Smartism
• Śrauta
• Tantra
  • Kaula
• Vaishnavism/Krishnaism^[8][9]
  • Balmikism
  • Bhagavata tradition
  • Brahma Sampradaya
    • Madhva tradition
    • Gaudiya Vaishnavism
      • Manipuri Vaishnavism
    • Haridasa
  • Ekasarana Dharma
  • Kapadi Sampradaya
  • Mahanubhava
  • Nimbarka Sampradaya
  • Pranami/Pranami Sampraday
  • Radha Vallabh Sampradaya
  • Ramsnehi Sampradaya
  • Rudra Sampradaya
    • Pushtimarg
  • Sri Vaishnavism
    • Ramanandi Sampradaya
    • Thenkalais
      • Manavala Mamunigal Sabha
  • Vaishnava-Sahajiya
  • Warkari
• Zunism (disputedly hindu)

Syncretic Hinduism

• Banjara Hinduism
• Baul
• Bhil Hinduism
• Dyaoism
• Indonesian Hinduism
  • Aluk Todolo
  • Balinese Hinduism
  • Javanese Hinduism
    • Tenggerese Hinduism
  • Kaharingan
  • Naurus
    • Nuaulu religion
  • Tolotang

JainismEdit

• Digambara
  • Kanji Panth^[10]
  • Taran Panth
• Śvētāmbara
  • Murtipujaka
  • Sthānakavāsī

SikhismEdit

• Khalsa
• Nanakpanthi
• Nirankari
• Nirmala
• Sanatan Sikh
• Udasi

YogaEdit

Main article: Yoga

• Ananda Yoga
• Bhakti yoga
• Hatha yoga
  • Bihar School of Yoga
• Integral Yoga
• Jivamukti Yoga
• Jnana yoga
• Karma yoga
• Kripalu Yoga
• Kriya Yoga
• Kundalini yoga
• Raja yoga
• Sahaja Yoga
• Siddha Yoga
• Sivananda yoga
• Surat Shabd Yoga
• Tantric Yoga

East Asian religionsEdit

Religions that originated in East Asia, also known as Taoic religions; namely Taoism, Confucianism, Muism and Shinto, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.

Chinese folk religionEdit

• Ancestor Worship
• Benzhuism
• Chinese folk religion in Southeast Asia
• Faism
• Kam religion
• Maonan traditional religion
• Mazu worship
• Mo religion
• Northeast China folk religion
• Nuo folk religion
• Qiang folk religion
• Queen Mother worship
• Shangdiism
• Shenism
• Sui religion
• Then
• Wang Ye worship
• Wuism

Chinese philosophy schoolsEdit

• Taojia («School of the Tao»)
• Fajia (‘School of Law»)
  • Zonghengjia («School of Diplomacy»)
• Huang–Lao
• Mojia («School of Mo»)
  • Mingjia («School of Names»)
• Nongjia («School of Agrarianism»)
• Ruijia («School of Scholars»)
• Yangism
• Yinyangjia («School of Yin Yang»)
• Zajia («School of Syncretism»)

ConfucianismEdit

• Confucian ritual religion
• Han Learning
• Korean Confucianism
  • Donghak
• Lingnan Confucianism
• Neo-Confucianism
  • Cheng-Zhu school
  • Edo Neo-Confucianism
  • Yangmingism
• New Confucianism
  • Progressive Confucianism
• New Text
  • Changzhou school
• Old Text

Japonic religionsEdit

• Shinto
  • Izumo-taishakyo
  • Koshintō (Historical)
  • Shinbutsu-shugo
    • Konkōkyō
    • Shugendō
  • State Shinto
  • Yoshida Shintō
• Matagi spirituality
• Ryukyuan religion

Koreanic religionsEdit

• Muism
  • Gasin faith

TaoismEdit

• Korean Taoism
• Quanzhen School («School of the Fulfilled Virtue»)
• Shangqing School («School of the Highest Clarity»)
• Vietnamese Taoism
• Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
  • Way of the Celestial Masters
    • Lijiadao («Way of the Li Family») (Historical)
    • Way of the Northern Celestial Masters (Historical)
    • Zhengyi Dao («Way of the Right Oneness»)
• Way of the Taiping (Historical)

Syncretic Taoism

• Chongxuan School
• Dragon Gate Taoism
• Kōshin
• Lingbao School («School of the Numinous Treasure»)
• Wuliupai («School of Wu-Liu»)
• Xuanxue («Neo-Taoism»)
• Yao Taoism («Meishanism»)

Vietnamese religionsEdit

• Dao Luong
  • Đạo Mẫu
  • Muong ethnic religion
  • Ta Oi animism

Middle Eastern religionsEdit

Religions that originated in the Middle East; namely Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.

Abrahamic religionsEdit

ChristianityEdit

Early Christianity

• Arianism
• Proto-Gnosticism
  • Gnosticism
    • Bogomilism
    • Catharism
    • Cerdonians
    • Cerinthus
    • Ecclesia Gnostica
    • Johannite Church
    • Paulicianism
    • Sethianism
      • Basilideans
      • Valentinianism
        • Bardesanite School
    • Simonians
• Marcionism
• Nicene Christianity
• Thomasine Christianity

Eastern Christianity

• Church of the East (called «Nestorianism»)
  • Ancient Church of the East
  • Assyrian Church of the East
    • Chaldean Syrian Church
• Eastern Catholic Churches
  • Albanian Greek Catholic Church
  • Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
  • Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
  • Byzantine Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia
  • Chaldean Catholic Church
  • Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
  • Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church
  • Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (a.k.a. the «Italo-Greek Catholic Church»)
  • Macedonian Catholic Church
  • Maronite Church
  • Melkite Greek Catholic Church
  • Romanian Catholic Church
  • Russian Greek Catholic Church
  • Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church (a.k.a. the «Byzantine Catholic Church» in the United States)
  • Slovak Greek Catholic Church
  • Syriac Catholic Church
  • Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
  • Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
  • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
  • (Independent Eastern Catholic Churches)
    • Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church
• Eastern Orthodox Church (officially the «Orthodox Catholic Church»)
  • Albanian Orthodox Church
  • Bulgarian Orthodox Church
  • Georgian Orthodox Church
  • Greek Orthodox Church
  • Hesychasmism
    • Palamism
  • Romanian Orthodox Church
  • Russian Orthodox Church
    • Belarusian Orthodox Church
  • Serbian Orthodox Church
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church
  • (Noncanonical/Independent Eastern Orthodox Churches)
    • Old Calendarists (a.k.a. «Genuine Orthodox» or «True Orthodox»)
    • Russian Old Believers (a.k.a. «Old Ritualists»)
      • Bezpopovtsy
      • Popovtsy
• Oriental Orthodox Churches (a.k.a. «Non-Chalcedonian» or «Miaphysite»/»Monophysite»)
  • Armenian Apostolic Church
  • Coptic Orthodox Church
  • Syriac Orthodox Church
    • Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church (of the St. Thomas Christians in India)
  • Ethiopian Orthodox Church
  • Eritrean Orthodox Church
  • Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (of the St. Thomas Christians in India)
• Spiritual Christianity
  • Doukhobor
  • Khlyst
  • Molokan
  • Skoptsy

Western Christianity

• Proto-Protestantism
  • Brethren of the Free Spirit (Historical)
  • Hussites (Historical)
    • Czech Brethren
    • Moravians
  • Lollardy (Historical)
  • Strigolniki (Historical)
  • Waldensians
• Protestantism
  • Anabaptists (Radical Protestants)
    • Amish
    • Hutterites
    • Mennonites
    • River Brethren
    • Schwarzenau Brethren
    • Shakers
  • Anglicanism
    • Anglo-Catholicism
      • Anglican Papalism
    • Broad church
    • Continuing Anglican movement
    • English Dissenters
    • Evangelical Anglicanism
      • Nonconformists
    • Puritans
      • Fifth Monarchists
    • Radical orthodoxy
  • Baptists
    • General Baptists
      • Free Will Baptists
    • Landmarkism
    • Missionary Baptists
    • Primitive Baptists
    • Strict Baptists
      • Reformed Baptists
  • Black church
    • Black theology
  • Christian deism
  • Confessing Movement
  • Evangelicalism
    • Charismatic movement
    • Emerging church
    • German Christians (movement)
    • Neo-charismatic movement
    • Neo-Evangelicalism
    • New Apostolic Reformation
    • Plymouth Brethren
      • Exclusive Brethren
      • Open Brethren
    • Progressive Christianity
    • Protestant fundamentalism
  • Jesuism
  • Lutheranism
    • Evangelical Catholic
    • Laestadianism
    • Neo-Lutheranism
    • Pietism
  • Methodism
    • Calvinistic Methodists
    • Holiness movement
      • Church of the Nazarene
    • The Salvation Army
    • Wesleyanism
  • Pentecostalism
    • Church of God
    • Latter Rain movement
    • Oneness Pentecostalism
    • Word of Faith
  • Quakers («Friends»)
  • Reformed churches
    • Amyraldism (a.k.a.»four-point Calvinism»)
    • Arminianism
      • Remonstrants
    • Christian reconstructionism
    • Congregational churches
    • Continental Reformed churches
      • Swiss Reformed
      • Dutch Reformed
      • French Huguenot
    • Neo-Calvinism
    • New Calvinism
    • Presbyterianism
    • Zwinglianism
  • Reformed Eastern Christianity
  • Restoration movement
    • Adventism
      • Seventh-day Adventist Church
    • Christadelphians
    • Churches of Christ
    • Cooneyites
    • Iglesia ni Cristo
    • Bible Student movement
      • Jehovah’s Witnesses
      • Free Bible Students
      • Friends of Man
    • Latter Day Saint movement
      • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
      • Community of Christ
      • Mormon fundamentalism
    • Millerism (Historical)
    • Stone-Campbell movement (a.k.a. «Campbellites»)
    • Two by Twos (a.k.a. «No name church» and «Workers and Friends»)^[11]
  • Swedenborgianism (a.k.a. «The New Church»)
  • Unitarianism
• Roman Catholic Church/Latin Church (a.k.a. «Roman Catholicism» or «Catholicism»)
  • Anglican Ordinariate Catholics
  • Charismatic Catholics
  • Civil Constitution of the Clergy
  • Gallicanism
  • Hebrew Catholics
  • Independent Catholic churches
    • Old Catholic Church (Union of Utrecht)
      • Polish National Catholic Church (Union of Scranton)
  • Liberal Catholicism
  • Liberation theology
  • Modernist Catholics
  • Traditionalist Catholics
    • Sedevacantism
      • Palmarian Catholic Church
    • Sedeprivationism
  • Ultramontanism

Syncretic

• Aymara spirituality
• Bagnolians (Historical)
• Esoteric Christianity
  • Martinism
  • Christian Theosophy
  • Christopaganism
    • Christian Wicca
• God Worshipping Society (Historical)
• Judaizers (Judeo-Christian)
  • Christian Kabbalah
  • Hebrew Roots
  • Makuya
  • Messianic Judaism
  • Sacred Name Movement
  • Subbotniks
  • Yehowists
• Lisu
• Raramuri religion
• Xueta
• Yaqui religion

Other

• American Civil Religion
• Bosnian Church (Historical)
• Christian Universalism
• Nondenominational Christianity
• Nontrinitarianism
  • Tolstoyan movement

IslamEdit

Khawarij

• Azraqi (Historical)
• Haruriyyah (Historical)
• Ibadi
• Najdat (Historical)
• Sufri (Historical)

Shia Islam

• Alevism
  • Alians
  • Bektashism
  • Kurdish Alevism
• Alawites (Nusayris)
• Isma’ilism
  • Mustaali
    • Dawoodi Bohra
      • Alavi Bohra
      • Atba-i-Malak
        • Atba-i-Malak Badar
        • Atba-i-Malak Vakil
      • Hebtiahs Bohra
      • Progressive Dawoodi Bohra
    • Sulaymani
  • Nizari
• Twelver
  • Ja’fari jurisprudence
    • Akhbari
    • Shaykhism
    • Usuli
• Zaidiyyah
  • Jarudiyah
  • Batriyya

Sufism

• Bektashi Order
• Chishti Order
• Kubrawiya
  • Khufiyya
• Mevlevi Order
• Mouride
• Naqshbandi
  • Jahriyya
• Ni’matullāhī
• Qadiriyya
• Roshani
• Shadhili
• Suhrawardiyya
• Sufi Order International
• Tijaniyyah
• Universal Sufism

Sunni Islam

• Kalam/Fiqh
  • Ash’ari
    • Maliki
    • Shafi’i
    • Hanbali
  • Maturidi
    • Hanafi
      • Barelvi
      • Deobandi
      • Gedimu
• Athari
  • Salafi
    • Madkhalism
    • Wahhabism
    • Ahle Hadith
    • Islamism
  • Islamic Modernism
• Muʿtazila
• Satpanth

Syncretic

• Ali-Illahism
• Din-i Ilahi
• Kafirism
• Wetu Telu

Other

• Ahmadiyya
• European Islam
• Jadid
• Liberal movements within Islam
• Mahdavia
• Mahdist movement
• Quranism
• Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi
  • Messiah Foundation International

JudaismEdit

Kabbalah

Non-Rabbinic Judaism

• Haymanot
• Karaite Judaism
• Qemant Judaism
• Samaritanism

Rabbinic Judaism

• Conservative Judaism (a.k.a. Masorti Judaism)
• Humanistic Judaism
• Jewish Renewal
• Orthodox Judaism
  • Haredi Judaism (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox)
    • Dor Daim
    • Hardal
    • Hasidic Judaism
    • Misnagdim
    • Sephardic Haredi
  • Modern Orthodox Judaism
    • Religious Zionism
• Reconstructionist Judaism
• Reform Judaism

Historical Judaism

• Essenes
  • Bana’im
  • Hemerobaptists (possible ancestor of Mandaeism)
  • Maghāriya
  • Nasoraeans (possible ancestor of Mandaeism)
• Hypsistarianism
• Pharisees (ancestor of Rabbinic Judaism)
• Sadducees (possible ancestor of Karaite Judaism)
• Zealots (Judea)
  • Sicarii
• Messianic sects
  • Ebionites
  • Elcesaites
  • Nazarenes
• Sabbateans
  • Frankism
• Second Temple Judaism
• Frankism

Other AbrahamicEdit

• Babism
  • Azali
  • Baha’i faith
    • Caravan of East and West
    • Free Baha’is
    • Orthodox Baha’i Faith
• Druze faith
• Mandaeism

Iranian religionsEdit

ManichaeismEdit

• Athinganoi (Historical)
• Chinese Manichaeism

YazdânismEdit

• Ishikism
• Shabakism
• Yarsanism
• Yazidism

ZoroastrianismEdit

• Behafaridians (Historical)
• Ilm-e-Khshnoom
• Khurramites (Historical)
• Mazdakism (Historical)
  • Mazdaznan
• Zurvanism

Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religionsEdit

Religions that consist of the traditional customs and beliefs of particular ethnic groups, refined and expanded upon for thousands of years, often lacking formal doctrine. Some adherents do not consider their ways to be «religion,» preferring other cultural terms.

AfricanEdit

Traditional AfricanEdit

• ǃKung religion
• Abwoi religion
• Acholi religion
• Afizere traditional religion
• Akan religion
  • Asante religion
• Azande traditional religion
• Bafia religion
• Baka traditional religion
• Bantu religion
  • Abagusii religion
  • Akamba traditional religion
  • AmaMpondomise traditional religion
  • Badimo
  • Balondo religion
  • Baluba religion
  • Bamileke religion
  • Bamum traditional religion
  • Banyole traditional beliefs
  • Bubi spirituality
  • Bushongo religion
  • Bwiti
  • Chaga faith
  • Chokwe spiritual beliefs
  • Duala traditional religion
  • Fipa religion
  • Furiiru traditional religion
  • Giriama traditional religion
  • Herero traditional faith
  • Himba religion
  • Kikuyu traditional religion
  • Kongo religion
  • Kwe faith
  • Lozi religion
  • Luvale religion
  • Makua traditional religion
  • Mbole religion
  • Nyakyusa religion
  • Ovambo traditional religion
  • Pedi traditional religion
  • Songye religion
  • Suku religion
  • Swazi traditional religion
  • Tonga religion
  • Tsonga traditional religion
  • Tumbuka religion
  • Xhosa traditional religion
  • Zulu traditional religion
• Baoule traditional religion
• Bari traditional religion
• Bassa traditional religion
• Biri traditional religion
• Bobo religion
• Bori
• Bwa religion
• Chamba traditional religion
• Dahomean religion
• Damara religion
• Dan religion
• Dinka religion
• Dogon religion
• Ebira traditional religion
• Edo traditional religion
• Efik religion
• Ekoi religion
• Esan traditional religion
• Fali traditional religion
• Frafra beliefs
• Gbagyi traditional religion
• Hadza religion
• Hyel
• Idoma traditional religion
• Ijaw traditional religion
• Inam
• Jola traditional religion
• Asisian religion
• Khoekhoen religion
• Kissi traditional religion
• Kono traditional religion
• Koore religion
• Krahn religion
• Kuku traditional beliefs
• Lobi animism
• Lotuko ethnic religion
• Lugbara religion
• Maasai religion
• Madi traditional religion
• Manjak religion
• Mbuti religion
• Moba ethnic religion
• Mursi animism
• Nso religion
• Nuer religion
• Nyongo Society
  • Bakossi beliefs
• Odinala / Odinani
• Oropom religion
• Safwa religion
• Samburu religion
• San religion
• Serer religion
• Sidama religion
• Surma religion
• Tammari traditional religion
• Temne traditional religion
• Traditional Berber religion
• Turkana traditional religion
• Urhobo traditional religion
• Vodun
• Waaqeffanna
• Yoruba religion
  • Ifá
• Indigenous religion in Zimbabwe
  • Shona traditional religion

Diasporic AfricanEdit

• Abakuá
• Arara religion
• Candomblé
  • Candomblé Bantu
  • Candomblé Jejé
  • Candomblé Ketu
• Comfa
• Convince
• Cuban Vodú
• Dominican Vudú
• Espiritismo
• Haitian Vodou
• Hoodoo
• Kélé
• Kumina
• Louisiana Voodoo
• Montamentu
• Myal
• Obeah
• Palo
• Quimbanda
• Santería
• Tambor de Mina
• Trinidad Orisha
• Umbanda
• Winti
  • Saramaka religion

AltaicEdit

• Evenki shamanism
• Manchu shamanism
• Turko-Mongolic religion
  • Altaic shamanism
    • Burkhanism
  • Dukha shamanism
  • Mongolian shamanism
    • Black Shamanism
    • Tengrism
      • Aiyy
      • Tengir Ordo
      • Vattisen Yaly
  • Nanai shamanism
  • Oroqen shamanism
  • Shor shamanism
  • Soyot shamanism
  • Ulch shamanism
  • Yakut Shamanism

AmericanEdit

• Ache traditional tribal religion
• Achuar religious beliefs
• Acoma traditional religion
• Aguaruna traditional beliefs
• Akawaio religion
• Alaska Native religion
  • Inuit religion
  • Tanana shamanism
  • Yupik shamanism
    • Yuit shamanism
    • Sirenik shamanism
• Ancestral Pueblo religion (Basketmaker III) (Pueblo II) (Pueblo III) (Pueblo IV)
• Andoque religion
• Anishinaabe traditional beliefs
  • Ojibwe spirituality
• Apache traditional tribal religion
• Arhuaco spirituality
• Atacama religious culture
• Blackfoot religion
• Bororo totemism
• Caddo religion
• Californian traditional religions
  • Achomawi religion
  • Acjachemen religion
  • Kuksu
    • Cahto religion
    • Esselen spirituality
    • Miwok religion
    • Ohlone spirituality
    • Pomo religion
  • Northern Paiute shamanism
  • Mohave religion
  • Wiyot spirituality
• Calusa native religion
• Chaná religion
• Cherokee spiritual beliefs
• Choctaw religion
• Creek religion
• Croatan religious beliefs
• Crow religion
• Fuegian spirituality
  • Selk’nam religion
• Garifuna spirituality
• Guarani religion
• Guarayos traditional religious beliefs
• Guayupe traditional religion
• Gwich’in traditional beliefs
• Haida religion
• Ho-Chunk religion
• Hopi religion
• Huaorani traditional animism
• Hupda cosmgony
• Incan religion
  • Chauvin religion
  • Nazca religious beliefs
  • Wari’ beliefs
• Illinois religion
• Innu religion
• Iroquois religion
  • Mohawk traditional religion
  • Seneca religion
  • Wyandot religion
• Jivaroan religion
• Karankawa indigenous religion
• Kayabi traditional tribal religion
• Kalapalo beliefs
• Kalinago religion
• Kogi traditional religion
• Kuikoro religion
• Kwakwakaʼwakw religion
• Lakota religion
• Lenape religion
• Lokono animist spirituality
• Maleku animism
• Mandan religion
• Mapuche religion
• Marajoara religion
• Matses animism
• Mesoamerican religion
  • Aztec religion
  • Cora religion
  • Huichol traditional religion
  • Maya religion
    • Chuj traditional beliefs
    • Huastec religion
    • Lacandon traditional beliefs
    • Mazatec traditional religion
    • Maximon
    • Mopan traditional religion
    • Pech traditional religion
    • Q’eqchi’ religion
    • Tzeltal religion
    • Tzotzil native religion
    • Tzʼutujil traditional religion
  • Mixe religion
  • Nagualism
  • Olmec religion
  • Purépecha religion
  • Teotihuacan religion
  • Tepehuan religious beliefs
  • Tlapanec religion
  • Totonac traditional religion
  • Zapotec religion
• Midewiwin
  • Abenaki religious beliefs
• Mi’kmaq traditional religion
• Old Miskito religion
• Muisca religion
• Muzo traditional religion
• Navajo spirituality
• Nuu-chah-nulth religion
• Omaha religion
• Osage traditional spirituality
• Pawnee religion
• Parakanã shamanism
• Pech traditional religion
• Pemon traditional tribal religion
• Penobscot spirituality
• Pericues religion
• Piaroa traditional religion
• Powhatan native religion
• Puruhá traditional religion
• Q’ero spirituality
• Quechua traditional beliefs
• Rikbaktsa traditional beliefs
• Salish narratives
• Seminole traditional native religion
• Seri religion
• Shuar shamanism
• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (religion of the Mississippian culture)
• Taensa native tribal religion
• Taino spirituality
• Tairona religion
• Talamancan religion
• Tapirape shamanism
• Tehuelche beliefs
• Ticuna shamanism
• Toba belief system
• Tlingit religion
• Tsimshian religion
• Ute religion
• Wai-Wai religion
• Wapishana religion
• Warao traditional beliefs
• Wayuu religion
• Yaruro traditional tribal religion
• Zuni religion

AustroasiaticEdit

• Asur religion
• Birhor traditional religion
• Bru religion
• Ka Niam Khasi
• Nicobarese traditional religion
• Ka Niamtre
• Paoch animism
• Santal religion
• Sarnaism
• Senoi ethnic religion
• Sora traditional beliefs
• Tampuan animism

AustronesianEdit

• Amis native religion
• Aliran Kepercayaan/Mythology of Indonesia
  • Adat Pu’un
  • Aluk
  • Batak Parmalim
  • Dayak religion
    • Kaharingan
  • Jingi Tiu
  • Kejawèn
  • Kapitayan
    • Kangeanese religion
  • Karo Pemena
  • Kendayan religion
  • Marapu
  • Rejang religion
  • Rotenese religion
  • Saminism Movement
  • Sangirese religion
  • Sumbawa religion
  • Sundanese Wiwitan
  • Tolotang
  • Wai Apu religion
• Dayawism
  • Batak folk religion
  • Bicolano religion
  • Blaan folk religion
  • Capiznon folk religion
  • Cuyunon folk religion
  • Gaddang folk religion
  • Ifugao folk religion
  • Ilocano folk religion
  • Itneg folk religion
  • Kalinga folk religion
  • Kankanaey folk religion
  • Karay-a folk religion
  • Mangyan folk religion
  • Palawan folk religion
  • Pangasinan folk religion
  • Sama Bajau folk religion
  • Sambal folk religion
  • Subanon folk religion
  • Tagalog folk religion
  • Tagbanwa folk religion
  • Tboli folk religion
  • Teduray folk religion
  • Visayan folk religion
• Fomba Gasy
• Jarai religion
• Kanakanavu native religion
• Malaysian folk religion
  • Datuk Keramat
  • Jakun religion
  • Pengarap Iban
  • Melanau religion
  • Momolianism
  • Murut religion
  • Orang Kanaq religion
  • Orang Seletar religion
  • Semai religion
  • Semaq Beri religion
  • Temuan religion
• Micronesian religion
  • Carolinian religion
  • Chamorro religion
  • Chuukese religion
  • Nauruan indigenous religion
• Polynesian narrative
  • Cook Islands narrative
  • Hawaiian religion
  • Mangarevan narrative
  • Māori religion
  • Niuean narrative
  • Rapa Nui narrative
  • Samoan narrative
  • Tahitian narrative
  • Tongan narrative
  • Tuvaluan narrative
• Paiwan shamanism
• Sakizaya native religion
• Taivoan animism
• Tao native religion

CaucasianEdit

• Khabzeism
• Vainakh religion

DravidianEdit

• Khond traditional religion
• Koyapunem
• Sauria Paharia religion
• Tamil religion
• Toda religion

Indo-EuropeanEdit

• Kalashism
• Nagpuria religion
• Ossetian native religion
• Punjabi folk religion
• Tharu religion

Melanesian and AboriginalEdit

• Australian Aboriginal spirituality
  • Gamilaraay dreaming
  • Larrakia dreaming
  • Tasmanian Aboriginal spirituality
• Fijian ancient religion
• Kanak traditional beliefs
• Papuan religion
  • Dumo spirituality
  • Fore traditional beliefs
  • Kaluli religion
  • Korowai religion
  • Trobriand traditional beliefs
  • Urapmin traditional beliefs

NegritoEdit

• Aeta religion
• Ati animism
• Onge native religion
• Semang animism
• Vedda original religion

PaleosiberianEdit

• Ainu religion
• Koryak religion
• Itelmen religion
• Nivkh traditional religion
• Yukaghir shamanism

Sino-TibetanEdit

• Banrawat religion
• Bathouism
• Biate animism
• Bimoism
• Bon
  • Dongba
  • Hangui
• Burmese folk religion
• Chang Naga animism
• Chutia religion
• Daba
• Dingba
• Donyi-Polo
• Sangsarek
• Gurung shamanism
• Hani religion
• Hnam Sakhua
• Kan Khwan
• Karbi animism
• Karen animism
• Lisu religion
• Jingpo religion
• Kiratism
• Maring beliefs
• Miji animism
• Mizo religion
• Nyezi-No
• Reang religion
• Sanamahism
• Tangsa Naga animism
• Toto nature religion
• Zahv

Tai and MiaoEdit

• Hlai animism
• Kev Dab Kev Qhuas
• Pa Then religion
• Qabiao religion
• Satsana Phi
  • Ahom religion
  • Giay animism
  • Lamet religion
  • Nung religion
  • Saek religion

UralicEdit

• Komi shamanism
• Mari Native Religion

OtherEdit

• Beduin shamanism

New religious movementsEdit

Religions that cannot be classed as either world religions or traditional folk religions, and are usually recent in their inception.^[12]

Cargo cultsEdit

• John Frum
• Johnson cult
• Prince Philip Movement
• Vailala Madness

New ethnic religionsEdit

BlackEdit

• African Zionism
• Ausar Auset Society
• Black Muslims
  • American Society of Muslims
• Dini Ya Msambwa
• Five-Percent Nation
• Godianism
• Igbe religion
• Moorish Science Temple of America
  • Moorish Orthodox Church of America
• Mumboism
• Nation of Islam
  • United Nation of Islam
• Nuwaubian Nation

Black Hebrew Israelites

• African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem
• Church of God and Saints of Christ
• Commandment Keepers
• Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ
• Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge
• Nation of Yahweh
• One West Camp

Rastafari

• Bobo Ashanti
• Nyabinghi
• Twelve Tribes of Israel

WhiteEdit

• Ariosophy
• British Israelism
• Christian Identity
• Creativity
• French Israelism
• Nordic Israelism
• Wotansvolk

Native AmericanEdit

• Ghost Dance
• Indian Shaker Church
• Longhouse Religion
• Mexicayotl
• peyote meetings
• Wasshat religion

World Religion-derived new religionsEdit

Abrahamic-derivedEdit

• Antoinism
• Beili Wang
• Branch Davidians
• Chrislam
• Eastern Lightning
• Gafatar
• Grail Movement
• Holy Spirit of Blood and Water Church
• Lalpa Kohran Thar
• Mama Tada
• Mentuhui
• Modekngei
• Noahidism
• Pai Marire
• Pilgrims of Ares
• Rātana
• Ringatu
• The Family International
• World Elijah Evangelical Mission
• Zhushenjiao

Chinese salvationist religionsEdit

• Baguadao («Way of the Eight Trigrams»)
• Dejiao («Teaching of Virtue»)
• Huangjidao («Way of the Imperial Pole»)
• Huangtiandao («Way of the Yellow Sky»)
• Huazhaidao («Way of Flowers and Fasting»)
• Jiugongdao («Way of the Nine Palaces»)
• Luandao («Phoenix Way»)
• Luoism («Way of Luo»)
  • Chinese religions of fasting
    • Xiantiandao («Way of Former Heaven»)
      • Guiyidao («Way of the Return to the One»)
      • Shengdao («Holy Way»)
      • Yaochidao («Way of the Mother of Pearl Lake»)
      • Yiguandao («Persistent Way»)
        • Haizidao
      • Yixin Tiandao («Heart-bound Heavenly Way»)
  • Dacheng
  • Hongyangism
• Maitreyanism
• Sanyiism
• Shanrendao («Way of the Virtuous Man»)
• Taigu school
• Tiandihui
• Tiandiism
• Tianguangdao («Way of the Heavenly Light»)
• Tianxian Miaodao («Way of the Temple of the Heavenly Immortals»)
• Weixinism
• White Lotus
• Xuanyuandao («Way of Xuanyuan»)
• Yellow Sand Society
• Zailiism («Way of the Abiding Principle)
• Zhongyongdao («Way of the Golden Mean»)

Hindu reform movementsEdit

• Adidam
• Adi Dharm
  • Brahmoism
    • Brahmo Samaj
      • Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
• Ananda
• Ananda Ashrama
• Ananda Marga^[13]
• Arya Samaj^[14]
• Ayyavazhi
• Chinmaya Mission
• Hare Krishna^[15]
• Mahanam Sampraday
• Mahima Dharma
• Matua Mahasangha
• Oneness Movement
• Rajneesh movement
• Satsang
• Shirdi Sai Baba movement
• Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres
• Sri Aurobindo Ashram
• Sri Ramana Ashram
  • Neo-Advaita
• Swaminarayan Sampradaya
  • Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha
  • Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi
    • International Swaminarayan Satsang Mandal
    • Swaminarayan Gurukul
  • Nar Narayan Dev Gadi
    • International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation
    • Narnarayan Dev Yuvak Mandal
  • Swaminarayan Gadi (Maninagar)
  • Swaminarayan Mandir Vasna Sanstha
• Transcendental Meditation

Muist-derivedEdit

• Cheondoism
  • Jeungsanism
    • Daesun Jinrihoe
    • Jeung San Do
    • Bocheonism
  • Suwunism
• Daejongism

Neo-BuddhismEdit

• Đạo Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương
  • Hòa Hảo
• Diamond Way Buddhism
• Falun Gong
• Guanyin Famen
• Humanistic Buddhism
• Navayana
• New Kadampa Tradition^[16]
• Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga
• PL Kyodan
• Reiyūkai
  • Risshō Kōsei Kai
• Rimé movement
• Shambhala Buddhism
• Shinnyo-en
• Soka Gakkai
• Triratna Buddhist Community
• True Buddha School
• Won Buddhism

Perennial and interfaithEdit

• Anandamayee Sangha
• Bell religion
• Brahma Kumaris
• Caodaism
• Đạo Dừa
• Meivazhi
• Omnism
• Open-source religion
• Satya Dharma
• Sathya Sai Baba movement
• Share International
• Subud

ShinshukyoEdit

• Aum Shinrikyo
  • Aleph
  • Hikari no Wa
• Happy Science
• Ijun
• Konkokyo
• Kurozumikyō
• Oomoto
  • Church of World Messianity
    • Mahikari
  • Seicho-no-Ie
  • Shōroku Shintō Yamatoyama
  • Shumei
• Sekai Shindokyo
• Shinmeiaishinkai
• Tenrikyo
• Tenshō Kōtai Jingūkyō
• Zenrinkyo

Sikh-derivedEdit

• Contemporary Sant Mat movements
  • Advait Mat
  • Radha Soami
    • Radha Soami Satsang Beas
    • Radha Soami Satsang Dayagbal
    • Radha Swami Satsang, Dinod
    • Ruhani Satsang
    • Manavta Mandir
    • Science of Spirituality (a.k.a. Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission)
  • Radha Soami-influenced^[17]
    • Ancient Teachings of the Masters
    • Dera Sacha Sauda
    • Eckankar
    • Elan Vital (formerly Divine Light Mission)
    • Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
  • Ravidassia

Modern paganismEdit

Ethnic neopaganismEdit

• Hetanism
• Baltic neopaganism
  • Dievturība
  • Romuva
• Caucasian neopaganism
  • Abkhaz neopaganism
  • Assianism
• Celtic neopaganism
  • Celtic reconstructionist paganism
  • Druidry
• Heathenry (a.k.a. Germanic neopaganism)
• Hellenism
• Heraka
• Italo-Roman neopaganism
  • Nova Roma
  • Roman Traditional Movement
• Kemetism
  • Kemetic Orthodoxy
• Semitic neopaganism
• Rodnovery (a.k.a. Slavic neopaganism)
  • Native Polish Church
  • Peterburgian Vedism
  • Rodzima Wiara
  • Rodnover Confederation
  • Sylenkoism
  • Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities
  • Ynglism
• Uralic neopaganism
  • Estonian neopaganism
  • Suomenusko
  • Hungarian neopaganism
  • Mastorava
  • Udmurt Vos
• Zalmoxianism
• Zuism

Syncretic neopaganismEdit

• Adonism
• Christopaganism
  • Christian Wicca
• Church of All Worlds
• Church of Aphrodite
• Cochrane’s Craft
• Maria Lionza
• Druidry
  • Ár nDraíocht Féin
  • Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids
  • Reformed Druids of North America
• El Tio
• Feraferia
• Goddess movement
• Huna
• Ivanovism
• Krama
• Neoshamanism
• Pow-wow
• Radical Faeries
• Ringing Cedars’ Anastasianism
• Santa Muerte
• Stregheria
• Summum
• Technopaganism
• Wicca
  • British Traditional Wicca
    • Gardnerian Wicca
    • Alexandrian Wicca
    • Central Valley Wicca
    • Algard Wicca
    • Chthonioi Alexandrian Wicca
    • Blue Star Wicca
  • Seax-Wica
  • Universal Eclectic Wicca
  • Celtic Wicca
  • Dianic Wicca
  • Faery Wicca
  • Feri Tradition
  • Georgian Wicca
  • Odyssean Wicca
  • Wiccan church
    • Covenant of the Goddess

Entheogenic religionsEdit

• Church of the Universe
• Neo-American Church
• Santo Daime
• Temple of the True Inner Light
• Tensegrity
• THC Ministry
• União do Vegetal

New Age MovementEdit

• A Course in Miracles
• Association for Research and Enlightenment
• Chaos Magic
• Conversations with God
• Eckankar
• Love Has Won
• Rainbow Family
• The Family

New ThoughtEdit

• Christian Science
• Church of Divine Science
• Church of the Truth
• Church Universal and Triumphant
• Home of Truth
• Jewish Science
• Psychiana
• Religious Science
• Seicho-no-Ie
• The Infinite Way
• Unity Church
• Universal Foundation for Better Living

Parody religions and fiction-based religionsEdit

• Church of Euthanasia
• Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (a.k.a. «Pastafarianism»)
• Church of the SubGenius
• Dinkoism
• Discordianism
• Dudeism
• Earthseed
  • Terasem
• Iglesia Maradoniana
• Jediism
• Kibology
• Kopimism
• Landover Baptist Church
• Last Thursdayism
• The Nine Divines
• ‘Pataphysics
• Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
• United Church of Bacon

Post-theistic and naturalistic religionsEdit

• Abrahamites
• Cosmism
• Cult of Reason
• Cult of the Supreme Being
• Deism
  • Christian Deism
• Ethical movement
• Freethought
  • North Texas Church of Freethought
• God-Building
• Humanism
• Ietsism
• Moorish Orthodox Church of America
• Pandeism
• Pantheism
  • Naturalistic pantheism
• Religion of Humanity
  • Church of Humanity
• Saint-Simonianism
• Syntheism
• Theophilanthropy
• Unitarian Universalism
• Universal Life Church

UFO religionsEdit

• Aetherius Society
• Ashtar Galactic Command
• Chen Tao («True Way»)
• Fiat Lux
• Ground Crew Project
• Heaven’s Gate
• Industrial Church of the New World Comforter
• Mark-Age
• Nuwaubian Nation
• Order of the Solar Temple
• Raëlism
• Scientology
  • Independent Scientology
• The Seekers
• Unarius Academy of Science
• Universe people
• Urantia movement

Western esotericismEdit

• Anthroposophy
• Archeosophical Society
• Builders of the Adytum
• Fourth Way
• Fraternity of the Inner Light
• Hermeticism
  • Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
    • The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc.
• Illuminates of Thanateros
• Luciferianism
  • Fraternitas Saturni
  • Neo-Luciferian Church
• New Acropolis
• Occultism
  • Gaianism
  • Mayanism
  • Michael Teachings
• Ordo Aurum Solis
• Otherkin^[18]
• Rosicrucian
  • Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
  • Lectorium Rosicrucianum
  • Rosicrucian Fellowship
• Satanism
  • Non-theistic Satanism
    • LaVeyan Satanism
      • Church of Satan
      • First Satanic Church
    • The Satanic Temple
  • Theistic Satanism
    • Joy of Satan
    • Order of Nine Angles
    • Our Lady of Endor Coven (Historical)
    • Temple of the Black Light
    • Temple of Set
• Spiritualism
  • Faithism
• Thelema
  • A∴A∴
  • Ordo Templi Orientis
  • Typhonian Order
• Theosophy
  • Neo-Theosophy
    • Angi Yoga
      • Roerichism
• Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth

Historical religionsEdit

Prehistoric ReligionEdit

• Cucuteni–Trypillia religion
• Funnelbeaker religion
• Hemudu religion
• Hongshan religion
• Linear Pottery religion
• Paleolithic religion
  • Urreligion (theorized)
    • Urmonotheismus (theorized)
• Varna religion

Bronze AgeEdit

• Ancient Egyptian religion
  • Atenism
• Ancient Mesopotamian religion
  • Ancient Assyrian religion
  • Babylonian religion
  • Sabian religion
  • Shamsiyah
  • Sumerian religion
• Ancient Semitic religion
  • Ancient Canaanite religion
  • Yahwism
• Harappan religion
• Hattian religion
• Hittite religion
• Hurrian religion
• Liangzhu religion
• Longshan religion
• Luwian religion
• Minoan religion
• Mycenaean religion
• Nordic Bronze Age religion
• Proto-Indo-European religion
  • Paleo-Balkan religion
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
    • Mahabadism
• Proto-Uralic religion
• Shang religion
• Urnfield religion

Classical antiquityEdit

• Adena religion
• Aksumite religion
• Albanian folk beliefs
• Proto-Celtic paganism
  • Ancient Celtic religion
    • Breton paganism
    • Cantabrian paganism
    • Celtic Animism
    • Cornish paganism
    • Irish paganism
    • Manx paganism
    • Scottish paganism
      • Hebridean paganism
    • Welsh paganism
• Ancient Greek religion
  • Greco-Buddhism
  • Greco-Roman mysteries
    • Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus
    • Cult of the Great Gods
    • Cybele’s Cult
    • Dionysian mysteries
      • Orphism
    • Eleusinian mysteries
    • Mysteries of Isis
  • Hellenistic religion
  • Hermeticism
  • Neoplatonism
  • Pythagoreanism
    • Neopythagoreanism
  • Stoicism
• Ancient Iranian religion
• Armenian paganism
• Basque paganism
• Cantabrian religion
• Castro religion
• Dacian religion
• Eblaite religion
• Elamite religion
• Etruscan religion
• Gallaecian religion
• Georgian paganism
• Germanic paganism
  • Alpine paganism
  • Anglo-Saxon paganism
  • Continental Germanic paganism
  • Frankish paganism
  • Gothic paganism
  • Old Norse religion
• Iberian religion
• Illyrian religion
  • Iapydes religion
• Ligurian religion
• Lusitanian religion
• Lydian religion
• Nuragic religion
• Phrygian religion
• Punic religion
• Religion in ancient Rome
  • Gallo-Roman religion
  • Imperial cult
  • Greco-Roman mysteries
    • Mithraism
• Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
  • Nabataean religion
  • South Arabian paganism
• Samnite religion
• Scythian religion
• Sramana
• Thracian religion
• Umbrian religion
  • Marsi religion
• Urartu religion
• Vedicism

Medieval PeriodEdit

• Arioi
• Balinese religion
• Baltic paganism
  • Prussian paganism
  • Latvian paganism
  • Lithuanian paganism
• Batak religion
• Bulgar religion
• Caucasian Albanian paganism
• Chimor religion
• Estonian shamanism
• Finnish shamanism
• Guanche religion
• Hungarian shamanism
• Khitan religion
• Jamaican Maroon religion
• Lima religion
• Moche religion
• Sámi shamanism
• Slavic paganism
• Tiwanaku religion
• Tocharian religion
• Vainakh religion
• Wari religion

Other categorisationsEdit

By demographicsEdit

• List of religious populations

By areaEdit

• Religion in Africa
• Religion in Asia
• Religion in Oceania
• Religion in Europe
• Religion in North America
• Religion in South America
• Religion by country
  • List of state-established religions
  • Buddhism by country
    • Buddhism in the United States
  • Christianity by country
    • Roman Catholicism by country
    • Eastern Orthodoxy by country
    • Protestantism by country
    • Oriental Orthodoxy by country
  • Hinduism by country
  • Islam by country
    • Ahmadiyya by country
  • Judaism by country, Jewish population by country
  • Sikhism by country

See alsoEdit

• Alchemy
• Ceremonial magic
• Chaos magic
• Civil religion
• Enochian magic
• Goetia
• Juche
• List of Catholic rites and churches
• List of mythologies
• List of pantheons
• Lists of people by belief
• List of religious organizations
• Magic
• Mythology
• Religious fundamentalism
• Witchcraft

ReferencesEdit

SourcesEdit

• Clarke, Peter B., ed. (2006). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9-78-0-415-26707-6.
• Doniger, Wendy, ed. (2006). Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions. Encyclopaedia Britannica. ISBN 978-1593392666.
• Eliade, Mircea, ed. (1987). The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 16-volume Set. New York: MacMillan. ISBN 0029094801.
• Melton, J. Gordon (2003) [1978]. Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th ed.). Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-7876-6384-1.
• Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin, eds. (2010). Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices. Vol. 6-volume Set (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-203-6.

External linksEdit

• Patheos World Religions library
• Statistics on religious belief or adherence
• BBC.co.uk section on major world religions

Religion is a system of faith and beliefs that shape the life of common man. It is defined as a way of life. To know about the five major world religions, read on.

“All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man’s life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom.” – Albert Einstein

It is extremely difficult to define religion, as it is a composite of the narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that shape the lives and lifestyles of individuals belonging to that religion. Generally, every religion is based on the concept of an ultimate truth, a supreme power, which is believed to guide the course of one’s life. Religion is expressed through rituals, traditions and cultural values and also through convictions that serve as the guiding principles of one’s life. A religion influences the patterns of thinking and behavior of its practitioners.

Religion has played an important role in world history. It has always served as a source of inspiration for the creation of the different cultures found around the world. Religions have been in existence since the prehistoric times. Let us look at the five major religions of the world.

Major Religions of the World

Christianity: Christianity is the largest religion in the world. It began in the eastern Mediterranean region and managed to spread its influence across the globe within a few decades from its creation. The teachings of Jesus Christ are central to this religion. The followers of Christianity, Christians, as they are called, believe that Jesus is the revealer of God as also His incarnation.

Most of them also believe in the return of Jesus to judge the living and the dead. Bible, the sacred book of Christianity, is composed of two parts, the Old Testament that describes life before the birth of Jesus and the New Testament describing the life and teachings of Jesus. There are around 2 billion followers of Christianity around the world.

Buddhism: Buddhism is a system of beliefs based on the teachings of Buddha. It is categorized as Theravada, which boasts of a large following in Southeast Asia and Mahayana that predominates East Asia. Gautama Buddha was born in southern Nepal. He spent his lifetime in the north-eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, preaching people about the philosophies of life. His teachings preached the way out of sufferings of Samsara. Buddha is believed to have died in 400 BCE. An estimated 300-400 million people in Asia as well as in many other parts of the world, practice Buddhism.

Islam: Islam, meaning ‘surrender to God’, is an Abrahamic religion that originated from the teachings of Islamic prophet Muhammad. Prophet Muhammad was an Arab, born in Mecca, who believed that he had been sent to Earth by Allah as his apostle. The sacred book of Islam is called Quran, which is believed to have been revealed to Muhammad through Angel Gabriel. The followers of Islam are known as Muslims. They are expected to follow the Five Pillars of Islam, which represent the five duties in the life of a Muslim. There are about 1 to 1.3 billion Muslims, mostly in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia, making Islam, the second largest religion.

Hinduism: The Hindu religion is referred to as ‘Sanatana Dharma’, meaning ‘the eternal law’. It is often described as the oldest living tradition. Hindu beliefs vary widely across different regions of the world. The teachings of Hinduism are found compiled in scriptures such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and the epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Philosophy, theology and mythology form the important constituents of the scriptures of Hinduism. A discussion on Hinduism is incomplete without the mention of Bhagavad Gita, a part of Mahabharata that comprises the teachings of Lord Krishna. It summarizes the principles stated in the Vedas. Hinduism prevails in the Indian subcontinent and some parts of South Asia. It is practiced by about 828 million Hindus, making it the third largest religion.

Judaism: Judaism is a set of beliefs that have originated from the Hebrew Bible. Judaism establishes a relationship between Israelites, the Children of Israel and God. The western concepts of ethics and civic law are largely similar to the principles of Judaism. Judaism has also influenced Christianity and Islam. Those adhering to Judaism are called Jews.

They believe in the existence of God, who created the universe and continues to rule it. Judaism says that death is not the end of the world and that a new world is yet to come into existence. Torah, the five books of the Hebrew Bible form the most important constituent of the scriptures of Judaism. Today, there are about 13 million Jews across the globe with a large number of them, inhabiting Israel. Many people consider Judaism to be the oldest religion in the world.

This was an overview of the five major religions of the world. However, there is one religion that binds the human race together and that is humanity.

Значение и загадочная история происхождения слова «религия»: расследование

Неожиданно для меня, происхождение слова «религия» оказалось настоящей загадкой. Сперва всё было как будто бы просто: Google выдал родословное древо слова religion по первому же запросу. Оказалось, что корнями «религия» уходит в латинский глагол religare.

Латинский глагол religare означает «связывать», «воссоединять». В русской Википедии написано, что religare используется в смысле восстановления разорванной связи между человеком и Богом, ощущении некой связи со всем бытием, имеющим системность и организованность.

Во-первых, объяснение про связь с богом ничего не объясняет — даже если бы это было так, то каким образом это превратилось в дальнейшем в «религию» в современном значении?

Во-вторых, там же написано, что «religio (лат.) – совестливость, добросовестность, благочестие» — всё бы ничего, только это перевод не с латыни, а с древнефранцузского.

Расследование того, откуда на самом возникло слово «религия» в современном значении, уводит более чем на две тысячи лет в прошлое и обнаруживает столкновение двух совершенно разных версий двух значимых древнеримских мыслителей — известного ритора Цицерона и известного богослова Лактанция.

На самом деле, ещё сами римляне начали использовать слово «религия» в современном значении.

В I веке до н.э. Цицерон писал:

Quos deos et venerari et colere debemus, cultus autem deorum est optumus idemque castissimus atque sanctissimus plenissimusque pietatis, ut eos semper pura integra incorrupta et mente et voce veneremur. Non enim philosophi solum verum etiam maiores nostri superstitionem a religione separaverunt.

Последние три слова, superstitionem a religione separaverunt, буквально переводятся как «разница между суевериями и религией».

Это означает, что, в отличие от культуры, где европейцы взяли латинский корень и придумали новое значение слова cultura, опираясь на него — с религией придётся копать глубже и разбирать происхождение этого слова уже в латинском языке.

▍ Почему именно римляне изобрели слово «религия»

Небольшое лирическое отступление: латынь стала первым языком, в которым для понятия, описываемого словом «религия» появился отдельный термин — собственно, «религия».

Довольно любопытная версия причины этого изложена в журнале Forward: в древнем мире религия просто не рассматривалась как отдельная часть окружающего человека мира, пронизывая его реальность во всех аспектах.

И только римляне, которые завоевали половину цивилизаций древнего мира, увидели нечто общее, что объединяет все культы и верования и отделяет их от других аспектов человеческой жизни.

Конечно, римляне не были первыми, кто завоевал множество территорий, населённых народами с разными взглядами.

Но римляне отличались свойственной им тягой к порядку, организации и систематизации, на которой они построили не только свою империю, но и организовали её уникальное внутреннее устройство.

Так что нет ничего удивительного в том, что именно латинский глаз заметил, что всех этих богов, богинь и прочую сверхъестественную живность надо вынести в отдельную категорию классификации. Для порядка.

Происхождения слова «религия» в латыни

Основной современной гипотезой происхождения слова «религия» является образование его от латинского глагола religare. В её поддержку ссылаются на цитату из «Комментариев к «Энеиде» Вергилия» жившего в IV веке н.э. римского филолога Сервия:

religio id est metus, ab eo quod mentem religet dicta religio.

— и христианского богослова Люциуса Лактанция (~245—325 г. н.э.), который в её поддержку привёл строчку из философской поэмы римского поэта Лукреция De rerum natura («О природе вещей»):

religionum animum nodis exsolvere pergo

— «освободить разум от религиозных уз».

Согласно этой гипотезе, глагол religare образован из приставки re (означающей повторение) и глагола ligare — формы глагола ligo, произошедшего от праиндоевропейского leyǵ — «связывать».

Однако в легендарном трактате De natura deorum («О природе богов») современника Лукреция Цицерона, «религия» является производной от совсем другого глагола: relegere.

Qui omnia quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent diligenter pertractarent, et tamquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex relegendo, ut elegantes ex eligendo

Relegere — форма глагола relego, образованного той же приставкой re и глаголом lego, происходящим от праиндоевропейского leǵ, означающего «собирать».

Латинский глагол lego переводится как «собирать, отбирать, читать» — и лёг, ни много ни мало, в основу таких слов, как «интеллект» (intellegō — «понимать»), «лекция» (lēctus — «выборка») и «легенда» (от деепричастной формы legere — legendus).

У religare и relegere нет никакого общего предка, потому что они восходят к двум разным PIE (протоиндоевропейским) корням: *leig «to tie, bind» и *leg «to collect, gather» соответственно.

PIE *leig- и *leg- — это два разных слова, случайное созвучие производных от которых (religare/relegere) и стало основой путаницы в понимании происхождения латинского religio, разбору которой и посвящён этот текст.

И «религия», по Цицерону, который пишет, что религиозными (religiosi) называют людей, которые прочитали всё, что есть прочитать, о том, как правильно поклоняться богам — и соблюдают все обряды.

Чью версию выбрать — Цицерона или Лактантиуса?

Лукреций использует слово religionum во фразе «религиозные суеверия» («Дух человека извлечь из тесных тенёт суеверий» в переводе Петровского).

Цицерон пишет, что «религиозный» (religiosi) — это человек, изучивший канон своей веры и неукоснительно ему следующий. Возникает встречный вопрос: а откуда вообще возникла эта дилемма?

Лукреций и не пытался давать определения слову «религиозный», используя его как есть в строчке об «освобождении от уз религиозных суеверий».

Освобождение от уз (nodis exsolvere) никак не намекает на происхождение самого слова religionum и видеть тут намёк на это смысла не больше, чем выводить происхождение слова «религия» из лозунга «религия — опиум для народа».

Тогда как Цицерон во второй книге своего трактата именно это и делает.

Более того, в расширенной цитате видно, что он, по сути, отвечает на тот же вопрос, которым задаюсь в этой статье и я: чем отличается культ от религии («Точность слов: чем культ отличается от религии»).

На латыни:

[72] nam qui totos dies precabantur et immolabant, ut sibi sui liberi superstites essent, superstitiosi sunt appellati, quod nomen patuit postea latius; qui autem omnia quae ad cultum deorum pertinerent diligenter retractarent et tamquam relegerent, [i] sunt dicti religiosi ex relegendo, [tamquam] elegantes ex eligendo, [tamquam] [ex] diligendo diligentes, ex intellegendo intellegentes; his enim in verbis omnibus inest vis legendi eadem quae in religioso. ita factum est in superstitioso et religioso alterum vitii nomen alterum laudis. Ac mihi videor satis et esse deos et quales essent ostendisse.

На английском:

72 Persons who spent whole days in prayer and sacrifice to ensure that their children should outlive them were termed ‘superstitious’ (from superstes, a survivor), and the word later acquired a wider application. Those on the other hand who carefully reviewed and so to speak retraced all the lore of ritual were called ‘religious’ from relegere (to retrace or re‑read), like ‘elegant’ from eligere (to select), ‘diligent’ from diligere (to care for), ‘intelligent’ from intellegere (to understand); for all these words contain the same sense of ‘picking out’ (legere) that is present in ‘religious.’ Hence ‘superstitious’ and ‘religious’ came to be terms of censure and approval respectively. I think that I have said enough to prove the existence of the gods and their nature.

Русский перевод:

Ибо те, кото­рые целы­ми дня­ми моли­лись и при­но­си­ли жерт­вы, чтобы их дети пере­жи­ли их (su­persti­ti si­bi es­sent), те были назва­ны суе­вер­ны­ми (su­persti­tio­si), поз­же это назва­ние при­об­ре­ло более широ­кий смысл. А те, кото­рые над всем, что отно­сит­ся к почи­та­нию богов, усерд­но раз­мыш­ля­ли и как бы пере­чи­ты­ва­ли (re­le­ge­rent), были назва­ны рели­ги­оз­ны­ми (re­li­gio­si) (от re­le­ge­re, как ele­gan­tes от eli­ge­re, di­li­gen­tes от di­li­ge­re, как in­tel­le­gen­tes от in­tel­le­ge­re). Ибо во всех этих сло­вах тот же корень (vis le­gen­di), что и в сло­ве re­li­gio­us. Итак, из двух слов “суе­вер­но” и “рели­ги­оз­но” пер­вое ста­ло обо­зна­чать пори­ца­ние, а вто­рое — похва­лу. А теперь, мне кажет­ся, доста­точ­но было пока­за­но и что боги суще­ст­ву­ют, и како­вы они.

Цицерон описал два типа вовлечённых в поклонение сверхъестественных людей: суеверных и религиозных.

• Суеверные люди обладают поверхностным представлением о том, во что верят, находятся в постоянном страхе и низводят свою веру до суеверия.
• Религиозные люди усердно подходят к культу, изучают канон и неукоснительно ему следуют.

Упоминание «религии» уже в современном, по сути, значении, Цицероном бесспорно и куда яснее, чем Лукрецием, несмотря на лоббирование Лактаниусом этой версии.

Как говорил Цицерон

Поэтому невзирая на превалирующее сегодня убеждение в происхождении слова религия от religare, «утверждённого» в выдаче Google, я останавливаюсь на Цицероне в качестве первого письменного источника со словом «религиозный», образованным от глагола relegere.

Первоначальное определение религиозности по Цицерону: глубокое знание, почитание и исполнение обрядов.

Само же слово «религия», очевидно, появляется уже позднее.

И, вполне возможно, что, несмотря на предположительно иные латинские корни, существительное religion всё равно возникает в английском языке периода Middle English (английского средневековья) 1150–1470 гг.

P.S. Кстати, христианский богослов Лактанций отметился ещё на одном историческом поприще, оказавшись одним из самых влиятельных в истории сторонников «плоской Земли».

Ещё античные философы знали, что Земля должна быть шарообразной, и даже посчитали её размеры, но Лактанций их высмеял.

Более того, будучи весьма влиятельной фигурой в христианском мире, прозванный «христианским Цицероном», он заложил фундамент поддержки христианской церковью представлений о плоской земле на целую тысячу лет вперёд — пока они не были окончательно опровергнуты в Эпоху великих географических открытий.

Это совершенно изолированный от этимологии «религия» факт — просто штрихи к портрету.

P.P.S. Ещё более странно, что «теория плоской Земли» каким-то чудом дожила уже до наших дней.

И, хотя её сегодняшние адепты — максимально чудаковатая публика, просто представьте себе: их вера в плоскую землю основана на том, что когда-то это представление поддерживалось Католической церковью.

А в Католическую церковь оно пришло из трудов Лактанция.

Вот такая вот связь поколений.

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World’s Major Religions

The major religious traditions are Christianity, Islam; Judaism and Buddhism.

Christianity is the world’s biggest religion, with about 2.2 billion followers worldwide. It is based on the teachings Jesus Christ who lived in the Holy Land* 2000 years ago. Through its missionary activity Christianity has spread to most parts of the world. The founder of Christianity is Jesus Christ (Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was a Jew who was born in Bethlehem. He lived for 33 years before being crucified by Romans. He came to earth to teach about love and fellowship. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to his disciples (followers) to show everyone that there is another life after death. They also believe that there is one God, but it consists of three «persons” — God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. The most important Christian Festivals are Lent, Easter and Christmas. There are three main branches of Christianity the Catholic Church, the Church of England and the Orthodox Church. All Christians share common beliefs that God revealed himself in Jesus Christ, that Christ was crucified and resurrected. The Christian place of worship is a Church, also a Chapel and a Cathedral. They are often built in the shape of a cross with the altar facing east towards the rising sun. Churches are usually beautifully decorated. Christian worship involves praising God in music, speech, readings from scripture. The Bible, the Christian holy book, is divided into the Old and New Testaments. Parts of the writing contained in the Old Testament are also sacred to Jewish and Muslim people.

*Holy Land is a general name for those parts of the Middle East connected with the first Christians, Jews and Muslims, also known as Palestine in which most of the events mentioned in the Bible took place.

Islam is the second most popular religion in the world with over a thousand million followers. Islam began in Arabia and was revealed to humanity by Muhammad (570-632), a holy man born in Mecca, to whom God told many things which are recorded in the Koran, the Holy Book of Islam, translated as “the word of God”. Those who follow Islam are called Muslims. They believe that there is only one God called Allah. The Muslim building for worship is called a mosque. Very often mosques have a domed roof with a tall tower called a minaret, from which Muslims are called to prayer. Mosques have bare walls and very little furniture. Muslims take off their shoes before entering the mosque and use prayer mats to kneel on them. Women do not pray in the same place as men. There is usually a screened off area for them. Muslims pray five times a day (prayer times are fixed by the sun and change daily). They wash themselves before prayer and face the direction of Mecca while praying. If it is financially possible, Muslims are required to travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The main Muslim Festival is Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar calendar. During Ramadan all Muslims across the world do not eat during the hours of daylight.

Judaism, which has only about 12 million followers, is around 3500 years old and is the oldest of the world’s four great religions. This religion originated in Israel. The founder of Judaism is Abraham who is regarded as the father of Jewish people. Jews see Abraham as a symbol of trusting and obeying God. Moses is also an important figure of Judaism as he gave the Jews the Torah, the Jewish Holy Book, which contains the laws of God. Moses was the leader of Jews who freed them from slavery in Egypt. Moses protected the Jews from the anger of God and negotiated with God on their behalf. Jews believe in a single God who created the universe.

Jews worship in synagogues. Men and women usually sit separately. Men are required to cover their heads. In most cases worship takes place in Hebrew. The Jewish spiritual leaders are called rabbis.

The most important day of the week is the Sabbath (Shabbat), which is a day, made holy. This day starts at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. During the Sabbath, people do nothing that might be counted as work; they shouldn’t even drive or cook.

The main Jewish Festival is Passover (Pesach in Hebrew). Passover is the time when Jewish people remember how they left Egypt. It is a major eight-day festival. Matzah (unleavened bread) is eaten throughout the festival. There is a great spring cleaning in the home before the festival to ensure that no trace of leaven is left in the home during Pesach.

Buddhism began in India and is based on the teaching of the Buddha. The religion is 2,500 years old and is followed by 350 million Buddhists worldwide. Buddhism is the main religion in many Asian countries. It is a religion about suffering and need to get rid of it. A key concept of Buddhism is Nirvana, the most enlightened, blissful state one can achieve, a state without suffering. Buddhism is not centered on the relationship between humanity and God. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama. He was born around the year 580 BC in Nepal. He was born into a royal family and for many years lived within the palace away from sufferings of life. One day he went outside the royal palace and saw what real life was like. He was worried by what he saw. He stopped being a prince and became a homeless holy man. He found the path to Enlightenment and became known as the Buddha or “awakened one”. Statues of Buddha include a lot of symbols. Buddha is often seen with a round mark on his forehead which is his third eye. This is a symbol to show that he can see things ordinary people cannot see.

Buddhists worship at home or at a temple. They may sit on the floor barefoot facing an image of Buddha and chanting. It is very important that their feet face away from the image of Buddha. All Buddhist temples contain an image of a statue of Buddha. Every month, most Buddhists have special religious days. These are often days when there is a full moon. Buddhists believe that there is a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth. This goes on and on. But if a person can gain Enlightenment, the can break out of this cycle.  Breaking out of the cycle is called Nirvana. It is perfect peace, free of suffering. Buddhists try to reach Nirvana by following the Buddha’s teaching and by meditating. Meditation means training the mind to empty it of all thoughts. When this happens what is important comes clear.

Task 1. Match the names of the religious with the facts about them.

1. Christianity
2. Islam
3. Judaism
4. Buddhism

1. The followers of this religion do not believe that the world was created by God. _____
2. In these religions men and women do not worship together. _____
3. This religion is the youngest of the four. _____
4. This religion has more followers than the others. _____
5. According to this religious teaching people can achieve happiness on Earth. _____
6. Followers of this religion eat a special type of food during their festival. _____
7. Followers of this religion try to visit the place where the creator of their religion was born. _____
8. Followers of this religion are allowed to eat only after sunset during one of their holidays. _____
9. Men following this religion cannot be bareheaded entering the place of their worship. _____
10. A key concept of this religion says that one of their holy men sacrificed his lie for them. _____

Task 2. Decide if these sentences are true or false.

1. The largest religion in the world is Christianity. _____
2. Islam was revealed to humanity by Moses. _____
3. Jews see Moses as a symbol of trusting and obeying God. _____
4. The founder of Buddhism was born into a royal family. _____
5. All four religions have nearly the same ideas. _____
6. Jesus was a Jew who was born in Nazareth. _____
7. Mosques aren’t usually richly decorated. _____
8. Passover is the major Jewish festival. _____
9. The main idea of Buddhism is reaching Nirvana. ____
10. All four religions are supported by their sacred texts. _____
11. The altar of the Christian church faces east. _____
12. Prayer time in Islam is fixed according to the Lunar calendar. _____
13. During the Sabbath Jewish people are allowed to eat only after sunset. _____
14. The third eye of Buddha is a symbol of enlightenment. _____
15. The founders of all four religions were the people of noble origin. _____
16. Jewish and Muslim people share some ideas. _____
17. Muslims use prayer mats to leave their shoes on them. _____
18. The Jewish Holy Book contained the laws of God. _____
19. Meditating is a way to reach Nirvana. _____
20. Followers of all four religions can worship in a special place or just at home. _____

Task 3. Answer the questions.

1. Who is the founder of Christianity? Where was he born? How did he die?
2. What is the Muslim Holy book called? What does this name mean?
3. Who is Abraham and who is Moses?
4. How old is Buddhism and where did it originate?
5. Who are Christians? Why are they called like that?
6. What is a mosque and what is a minaret?
7. Who created the Universe according to Judaism?
8. Is Buddha a God? What do we know about him?
9. Where do the Christians worship and in what shape their temples are built?
10. How often do Muslims pray and what do they use for it?
11. Who are rabbis?
12. What can be seen in all Buddhist Temples?
13. What parts does the Bible consist of?
14. Why is Mecca such an important place for the Muslims?
15. What is the Shabbath and how is it celebrated?
16. What is the cycle of life according to Buddhism? How can it be broken?
17. What are the main Christian holidays?
18. What is the main Muslim festival called?
19. What do followers of Judaism celebrate during the festival called the Passover?
20. What is Nirvana? Why do people try to reach it?

Task 4. Translate into English.

1. Миллиарды последователей ____________________________________________
2. Миссионерская деятельность___________________________________________
3. Символ доверия и повиновения________________________________________
4. Основатель религии___________________________________________________
5. Еврейская священная книга_____________________________________________
6. Быть распятым_______________________________________________________
7. Содержать законы Божьи_______________________________________________
8. Любовь и братство____________________________________________________
9. Восстать из мертвых___________________________________________________
10. Освободить от рабства_________________________________________________
11. Жизнь после смерти___________________________________________________
12. Защитить от гнева_____________________________________________________
13. Пост, Пасха и Рождество_______________________________________________
14. Создать Вселенную____________________________________________________
15. Распространенные убеждения___________________________________________
16. Место поклонения___________________________________________________
17. Молиться в синагоге_________________________________________________
18. Церковь, часовня и собор_______________________________________________
19. Духовный лидер______________________________________________________
20. Восхваление Бога_____________________________________________________
21. Основываться на учении_______________________________________________
22. Священное писание___________________________________________________
23. Упоминать события___________________________________________________
24. Избавиться от страданий_______________________________________________
25. Представить человечеству______________________________________________
26. Достичь блаженного состояния__________________________________________
27. Мечеть и минарет_____________________________________________________
28. Родиться в королевской семье___________________________________________
29. Купольная крыша и башня______________________________________________
30. Созывать молиться____________________________________________________
31. Путь к просветлению__________________________________________________
32. Снимать обувь________________________________________________________
33. Полнолуние__________________________________________________________
34. Встать на колени _____________________________________________________
35. Вырваться из круга ___________________________________________________
36. WORLD’S MAJOR RELIIONS

	Christianity	Islam	Judaism	Buddhism
Symbol
Sacred texts
Sacred building
Age
Followers
Founder
The main holidays
The main ides, beliefs

Hello English explorers, this post is going to be about the religions of the world.Now obviously, I can not discuss every religion. Most websites say that there are around four thousand two hundred different religions.

What I can do is touch upon the major religions. I would also like to say that this post should be about respect. This post is not about which is the best or which one is wrong.

The goal of this post is to inform English students of the religions of the world as well as to introduce vocabulary for intermediate to advanced students. If I have the wrong information please let me know in the comments below.

However, I would ask everyone to be civilized in the discussion and agree to disagree if the conversation becomes to heated.

Let us just use this opportunity to learn and not fight or get angry. I want this to be a beautiful post and celebrate all walks of life.

I would like to start in alphabetical order according to the English language alphabet.

Skype English Lesson with a native AMERICAN or BRITISH teacher ››

The first major religion that I am going to discuss is Buddism.

This religion gets its name from Buddha, which means “one who is awake”.

If you have been on the Internet for long, you know about karma. Well in Buddism, karma is the force that drives the cycle of rebirth and suffering.

This religion boasts the three tallest statues in the world, all depicting Buddha. The religion has no single text like the Koran or the Bible. In fact, there is no god in the religion.

Buddism has a Dalai Lama as a living religious figure. Co-Founder of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs was a Buddhist. As a sign of respect, you need to remove your shoes before entering a Buddist temple.

The ultimate goal in Buddism is to reach Nirvana. To do this, you need to achieve the four noble truths.

These are: suffering can be eliminated, suffering is caused by desire and attachment, following the Noble Eightfold path eliminates suffering, and all life is marked with suffering.

Check your Grammar ››

The next major religion that is going to be discussed is Christianity.

This religion currently has the most number of followers. Christianity has over two billion followers. This religion represents over thirty-one percent of the total religions in the world.

Christianity began in the Middle East in the middle of the first century. The first Christians were Jewish people. If you are afraid of the Pope, then you may have Papaphobia.

There were once three Popes at the same time. Christians believe in one God, essentially a trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Speaking of three, the three largest branches of Christianity are Protestantism, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to the story, Judas betrayed Jesus for about four months’ pay.

Christianity is even practiced in Anarctica with seven churches on the continent. Buzz Aldrin was a Christian and recieved communion on the moon.

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Alphabetically, the next religion to be discussed is Folk religion. Folk religions make up almost six percent of the worldwide religions. This religion has four hundred million followers.

Chinese folk religion is called Shenism. It is also categorized as Taoism.

The word itself comes from the German language and has spread around the world.

The moon fesitival is a big part of their celebration, especially in China. Since this religion is different all over the world, it is very hard to find facts that encompass the entire religion.

Check your Grammar ››

Now, I would like to talk about Hinduism.

This religion has the third most followers of those that have a religion. Hinduism has fifteen percent of the worldwide religions. There are 1.1 billion followers of the Hindu faith.

Hinduism actually believes only in one god, but this god has many forms. Hinduism believes in circular time and not linear time. The religion does not consider the pursuit of wealth a sin.

Hinduism is the oldest known religion. The country that has the highest Hindi population is Nepal with 81%, followed by India with 80%. The largest Hindi temple in the world is in Cambodia.

The word Karma is also in the Hindi religion meaning good and bad deeds. The next religion alphabetically is Islam. Islam has the second largest number of followers after Christianity. This religion has 1.7 billion followers.

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Islam means surrender to peace.

There are five pillars of practice in Islam. They are: Formal prayer five times a day. Poor-due tax: 2.5% of one’s excess wealth given to the needy once a year. Fasting during the daylight hours in the month of Ramadan.

Pilgrimage to Mecca at least once and Declaration of faith: A statement proclaiming the belief in One God and that Muhammad is a prophet of God. To become Muslim a person simply recites this statement publicly, and in Arabic.

The Quran is the most memorised book in the world. Allah is the arabic word for God. The Islamic world gave us Algebra. The Quran mentions Jesus in the book.

That concludes this post on major world religions. If you think that I am missing one, please leave a comment below. If there is an interesting fact that you would like to discuss, go to the comments box.

Check your Grammar ››