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List of religions and spiritual traditions

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Further information: Major religious groups, Religious denomination, and History of religion
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
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.

While the word religion is hard to define, one standard model of religion used in religious studies courses defines it 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.[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 religions

Main article: Eastern religions

East Asian religions

Main article: East Asian religions
See also: Three teachings

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

Confucianism

Main article: Confucianism
See also: Confucian civil religion

Shinto

Main article: Shinto
See also: Shinto sects and schools

Taoism

Main article: Taoism

Other

Chinese religions
Main article: Religion in China
Chinese philosophy schools
Main article: Hundred Schools of Thought
Japanese religions
Main article: Religion in Japan
Korean religions
Main article: Religion in Korea
Mongolian religions
Vietnamese religions
Main article: Religion in Vietnam

Dharmic religions

Main article: Indian religions

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.

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhism
See also: Schools of Buddhism
Neo-Buddhism
Main article: Buddhist modernism

Hinduism

Main article: Hinduism
Further information: Hindu denominations and Bhakti movement
Sant Mat[11]
Main article: Sant Mat
Hindu philosophy schools
Main article: Hindu philosophy
Yoga
Main article: Yoga
Hindu new movements
Main article: Hindu denominations § Newer movements
See also: Neo-Vedanta and Hindu reform movements

Jainism

Main article: Jainism

Sikhism

Main article: Sikhism
Further information: Sects of Sikhism
Mainstream
Sects

Middle Eastern religions

Main article: Religion in the Middle East
See also: Western religions

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

Abrahamic religions

Main article: Abrahamic religions

Baháʼí Faith

Main article: Baháʼí Faith

Christianity

Main article: Christianity
See also: List of Christian denominations
Eastern Christianity
Main article: Eastern Christianity
Western Christianity
Main article: Western Christianity
Other
See also: Gnosticism and Christian mysticism

Certain Christian groups difficult to classify as "Eastern" or "Western." Many Gnostic groups were closely related to early Christianity, for example, Valentinism. Irenaeus wrote polemics against them from the standpoint of the then-unified Catholic Church.[17]

Druze

Main article: Druze

Islam

Main article: Islam
See also: Islamic schools and branches, Ilm al-Kalam, Ahl al-Hadith, and Islamism
Khawarij
Main article: Khawarij
Shia Islam
Main article: Shia Islam
Sufism
Main articles: Sufism and Islamic Mysticism
See also: List of Sufi orders
Sunni Islam
Main article: Sunni Islam
Other

Judaism

Main articles: Judaism and Jewish religious movements
Kabbalah
Main articles: Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism
Non-Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism
Main article: Rabbinic Judaism
Others
Historical Judaism

Mandaeism

Main article: Mandaeism

Iranian religions

Main articles: Iranian religions and Religion in Iran

Yazdânism

Main article: Yazdânism

Zoroastrianism

Main article: Zoroastrianism

Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religions

Main articles: Ethnic religion and Folk religion
See also: Paganism, Animism, Totemism, and Shamanism

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.

African

Main article: Religion in Africa

Traditional African

Main article: Traditional African religions

Diasporic African

Main article: Afro-American religion

Altaic

See also: List of Tengrist movements

American

Main article: Native American religion

Austroasiatic

Austronesian

Indo-European

Tai and Miao

Main articles: Tai folk religion and Miao folk religion

Tibeto-Burmese

Uralic

Other Indigenous

New religious movements

Main article: New religious movement
See also: List of new religious movements

Religions that cannot be classed as either world religions or traditional folk religions, and are usually recent in their inception.[18]

Cargo cults

Main article: Cargo cults

New ethnic religions

See also: Ethnic religion

Black

Black Hebrew Israelites
Main article: Black Hebrew Israelites
Rastafari
Main article: Rastafari

White

Native American

Hindu-derived new religions

Sikh-derived new religions

Christian-derived new religions

Japanese new religions

Main article: Japanese new religions

Modern paganism

Main article: Modern paganism
See also: List of Neopagan movements

Ethnic neopaganism

See also: Polytheistic reconstructionism and European Congress of Ethnic Religions

Syncretic neopaganism

Entheogenic religions

Main article: Entheogen

New Age Movement

Main article: New Age

New Thought

Main article: New Thought

Parody religions and fiction-based religions

Main article: Parody religion

Post-theistic and naturalistic religions

Main articles: Post-theism and Religious naturalism

UFO religions

Main article: UFO religions

Western esotericism

Main article: Western esotericism
See also: Ceremonial magic, Left-hand path and right-hand path, and Occult

Other new

Historical religions

Main article: History of religion

Bronze Age

Classical antiquity

Other categorisations

By demographics

Main article: Religious demographics

By area

Further information: Religion geography

See also

References

  1. ^ (Clifford Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System, 1973)
  2. ^ "World Religions Religion Statistics Geography Church Statistics". Archived from the original on April 22, 1999. Retrieved 5 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "About - the Parapsychological Association".
  4. ^ "Key Facts about Near-Death Experiences". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  5. ^ Harvey, Graham (2000). Indigenous Religions: A Companion. (Ed: Graham Harvey). London and New York: Cassell. Page 06.
  6. ^ Vergote, Antoine, Religion, belief and unbelief: a psychological study, Leuven University Press, 1997, p. 89
  7. ^ Melton 2003, p. 1112.
  8. ^ a b c Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship (1st rev. ed.). Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd.
  9. ^ Dandekar, R. N. (1987). "Vaiṣṇavism: An Overview". In Eliade, Mircea (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 14. New York: MacMillan.
  10. ^ Melton 2003, p. 997.
  11. ^ Lorenzen, David N. (1995). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2025-6.
  12. ^ Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli. Vol. 1-2. Indian Philosophy (1923) Vol. 1, 738 p. (1927) Vol. 2, 807 p. Oxford University Press.
  13. ^ Melton 2003, p. 1001.
  14. ^ Melton 2003, p. 1004.
  15. ^ a b "Welcome to Jainworld – Jain Sects – tirthankaras, jina, sadhus, sadhvis, 24 tirthankaras, digambara sect, svetambar sect, Shraman Dharma, Nirgranth Dharma". Jainworld.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
  16. ^ Melton 2003, p. 611.
  17. ^ "Irenaeus of Lyons". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  18. ^ Clarke 2006.
  19. ^ Clarke 2006, pp. 507–509, Radhasoami movements.
  20. ^ Laycock, Joseph P. Reitman (2012). "We Are Spirits of Another Sort". Nova Religio. 15 (3): 65–90. doi:10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65. JSTOR 10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65.

Sources

Wikiversity has learning resources about Beyond Theism
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