List of religions and spiritual traditions

The following is a list of religions. Note that the classification hereunder is only one of several possible. This system uses a filter system for categorization. A group will be listed in a category as close to the top of the page as the definitions for the category allow. Even if multiple definitions are applicable a religion will only be listed once. The definition of religion for this page is fairly liberal.

A discussion of the ways in which "major religions" have historically been separated from the list of all religions can be found in the article Major world religions.

As there are countless small religions, many of which cannot be verified to be real or legitimate, only those religions with Wikipedia articles will be listed in order to ensure that all entries on this list are notable and verifiable.

Abrahamic religions

A group of monotheistic traditions sometimes grouped with one another for comparative purposes, because all refer to a patriarch named Abraham.

Judaism (see also: Jew; Hebrews; Jewish Denominations)
- Contemporary divisions
  - Rabbinic Judaism
    - Orthodox Judaism
  - Conservative Judaism (Masorti) (classified by adherents as Rabbinic, but not by non-adherents)
  - Reform Judaism (classified by adherents as Rabbinic, but not by non-adherents)
  - Reconstructionist Judaism (claims Judaism is a culture, not always identified as a religion)
  - Humanistic Judaism (atheistic, not always identified as a religion)
  - Karaite Judaism
- Historical groups
  - Hasmoneans (not really a denomination)
  - Essenes
  - Pharisees (became Rabbinic/Orthodox Judaism)
  - Sadducees
  - Zealots
    - Sicarii
  - Sects that believed Jesus was a prophet
- Crypto-Jews
  - Marranos (not really a denomination)
  - Conversos (not really a denomination)
Christianity (see List of Christian denominations)
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Roman Catholicism
- Oriental Orthodoxy
  - Monophysitism
  - Nestorianism
- Protestantism
- High Protestantism
- Low Protestantism
  - Methodists (from the Anglicans)
  - Baptists (from the Calvinists)
- Radical Low Protestantism
  - Anabaptists
    - Mennonites
    - Amish
    - Religious Society of Friends (Quakers, quasi-Anabaptist)
  - Evangelicalism (non-denominational)
  - Pentecostals (charismatic)
- Apostolic Churches
- Unitarians
- Waldensians
- Latter-day Saints
- Seventh-day Adventist
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Messianic Judaism (Only identified as Judaism by adherents and Christian missionaries; actually Jewish-rite Christianity)
Islam (see Divisions of Islam)
- Kharijites
- Shiite
  - Alawites
  - Ismailis
  - Jafari
  - Zaiddiyah
- Ghulat including
  - Alevi / Bektashi
  - Ahl-e Haqq
  - Yazidi
  - Druze
  - Ahmadi
- Sunni
  - Berailvi
  - Deobandi
  - Hanafi
  - Hanbali
  - Maliki
  - Mu'tazili
  - Shafi'i
  - Wahhabi
- Sufism
  - Naqshbandi
  - Bektashi
  - Chishti
  - Mevlevi
- Zikri
Bahá'í
- Bahá'í Faith
- Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
Mandaeanists

Dharmic religions

Religions with a concept of Dharma, also major religions of historical India

Hinduism (see also Contemporary Hindu movements)
- Agama Hindu Dharma (Javanese Hinduism)
- Shaivism
- Shaktism
- Smartism
- Vaishnavism
  - Gaudiya Vaishnavism
    - ISKCON (Hare Krishna)
    - Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission
- Reform movements
  - Arya Samaj
  - Brahmo Samaj
- Six major schools and movements of Hindu philosophy
  - Samkhya
  - Nyaya
  - Vaisheshika
  - Purva mimamsa
  - Vedanta (Uttar Mimamsa)
    - Advaita Vedanta
    - Integral Yoga
  - Yoga
Ayyavazhi
Shramana Religions
- Buddhism (see Schools of Buddhism)
  - Mahayana
  - Nikaya schools (which have historically been called Hinayana in the West)
    - Theravada
  - Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism)
- Jainism
  - Digambara
  - Shvetambara
Panth Religions
- Sikhism
- Kabir Panth
- Dadu Panth

Other revealed religions

Believers in one God, also called classical monotheism, who follow an Indo-European culture of belief, philosophy and angelology.

Zoroastrianism
- Magus (see Three Wise Men)
Gnosticism
- Basilidians
- Bogomils
- Borborites
- Cainites
- Carpocratians
- Cathars
- Marcionism (not entirely Gnostic)
- Ophites
- Valentinians (see Valentinius)
Hermeticism
Vaishnavism (a variant of Hinduism)

Indigenous religions

The orally transmitted canon of indigenous peoples, many involving some variant of animism and many defunct

African religions
- Akamba mythology
- Akan mythology
- Ashanti mythology
- Bushongo mythology
- Bwiti
- Dahomey mythology
- Dinka mythology
- Efik mythology
- Egyptian mythology
- Ibo mythology
- Isoko mythology
- Khoikhoi mythology
- Lotuko mythology
- Lugbara mythology
- Pygmy mythology
- Tumbuka mythology
- Yoruba mythology
- Zulu mythology
  - African religions in the New World
    - Kumina
    - Obeah
    - Santería (Lukumi)
    - Vodou
    - Candomblé
    - Macumba
    - Umbanda and Quimbanda
    - Xango

European religions
Asian religions
- Babylonian and Assyrian religion
- Bön (Indigenous Tibetan belief)
- Chinese mythology
- Shinto
  - Oomoto
- Tengrism (Indigenous Mongol, Tartar & Kazakh belief)
- Yezidis (Modified indigenous Kurdish belief)
Native American religions
Oceanic religions
- Australian Aboriginal mythology
- Balinese mythology
- Maori mythology
- Modekngei (Republic of Palau)
- Nauruan indigenous religion
- Polynesian mythology

Neopagan or revival religions

Modern religions seeking to recreate indigenous, usually pre-Christian, beliefs and practices

Church of All Worlds
Dievturiba
Germanic neopaganism
- Ásatrú
- Heathenry
- Odinism
- Theodism
Hellenic polytheism (modern revivalist forms)
Judeo-Paganism
Maausk
Neo-druidism
Summum
Taarausk
Wicca

Non-revealed religions

Philosophies not transmitted by a divine prophet

Left-Hand Path religions

Faiths teaching that the ultimate goal is separating consciousness from the universe, rather than being absorbed by it

Dragon Rouge
Satanism
- LaVeyan Satanism
  - Church of Satan
- Order of Nine Angles
Setianism also spelled Sethianism
- Temple of Set
- The Storm
Quimbanda

Syncretic religions

Faiths created from blending earlier religions or that consider all or some religions to be essentially the same

Entheogen religions

Religions based around divinely inspiring substances

Ayahuasca-based beliefs
Church of the Universe (marijuana sacrament)
Peyotism
THC Ministry

New religious movements

See List of new religious movements for a list based on other sources

See hereunder for religions founded since 1850 with small followings

Monotheistic NRMs

Direct Worship of the Actual God

Indigenous NRMs

African Diaspora / Latin American NRMs

Hindu-oriented NRMs

NRMs with Islamic Roots

NRMs With Jewish Roots

Christian-oriented NRMs

Buddhist-oriented NRMs

Chinese-oriented NRMs

Way of Former Heaven sects, including
- I-Kuan Tao ("Way of Unity"),
- T'ung-shan She ("Society of Goodness"),
- Tien-te Sheng-chiao ("Sacred Religion of Celestial Virtue"),
- Daoyuan ("Sanctuary of the Tao"),
- Tz'u-hui Tang ("Compassion Society").
Falun Gong ("Dharma Wheel Work," a qigong meditation group)