List of religions and spiritual traditions
While religion is hard to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, who defined 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]
A critique of Indian model by Tulsidas categorized religion as "an anthropological category."[2] 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, etc[3]
The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with "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, rites, 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.[4][5]
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.[6] 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,[7] and thus 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.
East Asian religions
Religions that originated in East Asia, also known as Taoic religions; namely Taoism, Confucianism, Shenism and Shintoism, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.
Confucianism
Shinto
Shinto-inspired religions
Taoism
- Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
- Way of the Celestial Masters
- Zhengyi Dao ("Way of the Right Oneness")
- Way of the Celestial Masters
- Shangqing School ("School of the Highest Clarity")
- Lingbao School ("School of the Numinous Treasure")
- Quanzhen School ("School of the Fulfilled Virtue")
- Wuliupai ("School of Wu-Liu")
- Yao Taoism (a.k.a. "Meishanism")
- Faism (a.k.a. "Redhead Taoism")
- Xuanxue (a.k.a. "Neo-Taoism")
Other
Chinese
Japanese
- Aum Shinrikyo
- Shinto
Korean
Manchu
Vietnamese
Indic religions
Religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.
Buddhism
- Mahayana
- Tiantai
- Buddha-nature
- Daśabhūmikā
- Huayan school
- Chan Buddhism
- Madhyamaka
- East Asian Mādhyamaka (a.k.a. the "Three Treatise school")
- Jonang
- Prasaṅgika
- Svatantrika
- Nichiren Buddhism
- Nichiren Shōshū
- Nichiren Shū
- Soka Gakkai
- Pure Land Buddhism
- Yogācāra
- Nikaya Buddhism (incorrectly called "Hinayana" in the West)
- Humanistic Buddhism
- Theravada
- Sangharaj Nikaya (Bangladesh)
- Mahasthabir Nikaya (Bangladesh)
- Dwara Nikaya (Burma)
- Shwegyin Nikaya (Burma)
- Thudhamma Nikaya (Burma)
- Vipassana tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw and disciples
- Amarapura Nikaya (Sri Lanka)
- Ramañña Nikaya (Sri Lanka)
- Siam Nikaya (Sri Lanka)
- Dhammayuttika Nikaya (Thailand)
- Thai Forest Tradition
- Tradition of Ajahn Chah
- Thai Forest Tradition
- Maha Nikaya (Thailand)
- Dhammakaya Movement
- Vipassana movement
- Vajrayana
- Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
- Newar Buddhism (Nepal)
- Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
- Shingon Buddhism
- Tantric Theravada
- Tendai Buddhism
- Tibetan Buddhism
- Navayana (India; also called Neo-Buddhism or Ambedkarite Buddhism)
- Kirat Mundhum (Nepal)
New Buddhist movements
Global variants of Buddhism
Charvaka (Historical)
Din-I Ilahi (Historical)
Hinduism
- Ayyavazhi
- Shaivism[9]
- Shaktism[9]
- Smartism
- Śrauta
- Tantrism
- Vaishnavism[9][10]
- Brahma Sampradaya
- Ekasarana Dharma
- Kapadi Sampradaya
- Mahanubhava
- Nimbarka Sampradaya
- Pranami Sampraday
- Rudra Sampradaya
- Pushtimarg
- Charan Dasi
- Sri Vaishnavism
- Ramanandi Sampradaya
- Swaminarayan Sampraday
- Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)
- International Swaminarayan Satsang Mandal (ISSM)
- International Swaminarayan Satsang Organisation (ISSO)
- Narnarayan Dev Yuvak Mandal (NNDYM)
- Thenkalais
- Vadakalais
- Munitraya Sampradayam
- Varkari
- Bhakti movements
- Neo-Hinduism
- Adi Dharm/Brahmoism
- Ananda Marga[13]
- Arya Samaj[14]
- Chinmaya Mission
- Hindutva
- Mahima Dharma
- Matua Mahasangha
- Ramakrishna Mission
- Satsang
- Satya Dharma
- Sri Aurobindo Ashram
- Hindu philosophy major schools and movements
- Nyaya
- Purva mimamsa
- Samkhya
- Vaisheshika
- Vedanta
- Yoga
- Ashtanga Yoga
- Bhakti yoga
- Jnana yoga
- Karma yoga
- Kundalini yoga
- Hatha yoga
- Raja yoga
- Sahaja Yoga
- Siddha Yoga
- Surat Shabd Yoga
- Tantric Yoga[15]
Jainism
- Digambara
- Bispanthi[16]
- Digambar Terapanth
- Kanji Panth[16]
- Taran Panth
- Śvētāmbara
- Murtipujaka
- Sthānakavāsī
- Svetambar Terapanth
Meivazhi
Sarnaism
Sikhism
- Akhand Kirtani Jatha (AKJ)
- Amritdhari Sikh
- Brahm Bunga Trust (Dodra)
- Bhaniara Bhavsagar
- Bhindrawale Jatha
- Damdami Taksal (DDT)
- Haripagni
- Kahna Dhesian
- Mahant Sikh
- Minas (Mirharvan)
- Namdhari Sikh (Kuka)
- Nanakpanthi
- Neeldhari Panth
- Nihang (Akali)
- Nirankari
- Nirmala Panth
- Nirvair Khalsa Daal
- Non-Denominational Kesdhari
- Prof. Darshan Singh Khalsa (SGGS Academy)
- Radhaswami Sikh
- Ramraiyya (Ram Rai)
- Ravidassia Dharam
- Sanatan Sikh Sabha
- Sant Mat Movement
- Sant Nirankari Mission
- Sehejdhari Daal
- Sikh Dharma International (SDI)
- Sindhi Sikhi
- Tapoban Tat-Gurmat
- Udasi Sikh
Nepalese religions
- Bön (Tibet / Nepal)
- Kirat Mundhum
- Newar Buddhism
- Yumaism[17]
Middle Eastern religions
Religions that originated in the Middle East; namely Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.
Bábism
- Azali
- Bahá'í Faith
- Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
- Caravan of East and West
- Free Baháʼís
- Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
Christianity
Eastern Christianity
- Church of the East (incorrectly called "Nestorianism")
- Eastern Catholic Churches
- Albanian Greek Catholic Church
- Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
- Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
- Byzantine Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia
- Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
- Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church
- Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (a.k.a. the "Italo-Greek Catholic Church")
- Macedonian Catholic 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
- Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
- Chaldean Catholic Church
- Syriac Catholic Church
- Maronite Church
- Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
- Syro-Malabar Catholic Church
- Independent Eastern Catholic Churches
- Eastern Orthodox Church (officially the "Orthodox Catholic Church")
- Greek Orthodox Church
- Serbian Orthodox Church
- Russian Orthodox Church
- Romanian Orthodox Church
- Bulgarian Orthodox Church
- Georgian Orthodox Church
- Albanian Orthodox Church
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- Noncanonical/Independent Eastern Orthodox Churches
- Greek Old Calendarists (a.k.a. "Genuine Orthodox" or "True Orthodox")
- Russian Old Believers (a.k.a. "Old Ritualists")
- Oriental Orthodox Churches (a.k.a. "Non-Chalcedonian" or "Miaphysite"/"Monophysite")
- Armenian Apostolic Church
- Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria
- 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
Western Christianity
- Proto-Protestantism
- Brethren of the Free Spirit (Historical)
- Hussites (Historical)
- Strigolniki (Historical)
- Waldensians
- Protestantism
- Anabaptists (Radical Protestants)
- Anglicanism
- Baptists
- Black church
- Christian deism
- Confessing Movement
- Evangelicalism
- Jesuism
- Lollardy (Historical)
- Lutheranism
- Methodism
- Pentecostalism
- Reformed churches
- Amyraldism (a.k.a."four-point Calvinism")
- Arminianism
- Calvinism
- Christian Reconstructionism
- Congregational churches
- Continental Reformed churches
- Swiss Reformed
- Dutch Reformed
- French Huguenot
- Neo-Calvinism
- Presbyterianism
- Quakers ("Friends")
- Zwinglianism (Historical)
- Restoration movement
- Swedenborgianism (a.k.a. "The New Church")
- Unitarianism
- Roman Catholic Church/Latin Church (a.k.a. "Roman Catholicism" or "Catholicism")
- Affirming Catholicism
- Anglican Ordinariate Catholics
- Breakaway Catholics
- Charismatic Catholics
- Civil Constitution of the Clergy
- Gallicanism
- Hebrew Catholics
- Independent Catholic churches
- Liberal Catholicism
- Liberation theology
- Modernist Catholics
- Traditionalist Catholics
- Ultramontanism
Other
Certain Christian groups are 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.[18]
- Arianism (Historical)
- Bagnolians (Historical)
- Bogomilism (Historical)
- Bosnian Church (Historical)
- Catharism (Historical)
- Cerdonians (Historical)
- Esoteric Christianity
- Christian Universalism
- Christopaganism
- Eastern Lightning
- Ecclesia Gnostica
- Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
- God Worshipping Society (Historical)
- Judaizers (Judeo-Christian)
- Nondenominational Christianity
- Nontrinitarianism
- Marcionism (Historical)
- Unification Church (Family Federation for World Peace and Unification)
- Reformed Eastern Christianity
- Sethianism (Historical)
- Basilideans (Historical)
- Valentinianism (Historical)
- Bardesanite School (Historical)
- Simonians (Historical)
- Theosophy
Druze
Islam
Khawarij
- Azraqi (Historical)
- Haruriyyah (Historical)
- Ibadi
- Sufri (Historical)
Shia Islam
- Isma'ilism
- Mustaali
- Dawoodi Bohra
- Alavi Bohra
- Atba-i-Malak
- Atba-i-Malak Badar
- Atba-i-Malak Vakil
- Hebtiahs Bohra
- Progressive Dawoodi Bohra
- Sulaymani
- Dawoodi Bohra
- Nizari
- Mustaali
- Twelver
- Zaidiyyah
- Khurramites (Historical)
Sufism
- Bektashi Order
- Chishti Order
- Mevlevi Order
- Naqshbandi
- Kubrawiya
- Ni'matullāhī
- Qadiriyya
- Shadhili
- Suhrawardiyya
- Sufi Order International
- Sufism Reoriented
- Tijaniyyah
- Universal Sufism
Sunni Islam
Other
- Ahmadiyya
- Al-Fatiha Foundation
- Ali-Illahism
- Black Muslims
- Din-i Ilahi
- European Islam
- Ittifaq al-Muslimin
- Jadid
- Jamaat al Muslimeen
- Liberal movements within Islam
- Mahdavia
- Mahdist State
- Quranism
- Tolu-e-Islam
- United Submitters International
- Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi
- Xidaotang
Judaism
Haymanot
Karaite Judaism
Kabbalah
Noahidism
Rabbinic Judaism
Samaritans
Subbotniks
Historical Judaism
- Essenes
- Pharisees (ancestor of Rabbinic Judaism) (Historical)
- Sadducees (possible ancestor of Karaite Judaism) (Historical)
- Zealots (Judea)
- Messianic sects
- Sabbateans
- Second Temple Judaism
- Frankism
Manichaeism
Rastafari
Black Hebrew Israelites
Shabakism
Zoroastrianism
- Behafaridians (Historical)
- Mazdakism (Historical)
- Zurvanism (Historical)
Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religions
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.
Note: Some adherents do not consider their ways to be "religion," preferring other cultural terms.
African
Traditional African
- Akan religion
- Akamba religion
- Baluba mythology
- Bantu mythology
- Berber religion
- Bushongo mythology
- Dinka religion
- Efik mythology
- Fon and Ewe religion
- Igbo religion
- Ik religion
- Lotuko mythology
- Lozi mythology
- Lugbara mythology
- Maasai mythology
- Mbuti mythology
- San religion
- Serer religion
- Tumbuka mythology
- Urhobo people
- Waaq
- Yoruba religion
Diasporic African
Altaic
- Evenki shamanism
- Manchu shamanism
- Turko-Mongolic religion
American
- Abenaki mythology
- Anishinaabe traditional beliefs
- Blackfoot mythology
- Californian religions
- Cherokee mythology
- Chickasaw religion
- Chilote mythology
- Choctaw mythology
- Creek mythology
- Guarani mythology
- Haida mythology
- Ho-Chunk mythology
- Hopi mythology
- Inca mythology
- Iroquois mythology
- Jivaroan religion
- Kwakwakaʼwakw mythology
- Lakota mythology
- Lenape mythology
- Mapuche religion
- Mesoamerican religion
- Midewiwin
- Muisca religion
- Navajo religion
- Nuu-chah-nulth mythology
- Pawnee mythology
- Powhatan religion
- Tsimshian mythology
- Ute mythology
- Zuni mythology
Austroasiatic
Austronesian
Chinese
European
Uralic (Eurasian)
Japanese
Tai and Miao
Tibeto-Burmese
New religious movements
Religions that cannot be classed as either world religions nor traditional folk religions, and are usually recent in their inception.
Cargo cults
New ethnic religions
Black
Native American
Chicano/Mexican-American
New Hindu derived religions
Modern Paganism
Ethnic neopaganism
- Armenian neopaganism
- Baltic neopaganism
- Caucasian neopaganism
- Celtic neopaganism
- Heathenry (a.k.a. Germanic neopaganism)
- Hellenism
- Italo-Roman neopaganism
- Kemetism
- Semitic neopaganism
- Slavic neopaganism
- Uralic neopaganism
- Estonian neopaganism
- Finnish neopaganism
- Hungarian neopaganism
- Zalmoxianism
- Zuism
Syncretic neopaganism
- Adonism
- Christopaganism
- Church of All Worlds
- Church of Aphrodite
- Feraferia
- Goddess movement
- Huna
- Ivanovism
- Neo-Druidism
- Ár nDraíocht Féin
- Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids
- Reformed Druids of North America
- Neoshamanism
- Pow-wow
- Radical Faeries
- Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism
- Summum
- Technopaganism
- Wicca
Entheogenic religions
New Thought
Parody religions and fiction-based religions
- Church of Euthanasia
- Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (a.k.a. "Pastafarianism")
- Church of the SubGenius
- Dinkoism
- Discordianism
- Dudeism
- Iglesia Maradoniana
- Invisible Pink Unicorn
- Jediism
- Kibology
- Kopimism
- Landover Baptist Church
- Last Thursdayism
- 'Pataphysics
- Silinism
- Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
- United Church of Bacon
Post-theistic and naturalistic religions
UFO religions
- Aetherius Society
- Heaven's Gate
- Raëlism
- Scientology
- Unarius Academy of Science
- Universe people
Western esotericism
- Archeosophical Society
- Builders of the Adytum
- Fraternitas Saturni
- Fraternity of the Inner Light
- Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
- The Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn
- Hermeticism
- Illuminates of Thanateros
- Luciferianism
- Metaphysical
- New Acropolis
- Ordo Aurum Solis
- Rosicrucian
- Satanism
- LaVeyan Satanism
- Theistic Satanism
- Our Lady of Endor Coven (a.k.a. Ophite Cultus Satanas)
- Servants of the Light
- Temple of Set
- Thelema
- Theosophy
- Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Historical religions
- Prehistoric religion
- Harappan religion
- Ancient Egyptian religion
- Ancient Mesopotamian religion
- Ancient Semitic religion
- Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
- Somali mythology
- Hurrian religion
- Urartu religion
- Etruscan religion
- Basque mythology
- Georgian mythology
- Vainakh religion
- Proto-Indo-European mythology
- Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
- Historical Vedic religion
- Mazdaism
- Hittite mythology and religion
- Armenian mythology
- Albanian mythology
- Thracian religion
- Greek mythology
- Religion in ancient Rome
- Manichaeism
- Scythian religion
- Germanic paganism
- Ancient Celtic religion
- Baltic mythology
- Slavic paganism
- Finnish mythology
- Hungarian mythology
- Ainu religion
- Melanesian mythology
- Micronesian mythology
- Cook Islands mythology
- Rapa Nui mythology
- Tongan religion
- Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (religion of the Mississippian culture)
- Inca mythology
- Olmec religion
- Toltec religion
- Zapotec religion
- Fuegian religions
- Guanche religions
- Swahili religion
- Jamaican Maroon religion
Other categorisations
By demographics
By area
- List of religions and spiritual traditions of Oceania/Pacific
- Religion in Africa
- Religion in Asia
- Religion in Australia
- Religion in Europe
- Religion in North America
- Religion in South America
- Religion by country
- List of state-established religions
- Buddhism by country
- Christianity by country
- Roman Catholicism by country
- Protestantism by country
- Hinduism by country
- Islam by country
- Judaism by country, Jewish population by country
- Sikhism by country
See also
- Alchemy
- Ceremonial magic
- Chaos magic
- Civil religion
- Enochian magic
- Goetia
- List of Catholic rites and churches
- List of fictional religions
- List of religious organizations
- Lists of people by belief
- Magic
- Mythology
- Religious fundamentalism
- Witchcraft
References
- (Clifford Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System, 1973)
- (Talal Asad, The Construction of Religion as an Anthropological Category, 1982.)
- "World Religions Religion Statistics Geography Church Statistics". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- http://www.parapsych.org/base/about.aspx
- "Key Facts about Near-Death Experiences". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- Harvey, Graham (2000). Indigenous Religions: A Companion. (Ed: Graham Harvey). London and New York: Cassell. Page 06.
- Vergote, Antoine, Religion, belief and unbelief: a psychological study, Leuven University Press, 1997, p. 89
- Melton, J. Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Seventh edition). Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, Inc., p. 1112. ISBN 0-7876-6384-0
- Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship (1st revised ed.). Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd.
- Dandekar, R. N. (1987). "Vaiṣṇavism: An Overview". In Eliade, Mircea (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Religion. 14. New York: MacMillan.
- Melton, J. Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th ed.). Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, Inc., p. 997. ISBN 0-7876-6384-0
- Lorenzen, David N. (1995). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action. New York: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2025-6.
- Melton, J. Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th edition). Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, Inc., p. 1001. ISBN 0-7876-6384-0
- Melton, J. Gordon (2003). Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th edition). Farmington Hills, Michigan: The Gale Group, Inc., p. 1004. ISBN 0-7876-6384-0
- Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli. Indian Philosophy (1923) Vol. 1, 738 p. (1927) Vol. 2, 807 p. Oxford University Press.
- "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.
- Subba, J. R. (1998). The Philosophy and Teachings of Yuma Samyo (Yumaism): The Religion of Limboos of the Himalayan Region. Sikkim Yakthung Mundhum Saplopa.
- "Irenaeus of Lyons". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
Sources
- Eliade, Mircea, ed. (1987). The Encyclopedia of Religion. 16-volume Set. New York: MacMillan. ISBN 0029094801. Missing or empty
|title=
(help)CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) - Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin, eds. (2010). Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices. 6-volume Set (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara; Denver; Oxford: ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-1-59884-203-6 https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&printsec=frontcover&hl=ru&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Missing or empty
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