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List of religions and spiritual traditions

From Justapedia - Reading time: 22 min

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.
File:RELIGIONES.png
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[edit | edit source]

Main article: Eastern religions

East Asian religions[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Main article: Confucianism
See also: Confucian civil religion

Shinto[edit | edit source]

Main article: Shinto
See also: Shinto sects and schools

Taoism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Taoism

Other[edit | edit source]

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

Dharmic religions[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Main article: Buddhism
See also: Schools of Buddhism
Neo-Buddhism[edit | edit source]
Main article: Buddhist modernism

Hinduism[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]
Main article: Hindu denominations § Newer movements
See also: Neo-Vedanta and Hindu reform movements

Jainism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Jainism

Sikhism[edit | edit source]

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

Middle Eastern religions[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Main article: Abrahamic religions

Baháʼí Faith[edit | edit source]

Main article: Baháʼí Faith

Christianity[edit | edit source]

Main article: Christianity
See also: List of Christian denominations
Eastern Christianity[edit | edit source]
Main article: Eastern Christianity
Western Christianity[edit | edit source]
Main article: Western Christianity
Other[edit | edit source]
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.[16]

Druze[edit | edit source]

Main article: Druze

Islam[edit | edit source]

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

Judaism[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Judaism and Jewish religious movements
Kabbalah[edit | edit source]
Main articles: Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism
Non-Rabbinic Judaism[edit | edit source]
Rabbinic Judaism[edit | edit source]
Main article: Rabbinic Judaism
Others[edit | edit source]
Historical Judaism[edit | edit source]

Mandaeism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Mandaeism

Iranian religions[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Iranian religions and Religion in Iran

Yazdânism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Yazdânism

Zoroastrianism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Zoroastrianism

Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religions[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Main article: Religion in Africa

Traditional African[edit | edit source]

Main article: Traditional African religions

Diasporic African[edit | edit source]

Main article: Afro-American religion

Altaic[edit | edit source]

See also: List of Tengrist movements

American[edit | edit source]

Main article: Native American religion

Austroasiatic[edit | edit source]

Austronesian[edit | edit source]

Indo-European[edit | edit source]

Tai and Miao[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Tai folk religion and Miao folk religion

Tibeto-Burmese[edit | edit source]

Uralic[edit | edit source]

Other Indigenous[edit | edit source]

New religious movements[edit | edit source]

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.[17]

Cargo cults[edit | edit source]

Main article: Cargo cults

New ethnic religions[edit | edit source]

See also: Ethnic religion

Black[edit | edit source]

Rastafari[edit | edit source]

Main article: Rastafari

Black Hebrew Israelites[edit | edit source]

Main article: Black Hebrew Israelites

White[edit | edit source]

Native American[edit | edit source]

Hindu-derived new religions[edit | edit source]

Sikh-derived new religions[edit | edit source]

Christian-derived new religions[edit | edit source]

Japanese new religions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Japanese new religions

Modern paganism[edit | edit source]

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

Ethnic neopaganism[edit | edit source]

See also: Polytheistic reconstructionism and European Congress of Ethnic Religions

Syncretic neopaganism[edit | edit source]

Entheogenic religions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Entheogen

New Age Movement[edit | edit source]

Main article: New Age

New Thought[edit | edit source]

Main article: New Thought

Parody religions and fiction-based religions[edit | edit source]

Main article: Parody religion

Post-theistic and naturalistic religions[edit | edit source]

Main articles: Post-theism and Religious naturalism

UFO religions[edit | edit source]

Main article: UFO religions

Western esotericism[edit | edit source]

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

Other new[edit | edit source]

Historical religions[edit | edit source]

Main article: History of religion

Bronze Age[edit | edit source]

Classical antiquity[edit | edit source]

Other categorisations[edit | edit source]

By demographics[edit | edit source]

Main article: Religious demographics

By area[edit | edit source]

Further information: Religion geography

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  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. ^ "Irenaeus of Lyons". Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  17. ^ Clarke 2006.
  18. ^ Clarke 2006, pp. 507–509, Radhasoami movements.
  19. ^ 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[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

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