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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.

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

Religious symbols in clock-wise order 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.

[…] 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

Main article: Eastern religions

East Asian religionsEdit

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.

ConfucianismEdit

Main article: Confucianism
See also: Confucian civil religion

ShintoEdit

Main article: Shinto
See also: Shinto sects and schools

TaoismEdit

Main article: Taoism

OtherEdit

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

Dharmic religionsEdit

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.

BuddhismEdit

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

HinduismEdit

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 movementsEdit
Main article: Hindu denominations § Newer movements
See also: Neo-Vedanta and Hindu reform movements

JainismEdit

Main article: Jainism

SikhismEdit

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

Middle Eastern religionsEdit

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 religionsEdit

Main article: Abrahamic religions

Baháʼí FaithEdit

Main article: Baháʼí Faith

ChristianityEdit

Main article: Christianity
See also: List of Christian denominations
Eastern ChristianityEdit
Main article: Eastern Christianity
Western ChristianityEdit
Main article: Western Christianity
OtherEdit
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]

DruzeEdit

Main article: Druze

IslamEdit

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

JudaismEdit

Main articles: Judaism and Jewish religious movements
KabbalahEdit
Main articles: Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism
Non-Rabbinic JudaismEdit
Rabbinic JudaismEdit
Main article: Rabbinic Judaism
OthersEdit
Historical JudaismEdit

MandaeismEdit

Main article: Mandaeism

Iranian religionsEdit

Main articles: Iranian religions and Religion in Iran

YazdânismEdit

Main article: Yazdânism

ZoroastrianismEdit

Main article: Zoroastrianism

Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religionsEdit

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.

Note: Some adherents do not consider their ways to be "religion," preferring other cultural terms.

AfricanEdit

Main article: Religion in Africa

Traditional AfricanEdit

Main article: Traditional African religions

Diasporic AfricanEdit

Main article: Afro-American religion

AltaicEdit

See also: List of Tengrist movements

AmericanEdit

Main article: Native American religion

AustroasiaticEdit

AustronesianEdit

Indo-EuropeanEdit

Tai and MiaoEdit

Main articles: Tai folk religion and Miao folk religion

Tibeto-BurmeseEdit

UralicEdit

Other IndigenousEdit

New religious movementsEdit

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 cultsEdit

Main article: Cargo cults

New ethnic religionsEdit

See also: Ethnic religion

BlackEdit

RastafariEdit

Main article: Rastafari

Black Hebrew IsraelitesEdit

Main article: Black Hebrew Israelites

WhiteEdit

Native AmericanEdit

Hindu-derived new religionsEdit

Sikh-derived new religionsEdit

Christian-derived new religionsEdit

Japanese new religionsEdit

Main article: Japanese new religions

Modern PaganismEdit

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

Ethnic neopaganismEdit

See also: Polytheistic reconstructionism and European Congress of Ethnic Religions

Syncretic neopaganismEdit

Entheogenic religionsEdit

Main article: Entheogen

New Age MovementEdit

Main article: New Age

New ThoughtEdit

Main article: New Thought

Parody religions and fiction-based religionsEdit

Main article: Parody religion

Post-theistic and naturalistic religionsEdit

Main articles: Post-theism and Religious naturalism

UFO religionsEdit

Main article: UFO religions

Western esotericismEdit

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

Other newEdit

Historical religionsEdit

Main article: History of religion

Bronze AgeEdit

Classical antiquityEdit

Other historicalEdit

Other categorisationsEdit

By demographicsEdit

Main article: Religious demographics

By areaEdit

Further information: Religion geography

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  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.

SourcesEdit

External linksEdit

 
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