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While the word religion is difficult 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, or ultimate concerns.^[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

Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia encompassing a diverse range of eastern and spiritual traditions.^[7]

East Asian religions

World religions that originated in East Asia, also known as Taoic religions; namely Taoism and Confucianism and religions and traditions descended from them.

Chinese philosophy schools

Taojia ("School of the Tao")
Fajia ('School of Law")
- Zonghengjia ("School of Diplomacy")
Mojia ("School of Mo")
- Mingjia ("School of Names")
Nongjia ("School of Agrarianism")
Ruijia ("School of Scholars")
Yangism
Yinyangjia ("School of Yin Yang")
Zajia ("School of Syncretism")

Confucianism

Taoism

Dokyo
Korean Taoism
Kunlun
New Taoism
Qigong
- Zhong Gong
Quanzhen School ("School of the Fulfilled Virtue")
Shangqing School ("School of the Highest Clarity")
Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
- Way of the Celestial Masters
  - Northern Celestial Masters
  - Zhengyi Dao ("Way of the Right Oneness")

Syncretic Taoism

Dragon Gate Taoism
- Wuliupai ("School of Wu-Liu")
Huang–Lao
Kōshin
Xuanxue ("Neo-Taoism")
Yao Taoism ("Meishanism")

Indian religions

The four world religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent, also known as Dharmic religions; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism and religions and traditions descended from them.

Buddhism

Pre-sectarian Buddhism (theorized)
- Mahayana
  - Chinese Buddhism
    - Tiantai
      - Tendai
      - Cheontae
    - Huayan school
      - Baiyunzong (syncretic)
      - Daśabhūmikā
    - Chan Buddhism
      - Seon Buddhism
      - Thiền Buddhism
        Trúc Lâm (syncretic)
      - Zen Buddhism
        Japanese Zen
      - Caodong school
        Sōtō
        Keizan line
        
        Jakuen line
        
        Giin line
      - Linji school
        Otokan line
        Rinzai
        
        Ōbaku
        
        Fuke-shū
      - Sanbo Kyodan
  - Madhyamaka
  - Nichiren Buddhism
  - Pure Land Buddhism
    - Jōdo Shinshū
    - Jōdo-shū
      - Chinzei
  - Yogācāra
    - East Asian Yogācāra
- Nikaya Buddhism (also called "Hinayana")
  - Theravada
  - Vipassana movement (United States)
- Vajrayana
  - Azhaliism
  - Bongthingism
  - Chinese Esoteric Buddhism
  - Newar Buddhism
  - Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
  - Shingon Buddhism
    - Tachikawa-ryū
  - Southern Esoteric Buddhism
  - Tibetan Buddhism
    - Bon (syncretic)
    - Gelug
      - Yellow Shamanism (syncretic)
    - Kagyu
      - Dagpo Kagyu
        Karma Kagyu
        
        Drukpa Kagyu
      - Shangpa Kagyu
    - Nyingma
    - Sakya
    - Jonang
    - Bodongpa
Navayana

Dharmic philosophy schools

Āstika (Orthodox schools)
Nāstika (Heterodox schools)
- Ajivika
- Ajñana
- Akiriya
- Buddhism
- Charvaka^[8]
- Jainism
- Sassatavada

Hinduism

Syncretic Hinduism

Jainism

Digambara
- Kanji Panth^[11]
- Taran Panth
Śvētāmbara
- Murtipujaka
- Sthānakavāsī
Yapaniya (Historical)

Sikhism

Sects such as the Nirankari, Ramraiya and Namdhari are not accepted within the Sikh Rehat Maryada (Sikh Code of Conduct) as they believe in a current human Satguru which goes against Guru Gobind Singh Ji's Dohra in Ardaas.

Yoga

Abrahamic religions

Christianity

Early Christianity

Eastern Christianity

Church of the East (called "Nestorianism")
- Ancient Church of the East
- Assyrian Church of the East
  - Chaldean Syrian Church
Eastern Catholic Churches
- Albanian Greek Catholic Church
- Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
- Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
- Byzantine Catholic Church of Croatia and Serbia
- Chaldean Catholic Church
- Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
- Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church
- Italo-Albanian Catholic Church (a.k.a. the "Italo-Greek Catholic Church")
- Macedonian Catholic Church
- Maronite Church
- Melkite Greek Catholic Church
- Romanian Greek 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
- Syriac Catholic Church
- Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
- Syro-Malabar Church
- Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
- (Independent Eastern Catholic Churches)
  - Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church (officially the "Orthodox Catholic Church")
- Albanian Orthodox Church
- Bulgarian Orthodox Church
- Georgian Orthodox Church
- Greek Orthodox Church
- Romanian Orthodox Church
- Russian Orthodox Church
  - Belarusian Orthodox Church
- Serbian Orthodox Church
- Ukrainian Orthodox Church
- 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
- Syriac Orthodox Church
  - Jacobite Syrian Christian 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)
  - Czech Brethren
  - Moravians
- Lollardy (Historical)
- Strigolniki (Historical)
- Waldensians
Protestantism
- Anabaptists (Radical Protestants)
- Anglicanism
- Baptists
- Black church
  - Black theology
- Charismatic Christianity
  - Pentecostalism ("First wave")
    - Oneness Pentecostalism
    - Word of Faith
  - Charismatic movement ("Second wave")
    - Neo-charismatic movement ("Third wave")
- Christian deism
- Confessing Movement
- Evangelicalism
  - Progressive Christianity
  - Protestant fundamentalism
- Lutheranism
- Methodism
- Puritans
- Quakers
- Reformed churches
  - Amyraldism (a.k.a."four-point Calvinism")
  - Arminianism
  - Christian reconstructionism
  - Congregational churches
  - Continental Reformed churches
  - Neo-Calvinism
  - New Calvinism
  - Presbyterianism
  - Zwinglianism
- Reformed Eastern Christianity
- Restoration movement (a.k.a. "Restorationism")
- Swedenborgianism (a.k.a. "The New Church")
- Unitarianism
Roman Catholic Church/Latin Church (a.k.a. "Roman Catholicism" or "Catholicism")

Syncretic

Other

Islam

Khawarij

Azraqi (Historical)
Haruriyyah (Historical)
Ibadi
Najdat (Historical)
Sufri (Historical)

Shia Islam

Alevism
Alawites (Nusayris)
Isma'ilism
- Mustaali
  - Dawoodi Bohra
  - Sulaymani
- Nizari
Twelver
- Ja'fari jurisprudence
  - Akhbari
  - Shaykhism
  - Usuli
Zaidiyyah
- Jarudiyah
- Batriyya

Sufism

Sunni Islam

Kalam/Fiqh
- Ash'ari
  - Maliki
  - Shafi'i
  - Hanbali
- Maturidi
  - Hanafi
    - Barelvi
    - Deobandi
    - Gedimu
Athari
- Salafi
- Islamic Modernism
Muʿtazila

Syncretic

Other

Judaism

Historical Judaism

Biblists
Essenes
- Bana'im
- Hemerobaptists (possible ancestor of Mandaeism)
- Maghāriya
- Nasoraeans (ancestor of Mandaeism)
Hellenistic Judaism
Houses of Hillel and Shammai
Hypsistarianism
Magarites
Merkabah mysticism
Messianic sects
- Ebionites
- Elcesaites
Nazirite
Okbarites
Pharisees (ancestor of Rabbinic Judaism)
Sabbateans
- Frankism
Sadducees (possible ancestor of Karaite Judaism)
- Boethusians
Second Temple Judaism
Synagogal Judaism
Therapeutae
Yudghanites
Zealots (Judea)
- Sicarii

Kabbalah

Non-Rabbinic Judaism

Rabbinic Judaism

Conservative Judaism (a.k.a. Masorti Judaism)
Humanistic Judaism
Jewish Renewal
Orthodox Judaism
- Carlebach movement
- Haredi Judaism (a.k.a. ultra-Orthodox)
- Modern Orthodox Judaism
  - Open Orthodox Judaism
- Musar movement
- Zionism
  - Religious Zionism
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reform Judaism

Other Abrahamic

Iranian religions

Manichaeism

Athinganoi (Historical)
Chinese Manichaeism

Yazdânism

Zoroastrianism

Behafaridians (Historical)
Ilm-e-Khshnoom
Sepasian (Historical)
Khurramites (Historical)
Mazdakism (Historical)
- Mazdaznan
Zurvanism
- Blagovery

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

African

Traditional African

Diasporic African

Abakuá
Arara religion
Batuque
Candomblé
- Candomblé Bantu
- Candomblé Jejé
- Candomblé Ketu
Comfa
Convince
Cuban Vodú
Dominican Vudú
Espiritismo
Haitian Vodou
Hoodoo
Kélé
Kumina
Louisiana Voodoo
Montamentu
Myal
Obeah
Palo
Quimbanda
Santería
Tambor de Mina
Trinidad Orisha
Umbanda
Winti
- Saramaka religion

Altaic

American

Austroasiatic

Austronesian

Caucasian

Dravidian

Indo-European

Koreanic and Japonic

Koshintō (Historical)
- Matagi spirituality
- Shinto
  - Shinbutsu-shugo
Muism
- Gasin faith
Ryukyuan religion

Melanesian and Aboriginal

Negrito

Paleosiberian

Sino-Tibetan

Tai and Miao

Uralic

Other

New religious movements

Religions that cannot be classed as either world religions or traditional folk religions, and are usually recent in their inception.^[12]

Cargo cults

New ethnic religions

Black

Black Hebrew Israelites

Rastafari

White

Native American

World religion-derived new religions

Abrahamic-derived

Chinese salvationist religions

Baguadao ("Way of the Eight Trigrams")
Dejiao ("Teaching of Virtue")
Huangjidao ("Way of the Imperial Pole")
Huangtiandao ("Way of the Yellow Sky")
Huazhaidao ("Way of Flowers and Fasting")
Jiugongdao ("Way of the Nine Palaces")
Luandao ("Phoenix Way")
Luoism ("Way of Luo")
- Chinese religions of fasting
  - Xiantiandao ("Way of Former Heaven")
    - Guiyidao ("Way of the Return to the One")
    - Shengdao ("Holy Way")
    - Yaochidao ("Way of the Mother of Pearl Lake")
    - Yiguandao ("Persistent Way")
      - Haizidao
    - Yixin Tiandao ("Heart-bound Heavenly Way")
- Dacheng
- Hongyangism
Maitreyanism
Sanban Puren Pai
Sanyiism
Shanrendao ("Way of the Virtuous Man")
Taigu school
Tiandihui
Tiandiism
Tianguangdao ("Way of the Heavenly Light")
Tianxian Miaodao ("Way of the Temple of the Heavenly Immortals")
Weixinism
White Lotus
Xuanyuandao ("Way of Xuanyuan")
Yellow Sand Society
Zailiism ("Way of the Abiding Principle)
Zhongyongdao ("Way of the Golden Mean")

Hindu reform movements

Muist-derived

Neo-Buddhism

Perennial and interfaith

Shinshukyo

Sikh-derived

Contemporary Sant Mat movements
- Advait Mat
- Radha Soami
- Radha Soami-influenced^[17]
- Ravidassia

Modern paganism

Ethnic neopaganism

Baltic neopaganism
- Dievturība
- Romuva
Caucasian neopaganism
- Abkhaz neopaganism
- Assianism
Celtic neopaganism
- Celtic reconstructionist paganism
- Druidry
Church of the Guanche People
Heathenry (a.k.a. Germanic neopaganism)
Hellenism
Heraka
Hetanism
Italo-Roman neopaganism
- Nova Roma
- Roman Traditional Movement
Kemetism
- Kemetic Orthodoxy
Semitic neopaganism
Rodnovery (a.k.a. Slavic neopaganism)
Uralic neopaganism
Zalmoxianism
Zuism

Syncretic neopaganism

Entheogenic religions

New Age Movement

New Thought

Parody religions and fiction-based religions

Post-theistic and naturalistic religions

UFO religions

Western esotericism

Historical religions

Prehistoric religion

Cucuteni–Trypillia religion
Funnelbeaker religion
Hemudu religion
Hongshan religion
Linear Pottery religion
Paleolithic religion
- Urreligion (theorized)
  - Urmonotheismus (theorized)
Varna religion

Bronze Age

Classical antiquity

Post-classical period

Other categorisations

By demographics

Major religious groups

By area

References

^ (Clifford Geertz, Religion as a Cultural System, 1973)
^ "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)
^ "About - the Parapsychological Association".
^ "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
^ Coogan, Michael David; Narayanan, Vasudha (2005). Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195221907.
^ Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli. Vol. 1-2. Indian Philosophy (1923) Vol. 1, 738 p. (1927) Vol. 2, 807 p. Oxford University Press.
^ ^a ^b ^c Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship (1st rev. ed.). Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd.
^ Dandekar, R. N. (1987). "Vaiṣṇavism: An Overview". In Eliade, Mircea (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 14. New York: MacMillan.
^ "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.
^ Clarke 2006.
^ Melton 2003, p. 1001.
^ Melton 2003, p. 1004.
^ Melton 2003, p. 997.
^ Melton 2003, p. 1112.
^ Clarke 2006, pp. 507–509, Radhasoami movements.
^ Engle, John (2014). "Cults of Lovecraft: The Impact of H.P. Lovecraft's Fiction on Contemporary Occult Practices". Mythlore. 1 (125): 85–98. JSTOR 26815942.
^ 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

Clarke, Peter B., ed. (2006). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. London; New York: Routledge. ISBN 9-78-0-415-26707-6.
Doniger, Wendy, ed. (2006). Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions. Encyclopaedia Britannica. ISBN 978-1593392666.
Eliade, Mircea, ed. (1987). The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 16-volume Set. New York: MacMillan. ISBN 0029094801.
Juergensmeyer, Mark; Roof, Wade Clark, eds. (2012). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Vol. 1. Los Angeles, Ca: SAGE Publ. ISBN 978-0-7619-2729-7.
Kitagawa, Joseph M., ed. (2002) [1987]. The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History, and Culture. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-1762-5.
Lewis, James R., ed. (2004). The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514986-6.
Lewis, James R.; Tøllefsen, Inga Bårdsen, eds. (2016) [2008]. The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. Oxford Handbooks. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-046617-6. Archived from the original on 2023-03-31.
Melton, J. Gordon (2003) [1978]. Encyclopedia of American Religions (7th ed.). Farmington Hills, Mi: Gale Group. ISBN 978-0-7876-6384-1.
Melton, J. Gordon; Baumann, Martin, eds. (2010). Religions of the world: a comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices. Vol. 1–6 (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, Ca; Denver, Co; Oxford: ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-1-59884-203-6.
Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Springfield, Ma: Merriam-Webster. 1999. ISBN 0-87779-044-2.

External links

Maoz, Zeev; Henderson, Errol A. (2013). "The World Religion Dataset, 1945–2010: Logic, Estimates, and Trends". International Interactions. 39 (3): 265–291.
Statistics on religious belief or adherence
BBC.co.uk section on major world religions

[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] Coogan, Michael David; Narayanan, Vasudha (2005). Eastern Religions: Origins, Beliefs, Practices, Holy Texts, Sacred Places. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195221907.

[8] Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli. Vol. 1-2. Indian Philosophy (1923) Vol. 1, 738 p. (1927) Vol. 2, 807 p. Oxford University Press.

[Tattwananda-9] Tattwananda, Swami (1984). Vaisnava Sects, Saiva Sects, Mother Worship (1st rev. ed.). Calcutta: Firma KLM Private Ltd.

[10] Dandekar, R. N. (1987). "Vaiṣṇavism: An Overview". In Eliade, Mircea (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 14. New York: MacMillan.

[Httpwwwjainworldcomsocietiesjainsectsasp-11] "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.

[FOOTNOTEClarke2006-12] Clarke 2006.

[FOOTNOTEMelton20031001-13] Melton 2003, p. 1001.

[FOOTNOTEMelton20031004-14] Melton 2003, p. 1004.

[FOOTNOTEMelton2003997-15] Melton 2003, p. 997.

[FOOTNOTEMelton20031112-16] Melton 2003, p. 1112.

[FOOTNOTEClarke2006507–509Radhasoami_movements-17] Clarke 2006, pp. 507–509, Radhasoami movements.

[18] Engle, John (2014). "Cults of Lovecraft: The Impact of H.P. Lovecraft's Fiction on Contemporary Occult Practices". Mythlore. 1 (125): 85–98. JSTOR 26815942.

[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.

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List of religions and spiritual traditions