List of religions and spiritual traditions

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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 difficult to define and understand, one standard model of religion that is used in religious studies courses defines it as Template:Blockquote

Many religions have their own 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Harvey, Graham (2000). Indigenous Religions: A Companion. (Ed: Graham Harvey). London and New York: Cassell. Page 06.</ref> 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,<ref>Vergote, Antoine, Religion, belief and unbelief: a psychological study, Leuven University Press, 1997, p. 89</ref> 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

Template:Main Template:See also Template:Div col Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia encompassing a diverse range of eastern and spiritual traditions.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

East Asian religions

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

Eastern religions

East Asian religions

Chinese philosophy schools

Confucianism

Taoism

Indian religions

Buddhism

Dharmic philosophy schools

Hinduism

Jainism

Sikhism

Yoga

Abrahamic religions

Christianity

Islam

Judaism

Other Abrahamic

Iranian religions

Manichaeism

Yazdânism

Zoroastrianism

Indigenous (ethnic, folk) religions

African

Traditional African

Diasporic African

Altaic

American

Austroasiatic

Austronesian

Caucasian

Dravidian

Indo-European

Koreanic and Japonic

Melanesian and Aboriginal

Negrito

Paleosiberian

Sino-Tibetan

Tai and Miao

Uralic

Other

New religious movements

Cargo cults

New ethnic religions

Black

White

Native American

World religion-derived new religions

Abrahamic-derived

Chinese salvationist religions

Hindu reform movements

Muist-derived

Neo-Buddhism

Perennial and interfaith

Shinshukyo

Sikh-derived

Modern paganism

Ethnic neopaganism

Syncretic neopaganism

Entheogenic religions

New Age Movement

New Thought

Nonsectarian Theism

Nontheism and Atheism

Parody religions and fiction-based religions

UFO religions

Western esotericism

Historical religions

Prehistoric religion

Bronze Age

Classical antiquity

Post-classical period

Other categorisations

By demographics

By area

See also

References

Sources

External links