Religion is a collection of cultural systems, beliefs and world views that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes to moral values. While religion is hard to define, one standard model of religion, used in religious studies courses, was proposed by Clifford Geertz, who simply called it a "cultural system." A critique of Geertz's model by Talal Asad categorized religion as "an anthropological category." 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 in the world.
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, initiations, funerals, marriages, meditation, 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 experiences.
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. 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, 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.
A group of monotheistic traditions sometimes grouped with one another for comparative purposes, because all refer to a patriarch named Abraham.
Azali
Bahá'ís Under the Provisions of the Covenant
Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
Western Christianity
Anabaptists (Radical Protestants)
Amish
Hutterites
Mennonites
Quakers or ("Friends")
River Brethren
Schwarzenau Brethren
Shakers
Anglicanism
Anglo-Catholicism
Broad church
Continuing Anglican movement
English Dissenters (also Nonconformists)
High church
Low church
Open Evangelicals
Puritans
Baptists
General Baptists (also Free Will Baptists)
Landmarkism
Missionary Baptists
Primitive Baptists
Strict Baptists (also Reformed Baptists)
Black church
Black theology
Christian deism and Christian atheism
Confessing Movement
Evangelicalism
Charismatic movement
Dispensationalist Christian Zionism
Emerging church
Neo-charismatic movement
Neo-Evangelicalism
Plymouth Brethren
Exclusive Brethren
Open Brethren
Progressive Christianity
Protestant fundamentalism
Jesuism
Lutheranism
Pietism
Methodism
Calvinistic Methodists
Holiness movement
Church of the Nazarene
The Salvation Army
Wesleyanism
Pentecostalism
Church of God
Latter Rain movement
Word of Faith
Proto-Protestant groups:
Hussites
Moravians
Lollardy
Waldensians
Reformed churches
Amyraldism (called "four-point Calvinism")
Arminianism
Remonstrants
Calvinism
Christian Reconstructionism
Congregational churches
Continental Reformed churches: such as the Swiss Reformed, Dutch Reformed, and French Huguenot churches
Neo-Calvinism
Presbyterianism
Zwinglianism
Restoration movement
Adventism
Branch Davidians
Seventh-day Adventist Church
Christadelphians
Christian Science
Churches of Christ
Iglesia ni Cristo
Jehovah's Witnesses
Millerism
Mormonism
Mormon fundamentalism
Stone-Campbell movement (called "Campbellites")
Roman Catholic Church (called Roman Catholicism or "Catholicism"; subsisting predominantly in the Latin Church)
Affirming Catholicism
Breakaway Catholics
Charismatic Catholics
Hebrew Catholics
Independent Catholic churches
Old Catholic Church (Union of Utrecht)
Polish National Catholic Church
Liberal Catholicism
Liberation theology (Latin American Neo-Marxist Catholicism)
Modernist Catholics
Traditionalist Catholics
Sedevacantism
Unitarian Universalism
Western esotericism
Behmenism
Christian Kabbalah
Martinism
Rosicrucianism
Swedenborgianism (or "The New Church")
Eastern Christianity
Church of the East (called "Nestorian")
Ancient Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
Chaldean Catholic Church
Eastern Catholic Churches : In full communion with and subject to the Catholic Communion and Roman Church, but retaining a diverse array of Eastern Christian liturgical rites; including the Maronites and Byzantine Catholics.
Oriental Orthodox Churches (called Non-Chalcedonian or miaphysite/"monophysite"): Includes the Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, as well as a portion of the St. Thomas Christians in India.
Orthodox Catholic Church (called "Eastern Orthodoxy" or Orthodoxy): Includes the Greek Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox, and several other autocephalous and autonomous Churches.
Greek Old Calendarists (called "Genuine Orthodox" or "True Orthodox")
Russian Old Believers (or "Old Ritualists")
Bezpopovtsy
Popovtsy
Spiritual Christianity
Doukhobor
Molokan
Certain Christian groups are difficult to classify as "Eastern" or "Western."
Christian Gnosticism
Christian Universalism
Nontrinitarianism
Messianic Judaism
Rastafari
Unification Church
Arianism
Ebionites
Marcionism
Latter Day Saint movement
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.
Cerdonians (no longer extant)
Colarbasians (no longer extant)
Simonians (no longer extant)
Bogomilism (no longer extant)
Catharism (no longer extant)
The Yazidis are a syncretic Kurdish religion with a Gnostic influence:
Yazidis
Persian Gnosticism
Mandaeism
Manichaeism (no longer extant)
Bagnolians (no longer extant)
Syrian-Egyptic Gnosticism
None of these religions are still extant.
Sethianism
Basilideans
Valentinianism
Bardaisan#Bardesanite school
Neo-Gnostic Groups
Ecclesia Gnostica
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica
Kalam (philosophical schools)
Murji'ah
Mu'tazila
Kharijite
Azraqi
Haruriyyah
Ibadi (only surviving sect)
Sufri
Shia Islam
Bektashi Order
Isma'ilism
Mustaali / Dawoodi Bohra
Nizari
Ja'fari jurisprudence
Twelver
Akhbari
Shaykhism
Usuli
Alawites
Alevism / Bektashi Order
Ni'matullāhī
Zaidiyyah
Sufism
Chishti Order
Mevlevi Order
Naqshbandi
Jahriyya
Khufiyya
Qadiriyya
Suhrawardiyya
Tariqa
Tijaniyyah
Recent Sufi groups
Sufi Order International
Sufism Reoriented
Universal Sufism
Dances of Universal Peace
Sunni Islam
Hanafi
Ash'ari
Barelvi
Maturidi
Hanbali
Maliki
Shafi'i
Wahhabism
Universalist movements
Xidaotang
Restorationism
Ahl al-Hadith
Ghair Muqallidism
Deobandi
Yihewani
Muwahhidism
Salafi movement
Wahhabism
Quranism
Quranism
Tolu-e-Islam
United Submitters International
Black Muslims
American Society of Muslims
Five-Percent Nation
Moorish Orthodox Church of America
Moorish Science Temple of America
Nation of Islam
United Nation of Islam
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam
Other Islamic groups
Al-Fatiha Foundation
Canadian Muslim Union
European Islam
Ittifaq al-Muslimin
Jadid
Jamaat al Muslimeen
Liberal movements within Islam
Mahdavia
Muslim Canadian Congress
Progressive British Muslims
Progressive Muslim Union
Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi
Messiah Foundation International
Yarsanism
Sufi and Shia Sects
Alevism
Bektashi Order
Moorish Orthodox Church of America
Rabbinic Judaism
Conservative (Masorti) Judaism
Humanistic Judaism (not always identified as a religion)
Jewish Renewal
Orthodox Judaism
Haredi Judaism
Hasidic Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Reconstructionist Judaism
Reform Judaism
Karaite Judaism
Samaritanism
Samaritans use a slightly different version of the Pentateuch as their Torah, worshiping at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem, and are possibly the descendants of the lost Northern Kingdom. They are definitely of ancient Israelite origin, but their status as Jews is disputed.
Falasha or Beta Israel
Noahidism
Noahidism is a monotheistic ideology based on the Seven Laws of Noah, and on their traditional interpretations within Rabbinic Judaism. According to Jewish law, non-Jews are not obligated to convert to Judaism, but they are required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah.
Historical groups
Second Temple Judaism
Essenes
Pharisees (ancestor of Rabbinic Judaism)
Sadducees (possible ancestor of Karaite Judaism)
Zealots (Judea)
Sicarii
Sects that believed Jesus was a prophet
Ebionites
Elcesaites
Nazarenes
Sabbateans
Frankism
Mandaeans and Sabians
Mandaeism
Sabians
Mandaean Nasaraean Sabeans
Sabians of Harran
Indian religions are the religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, and religions and traditions related to, and descended from them.
Kabir Panth
Ravidassia
Sant Mat
Divine Light Mission
Eckankar
Radhasoami
Radha Soami Satsang Beas
Radha Swami Satsang, Dinod
Nikaya schools (which have historically been incorrectly called Hinayana in the West)
Buddha-nature
Daśabhūmikā (absorbed into Huayan)
Huayan school (Avataṃsaka)
Hwaeom
Kegon
Humanistic Buddhism
Madhyamaka
East Asian Mādhyamaka (Three Treatise school)
Jonang
Prasaṅgika
Svatantrika
Nichiren Buddhism
Nichiren Shōshū
Nichiren Shū
Soka Gakkai
Pure Land Buddhism
Jōdo Shinshū
Jōdo-shū
Theravada
Bangladeshi Sangharaj Nikaya
Bangladeshi Mahasthabir Nikaya
Burmese Dwara Nikaya
Burmese Shwegyin Nikaya
Burmese Thudhamma Nikaya
Vipassana tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw and disciples
Sri Lankan Amarapura Nikaya
Sri Lankan Ramañña Nikaya
Sri Lankan Siam Nikaya
Thai Dhammayuttika Nikaya
Thai Forest Tradition
Tradition of Ajahn Chah
Thai Maha Nikaya
Dhammakaya Movement
Vipassana movement
Mahayana
Tiantai
Tendai
Cheontae
Yogācāra
East Asian Yogācāra
Chan Buddhism
Caodong school
Zen
Sōtō
Keizan line
Jakuen line
Giin line
Linji school
Rinzai school
Ōbaku
Fuke-shū
Won Buddhism
Kwan Um School of Zen
Sanbo Kyodan
Vajrayana
Shingon Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Bon
Gelug
Kagyu
Dagpo Kagyu
Karma Kagyu
Barom Kagyu
Drukpa Lineage
Shangpa Kagyu
Nyingma
Sakya
Jonang
Bodongpa
Navayana
Dalit Buddhist movement
New Buddhist movements
Shambhala Buddhism
Diamond Way Buddhism
Triratna Buddhist Community
New Kadampa Tradition
Share International
True Buddha School
Nipponzan-Myōhōji-Daisanga
Hòa Hảo
Global variants of Buddhism
Buddhism in the United States
Din-e Ilahi
Ayyavazhi (sometimes classified as an independent religion)
Lingayatism
Shaivism
Shaktism
Shrauta
Smartism
Swaminarayan
Tantrism
Ananda Marga
Vaishnavism
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Hindu reform movements
Arya Samaj
Brahmo Samaj
Ramakrishna Mission
Satsang of Thakur Anukulchandra
Satya Dharma
Matua Mahasangha
The Osho or Rajneesh movement
Major schools and movements of Hindu philosophy
Nyaya
Purva mimamsa
Samkhya
Vaisheshika
Vedanta (Uttara Mimamsa)
Advaita Vedanta
Integral Yoga
Dvaita Vedanta
Vishishtadvaita
Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga
Bhakti yoga
Jnana yoga
Karma yoga
Kundalini yoga
Hatha yoga
Raja yoga
Sahaja Yoga
Siddha Yoga
Surat Shabd Yoga
Tantric Yoga
Digambara
Bispanthi
Digambar Terapanth
Kanji Panth
Panth of Kanji Swami
Śvētāmbara
Murtipujaka (Deravasi)
Sthānakavāsī
Svetambar Terapanth
Meivazhi
Khalsa
Nihang
Namdhari ("Kuka Sikhs")
Ravidassia religion
Sahajdhari
Behafaridians
Mazdakism
Zurvanism
Khurramites (syncretism with Shi'a Islam)
Mandaeism
Manichaeism
Mithraism
Azali
Bábism
Bahá'í Faith
Alevi (this is contested; most Alevi consider themselves to be Shia or Sufi Muslims, but a minority adhere to the Yazdani interpretation)
Yarsani
Yazidi
Neo-Confucianism
New Confucianism
Koshintō
Shugendō
Yoshida Shintō
Konkokyo
Oomoto
Seicho-no-Ie
Shinmeiaishinkai
Tenrikyo
Zenrinkyo
Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
Way of the Celestial Masters
Zhengyi Dao ("Way of the Right Oneness")
Taipingjing-based movements
Shangqing School ("School of the Highest Clarity")
Lingbao School ("School of the Numinous Treasure")
Quanzhen School ("Way of the Fulfilled Virtue")
Dragon Gate Taoism
Wuliupai ("School of Wu-Liu")
Yao Taoism (Meishanism)
Faism (Redhead Taoism)
Xuanxue (Neo-Taoism)
Yiguandao
Dudeism (The Church of the Latter-Day Dude)
Zenarchy (Kerry Wendell Thornley)
Chan Buddhism
Chinese folk religion
Falun Gong
Yiguandao (I Kuan-Tao)
Mohism
Xiantiandao
Cheondoism
Daejongism
Daesun Jinrihoe
Gasin faith
Jeung San Do
Juche
Korean shamanism
Won Buddhism
Suwunism
Cao Đài
Đạo Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương
Đạo Dừa
African diasporic religions are a number of related religions that developed in the Americas among African slaves and their descendants in various countries of the Caribbean Islands and Latin America, as well as parts of the southern United States. They derive from African traditional religions, especially of West and Central Africa, showing similarities to the Yoruba religion in particular.
Batuque
Candomblé
Dahomey mythology
Haitian mythology
Kumina
Macumba
Mami Wata
Obeah
Oyotunji
Palo
Ifa
Lucumi
Hudu
Quimbanda
Santería (Lukumi)
Umbanda
Vodou
Aztec religion
Maya religion
Mixtec religion
Olmec religion
Purepecha religion
Totonac religion
Zapotec religion
Traditionally, these faiths have all been classified "Pagan", but scholars prefer the terms "indigenous/primal/folk/ethnic religions".
Northern Africa
Berber religion
West Africa
Akan religion
Ashanti mythology (Ghana)
Dahomey (Fon) religion
Bori (Hausa people)
Efik mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon)
Serer religion
Odinani (Nigeria, Cameroon)
Isoko mythology (Nigeria)
Yoruba religion (Nigeria, Benin)
Ifa Afa Fa
Central Africa
Bushongo mythology (Congo)
Bambuti (Pygmy) mythology (Congo)
Lugbara religion (Congo)
East Africa
Akamba mythology (East Kenya)
Dinka religion (Sudan)
Lotuko mythology (Sudan)
Masai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania)
Malagasy mythology
Oromo religion
Southern Africa
Badimo (Botswana)
Khoisan religion
Lozi mythology (Zambia)
Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)
Zulu religion (South Africa)
Abenaki mythology
Anishinaabe
Blackfoot mythology
Cherokee mythology
Chickasaw mythology
Choctaw mythology
Creek mythology
Crow mythology
Guarani mythology
Haida mythology
Ho-Chunk mythology (aka: Winnebago)
Hopi mythology
Inca mythology
Inuit mythology
Iroquois mythology
Keetoowah Nighthawk Society
Kuksu
Kwakiutl mythology
Lakota mythology
Leni Lenape mythology
Longhouse religion
Mapuche mythology
Midewiwin
Miwok
Navajo mythology
Nootka mythology
Ohlone mythology
Olmec mythology
Pomo mythology
Pawnee mythology
Salish mythology
Selk'nam religion
Seneca mythology
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Sun Dance
Tsimshian mythology
Urarina
Ute mythology
Wyandot religion
Zuni mythology
Asian
Bathouism
Benzhuism (indigenous religion of the Bai people)
Bimoism (indigenous religion of the Yi people)
Bon
Chinese mythology
Japanese mythology
Korean shamanism
Manchu shamanism
Mun (Lepcha)
Pemena (Karo people (Indonesia))
Shamanism in Siberia
Tengrism
Ua Dab (indigenous religion of the Hmong people)
Vietnamese folk religion
European
Estonian mythology
Shamanism among Eskimo peoples
Finnish mythology and Finnish paganism
Shamanistic remnants in Hungarian folklore
Sami shamanism
Australian Aboriginal mythology (Dreamtime)
Austronesian beliefs
Balinese mythology
Javanese beliefs
Melanesian mythology
Micronesian mythology
Modekngei
Nauruan indigenous religion
Philippine mythology
Anito
Gabâ
Kulam
Polynesian mythology
Hawaiian mythology
Māori mythology
Māori religion
Pai Mārire
Rātana
Ringatū
Rapa Nui mythology
Moai
Tangata manu
John Frum
Johnson cult
Prince Philip Movement
Vailala Madness
Ancient Egyptian religion
Ancient Semitic religions
Canaanite mythology
Canaanite religion
Mesopotamian mythology
Arabian mythology (pre-Islamic)
Babylonian and Assyrian religion
Babylonian mythology
Chaldean mythology
Sumerian mythology
Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
Historical Vedic religion
Iranian mythology
Armenian mythology
Baltic polytheism
Celtic polytheism
Germanic paganism
Anglo-Saxon paganism
Continental Germanic mythology
Norse religion
Greek polytheism
Hittite mythology
Persian mythology
Religion in ancient Rome
Slavic mythology
Mystery religions
Eleusinian Mysteries
Mithraic mysteries
Orphism
Pythagoreanism
Gallo-Roman religion
Estonian polytheism
Finnish polytheism
Hungarian polytheism
Esotericism and mysticism
Anthroposophy
Buddhist esoteric tradition
Hindu mysticism
Tantra
Kabbalah
Christian Kabbalah
Neoplatonism
Pythagoreanism
Neopythagoreanism
Sufism
Theosophy
Archeosophical Society
Behmenism
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
Martinism
Ordo Aurum Solis
Rosicrucian
Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
Rosicrucian Fellowship
Servants of the Light
Thelema
A∴A∴
Ordo Templi Orientis
Typhonian Order
Occult and magic
Alchemy
Ceremonial magic
Enochian magic
Goetia
Chaos magic
Illuminates of Thanateros
Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth
Hoodoo (folk magic) (Rootwork)
Louisiana Voodoo
Kulam - Filipino witchcraft
Pow-wow (folk magic)
Magick (Thelema)
Contemporary witchcraft
Adonism
Church of All Worlds
Church of Aphrodite
Feraferia
Koshintō
Neo-Druidism
Ár nDraíocht Féin
Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids
Reformed Druids of North America
Neoshamanism
Neo-völkisch movements
Technopaganism
Wicca
British Traditional Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Central Valley Wicca
Algard Wicca
Chthonioi Alexandrian Wicca
Blue Star Wicca
Seax-Wica
Universal Eclectic Wicca
Celtic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Faery Wicca
Feri Tradition
Georgian Wicca
Odyssean Wicca
Wiccan church
Covenant of the Goddess
Armenian neopaganism
Baltic neopaganism
Celtic neopaganism
Dievturība
Estonian neopaganism
Finnish neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism
Hellenism (religion)
Italo-Roman neopaganism
Kemetism
Mari native religion
Odinism
Romuva (religion)
Semitic neopaganism
Slavic neopaganism
Wotanism
Zalmoxianism
Eckankar
Huna
Raëlism
Scientology
Ausar Auset Society
Black Hebrew Israelites
Dini Ya Msambwa
Mumboism
Nation of Gods and Earths
Nation of Islam
Nuwaubian Nation
Moorish Orthodox Church of America
Moorish Science Temple of America
Rastafari
Ariosophy
Black Order (Satanist group)
Creativity
Order of Nine Angles
Thule Society
Wotansvolk
Ghost Dance
Indian Shaker Church
Native American Church
Christian Science
Church of Divine Science
Church Universal and Triumphant
Religious Science
Unity Church
Jewish Science
Seicho-no-Ie
Church of World Messianity
Happy Science
Konkokyo
Oomoto
PL Kyodan
Seicho-no-Ie
Tenrikyo
Left-hand path religions
Demonolatry
Luciferianism
Satanism
LaVeyan Satanism
Theistic Satanism
Our Lady of Endor Coven (or Ophite Cultus Satanas)
Temple of Set
Post-theistic and naturalistic religions
Discordianism
Ethical movement
Creativity (religion)
Freethought
North Texas Church of Freethought
Jediism
Moorish Orthodox Church of America
Naturalistic pantheism
World Pantheist Movement
Religion of Humanity
Syntheism
The Circle of Reason
Cult of Reason (1792-1794)
Cult of the Supreme Being
Deism
Fourth Way
God-Building
Goddess movement
Humanism
Open-source religion
Spiritism (Spiritualism)
Subud
Universal Life Church
Church of Euthanasia
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Church of the SubGenius
Dinkoism
Dudeism
Iglesia Maradoniana
Invisible Pink Unicorn
Kibology
Kopimism
Landover Baptist Church
Last Thursdayism
The Satanic Temple
List of religious populations
Religion in Africa
Religion in Asia
Religion in Australia
Religion in Europe
Religion in North America
List of religions and spiritual traditions of Oceania/Pacific
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
Ahmadiyya by country
Judaism by country, Jewish population
Sikhism by country
