Psychology Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Register
in: Religion

Religions of the world

Sign in to edit

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline

The following is a list of religions. Not all have been studied by psychologists.

Note that the classification hereunder is only one of several possible. This system uses a filter system for categorization. A group will be listed in a category as close to the top of the page as the definitions for the category allow. Even if multiple definitions are applicable a religion will only be listed once. The definition of religion for this page is fairly liberal.

A discussion of the ways in which "major religions" have historically been separated from the list of all religions can be found in the article Major world religions.

As there are countless small religions, many of which cannot be verified to be real or legitimate, only those religions with potential articles for this wiki will be listed in order to ensure that all entries on this list are notable and verifiable.

Abrahamic religions[]

A group of monotheistic traditions sometimes grouped with one another for comparative purposes, because all refer to a patriarch named Abraham.

  • Judaism (see also: Jew; Hebrews)
    • Contemporary divisions
      • Rabbinic Judaism
      • Conservative Judaism (Masorti) (classified by adherents as Rabbinic, but not by non-adherents)
      • Reform Judaism (classified by adherents as Rabbinic, but not by non-adherents)
      • Reconstructionist Judaism (claims Judaism is a culture, not always identified as a religion)
      • Humanistic Judaism (atheistic, not always identified as a religion)
      • Karaite Judaism
    • Historical groups
      • Hasmoneans (not really a denomination)
      • Essenes
      • Pharisees (became Rabbinic/Orthodox Judaism)
      • Sadducees
      • Zealots
        • Sicarii
      • Sects that believed Jesus was a prophet
        • Ebionites
        • Elkasites
        • Nazarenes
    • Crypto-Jews
      • Marranos (not really a denomination)
      • Conversos (not really a denomination)
  • Samaritans
  • Christianity (see List of Christian denominations)
    • Eastern Orthodoxy
    • Roman Catholicism
    • Oriental Orthodoxy
      • Monophysitism
      • Nestorianism
    • Protestantism
    • High Protestantism
    • Low Protestantism
    • Radical Low Protestantism
      • Anabaptists
        • Mennonites
        • Amish
        • Religious Society of Friends (Quakers, quasi-Anabaptist)
      • Evangelicalism (non-denominational)
      • Pentecostals (charismatic)
    • Apostolic Churches
    • Unitarians
    • Waldensians
    • Latter-day Saints
      • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
      • Community of Christ
      • Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
    • Seventh-day Adventist
    • Jehovah's Witnesses
    • Messianic Judaism (Only identified as Judaism by adherents and Christian missionaries; actually Jewish-rite Christianity)
  • Islam
    • Kharijites
    • Shiite
      • Alawites
      • Ismailis
      • Jafari
      • Zaiddiyah
    • Ghulat including
      • Alevi / Bektashi
      • Ahl-e Haqq
      • Yazidi
      • Druze
      • Ahmadi
    • Sunni
      • Berailvi
      • Deobandi
      • Hanafi
      • Hanbali
      • Maliki
      • Mu'tazili
      • Shafi'i
      • Wahhabi
    • Sufism
      • Naqshbandi
      • Bektashi
      • Chishti
      • Mevlevi
    • Zikri
  • Bábísm
  • Bahá'í
  • Mandaeanists
  • Rastafarians
  • Black Hebrews

Dharmic religions[]

Religions with a concept of Dharma, also major religions of historical India

Other revealed religions[]

Believers in one God, also called classical monotheism, who follow an Indo-European culture of belief, philosophy and angelology.

  • Zoroastrianism
    • Magus (see Three Wise Men)
  • Gnosticism
    • Basilidians
    • Bogomils
    • Borborites
    • Cainites
    • Carpocratians
    • Cathars
    • Marcionism (not entirely Gnostic)
    • Ophites
    • Valentinians (see Valentinius)
  • Hermeticism
  • Vaishnavism (a variant of Hinduism)

Indigenous religions[]

Main article: Ethnic religions


The orally transmitted canon of indigenous peoples, many involving some variant of animism and many defunct

  • African religions
    • Akamba mythology
    • Akan mythology
    • Ashanti mythology
    • Bushongo mythology
    • Bwiti
    • Dahomey mythology
    • Dinka mythology
    • Efik mythology
    • Egyptian mythology
    • Ibo mythology
    • Isoko mythology
    • Khoikhoi mythology
    • Lotuko mythology
    • Lugbara mythology
    • Pygmy mythology
    • Tumbuka mythology
    • Yoruba mythology
    • Zulu mythology
      • African religions in the New World
        • Kumina
        • Obeah
        • Santería (Lukumi)
        • Vodou
        • Candomblé
        • Macumba
        • Umbanda and Quimbanda
        • Xango
  • European religions
    • Anglo-Saxon mythology
    • Basque mythology
    • Druidry (Celtic Religion)
    • Finnish mythology
    • Germanic paganism
      • Norse mythology
    • Greek religion
    • Roman religion
      • Roman mythology
    • Slavic mythology
  • Asian religions
    • Babylonian and Assyrian religion
      • Babylonian mythology
      • Chaldean mythology
      • Sumerian mythology
    • Bön (Indigenous Tibetan belief)
    • Chinese mythology
    • Shinto
      • Oomoto
    • Tengrism (Indigenous Mongol, Tartar & Kazakh belief)
    • Yezidis (Modified indigenous Kurdish belief)
  • Native American religions
    • Abenaki mythology
    • Aztec mythology
    • Blackfoot mythology
    • Chippewa mythology
    • Creek mythology
    • Crow mythology
    • Guarani mythology
    • Haida mythology
    • Ho-Chunk mythology
    • Huron mythology
    • Inuit mythology
    • Iroquois mythology
    • Kwakiutl mythology
    • Lakota mythology
    • Lenape mythology
    • Navaho mythology
    • Nootka mythology
    • Pawnee mythology
    • Salish mythology
    • Selk'nam religion
    • Seneca mythology
    • Tsimshian mythology
    • Ute mythology
    • Zuni mythology
  • Oceanic religions
    • Australian Aboriginal mythology
    • Balinese mythology
    • Maori mythology
    • Modekngei (Republic of Palau)
    • Nauruan indigenous religion
    • Polynesian mythology

Neopagan or revival religions[]

Modern religions seeking to recreate indigenous, usually pre-Christian, beliefs and practices

  • Church of All Worlds
  • Dievturiba
  • Germanic neopaganism
    • Ásatrú
    • Heathenry
    • Odinism
    • Theodism
  • Hellenic polytheism (modern revivalist forms)
  • Judeo-Paganism
  • Maausk
  • Neo-druidism
  • Summum
  • Taarausk
  • Wicca
    • Alexandrian Wicca
    • Dianic Wicca (Feminist Wicca)
    • Gardnerian Wicca
    • Faery Wicca
    • Feri Tradition

Non-revealed religions[]

Philosophies not transmitted by a divine prophet

Left-Hand Path religions[]

Faiths teaching that the ultimate goal is separating consciousness from the universe, rather than being absorbed by it

  • Dragon Rouge
  • Satanism
    • LaVeyan Satanism
      • Church of Satan
    • Order of Nine Angles
  • Setianism also spelled Sethianism
    • Temple of Set
    • The Storm
  • Quimbanda

Syncretic religions[]

Faiths created from blending earlier religions or that consider all or some religions to be essentially the same

  • Arès Pilgrim Movement
  • Cao Dai
  • Falun Dafa (Falun Gong)
  • Huna
  • Konkokyo
  • Manichaeism
  • Unitarian Universalism
  • Universal Life Church
  • Tenrikyo
  • Theosophy
  • Seicho-No-Ie

Entheogen religions[]

Religions based around divinely inspiring substances

  • Ayahuasca-based beliefs
  • Church of the Universe (marijuana sacrament)
  • Peyotism
  • THC Ministry

New religious movements[]

See List of new religious movements for a list based on other sources

See hereunder for religions founded since 1850 with small followings

Monotheistic NRMs

  • Direct Worship of the Actual God

Indigenous NRMs

  • Burkhanism
  • Cargo cults
  • Ghost Dance
  • Native American Church

African Diaspora / Latin American NRMs

  • Rastafari movement
  • Umbanda
  • Candomble
  • Kardecist Spiritism

Hindu-oriented NRMs

  • Sai Baba/Sathya Sai Organisation
  • Hare Krishna
  • Transcendental Meditation
  • Sant Mat
  • Swaminarayan
  • Vedanta Society
  • Osho/Rajneeshism
  • Meher Baba (actually a Zoroastrian)
  • Oneness University
  • Aum Shinrikyo (Aleph)
  • Eckankar

NRMs with Islamic Roots

  • Subud
  • Ahmadi
  • Dances of Universal Peace
  • Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)

NRMs With Jewish Roots

  • Judeo-Paganism
  • Jewish Buddhists
  • Black Hebrews

Christian-oriented NRMs

  • Unification Church
  • Jesus movement
  • Children of God
  • Peoples Temple
  • Pentecostalism
  • Holiness movement
  • Iglesia ni Cristo

Buddhist-oriented NRMs

  • Soka Gakkai
  • Won Buddhism
  • Hoa Hao
  • Friends of the Western Buddhist Order
  • Jewish Buddhists

Chinese-oriented NRMs

  • Way of Former Heaven sects, including
    • I-Kuan Tao ("Way of Unity"),
    • T'ung-shan She ("Society of Goodness"),
    • Tien-te Sheng-chiao ("Sacred Religion of Celestial Virtue"),
    • Daoyuan ("Sanctuary of the Tao"),
    • Tz'u-hui Tang ("Compassion Society").
  • Falun Gong ("Dharma Wheel Work," a qigong meditation group)

Japanese-oriented NRMs

  • Tenrikyo
  • Seicho no Ie
  • Johrei (Johrei Movement - Sekai Kyusei Kyo Izunome Kyodan)
  • Reiki
  • Oomoto
  • Soka Gakkai
  • Aum Shinrikyo (Aleph)

Korean-oriented NRMs

  • Chondogyo
  • Jeung San Do
  • Juche (The personality cult of North Korean leaders)
  • Unification Church

Vietnamese-oriented NRMs

  • Caodaism
  • Hoa Hao

Malaysian-Oriented NRMs

  • Sky Kingdom

Western Magical / Esoteric Groups

  • Kardecist Spiritism
  • Theosophy
  • Agni Yoga
  • Association for Research and Enlightenment
  • Church Universal and Triumphant
  • Golden Dawn
  • Gurdjieff Work
  • Spiritualism
  • Eckankar
  • Thelema
    • Argenteum Astrum
    • Fraternitas Saturni
    • Ordo Templi Orientis
    • Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis
  • Process Church of the Final Judgement
  • Order of the Solar Temple

White Supremacist Religions

  • Church of Jesus Christ Christian
  • World Church of the Creator (Creativity Movement)
  • Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan [1]

Black Supremacist Religions

  • Nuwaubianism

Alien-based religions

Other NRMs

  • Antoinism
  • Breatharianism (Air cult)
  • Brianism
  • Elan Vital
  • Faithists of Kosmon
  • Virus, The Church of

Parody or mock religions[]

Groups that poke fun at other religions or religion in general

  • Discordianism
  • Church of the SubGenius (The cult of Bob Dobbs)
  • Church of Jesus Christ Elvis
  • Fictional religions turned Parody
    • Bokononism
    • Jedi census movement
  • Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pastafarianism)
  • Invisible Pink Unicorn
  • Kibology
  • Landover Baptist Church
  • Church of Emacs

Other religions or belief systems[]

Nonsectarian and trans-sectarian religious movements and practices[]

Esotericism[]

Mysticism[]

Magic (religion)[]

Ritualism[]

Organizations promoting Ecumenism[]

  • Dances of Universal Peace
  • Interreligious organisations

Other categorizations of religions[]

See also[]

References & Bibliography[]

Key texts[]

Books[]

Papers[]

Additional material[]

Books[]

Papers[]

External links[]

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.

Fan Feed

More Psychology Wiki