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Menu
Religions of the world: Information about
40 organized religions and faith groups
Sorry if your religion was not included in this image.
This graphic is all we could find in the public domain.
Counterclockwise from the North Pole:
Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism
This graphic is all we could find in the public domain.
Counterclockwise from the North Pole:
Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism
A menu with links to non-theistic
beliefs, ethical groups,
philosophies, spiritual paths, etc
is located elsewhere on this site.
Introductory thoughts:
 | What is religion? There are many definitions for the term "religion" in common usage. On this web site, we define it very broadly, in order to include the greatest number of belief systems: "Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life." Thus we include here all of the great monotheistic religions, Eastern religions; Neopagan religions; a wide range of other faith groups, spiritual paths, and ethical systems; and beliefs about the existence of God(s) and Goddess(es). We recognize that most people define "religion" in a much more exclusive manner. | ||||
| Christianity:
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| Destructive, doomsday cults: These are fortunately few in number, and are listed elsewhere. |
Information for these essays was extracted from reliable sources, and believed to be accurate and reasonably unbiased. Where possible, they have been reviewed by a group (typically 3 or more) of persons who follow the belief before the material is placed online.
"World" Religions:
There are many, long established, major world religions, each with over three million followers. We have shown the five largest North American religions in bold:
|  Baha'i Faith
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Buddhism |
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Christianity; Christian groups, denominations and families (Amish to The Way) |
|
 Confucianism |
|  Hinduism |
| 
Islam |
|  Jainism |
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Judaism |
| 
Shinto |
| 
Sikhism |
|  Taoism
|
| Vodun (Voodoo) |
Neopagan faiths
are modern-day reconstructions of ancient Pagan religions from various countries and eras. They experience a high but diminishing level of discrimination and persecution in North America. They were once rarely practiced in public for reasons of safety. This is rapidly changing for the better. | Asatru (Norse Paganism) * |
| Druidism |
| Goddess Worship |
| 
Wicca |
| Witchcraft |
Notes:
| Many followers of Asatru regard themselves as "Heathens" rather than "Neopagans. " |
| Many followers of these religions refer to themselves as "Pagans." We use the term "Neopagan" because it is less ambiguous. "Pagan" has a variety of unrelated meanings. |
Other organized Religions
These are smaller religions, with a well defined belief in deity, humanity and the rest of the universe. Of the many hundreds of faith groups in the world, we have chosen these because of their historical significance, or because of the massive amount of misinformation that has been spread about them in North America:
Related sections and essays in this web site:
| Ethical groups, philosophies, spiritual paths, etc. Atheism to Vampirism |
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Selecting holy texts from the world's religions for public meditation rooms, personal library, etc.. |
Find a faith group that matches your beliefs:
| See the Religion Selector by SelectSmart.com and SpeakOut.com |
Links to other web sites
|
 The Pluralism
Project at Harvard University document "... the contours of our
multi-religious society, explore new forms of interfaith engagement, and
study the impact of religious diversity in civic life." |
| A group of essays prepared by Sociology classes at the University of Virginia lists many unusual faith groups. See: http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/ |
| "Religious Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains," was published in 2001 for chaplains by the U.S. Department of the Army. It describes dozens of faith groups: Christian, Islamic, Japanese, Jewish, Wiccan, Satanic, Sikh, and individually distinctive groups. Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store. It received a rating of 4.3 stars out of 5 by three reviewers. |
| Theology contains an overview of many different faith groups. See: http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/ |
| Welcome is a site dedicated to honoring and celebrating diversity. It is "a place where people can come to understand and appreciate the differences among themselves." It has links to many faith groups. See: http://GoZips.uakron.edu/ |
Additional links to religious information sites
Books on world religions from Amazon.com
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Images used:
Images used by permission.
- Image courtesy of Jaz's Pagan Page
- Image copyright © by Solar Web
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Copyright © 1996 to 2008 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last updated: 2008-AUG-23
Hyperlinks last checked: 2000-AUG-21
Author: B.A. Robinson
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