The Worlds Religions
Following is a partial listing of the various belief systems for you to consider and investigate if desired. Remember, an open and inquiring mind is a powerful tool to have with you on your journey. You won’t make the correct decisions all of the time and when a change is needed, make that change after a full study is completed. None of what you experience and learn will be wasted. Only when you select an organization to belong to and then blindly follow it without question are you wasting your time and stifling your evolution and perhaps even placing yourself in danger. This is also essential advice when considering a spiritual or religious organization, a career path or a political affiliation. Your most valid spiritual outcomes will be based not only by what you are experiencing now but also by what you have absorbed from previous incarnations.
The following description of religious or spiritual organizations or tenets is not a complete listing nor should they be considered absolutely accurate in their descriptions. The information describing each of them was gathered from various writings as diverse as the dictionary or discovered on the world-wide-web from Wikipedia and other sources. The information offered herein should be used as a starting point for the reader to select a religious entity that they might be interested in finding out more about. We here at The Emerald Crystal are not theologians or scholars or experts in the vast study of religions. If your desire is to acquire accuracy and a superior degree in this vast field of religiosity, you must go elsewhere.
There are many religions or other forms of spiritual beliefs that are not listed herein. If you wish to submit such an entry, please submit your request to us on our Contact Forms and include background information so we can follow though on an insertion. We cannot guarantee inclusion. Agnostic
An Agnostic believes that nothing can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in a God.
Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist." The English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the word agnostic in 1869, and said "It simply means that a man shall not say he knows or believes that which he has no scientific grounds for professing to know or believe." Earlier thinkers, however, had written works that promoted agnostic points of view, such as Sanjaya Belatthaputta, a 5th-century BCE Indian philosopher who expressed agnosticism about any afterlife; and Protagoras, a 5th-century BCE Greek philosopher who expressed agnosticism about the existence of "the gods”. Wikipedia
Aladura
Aladura a religious denomination of Christianity. Founded in 1918 in West Nigeria by 5 people, now has nearly 3 million members worldwide.
Aladura is a classification of churches that abide by a Christian religious denomination or trend inspired by activities of progressive church elements, J.B Sadare, D.O. Odubanjo, I.O Sanya and others in 1918. The denomination has over 3 million adherents worldwide.
The term "Aladura" means "praying people" in Yoruba. Aladura churches emphasize the power of prayer. They believe in faith healing and various elements associated with Pentecostalism. Most of the founders were associated with Anglicanism, joined by some Methodists. The churches reject the power of traditional African religion as malign. They sometimes burn cult images as "idols" and oppose both polygamy and witchcraft. Unlike Kimbanguism, the churches tend to avoid politics and focus instead on the "holiness movement”.
The Aladura movement started at Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria in 1918. This movement later metamorphosed to Living Faith Church Worldwide (whose headquarters is the Faith Tabernacle) and to the Christ Apostolic Church. Today, many churches in Western Nigeria can be correctly called "Aladura".Wikipedia Amish
Amish are a group of people that follow a more traditional approach to Christianity. Their reluctance for modern technology, horse buggies, and wood craftsmanship has garnered them the most fame.
The Amish are a group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German Anabaptist origins. They are closely related to, but a distinct branch off from, Mennonite churches. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and are slower to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view to not interrupting family time, nor replacing face-to-face conversations whenever possible. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Mennonite Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish. In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites. The latter do not eschew motor cars, whereas the Old Order Amish retained much of their traditional culture. When people refer to the Amish today, they normally refer to the Old Order Amish. Wikipedia
Animism
Animism is the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls. Animistic beliefs form the basis of many cults. Animism is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animated and alive. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion as a term for the belief system of many indigenous peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organised religions. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most indigenous peoples that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to "animism"; the term is an anthropological construct.Wikipedia
Asatru
Asatru, the modern attempt to revive the old Norse faith, was founded by the Icelandic farmer Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson (1924–1993). Beinteinsson was a sheep farmer and a priest in the religion, who published a book of rímur (Icelandic rhymed epic poetry) in 1945. In 1972 he petitioned the Icelandic government to recognize the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið ("Icelandic fellowship of Æsir faith") as a religious body. It did so in 1973, and Denmark and Norway have since followed.
According to one Asatru website, similar communities were formed in the USA and UK at the same time as those in Iceland, each unaware of the existence of the others. This is a sign that "Odin, the wanderer, is once again seeking worshippers." (Irminsul Ættir)
Today, there are small groups of Asatru adherents throughout Scandinavia and North America. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, in the 1990s the approximately 300 Icelandic adherents hoped to dechristianize Iceland by the year 2000, the 1000th anniversary of the island's christianization. http://www.religionfacts.com
Atheism Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists. The etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος, meaning "without god". In antiquity, it had multiple uses as a pejorative term applied to those thought to reject the gods worshiped by the larger society, those who were forsaken by the gods, or those who had no commitment to belief in the gods. The term denoted a social category created by orthodox religionists into which those who did not share their religious beliefs were placed. The actual term atheism emerged first in the 16th century. Wikipedia
Bábism
Bábism is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is one incorporeal, unknown, and incomprehensible God who manifests his will in an unending series of theophanies, called Manifestations of God. It has no more than a few thousand adherents according to current estimates, most of whom are concentrated in Iran. It was founded by ʻAli Muhammad Shirazi who first assumed the title of Báb from which the religion gets its name, out of the belief that he was the gate to the Twelfth Imam. However throughout his ministry his titles and claims underwent much evolution as the Báb progressively outlined his teachings. Founded in 1844, Bábism flourished in Persia until 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire, especially Cyprus, as well as underground. An anomaly amongst Islamic messianic movements, the Bábí movement signaled a break with Shia Islam, beginning a new religious system with its own unique laws, teachings, and practices. Wikipedia
Bahai Bahāʼi) is a religion بهائی :The Baháʼí Faith (/bəˈhɑːiː, bəˈhaɪ/; Persian teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in 1863, it initially grew in Persia and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. It is estimated to have between 5 and 8 million adherents, known as Baháʼís, spread throughout most of the world's countries and territories.
The religion has three central figures: the Báb (1819–1850), considered a herald who taught that God would soon send a prophet in the same way of Jesus or Muhammad, and was executed by Iranian authorities in 1850; Baháʼu'lláh (1817–1892), who claimed to be that prophet in 1863 and faced exile and imprisonment for most of his life; and his son, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (1844–1921), who was released from confinement in 1908 and made teaching trips to Europe and America. Following ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's death in 1921, leadership of the religion fell to his grandson Shoghi Effendi (1897– 1957). Baháʼís around the world annually elect local, regional, and national Spiritual Assemblies that govern the affairs of the religion, and every five years the members of all National Spiritual Assemblies elect the Universal House of Justice, the nine-member supreme governing institution of the worldwide Baháʼí community, which sits in Haifa, Israel, near the Shrine of the Báb.
Baháʼí teachings are in some ways similar to other monotheistic faiths: God is considered single and all-powerful. However, Baháʼu'lláh taught that religion is orderly and progressively revealed by Manifestations of God, who are the founders of major world religions throughout history; Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad being the most recent before the Báb and Baháʼu'lláh. Baháʼís regard the major religions as fundamentally unified in purpose, though varied in social practices and interpretations. There is a similar emphasis on the unity of all people, openly rejecting notions of racism and nationalism. At the heart of Baháʼí teachings is the goal of a unified world order that ensures the prosperity of all nations, races, creeds, and classes.
Letters written by Baháʼu'lláh to various individuals, including some heads of state, have been collected and assembled into a canon of Baháʼí scripture, including works by his son ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, and the Báb, who is regarded as Baháʼu'lláh's forerunner. Prominent among Baháʼí literature are the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Kitáb-i-Íqán, Some Answered Questions, and The Dawn-Breakers. Wikipedia
Buddhism
Buddhism is the world's fourth-largest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as Buddhists. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on original teachings attributed to the Buddha and resulting interpreted philosophies. It originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, spreading through much of Asia. Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: Theravada and Mahayana. Most Buddhist traditions share the goal of overcoming suffering and the cycle of death and rebirth, either by the attainment of Nirvana or through the path of Buddhahood. Buddhist schools vary in their interpretation of the path to liberation, the relative importance and canonicity assigned to the various Buddhist texts, and their specific teachings and practices.Wikipedia
Candomble
Candomblé (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɐd̃ õmˈblɛ], "dance in honour of the gods") is an Afro-Brazilian religion that developed in Brazil during the early 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa and the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. There is no central authority in control of the movement. Candomblé is monotheistic, involving the veneration of sprits known as orishas who work as intermediaries for a supreme being. These are often identified both as Yoruban Orishas as well as Roman Catholic saints. Various myths and stories are told about these orishas. As an oral tradition, it does not have holy scriptures. Practitioners of Candomblé believe in a Supreme Creator called Oludumaré, who is served by lesser deities, which are called Orishas. Every practitioner is believed to have their own tutelary orisha, which controls his or her destiny and acts as a protector. Music and dance are important parts of Candomblé ceremonies, since the dances enable worshippers to become possessed by the orishas. In the rituals, participants make offerings like minerals, vegetables, and animals. Candomblé does not include the duality of good and evil; each person is required to fulfill their destiny to the fullest, regardless of what that is. Candomblé developed among Afro-Brazilian communities amid the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries. It arose through the blending of the traditional religions brought to Brazil by enslaved West and Central Africans, the majority of them Yoruba, Fon, and Bantu, and the Roman Catholic teachings of the Portuguese colonialists who then controlled the area. Between 1549 and 1888, the religion developed in Brazil, influenced by the knowledge of enslaved African priests who continued to teach their religion, their culture, and language. In addition, Candomblé absorbed elements of Roman Catholicism and includes indigenous American traditions.
Candomblé is practiced primarily in Brazil, and is also practiced in other countries, including Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, having as many as two million followers. Wikipedia
Cao Dai
Caodaism is a monotheistic syncretic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ. Cao Đài is the supreme deity, believed by Caodaists to have created the universe. Caodaists often use the term Đức Cao Đài as the abbreviated name, whose full title is "Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma Ha Tát". The symbol of the faith is the Left Eye of God, representing the yang activity of the male creator, which is balanced by the yin activity of Mother Goddess, the Queen Mother of the West, the feminine, nurturing and restorative mother of humanity. Adherents engage in practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the goal of union with God and freedom from saṃsāra. Wikipedia
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, sometimes referred to as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with approximately 1.3 billion baptised Catholics worldwide as of 2018. As the world's oldest and largest continuously functioning international institution, it has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church is headed by the bishop of Rome, known as the pope. Its central administration is the Holy See. The Christian beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor to Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith, reserving infallibility, passed down by sacred tradition.Wikipedia
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world's largest religion, with about 2.3 billion followers as of 2015. Christianity remains culturally diverse in its Western and Eastern branches, as well as in its doctrines concerning justification and the nature of salvation, ecclesiology, ordination, and Christology. Their creeds generally hold in common Jesus as the Son of God—the logos incarnated—who ministered, suffered, and died on a cross, but rose from the dead for the salvation of mankind; as referred to as the gospel, meaning the "good news", in the Bible.Wikipedia
Christianity can be taxonomically divided into five main groups: the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism. Protestantism includes many groups which do not share any ecclesiastical governance and have widely diverging beliefs and practices. Some major and minor Protestant denominational families are:
Adventists Anabaptism Anglicanism Arminianism Baptists Calvinism Charismatic movement Christian fundamentalism Congregationalists Evangelicalism Lutherans Methodists Modernism and liberalism Neo-charismatic churches Neo-orthodoxy and paleo-orthodoxy Pentecostals Pietism Presbyterians Puritanism, English dissenters and nonconformists Unitarians And many, many more.
Christian Science
Christian Science is a set of beliefs associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally known as the Christian Science church. It originated in 19th-century New England with Mary Baker Eddy, who argued in her 1875 book Science and Health that sickness can be healed by prayer. Wikipedia
Druze The Druze are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as The People of Monotheism. Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of Druze, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. It is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad and the sixth Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. The Epistles of Wisdom is the foundational text of the Druze faith. The Druze faith incorporates elements of Isma'ilism, a branch of Shia Islam, Gnosticism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism, and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive theology based on an esoteric interpretation of scripture, which emphasises the role of the mind and truthfulness. Druze believe in theophany and reincarnation or the transmigration of the soul .Wikipedia
Dualism
Dualism, in religion, the doctrine that the world (or reality) consists of two basic, opposed, and irreducible principles that account for all that exists. It has played an important role in the history of thought and of religion. In religion, dualism means the belief in two supreme opposed powers or gods, or sets of divine or demonic beings, that caused the world to exist. It may conveniently be contrasted with monism, which sees the world as consisting of one principle such as mind (spirit) or matter; with monotheism; or with various pluralisms and polytheisms, which see a multiplicity of principles or powers at work. As is indicated below, however, the situation is not always clear and simple, a matter of one or two or many, for there are monotheistic, monistic, and polytheistic religions with dualistic aspects. Various distinctions may be discerned in the types of dualism in general. In the first place, dualism may be either absolute or relative. In a radical or absolute dualism, the two principles are held to exist from eternity; for example, in the Iranian dualisms, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, both the bright and beneficent and the sinister and destructive principles are from eternity. https://www.britannica.com Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptised members, It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops in local synods. Roughly half of Eastern Orthodox Christians live in Russia.Wikipedia
Gnosticism
Gnosticism is a collection of ancient religious ideas and systems which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. These various groups emphasised personal spiritual knowledge over orthodox teachings, traditions, or the authority of the church. Viewing material existence as flawed or evil, Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity who is responsible for creating the material universe. Gnostics considered the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the supreme divinity in the form of mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment. Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world until about the second century, when the Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy. Wikipedia
Greek Orthodox Church
The name Greek Orthodox Church, or Greek Orthodoxy, is a term referring to the body of several Churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the Septuagint and the New Testament. Wikipedia
Hinduism Hinduism is an Indian religion and dharma, or way of life. It is the world's third-largest religion with over 1.25 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global population, known as Hindus. The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma, "the eternal way" which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts. Another, though less fitting, self-designation is Vaidika dharma, the 'dharma related to the Vedas.' Hinduism includes a range of philosophies, and is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, pilgrimage to sacred sites and shared textual resources that discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Wikipedia
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion that teaches that Muhammad is a messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24.1% of the world's population, known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and has guided mankind through prophets, revealed scriptures, and natural signs. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, believed to be the verbatim word of God, as well as the teachings and normative examples of Muhammad. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muslims consider the Quran in Arabic to be the unaltered and final revelation of God. Like other Abrahamic religions, Islam also teaches a final judgment with the righteous rewarded in paradise and the unrighteous punished in hell. Wikipedia
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.68 million adherents involved in evangelism and an annual Memorial attendance of over 20 million.Wikipedia
Jainism
Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma, is an ancient Indian religion. Followers of Jainism, called "Jains", believe that their religious texts Paramagamas and Agamas describe the process of achieving liberation from parallelist and interactive lenses respectively. Jains trace their spiritual ideas and history through a succession of twenty-four leaders or tirthankaras, with the first being Rishabhanatha or also known as Adinath bhagwan, who according to Jain tradition lived millions of years ago, the twenty-third tirthankara Parshvanatha in 900 BCE, and the twenty-fourth tirthankara the Mahāvīra around 500 BCE. Jains believe that Jainism is an eternal dharma with the tirthankaras guiding every cycle of the Jain cosmology. The main religious premises of Jainism are ahiṃsā, anekāntavāda, aparigraha and asceticism.. Devout Jains take five main vows: ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, and aparigraha. Wikipedia
Juche
Juche is the official ideology of North Korea, described by the government as "Kim Il-sung's original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought". It postulates that "man is the master of his destiny", that the Korean masses are to act as the "masters of the revolution and construction" and that by becoming self- reliant and strong, a nation can achieve true socialism. Kim Il-sung developed the ideology, which was originally viewed as a variant of Marxism–Leninism until it became distinctly Korean in character while it incorporated the historical materialist ideas of Marxism–Leninism and strongly emphasized the individual, the nation state and its sovereignty. Consequently, the North Korean government adopted Juche into a set of principles and it has used these principles to justify its policy decisions from the 1950s onwards. Wikipedia
Judaism Judaism is an ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. It encompasses a wide body of texts, practices, theological positions, and forms of organization. The Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, and supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud. With between 14.5 and 17.4 million adherents worldwide, Judaism is the tenth largest religion in the world. Within Judaism there are a variety of movements, most of which emerged from Rabbinic Judaism, which holds that God revealed his laws and commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of both the Written and Oral Torah. Wikipedia
Mennonite
The Mennonites are members of certain Christian groups belonging to the church communities of Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons of Friesland. Through his writings, Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders. The early teachings of the Mennonites were founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus, which the original Anabaptist followers held to with great conviction despite persecution by the various Roman Catholic and Protestant states. An early set of Mennonite beliefs was codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith in 1632, but the various groups do not hold to a common confession or creed. Rather than fight, the majority of these followers survived by fleeing to neighboring states where ruling families were tolerant of their belief in believer's baptism. Over the years, Mennonites have become known as one of the historic peace churches because of their commitment to pacifism. Wikipedia
Monotheistic
Monotheism is the belief in one god. A narrower definition of monotheism is the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, and intervenes in the world. A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform monotheism which, while recognising various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. Monotheism is distinguished from henotheism, a religious system in which the believer worships one god without denying that others may worship different gods with equal validity, and monolatrism, the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity. The term "monolatry" was perhaps first used by Julius Wellhausen. Wikipedia
Mormonism Mormonism is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 30s. The word Mormon originally derived from the Book of Mormon, a religious text published by Smith, which he said he translated from golden plates with divine assistance. The book describes itself as a chronicle of early indigenous peoples of the Americas and their dealings with God. Based on the book's name, Smith's early followers were more widely known as Mormons, and their faith Mormonism. The term was initially considered pejorative, but Mormons no longer consider it so. After Smith was killed in 1844, most Mormons followed Brigham Young on his westward journey to the area that became the Utah Territory, calling themselves The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wikipedia
Nature Worshiping
Nature worship is any of a variety of religious, spiritual and devotional practices that focus on the worship of natural phenomena which are attributed to the continuation of the life process. A nature deity can be in charge of nature, the biosphere, the cosmos, or the universe. Nature worship is often considered the primitive source of modern religious beliefs and can be found in theism, panentheism, pantheism, deism, polytheism, animism, totemism, shamanism, spiritism and paganism. Common to most forms of nature worship is a spiritual focus on the individual's connection and influence on some aspects of the natural world and reverence towards it. Wikipedia
Pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that reality is identical with divinity, or that all- things compose an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheist belief does not recognize a distinct personal god, anthropomorphic or otherwise, but instead characterizes a broad range of doctrines differing in forms of relationships between reality and divinity. Pantheistic concepts date back thousands of years, and pantheistic elements have been identified in various religious traditions. The term pantheism was coined by mathematician Joseph Raphson in 1697 and has since been used to describe the beliefs of a variety of people and organizations. Pantheism was popularized in Western culture as a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza, in particular, his book Ethics. A pantheistic stance was also taken in the 16th century by philosopher and cosmologist Giordano Bruno. Wikipedia
Polytheism
Polytheism is the worship of or belief in multiple deities, which are usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own religions and rituals. In most religions which accept polytheism, the different gods and goddesses are representations of forces of nature or ancestral principles, and can be viewed either as autonomous or as aspects or emanations of a creator deity or transcendental absolute principle, which manifests immanently in nature. Most of the polytheistic deities of ancient religions, with the notable exceptions of the Ancient Egyptian and Hindu deities, were conceived as having physical bodies. Polytheism is a type of theism. Within theism, it contrasts with monotheism, the belief in a singular God, in most cases transcendent. Polytheists do not always worship all the gods equally, but they can be henotheists, specializing in the worship of one particular deity.Wikipedia
Rastafari Rastafari, also known as Rastafarianism, is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas. Rasta beliefs are based on a specific interpretation of the Bible. A monotheistic belief in a single God, referred to as Jah, who partially resides within each individual, is integral to them. Rastafari also maintains that Jah was incarnated in human form as Jesus Christ. Rastas accord Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia between 1930 and 1974, central importance; many regard him as the Second Coming of Christ and thus Jah incarnate, while others see him as a human prophet who fully recognised the inner divinity in every individual. Wikipedia
Santeria
Santería, also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diasporic religion that was developed in Cuba between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa and the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. There is no central authority in control of the movement, which comprises adherents known as creyente and initiates known as santeros and santeras. Santería is polytheistic, involving the veneration of deities known as oricha. These are often identified both as Yoruba gods as well as Roman Catholic saints. Various myths are told about these oricha, which are regarded as subservient to a transcendent creator deity, Olodumare. Each individual is believed to have a specific oricha who has been connected to them since before birth and who informs their personality. Wikipedia
Sikhism
Sikhi, is a monotheistic religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century. It is one of the youngest of the major religions and world's fifth largest organized religion, with about 25 million Sikhs as of the early 21st century. Sikhism is based on the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru, and the nine Sikh Gurus that succeeded him. The tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, named the Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib as his successor, terminating the line of human Gurus and establishing the scripture as the eternal, religious spiritual guide for Sikhs. Guru Nanak taught that living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is above the metaphysical truth, and that the ideal man is one who "establishes union with God, knows His Will, and carries out that Will." Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, established the miri and piri realms to be mutually coexistent. Wikipedia
Spiritism
Spiritism "is simultaneously a science of observation and a philosophical doctrine. As a practical science, it consists in the relations that can be established with spirits. As a philosophy, it entails all the moral consequences that result from such relations". It started in the 19th century by the French educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, who, under the pen name Allan Kardec, wrote books on "the nature, origin, and destiny of spirits, and their relation with the corporeal world". Spiritists refer to Kardec as the codifier. Spiritist philosophy postulates that humans, along with all other living beings, are essentially immortal spirits that temporarily inhabit physical bodies for several necessary incarnations to attain moral and intellectual improvement. It also asserts that disembodied spirits, through passive or active mediumship, may have beneficent or malevolent influence on the physical world. Spiritism is an evolution-affirming doctrine. Wikipedia
Taoism
Taoism, or Daoism, is a philosophical tradition of Chinese origin which emphasises living in harmony with the Tao. The Tao is a fundamental idea in most Chinese philosophical schools; in Taoism, however, it denotes the principle that is the source, pattern and substance of everything that exists. Taoism differs from Confucianism by not emphasising rigid rituals and social order, but is similar in the sense that it is a teaching about the various disciplines for achieving "perfection" by becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the universe called "the way" or "tao". Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasise wu wei, "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: 慈 "compassion", 儉 "frugality", and 不敢為天下 先 “humility". Wikipedia
Unification Church he Unification Church, also called the Unification movement and sometimes colloquially the "Moonies", is a worldwide new religious movement that was founded by and is inspired by Sun Myung Moon, a Korean religious leader also known for his business ventures and support of social and political causes. Wikipedia
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person, as opposed to the Trinity which in most other branches of Christianity defines God as one being in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unitarian Christians, therefore, believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings, and he is a savior, but he was not a deity or God incarnate. As is typical of dissenters, Unitarianism does not constitute one single Christian denomination, but rather refers to a collection of both existing and extinct Christian groups, whether historically related to each other or not, which share a common theological concept of the oneness nature of God. Unitarian communities have developed in Britain, South Africa, India, Canada, the United States, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Japan. Wikipedia
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world's oldest continuously practiced religions. It is a multi-faceted faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheism/ monism, and polytheism. Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian- speaking spiritual leader Zoroaster, it exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its supreme being. Historical features of Zoroastrianism, such as messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and Buddhism. Wikipedia