Religions of the world

The following is a list of religions. 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 Wikipedia articles 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
 * Orthodox Judaism
 * Modern Orthodox Judaism
 * Haredi Judaism
 * Hassidic 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
 * Lutherans
 * Anglicans
 * Calvinist sects
 * Reformed
 * Presbyterian
 * Low Protestantism
 * Methodists (from the Anglicans)
 * Baptists (from the Calvinists)
 * 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
 * Bahá'í Faith
 * Orthodox Bahá'í Faith
 * Mandaeanists
 * Rastafarians
 * Black Hebrews

Dharmic religions
Religions with a concept of Dharma, also major religions of historical India
 * Hinduism (see also Contemporary Hindu movements)
 * Agama Hindu Dharma (Javanese Hinduism)
 * Shaivism
 * Shaktism
 * Smartism
 * Vaishnavism
 * Gaudiya Vaishnavism
 * ISKCON (Hare Krishna)
 * Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission
 * Reform movements
 * Arya Samaj
 * Brahmo Samaj
 * Six major schools and movements of Hindu philosophy
 * Samkhya
 * Nyaya
 * Vaisheshika
 * Purva mimamsa
 * Vedanta (Uttar Mimamsa)
 * Advaita Vedanta
 * Integral Yoga
 * Yoga
 * Ashtanga Yoga
 * Hatha yoga
 * Siddha Yoga
 * Tantric Yoga
 * Ayyavazhi
 * Shramana Religions
 * Buddhism (see Schools of Buddhism)
 * Mahayana
 * Nikaya schools (which have historically been called Hinayana in the West)
 * Theravada
 * Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism)
 * Jainism
 * Digambara
 * Shvetambara
 * Panth Religions
 * Sikhism
 * Kabir Panth
 * Dadu Panth

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
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
 * Greek mythology
 * Mystery religions
 * Eleusinian Mysteries
 * Mithraism
 * Pythagoreanism
 * 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
 * Carvaka
 * Confucianism
 * Deism
 * Fellowship of Reason
 * Spiritual Humanism
 * Mohism
 * Taoism

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

Black Supremacist Religions
 * Nuwaubianism

Alien-based religions
 * The Aetherius Society
 * Raelism
 * Scientology
 * Church of Scientology
 * Free Zone (Scientology)
 * Urantia, Book of
 * Universe people

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

 * Agnosticism - non-theistic belief system
 * Animism
 * Atheism - non-theistic belief system
 * Ditheism (Dualism)
 * Henotheism
 * Monolatrism
 * Humanism - non-theistic belief system
 * Secular Humanism
 * Kathenotheism
 * Maltheism
 * Monism
 * Monotheism
 * Panentheism
 * Pantheism
 * Cosmotheism
 * Polytheism
 * Rationalism - non-theistic belief system
 * Shamanism
 * Suitheism

Esotericism

 * Alchemy
 * Anthroposophy
 * Esoteric Christianity
 * Freemasonry
 * Gnosticism
 * Kabbalah
 * Occultism
 * Rosicrucian
 * Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
 * Confraternity of the Rose Cross
 * Rosicrucian Fellowship
 * Surat Shabda Yoga

Mysticism

 * Christian mysticism
 * Gnosticism
 * Hindu mysticism
 * Tantra
 * Ananda Marga Tantra-Yoga
 * Yoga
 * Bhakti
 * Vedanta
 * Kabbalah (also part of Judaism)
 * Kabbalah Centre
 * Martinism
 * Merkabah (also part of Judaism)
 * Meditation
 * Spirituality
 * Sufism
 * Theosophy

Magic (religion)

 * Astrology
 * Divination
 * Prophecy
 * Exorcism
 * Faith healing
 * Feng Shui
 * Hoodoo (Rootwork)
 * New Orleans Voodoo
 * Magick
 * Chaos magick
 * Enochian Magic
 * Grimoire magick
 * Goetic magick
 * Miracles
 * Pow-wow
 * Seid (shamanic magic)
 * Vaastu Shastra (Hinduism)
 * Witchcraft

Ritualism

 * Prayer
 * Sacrifice
 * Animal sacrifice
 * Human sacrifice
 * Worship

Organizations promoting Ecumenism

 * Dances of Universal Peace
 * Interreligious organisations