Home›Founders›TraditionBrowse ByTraditionThis page groups figures by the wider religious tradition that recognizes them. Wikipedia notes that "within Christianity, veneration is practiced by groups such as the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, all of which have varying types of canonization or glorification processes." Browsing by tradition lets a visitor read every figure from one religious tradition together.FactsLearn MoreTraditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedFigures a tradition names as the origin of its teaching. Not every tradition has one, and where one is named the role differs, teacher, prophet, manifestation, so the heading does not name a single kind of person. 2What Defines This GroupingWell-attestedJainism rejects the description. Mahavira is presented not as a founder but as the twenty-fourth Tirthankara of the present half-cycle, restating a teaching held to have no beginning. 3Tradition: JainismDirectoryCategoryWell-attestedFigures 1Learn MoreThe Founders This group holds founders, the figures at the origin of a religion, order or tradition, whose life and teaching set it in motion. Founders occupy a special place, remembered as the source from which a whole community traces itself. The browser will find the founding figures the atlas classes here. The entries describe each within their tradition, and where a founder is also worshipped as a deity or revered as a saint the atlas notes that their story is told from more than one angle across its pages.TraditionFilter Results8 entriesAdherents Today MaximumAll5,000,000 (1)30,000,000 (1)324,000,000 (1)2,000,000,000 (1)2,300,000,000 (1)Adherents Today MinimumAll5,000,000 (1)25,000,000 (1)324,000,000 (1)2,000,000,000 (1)2,300,000,000 (1)Basis of the Membership FigureAllChurch-Reported Rolls (2)Independent Survey (4)National Census (1)Scholarly or Demographic Estimate (4)Era of Decline End YearAll1572 (1)1976 (1)Era of Decline Start YearAll1533 (1)1966 (1)Establishment StatusAllDisestablished (1)No Establishment (1)Varies by Province (3)How the Expectation Is EnforcedAllCodified Obligation With Consequences (2)Customary Norm (3)Membership Figure As OfAll1969-12-31 (1)2001-03-01 (1)2006-01-01 (1)2010-01-01 (4)2011-01-27 (1)2011-03-01 (1)2011-12-19 (1)2012-12-18 (1)2016-01-01 (1)2018-01-01 (1)2020-01-01 (3)2025-01-01 (1)2026-08-13 (1)Origin Period End YearAll1046 BCE (1)400 BCE (1)50 (1)632 (1)1438 (1)1708 (1)1863 (1)Origin Period Start YearAll1600 BCE (1)500 BCE (1)30 (1)610 (1)1400 (1)1499 (1)1844 (1)Position on MarriageAllMarriage is held to be monogamous, with remarriage after divorce sanctioned under specified conditions (2)Marriage may licitly be polygynous (1)Position on SexualityAllSame-sex orientation or practice is held to bar full membership or participation (2)Same-sex sexual relationships are held contrary to teaching; LGBT individuals are welcomed as members but not ordained, and same-sex unions are not blessed (1)The body holds no single settled position; the question is actively and openly contested within it (1)Position on UsuryAllInterest of any kind on a loan is forbidden (1)Practice StatusAllDiscontinued as a state religion (1)Living, and practised in varied local forms (5)Partly restricted: some elements are closed to outsiders (1)Standard Rate ExpectedAllNineteen percent. (1)Ten percent. (1)Two and a half percent. (1)Status TodayAllHistorical; not practised continuously (1)Living tradition, practised today (7)TheologyAllAncestor-centred (2)Animist: persons and powers in land, water and living things (2)Monotheistic: one God (4)Non-theistic: no creator god is central (1)Polytheistic: many gods (3)Show ResultsBrowseCompareBahá’í FaithTradition1 entryBuddhismTradition3 entriesChinese Folk ReligionTradition1 entryChristianityTradition8 entriesInca ReligionTradition1 entryIslamTradition1 entryKorean MuismTradition1 entrySikhismTradition1 entrySources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005The classification of religious figuresView the Source3. The Jainstier 1Paul Dundas, Routledge, 2002Mahavira and the historical foundation of JainismView the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.