Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
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Lay people

This page groups practices by who actually carries them out. Wikipedia notes that in the Catholic Church, cultus "is the technical term for Roman Catholic devotions or veneration extended to a particular saint," a practice of ordinary believers rather than clergy alone. Browsing this way lets a visitor separate a practice open to any adherent from one reserved for a specialist.

Facts
Overview
What Defines This Grouping
Giving required or commended by a tradition - zakat, tithing, sadaqah, seva, langar. The grouping holds obligatory levies at a fixed rate with named categories of recipient alongside voluntary gifts and unpaid service, which are not the same kind of act: a legal due and a free gift differ in who may compel them and in what failing to give means. 2
Status
Standing as a Comparative Category
A standard analytic category in the study of religion 2
Directory
Category
Practices 1
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The charitable practices

This group holds charitable practices, the acts of giving and service enjoined by the traditions as religious duty and virtue: almsgiving, care for the poor and the stranger, and generosity as a path of merit or righteousness. Charity is a central obligation in most of the world's religions.

The browser will find charitable practices from across the traditions. The entries describe each practice's form and religious basis, noting the tradition that commands it.

Lay people
Filter Results2 entries
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. AlmsgivingView the Source
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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