Home›Core Tenets›All Core TenetsBrowse ByAll Core TenetsThe claims a tradition treats as central, the propositions an adherent is expected to affirm rather than the customs they are expected to keep. This is the largest belief subcategory by a wide margin, reflecting how much of what a tradition holds is filed here by default when it does not fit a narrower belief type such as a dietary restriction or a moral precept.FactsLearn MoreAll Core TenetsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedThe central affirmations of a tradition, stated one at a time. What counts as a core tenet is set by each tradition, and traditions differ over whether assent to stated propositions is what makes a member: creedal Christianity and Islam draw such lists explicitly, while Judaism, Hinduism and most Indigenous traditions do not. 2StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedUsed, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed 3DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedBeliefs & Restrictions 1ComparisonPrimary Academic DisciplineWell-attestedComparative Religion 4Learn MoreThe core tenets This group gathers the core tenets of the traditions, the central affirmations and defining beliefs that stand at the heart of a religion or worldview, the doctrines a tradition holds as essential to its identity. It is the largest belief grouping in the atlas. The browser will find the core tenets the atlas gathers from across the traditions. The entries describe each belief in its own terms, distinguishing what a tradition affirms of itself from the historical and comparative perspective of scholarship.All Core TenetsFilter Results368 entriesStatus Within the TraditionAllA minority position within the tradition (5)A permitted theological opinion, never defined (2)Affirmed, but left to individual conscience (9)Binding, without a formal definition (231)Defined and binding within this tradition (16)Formally condemned by this tradition (6)Genuinely disputed within the tradition (22)Rejected, or not held, within this tradition (63)Standard teaching, not formally defined (95)The mainstream position, not formally binding (10)Origin Period Start YearAll-1500 (2)-700 (4)-480 (1)-400 (1)-200 (1)-100 (1)-29 (1)142 (1)150 (1)300 (1)325 (4)364 (1)426 (1)451 (2)500 (1)600 (1)610 (1)622 (1)624 (1)631 (1)632 (1)750 (1)800 (2)833 (1)867 (1)874 (1)1150 (1)1167 (1)1175 (1)1193 (1)1215 (1)1253 (1)1499 (1)1515 (1)1520 (1)1525 (1)1527 (1)1546 (1)1559 (1)1610 (1)1618 (1)1624 (1)1647 (1)1648 (1)1652 (1)1690 (1)1699 (1)1740 (1)1741 (1)1830 (1)1831 (1)1844 (1)1854 (2)1863 (1)1868 (1)1869 (1)1870 (1)1876 (1)1881 (1)1885 (1)1889 (1)1901 (1)1923 (1)1930 (1)1934 (2)1954 (1)1964 (1)1966 (1)1971 (1)1973 (2)1975 (1)1979 (1)1988 (1)2013 (1)Affirmation OfAllAhimsa (2)Ahura Mazda (1)Anatta (1)Anekantavada (1)Baptism in the Holy Spirit (1)Barakah (1)Bardo (1)Believer's Baptism (1)Buddha-nature (1)Continuing Revelation (1)Covenant (1)Dependent origination (1)Dharma (1)Dzogchen (1)Four Regulative Principles (1)Halakha (2)Imamate (1)Inner Light (1)Justification (1)Kami (1)Karma (1)Mahamudra (1)Miaphysitism (1)Moksha (1)Nirvana (1)Ordination of Women (1)Original sin (1)Papal primacy and infallibility (1)Prakriti (1)Primacy of Honor Among Orthodox Churches (1)Progressive Revelation (1)Purgatory (1)Purity and pollution (1)Purusha (1)Resurrection (1)Salvation (1)Samsara (1)Separation of Church and State (1)Sunyata (1)The Arhat Ideal (1)The Filioque (1)The Four Noble Truths (1)The Noble Eightfold Path (1)The Seven Fundamental Tenets (1)The Threefold Law (1)The Two Truths (1)The Wiccan Rede (1)Theosis (1)Trinity (1)Wahdat al-Shuhud (1)Wahdat al-Wujud (1)Wu wei (1)Category of BeliefAllCore Tenets (134)Cosmological Beliefs (27)Dietary Restrictions (4)Moral Precepts (14)Prohibitions (4)TraditionAllAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church (12)African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (12)Ahmadiyya (9)Alawites (9)Alevism (9)Alexandrian Wicca (4)American Humanist Association (8)Amish (8)Anabaptism (11)Anglican Communion (12)Anglicanism (11)Armenian Apostolic Church (15)Assemblies of God (1)Assyrian Church of the East (16)Baptist (11)Beta Israel (5)Breslov Hasidism (7)Calvinism (Reformed) (12)Chabad-Lubavitch (7)Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (12)Church of Cyprus (15)Church of England (13)Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) (9)Church of Greece (15)Church of Ireland (12)Church of Satan (2)Church of Scotland (12)Church of Sweden (12)Church of the Nazarene (10)Churches of Christ (8)Community of Christ (8)Conservative Judaism (3)Coptic Orthodoxy (14)Dianic Wicca (4)Digambara (6)Disciples of Christ (9)Divine Science (5)Dragon Gate (5)Dutch Reformed Church (11)Eastern Orthodoxy (14)Eclectic Solitary Wicca (5)Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (15)Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (16)Ethical Culture (5)Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (16)Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (13)Evangelicalism (6)Feri Tradition (4)Free Methodist Church (11)Gardnerian Wicca (4)Gaudiya Vaishnavism (7)Gelug (19)Georgian Orthodox Church (15)Global Methodist Church (13)Greek Orthodox Church (15)Haredi Judaism (4)Hasidic Judaism (1)Humanistic Judaism (4)Humanists International (8)Ibadism (10)Irani Zoroastrianism (5)ISKCON (Hare Krishna) (8)Ismailism (13)Jehovah's Witnesses (3)Jodo Shinshu (13)Jonang (16)Kagyu (16)Karaite Judaism (3)Karma Kagyu (17)Kashmir Shaivism (7)Khalsa (6)Kharijites (8)Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) (7)Lingayatism (8)Lutheranism (10)Madhyamaka (10)Mahayana (11)Maronite Church (13)Mennonites (9)Methodism (11)Modern Orthodox Judaism (5)Moravian Church (9)Nath Sampradaya (6)Nation of Islam (3)National Baptist Convention of America (11)New Atheism (5)Nichiren (13)Nichiren Shoshu (13)Nirmala (4)Nyingma (17)Old Believers (15)Oneida Community (4)Oneness Pentecostalism (2)Order of Nine Angles (3)Oriental Orthodoxy (14)Orthodox Judaism (4)Palo Mayombe (2)Parsi Zoroastrianism (5)Pentecostalism (11)Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1)Presbyterianism (12)Progressive National Baptist Convention (12)Protestantism (5)Pure Land (10)Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends) (6)Quanzhen (Complete Reality) (4)Quranism (9)Reclaiming (3)Reconstructionist Judaism (3)Reform Judaism (2)Religious Science (Centers for Spiritual Living) (5)Rinzai (13)Roman Catholicism (16)Romanian Orthodox Church (15)Russian Orthodox Church (15)Sakya (15)Salafism (13)Samkhya (6)Seax-Wica (5)Sect Shinto (3)Seicho-no-Ie (3)Serbian Orthodox Church (15)Sethianism (3)Seventh-day Adventism (12)Shaivism (5)Shakers (5)Shaktism (5)Shangqing (Highest Clarity) (4)Shia (Twelver) (14)Shingon (14)Shri Vidya (6)Shrine Shinto (3)Smartism (6)Soka Gakkai (15)Soto (12)Southern Baptist Convention (1)Sri Vaishnavism (9)Sufism (13)Sunni (14)Svetambara (6)Temple of Set (2)Tendai (17)The Episcopal Church (14)The Satanic Temple (3)The United Methodist Church (13)Theravada (11)Tiantai (14)Tibetan Buddhism (13)Udasi (4)Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (13)Ukrainian Orthodox Church (14)United Church of Christ (1)Unity (Unity School of Christianity) (5)Vaishnavism (6)Vajrayana (12)Wahhabism (13)Wesleyan Church (10)Zaidiyyah (13)Zen (11)Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) (5)SubjectAllCommunity and its boundaries (22)Death, rebirth and destiny (14)Ethics and conduct (31)Food and purity (15)Human nature (10)Knowledge and reason (22)Religious authority and succession (47)Revelation and scripture (31)Ritual and worship (57)Sacred history: what happened (8)Salvation and liberation (41)Society and politics (10)The cosmos and creation (13)The nature of the divine (47)ObligationAllObligatory (135)Obligatory on those who meet its conditions (9)Optional and voluntary (7)Recommended and meritorious, not required (4)Undertaken only with authorisation or transmission (4)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 100A closed community forbidding conversion and intermarriageCore TenetsA Continuous Prayer Ministry Answers Requests Sent from AnywhereCore TenetsA Disciple May Hold No Other Sufi AffiliationCore TenetsA Divine Element Is Trapped in Matter and Wakes Through KnowledgeCore TenetsA lay movement without a priesthoodCore TenetsA male-only ordained ministryCore TenetsA married clergy and no monastic ruleCore TenetsA Married Parish Priesthood With Celibate BishopsCore TenetsA Muslim Who Commits a Grave Sin Ceases to Be a BelieverCore TenetsA person carries a ka, the vital force needing offerings after death, and a ba, the mobile aspect of self that can leave the tomb and move between the dead and the living.Cosmological BeliefsA Solitary Report Is Weighed Against the Established Principles of the QuranCore TenetsA Transmitted Report Outweighs Reasoning by AnalogyCore TenetsAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani Is the Supreme Helper Among the SaintsCore TenetsAdiaphora, things indifferentCore TenetsAdvaita Vedanta (nondualism)Cosmological BeliefsAhimsa in the extremeMoral PreceptsAhura Mazda as the one supreme creatorCore TenetsAlcohol and intoxicants are forbiddenProhibitionsAlcohol, tobacco, coffee and tea are forbiddenProhibitionsAll phenomena lack intrinsic nature (svabhava)Cosmological BeliefsAl-Masalih al-Mursala: Unstated Public Benefit Is a Ground for RulingCore TenetsAn Eastern Liturgical Rite in Full Communion With RomeCore TenetsAn Expanded Biblical Canon Including Enoch and JubileesCore TenetsAnalogical Reasoning Is Not a Source of LawCore TenetsAnatta: no permanent selfCosmological BeliefsAncestors continue to watch over and can bless or punish their living descendantsCosmological BeliefsAncestral Sin as Inherited Mortality Rather Than Inherited GuiltCore TenetsAnekantavada (many-sidedness of truth)Cosmological BeliefsAntinomian transgressionMoral PreceptsAql: Reason Stands Beside Quran, Sunna and Consensus as a Source of LawCore TenetsArminianism (free will and universal atonement)Core TenetsAscetic renunciation and celibate monasticismCore TenetsAtheistic Satanism (Satan as symbol of the self)Core TenetsAuspicia: Jupiter's Consent Read in the BirdsCore TenetsAuthority of the four Sunni schools of jurisprudenceCore TenetsAutocephaly and Conciliar Governance Without a Universal PrimateCore TenetsBaptism in the Holy SpiritCore TenetsBarakah: Blessing Flows Through the Saints and Their TombsCore TenetsBelief May Not Be Concealed, Whatever the DangerCore TenetsBelief should be proportioned to the evidenceMoral PreceptsBeliever's baptism (credobaptism)Core TenetsBeyond the great state gods, each person had a personal god, an ili, who watched over them individually and explained private suffering or fortune when appeased or neglected.Core TenetsBiblical inerrancyCore TenetsBidah: Innovation in Religion Is to Be RejectedProhibitionsBondyeCosmological BeliefsBoth the Sanskrit Vedas and the Tamil Hymns of the Alvars Are RevelationCore TenetsBuddhahood in this very body (sokushin jobutsu)Core TenetsBuddha-nature in all beingsCore TenetsCaste Hierarchy and Vedic Ritualism Are RejectedCore TenetsCelibacy required of all membersMoral PreceptsCessation of the miraculous spiritual giftsCore TenetsChalcedonian Christology (Two Natures in One Person)Core TenetsChristian pacifism (nonresistance)Moral PreceptsChristian perfection (entire sanctification)Core TenetsClosed communionCore TenetsCommunity of goodsMoral PreceptsComplex marriageMoral PreceptsConditional immortality (annihilationism)Cosmological BeliefsCongregational Chanting of the Divine Names Is the Practice Appointed for This AgeCore TenetsCongregational church governanceCore TenetsConnexionalismCore TenetsContemplative Prayer Worked Through the Faculties of Chochmah, Binah and DaatCore TenetsContinuation of the spiritual gifts (charismata)Core TenetsContinuing revelation through living prophetsCore TenetsDaimoku: chanting Nam Myoho Renge KyoCore TenetsDeed Before Creed: Conduct, Not Belief About God, Is the Ground of Religious LifeMoral PreceptsDependent origination (pratitya-samutpada)Cosmological BeliefsDescended from Zoroastrians who migrated to IndiaCore TenetsDevotion to a Rebbe and mystical joyCore TenetsDharma: righteous dutyMoral PreceptsDhikr Is Made Aloud in AssemblyCore TenetsDhikr Is Made Silently in the HeartCore TenetsDo not kill (First Precept)Moral PreceptsDo not mix meat and dairyDietary RestrictionsDo Ut Des: I Give So That You May GiveCosmological BeliefsDzogchen, the Great Perfection, as the highest teachingCore TenetsEcumenical Councils Continue and Are Confirmed by the PopeCore TenetsElijah Muhammad Is the Messenger of GodCore TenetsEmptiness (sunyata)Cosmological BeliefsEpiscopal church governanceCore TenetsEsoteric and exoteric teaching as oneCore TenetsEsoteric interpretation of scripture (batin)Core TenetsEternal progression and exaltationCosmological BeliefsEternal security of the believerCore TenetsEvery Believer Must Follow a Living Jurist in Matters of LawCore TenetsExclusive worship of the GoddessCore TenetsFasting from dawn to dusk in RamadanMoral PreceptsFasting in LentMoral PreceptsFate Binds Even the GodsCosmological BeliefsFive Eternal Differences Divide God, Souls and MatterCore TenetsFoot washing as an ordinanceMoral PreceptsFormal debate as a means of realizationCore TenetsFree inquiry must not be limited by dogma or authorityMoral PreceptsGenius and Juno: The Indwelling Spirit of a PersonCosmological BeliefsGod Appeared in the Person of Master Fard MuhammadCore TenetsGod created the world but does not intervene in itCore TenetsGod Has No Eternal Attributes Distinct From His EssenceCore TenetsGod Is an Indwelling Principle of Good Rather Than a Being Apart from the WorldCore TenetsGod Is Omnipresent and That Presence Is the Only RealityCore TenetsGod's Attributes Are Affirmed as Revealed, Without Asking HowCore Tenets1234Next →Sources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source3. Belief, Language, and Experiencetier 1Rodney Needham, Basil Blackwell, 19724. Wikipedia: Comparative religiontier 2WikipediaComparative religion, opening definitionQuote, Comparative religion, opening definitionComparative religion is the branch of religious studies that systematically compares the doctrines, practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the worlds religions.View 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.