This page groups religions by their current standing, from a thriving global faith to one with only a small surviving community. Wikipedia notes that the Mandaeans, for example, "are the last surviving Gnostics from antiquity," a status very different from a religion still actively converting new adherents. Browsing by status today lets a visitor tell a living, growing tradition apart from one that survives only as a small remnant.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingReligions founded in the modern era, usually around a living founder and a new revelation or a new reading of an old one. The label describes age and origin and passes no judgement on legitimacy. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryA standard category in the sociology of religion, adopted deliberately from the 1970s in place of cult, which had come to deliver a verdict rather than a description. 2 Learn More
New religious movements
This group gathers new religious movements: religions and spiritual movements that emerged in the modern period, typically in the nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first centuries, often around a founder, a new revelation or a fresh synthesis of older sources.
The browser will find a varied set of movements, ranging from established faiths to small and sometimes controversial groups. The atlas describes each in its own terms, records its documented history, and notes controversy where it is well attested, without either endorsing or dismissing.
Status Today
Sources
1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Tree
2. New Religious Movements: A Practical Introduction
Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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.