This page groups religions by the period when their following measurably shrank, whether through conquest, conversion pressure or simple attrition. Wikipedia's account of how new religious movements rise and fall observes plainly that "many movements come and go with little long-term effect." Browsing by decline era lets a visitor see when a tradition's fortunes turned, not only when it began.
Facts
Overview
What Defines This GroupingThe many-deity religion of a particular people as it is actually practised: local, carried by custom, festival and household observance rather than by scripture or a professional priesthood, and commonly coexisting with an official religion layered over it. 2 Peoples and Traditions CoveredChinese and Vietnamese popular religion: distinct traditions with distinct pantheons and distinct histories, grouped here by how they are transmitted rather than by any shared content. 2 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategoryContested: folk or popular religion is defined by contrast with an elite or official religion - a distinction the practice itself does not observe, and one that scholarship increasingly declines to draw. 2 Learn More
Folk polytheisms
This group gathers folk polytheistic religions, the popular, often local and unsystematised many-god traditions carried in custom, festival and household practice rather than in a formal theology or a professional priesthood.
The browser will find the traditions the atlas classes here. The entries describe each as a lived popular religion, noting its characteristic blend of deities, spirits and inherited practice.
Decline Era
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. Popular ReligionView the Source Divinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptions
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