Home›Religions›Establishment Status›Varies by ProvinceBrowse ByVaries by ProvinceThis page groups religions by whether a state has adopted them as its official religion. Wikipedia notes that some countries "define themselves in religious terms, such as The Islamic Republic of Iran." Browsing by establishment status lets a visitor separate a faith with formal government backing from one practiced without any official state role.FactsLearn MoreVaries by ProvinceSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedWhole religious traditions treated as single units, together with the non-theistic worldviews - atheism, agnosticism, deism, secular humanism - which the academic study of religion examines by the same methods and on the same terms. 1StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedContested: the inventory of discrete, comparable world religions is a nineteenth-century European construction rather than a neutral list of what exists. The atlas uses these families for orientation, not as essences. 3OriginsOrigin of the NameWell-attestedFrom Latin religio, a scruple or a binding obligation. The ancient sense and the modern one - a bounded system with a name, a founder and a creed - are not the same, and the distance between them is itself a subject of study. 2Learn MoreThe Organised Traditions of the World This category holds the world's organised religious traditions, from the largest to those of historical importance that are no longer practised, together with the non-theistic worldviews (atheism, agnosticism, deism, secular humanism), since these answer the same fundamental questions in their own way and are studied alongside religions in the academic field. A religion, as used here, is a whole tradition with its own account of the sacred, its scriptures or foundational teachings, its practices and community. The entries describe each in its own terms, note its size and distribution where relevant, and distinguish confessional self-description from the findings of the historical and social study of religion.Families and Classification Scholars classify religions in several overlapping ways, by descent (Abrahamic, Dharmic), by structure (monotheistic, polytheistic, non-theistic), by scope (universal, ethnic), and no single scheme is definitive. The atlas records the classifications that are useful for orientation while treating them as maps, not essences, and the religion entries group by such families so a browser can move from all traditions to one family. Every religion contains internal diversity, and its branches, schools and movements are treated as denominations; the practices, festivals, scriptures and figures of a tradition are found under their own categories throughout the atlas.Varies by ProvinceFilter Results4 entriesPlace of OriginAllGalilee (1)Hejaz (1)Indian Subcontinent (1)DenominationsAllAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church (1)African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1)Ahmadiyya (1)Aladura (1)Alawites (1)Alevism (1)American Baptist Churches USA (1)American Unitarian Association (1)Amish (1)Anabaptism (1)Anglican Communion (1)Anglicanism (1)Armenian Apostolic Church (1)Assemblies of God (1)Assyrian Church of the East (1)Baptist (1)Bulgarian Orthodox Church (1)Calvinism (Reformed) (1)Christian and Missionary Alliance (1)Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (1)Christian Reformed Church in North America (1)Christian Science (1)Church of Cyprus (1)Church of England (1)Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) (1)Church of God in Christ (1)Church of Greece (1)Church of Ireland (1)Church of Scotland (1)Church of Sweden (1)Church of the Nazarene (1)Churches of Christ (1)Congregationalists (1)Coptic Orthodoxy (1)Disciples of Christ (1)Dutch Reformed Church (1)Eastern Orthodoxy (1)Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (1)Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (1)Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (1)Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (1)Evangelicalism (1)Free Methodist Church (1)Gaudiya Vaishnavism (1)Gelug (1)Georgian Orthodox Church (1)Global Methodist Church (1)Grace Communion International (1)Greek Orthodox Church (1)Historically Black Protestant Tradition (1)Ibadism (1)ISKCON (Hare Krishna) (1)Ismailism (1)Jehovah's Witnesses (1)Jodo Shinshu (1)Jonang (1)Kagyu (1)Karma Kagyu (1)Kashmir Shaivism (1)Kharijites (1)Kimbanguist Church (1)Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) (1)Lingayatism (1)Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (1)Lutheranism (1)Madhyamaka (1)Mahayana (1)Mainline Protestantism (1)Maronite Church (1)Mennonites (1)Methodism (1)Moravian Church (1)Nath Sampradaya (1)Nation of Islam (1)National Baptist Convention of America (1)National Baptist Convention USA Incorporated (1)Nichiren (1)Nichiren Shoshu (1)Nondenominational Christianity (1)Nyingma (1)Old Believers (1)Oneida Community (1)Oneness Pentecostalism (1)Oriental Orthodoxy (1)Pentecostalism (1)Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1)Presbyterianism (1)Progressive National Baptist Convention (1)Protestantism (1)Pure Land (1)Quakerism (Religious Society of Friends) (1)Quranism (1)Rinzai (1)Rissho Kosei Kai (1)Roman Catholicism (1)Romanian Orthodox Church (1)Russian Orthodox Church (1)Saint Thomas Christians (1)Sakya (1)Salafism (1)Samkhya (1)Serbian Orthodox Church (1)Seventh-day Adventism (1)Shaivism (1)Shakers (1)Shaktism (1)Shia (Twelver) (1)Shingon (1)Shri Vidya (1)Skoptsy (1)Smartism (1)Soka Gakkai (1)Soto (1)Southern Baptist Convention (1)Sri Vaishnavism (1)Sufism (1)Sunni (1)Tendai (1)The Episcopal Church (1)The Salvation Army (1)The United Methodist Church (1)Theravada (1)Tiantai (1)Tibetan Buddhism (1)Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (1)Ukrainian Orthodox Church (1)United Church of Christ (1)Universalist Church of America (1)Vaishnavism (1)Vajrayana (1)Wahhabism (1)Wesleyan Church (1)Zaidiyyah (1)Zen (1)Zion Christian Church (1)ScripturesAllActs of Pilate (1)Acts of Thomas (1)Agni Purana (1)Al-Istibsar (1)Al-Muwatta (1)Apocryphon of John (1)Atharva Veda (1)Avatamsaka Sutra (1)Bhagavad Gita (1)Bhagavata Purana (1)Bhaishajyaguru Sutra (1)Brahma Sutras (1)Buyruk (1)Da'a'im al-Islam (1)Devi Mahatmya (1)Dhammapada (1)Diamond Sutra (1)Didache (1)Divya Prabandham (1)Epistle of Barnabas (1)Epistle to Diognetus (1)First Clement (1)Garuda Purana (1)Gospel of Judas (1)Gospel of Mary (1)Gospel of Peter (1)Gospel of Philip (1)Gospel of Thomas (1)Gospel of Truth (1)Gothic Bible (1)Hadith (1)Heart Sutra (1)Infancy Gospel of James (1)Jami at-Tirmidhi (1)Jami' al-Rabi' (1)Kangyur (1)Karandavyuha Sutra (1)Kebra Nagast (1)King James Version (1)Kitab al-Kafi (1)Lankavatara Sutra (1)Larger Sukhavativyuha Sutra (1)Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians (1)Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (1)Lotus Sutra (1)Mahabharata (1)Man La Yahduruhu al-Faqih (1)Markandeya Purana (1)Martyrdom of Polycarp (1)Milindapanha (1)Musnad al-Imam Zayd (1)Nag Hammadi Library (1)New Testament (1)Nilakantha Dharani Sutra (1)Odes of Solomon (1)Pancharatra Samhitas (1)Perfection of Wisdom Sutras (1)Peshitta (1)Pistis Sophia (1)Platform Sutra (1)Puranas (1)Ramayana (1)Rig Veda (1)Sahih al-Bukhari (1)Sahih Muslim (1)Sama Veda (1)Samkhya Karika (1)Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (1)Septuagint (1)Shaiva Agamas (1)Shat-chakra-nirupana (1)Shepherd of Hermas (1)Shiva Sutras (1)Skanda Purana (1)Spanda Karikas (1)Sunan Abu Dawud (1)Sunan an-Nasa'i (1)Sunan Ibn Majah (1)Surangama Sutra (1)Tahdhib al-Ahkam (1)Tantraloka (1)Tengyur (1)Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs (1)Tevaram (1)The Apocrypha (1)The Bible (1)The Brahmanas (1)The Gosho (1)The Jataka Tales (1)The Quran (1)The Vedas (1)Therigatha (1)Tiruvasagam (1)Tripitaka (1)Upanishads (1)Vaikhanasa Agamas (1)Vimalakirti Sutra (1)Vinaya Pitaka (1)Vishnu Purana (1)Vulgate (1)Yajur Veda (1)Yoga Vasistha (1)Where PractisedAllAksum (2)Anatolia and Asia Minor (2)Arabia (1)Assam (2)Bali (1)Bengal (1)Bihar (3)Borneo (2)Brazil (1)Britain (1)British Isles (1)British Isles and Gaul (1)Buganda (2)Central Asia (2)Central Asian Steppe (2)China (1)Deccan (3)East Africa (2)East Asia (1)Eastern Europe (1)Egypt (2)Ethiopia (1)Galilee (1)Germany (1)Greece (1)Gujarat (1)Himalayas (2)Holy Land (2)Iberia (2)Iberia and Southern France (1)India (1)Indian Subcontinent (2)Iraq (1)Japan (1)Judea (2)Karnataka (1)Kashmir (2)Kerala (2)Korea (2)Lake Victoria (2)Latium (1)Macedonia (2)Maharashtra (1)Manipur (1)Mecca (1)Meghalaya (1)Mesopotamia (1)Mexico (1)Micronesia (1)Moab (2)Near East (2)North Africa (2)North America (1)North China Plain (1)Oceania and Australia (1)Orkney (1)Persia (1)Polynesia (1)Punjab (2)Rajasthan (1)Rome (1)Ryukyu Islands (1)Samaria (2)Scandinavia (1)Sichuan (1)Southeast Asia (3)Southern Africa (1)Sulawesi (1)Tamil Nadu (1)The Caribbean (2)The Guianas (2)The Levant (2)Tibet (1)Turkey (1)United States (1)Uttar Pradesh (3)Uttarakhand (1)West Africa (2)West Africa and the Caribbean (2)West Bank (2)Yorubaland (2)Yunnan (1)Origin EraAll-1500 (1)-500 (1)30 (1)610 (1)Conception of the DivineAllMonistic: one ultimate reality behind all appearance (1)Monotheistic: one God (2)Non-theistic: no creator god is central (1)Panentheistic: the divine both within the world and beyond it (1)Polytheistic: many gods (1)Status TodayAllLiving tradition, practised today (4)Closed Practice StatusAllLiving, and practised in varied local forms (2)Partly restricted: some elements are closed to outsiders (2)Giving Obligation EnforceabilityAllCodified Obligation With Consequences (1)Customary Norm (2)Usury PositionAllInterest of any kind on a loan is forbidden (1)Marriage PositionAllMarriage may licitly be polygynous (1)Sexuality PositionAllSame-sex orientation or practice is held to bar full membership or participation (1)The body holds no single settled position; the question is actively and openly contested within it (1)Kind of TraditionAllAbrahamic (Monotheistic) (2)Dharmic (Nontheistic) (1)Show ResultsBrowseCompareSelect all 4BuddhismVaries by ProvinceChristianityVaries by ProvinceHinduismVaries by ProvinceIslamVaries by ProvinceSources1. The Oxford Handbook of Atheismtier 1Stephen Bullivant and Michael Ruse (eds.), Oxford University Press, 20132. Encyclopedia of Religiontier 1Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. ReligionView the Source3. The Invention of World Religions: Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralismtier 1Tomoko Masuzawa, University of Chicago Press, 2005ch. 1View 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.