This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Religious Body gathers twenty two organizations, spanning consultative fellowship claiming no authority over members to bodies whose rulings bind the people governed.
Six are ecumenical or interfaith coordinating bodies speaking for members only when asked to. The World Council of Churches, founded in 1948, and the National Council of Churches, formed in 1950, are fellowships of Christian communions rather than churches. Religions for Peace, founded in Kyoto in 1970, and the International Council of Christians and Jews, formed at Oxford in 1946 after the Holocaust, coordinate across traditions. Mennonite World Conference and the World Methodist Council are similarly consultative communions of their own families.
Five hold real governing power. The Universal House of Justice directs the Baha'i Faith. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists alone may amend its statement of belief. The Synod of Bishops advises the pope but does not decide. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee administers Punjab's gurdwaras. Jinja Honcho oversees eighty thousand Shinto shrines.
Four are Jewish or Islamic juristic bodies: the Rabbinical Council of America, the European Council for Fatwa and Research, Saudi Arabia's Council of Senior Scholars, and the ancient Sanhedrin.
The remaining seven each carry one distinct story: the Vatican Apostolic Library's manuscripts since 1475; the Church of Light's 1932 incorporation to evade an astrology ban; the Lukumi Babalu Aye church's Supreme Court win for animal sacrifice; the Relief Society, Latter-day Saint women's group since 1842; the Church of Spiritual Technology, Scientology's copyright holder; Family Radio, built on Camping's failed end times dates; and Life.Church's YouVersion app, past a billion downloads.