All Topics  
Ethnic religion

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Ethnic religion
 
 
  Topics Ethnic religion Topic Home

Ethnic religion may include officially sanctioned and organized civil religion
Civil religion

The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator....
s with an organized clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation is when an individual or individuals adopts some or all aspects of a dominant culture . Cultural assimilation is a process of socialization....
 to the people in question. Contrasted to this are imperial cult
Imperial cult

An Imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor, or a dynasty of emperors , are worshiped as messiahs, demigods or deity. "Cult " here is used to mean "worship," not in the modern pejorative sense....
s that are defined by political influence detached from ethnicity. A partly overlapping concept is that of folk religion
Folk religion

Folk religion consists of beliefs, superstitions and rituals transmitted from generation to generation in a specific culture. It could be contrasted with an organized religion or historical religion in which founders, creed, theology and ecclesiastical organizations are present....
 referring to ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an institutionalized religion (e.g.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Ethnic religion'
Start a new discussion about 'Ethnic religion'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Ethnic religion may include officially sanctioned and organized civil religion
Civil religion

The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator....
s with an organized clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
, but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation is when an individual or individuals adopts some or all aspects of a dominant culture . Cultural assimilation is a process of socialization....
 to the people in question. Contrasted to this are imperial cult
Imperial cult

An Imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor, or a dynasty of emperors , are worshiped as messiahs, demigods or deity. "Cult " here is used to mean "worship," not in the modern pejorative sense....
s that are defined by political influence detached from ethnicity. A partly overlapping concept is that of folk religion
Folk religion

Folk religion consists of beliefs, superstitions and rituals transmitted from generation to generation in a specific culture. It could be contrasted with an organized religion or historical religion in which founders, creed, theology and ecclesiastical organizations are present....
 referring to ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an institutionalized religion (e.g. folk Christianity
Folk Christianity

Folk Christianity is composed of Christian ideas and practices outside the approval or authority of a religious establishment?Roman Catholic, Protestant, or other....
).

In antiquity, religion was one defining factor of ethnicity, along with language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
, regional customs
Customs

Customs is an authority or Government agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding Duty and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country....
, national costume, etc. As Xenophanes
Xenophanes

of Colophon was a Greece philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. Our knowledge of his views comes from fragments of his poetry, surviving as quotations by later Greek writers....
 famously comments:

Men make gods in their own image; those of the Ethiopians are black and snub-nosed, those of the Thracians
Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European peoples who spoke the Thracian language - a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family....
 have blue eyes and red hair. (Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria , was the first notable member of the Christianity of Alexandria, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He was born about the middle of the 2nd century, and died between 211 and 216....
, Stromata
Stromata

The Stromata is the third in Clement of Alexandria's trilogy of works on the Christian life. Clement entitled this work Stromateis, "patchwork," because it dealt with such a variety of matters....
 7.4)


With the rise of Christianity
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
, Islam
Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
 and Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
, ethnic religions came to be marginalized as "leftover" traditions in rural areas, referred to as paganism
Paganism

Paganism is the blanket term given to describe religions and spiritual practices of pre-Christian Europe, and by extension a term for polytheistic?traditions or folk religion?worldwide seen from a Western or Christian viewpoint....
 or shirk
Shirk (polytheism)

Shirk is the Islamic concept of the sin of polytheism specifically, but in a more general way refers to worshipping other than Allah, associating partners with him, giving his characteristics to others beside him, or not believing in his characteristics....
 (idolatry).

The notion of gentiles ("nations") in Judaism reflect this state of affairs, the implicit assumption that each nation will have its own religion. Historical examples include Germanic polytheism, Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism

Celtic polytheism, sometimes known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practises of the ancient Celts of western Europe prior to Christianisation....
, Slavic polytheism and pre-Hellenistic Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion

Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult ....
.

Contemporary ethnic religions are Shinto
Shinto

is the former state religion of Japan and remains the most common name for the nation's non-Buddhist ethnic religion practices. It was formed from disparate local mythologies, beginning with the Kojiki of 712, into an imperial cult called State Shinto that solidified in the Meiji period....
 of the Japanese people
Japanese people

The are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan....
, Judaism
Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
 of the Jewish people (see: Who is a Jew?
Who is a Jew?

"Who is a Jew?" is a basic question about Jewish identity. The question has gained particular prominence in connection with several high-profile legal cases in Israel since the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948....
), and Hinduism
Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
 (except for some, comparatively small Hindu movements: see Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?
Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?

Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? is a 1923 ideological pamphlet by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.The text exhibits one of the early uses of the term Hindutva ....
).

Over time, even revealed religion will assume local traits and in a sense will revert to an ethnic religion. This has notably happened in the course of the History of Christianity
History of Christianity

The history of Christianity concerns the Christianity religion and the Christian Church, from the ministry of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles, to contemporary times and Christian denominations....
, which saw the emergence of national churches with "ethnic flavours" such as Germanic
Germanic Christianity

The Germanic peoples underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By the 8th century, most of Anglo-Saxon England and the Frankish Empire was de jure Christian, and by AD 1100, Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence in Scandinavia....
, Ethiopian, Armenian
Armenian Church

Armenian Church can refer to various religious movements and religious buildings:* Armenian Apostolic Church founded in 1st century AD, recognized by state 301...
, Syrian
Syriac Christianity

Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity. It has its roots in the Near East, and is represented by a number of Christian denominations today, mainly in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
, Greek, Russian
Russian Orthodoxy

Russian Orthodoxy in Christianity may refer to:*Eastern Orthodox Church, the Church descended from the Imperial Church of the Byzantine Empire...
 and others.

Indigenous traditional ethnic religions


  • African
    • San religion
      San religion

      The religion of the San people, or Bushmen, of southern Africa consists of a spirit world and our material world. To enter the spirit world, trance has to be initiated by a shaman through the hunting of power animals....
    • Yoruba religion
  • Asian
    • Bön
      Bön

      B?n is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, has recently recognized the B?n tradition as the fifth principal spiritual school of Tibet, along with the Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug schools of Buddhism, despite the long historical competition of influences between the Bon tradtition and Buddhis...
      /Tibetan Buddhism
      Tibetan Buddhism

      Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhism religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India ....
    • Chinese folk religion
      Chinese folk religion

      Chinese folk religion is a collective label given to various folklore beliefs that draws heavily from Chinese mythology. This labeling is similar to how non-monotheistic religions are collectively called paganism in the West....
    • Judaism
      Judaism

      Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
       (Jewish)
    • Korean shamanism
      Korean shamanism

      Korean shamanism encompasses a variety of indigenous beliefs and practices that have been influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. In contemporary Korean, shamanism is known as muism and a shaman is known as a mudang ....
    • Mandaeism
      Mandaeism

      Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly Dualism worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam , Abel, Seth, Enos , Noah, Shem, Aram, son of Shem and especially John the Baptist....
    • Ryukyuan religion
      Ryukyuan religion

      Ryukyuan religion is the indigenous religion of the Ryukyu Islands. While specific legends and traditions may vary slightly from place to place and island to island, the Ryukyuan religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural wor...
    • Shamanism in Siberia
    • Shinto
      Shinto

      is the former state religion of Japan and remains the most common name for the nation's non-Buddhist ethnic religion practices. It was formed from disparate local mythologies, beginning with the Kojiki of 712, into an imperial cult called State Shinto that solidified in the Meiji period....
       (Japan)
    • Tengriism
      Tengriism

      Tengriism was the major belief of the Mongols and Turkic peoples before the vast majority joined the established world religions. It focuses around the sky deity Tengri and incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship....
       (Turkic-Mongolic)
    • Yazdânism
      Yazdânism

      Yazd?nism is a term introduced by Mehrdad Izady to denote a group of native Kurdish people monotheistic religions: Alevism, Ahl-e Haqq and Yazidism....
       (Kurdish)
    • Zoroastrianism
      Zoroastrianism

      Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e., the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority....
       (Parsi)
    • Hinduism
      Hinduism

      'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
       / Folk Hinduism
      Folk Hinduism

      Folk Hinduism or Popular Hinduism is the aspect of Hinduism as a folk religion or ethnic religion, i.e. nominal Hinduism mixed with Aminism practice, as opposed to its scholastic or mystical aspects ....
    • Jainism
      Jainism

      Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
    • Vedda mythology


  • Arctic
    • Sami religion
      Sami religion

      Sami Shamanism is a Sami polytheistic religion which was in practice up until recent times. Although it varied considerably from region to region within S?pmi , it commonly had a strong emphasis on ancestor worship and animal spirits, such as the bear cult....
       / Noaidi
    • Shamanism among Eskimo peoples
      Shamanism among Eskimo peoples

      Shamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the Shamanism role as a Shamanism#Mediator between people and spirits, souls, and Inuit mythology....
       / Inuit mythology
      Inuit mythology

      Inuit mythology has many similarities to the religions of other polar regions. Inuit traditional religious practices could be very briefly summarised as a form of shamanism based on Animism principles....
  • North America
    • Anishinaabe traditional beliefs


Ethnic Christian Churches


  • Armenian Apostolic Church
    Armenian Apostolic Church

    The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest national church and one of the most ancient Christianity communities.The official name of the church is the One Holy Universal Apostolic Orthodox Armenian Church ....
  • Assyrian Christianity
  • Bulgarian Orthodox Church
    Bulgarian Orthodox Church

    The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church with some 6.5 million members in the Republic of Bulgaria and between 1.5 and 2.0 million members in a number of European countries, the Americas and Australia....
  • Church of England
    Church of England

    The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
  • Church of Scotland
    Church of Scotland

    The Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterianism church , decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
  • Church of Sweden
    Church of Sweden

    The Church of Sweden is the largest Ecclesia in Sweden. The Church of Sweden professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....
  • Coptic Church
  • Ethiopic Church
  • Eritrean Orthodox Church
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
    Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

    The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the Lutheranism national church and the largest church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway
  • Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church
    Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church

    The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the world's most ancient Christian Churches, and tradition traces its origins to the mission of Twelve Apostles Saint Andrew in the 1st century....
  • Greek Orthodox Church
    Greek Orthodox Church

    The term Greek Orthodox Church refers to several churches within the larger full communion of Eastern Orthodox Church Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament....
  • Macedonian Orthodox Church
    Macedonian Orthodox Church

    The Macedonian Orthodox Church is the body of Christianity who are united under the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, exercising jurisdiction over Macedonian Orthodox Christians in the Republic of Macedonia and in exarchates in the Macedonians diaspora....
  • Russian Orthodox Church
    Russian Orthodox Church

    The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christianity who constitute an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches....
  • Romanian Orthodox Church
    Romanian Orthodox Church

    The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodoxy church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked Eastern Orthodox Church organization in order of precedence....
  • Serbian Orthodox Church
    Serbian Orthodox Church

    The Serbian Orthodox Church or the Church of Serbia is one of the autocephalyEastern Orthodox Church organization, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Orthodox Church of Constantinople, Greek Church of Alexandria, Church of Antioch, Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and Russian Orthodox Church....


Reconstructionist Neopagan revivals


  • Baltic
    Baltic neopaganism

    The Baltic region countries were the last part of Europe to be Christianization, and vestiges of paganism blend into a Neopaganism movement that is largely independent of Western Asatru....
    • Lithuanian
      Romuva (church)

      Romuva is a Balts pagan organization, reviving the religious practices of the Lithuanians before Christianization of Lithuania. Romuva is an ethnic religion community that claims to continue living Baltic mythology traditions which survived in folklore and customs....
    • Latvian
      Dievturiba

      Dievturiba is a Neopaganism religion movement; a modern revival of the ethnic religion of the Latvian people before Christianization in the 13th century....
  • Celtic
    Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism

    Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism is a Polytheism, Animism, Religion and Culture movement. It is an effort to reconstruct and revive, in a Modern Celts cultural context, pre-Christian Celtic polytheism....
  • Finnish
    Finnish neopaganism

    Finnish Neopaganism is a Neopagan religion system that attempts to revive old Finnish paganism, a pre-Christian ethnic religion of Finland. Finnish paganism died out during the millennia-long period while Finland has been a part of the Christian world....
  • Germanic
    Germanic neopaganism

    Germanic Neopaganism is the Neopaganism of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Esotericism in Germany and Austria....
     (Norse
    Ásatrú

    File:Valknut-Symbol-triquetra.svg in the United States is a form of Germanic Neopaganism, in particular inspired by the Norse paganism as described in the Eddas and as practiced prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia....
    , Anglo-Saxon)
  • Greek
  • Slavic
    Slavic neopaganism

    Slavic Neopaganism is a modern polytheistic, polytheistic reconstructionism, and Neopaganism religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers, and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of Slavic mythology....


See also


  • Animism
    Animism

    Animism is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rock s, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment, a proposition also known as hylozoism in philosophy....
  • Ancestor worship
    Ancestor worship

    Ancestor worship or ancestor veneration is a practice based on the belief that deceased family members have a continued existence, take an interest in the affairs of the world, and/or possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living....
  • Civil religion
    Civil religion

    The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator....
  • Paganism
    Paganism

    Paganism is the blanket term given to describe religions and spiritual practices of pre-Christian Europe, and by extension a term for polytheistic?traditions or folk religion?worldwide seen from a Western or Christian viewpoint....
  • Pre-Christian Alpine traditions
  • Shamanism
    Shamanism

    Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun ....
  • Totemism