Ethnic religion
Encyclopedia
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. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, 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 a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
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 worshipped as messiahs, demigods or deities. "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 ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices...
referring to ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an institutionalized religion (e.g. folk Christianity). Adherents of an ethnic religion may constitute an ethnoreligious group.
In antiquity, religion was one defining factor of ethnicity, along with language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, regional customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
, national costume, etc.
With the rise of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, ethnic religions came to be marginalized as "leftover" traditions in rural areas, referred to as paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
or shirk
Shirk (polytheism)
In Islam, shirk is the sin of idolatry or polytheism. i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God, or more literally the establishment of "partners" placed beside God...
(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, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
, 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 practices. These different groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared...
.
Adherents.com
Adherents.com
Adherents.com is a website that aims to collect and present information about religious demographics, established in 1998. It is the largest pool of such data freely available on the internet. As of January 2010, the site contains approximately 44,000 references on over 4,300 faith groups...
cites Barrett's 2001 world religion calculations for a demographic estimate, ranging at 457 million "tribal religionists, "ethnic religionists," or "animists," including African Traditional religionists
African Traditional Religion
The traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...
, but not including Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion or Shenism , which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups for most of the civilization's history until today...
or Shintoism.
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 Christian religion, its followers and the Church with its various denominations, from the first century to the present. Christianity was founded in the 1st century by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who they believed to be the Christ or chosen one of God...
, which saw the emergence of national church
National church
National church is a concept of a Christian church associated with a specific ethnic group or nation state. The idea was notably discussed during the 19th century, during the emergence of modern nationalism....
es with "ethnic flavours" such as Germanic
Germanic Christianity
The Germanic people underwent gradual Christianization in the course of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By the 8th century, England and the Frankish Empire were Christian, and by AD 1100 Germanic paganism had also ceased to have political influence in Scandinavia.-History:In the 4th...
, Ethiopian, Armenian, Syrian
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily 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*Russian Orthodox Church*Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia*Old Believers*True Orthodox Church...
and others.
The term ethnic religion is therefore also applied to a religion in a particular place, even if it is a regional expression of a larger world religion. For example, Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
has been considered an ethnic religion by some scholars, because Hindus in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, and Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
consider themselves a distinct ethnic group. Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
churches in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
have been described as an ethnic religion, because they are closely associated with the ethnic identity of immigrant Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...
s.
Some scholars classify entire religions as either universal religions that seek worldwide acceptance and actively look for new converts, or ethnic religions that are identified with a particular ethnic group and do not seek converts.
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
is considered an ethnic religion by some authors (defining of the Jewish people, but not by others. Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
as a whole is mostly classed as one of the world religions, but some currents of Hindu nationalism
Hindu nationalism
Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expressions of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of historical India...
take it as definitive of an Indian or Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
ethnicity or nation. Within Hinduism, there are regional or tribal currents with ethnic traits, sometimes termed Folk Hinduism.
Indigenous traditional ethnic religions
- African traditional religionAfrican Traditional ReligionThe traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...
s. Particularly organised or influential forms:- Odinani (IgboIgbo peopleIgbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...
) - Vodun and Yoruba religion (Western AfricansWest AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
)
- Odinani (Igbo
- Afro-American or African diasporic religions
- CandombléCandombléCandomblé is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion, practised chiefly in Brazil by the "povo de santo" . It originated in the cities of Salvador, the capital of Bahia and Cachoeira, at the time one of the main commercial crossroads for the distribution of products and slave trade to...
, UmbandaUmbandaUmbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with Catholicism, Spiritism and Kardecism, and considerable indigenous lore....
and QuimbandaQuimbandaQuimbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion practiced primarily in the urban city centers of Brazil. Quimbanda practices are typically associated with magic, rituals involving animal sacrifice and marginal locations, orishas, exus, and pomba gira spirits. Quimbanda was originally contained under the...
(Brazilians) - KuminaKuminaKumina or Cumina is a cultural form indigenous to Jamaica. It is a religion, music and dance practiced by, in large part, Jamaicans who reside in the eastern parish on St. Thomas on the island. These people have retained the drumming and dancing of the Akan people. Like the Kongo practitioners...
and Rastafarianism (JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
ns) - MarialionzanismMaria LionzaMaría Lionza is the central figure in one of the most widespread indigenous religions in Venezuela. Her religion is a blend of African, indigenous, and Catholic beliefs similar to the Caribbean Santería. She is revered as a goddess of nature, love, peace, and harmony...
(VenezuelansVenezuelan peopleVenezuelan people are from a multiethnic nation in South America called Venezuela. Venezuelans are predominantly Roman Catholic and speak Spanish, and a majority of them are the result of a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...
) - SanteríaSanteríaSantería is a syncretic religion of West African and Caribbean origin influenced by Roman Catholic Christianity, also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. Its liturgical language, a dialect of Yoruba, is also known as Lucumi....
, Regla de AraráAraráArará is a minority group in Cuba , Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean who descend from Fon, Ewe, Popo, Mahi and other ethnic groups in Dahomey...
, Regla de PaloPalo (religion)Palo, or Las Reglas de Congo are a group of closely related religions or denominations, which developed in the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean amongst Central African slaves of mostly Bantu ancestry...
(CubansCubansCubans or Cuban people are the inhabitants or citizens of Cuba. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
) - Haitian Vodou (HaitiHaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
ans) - Louisianan VoodooLouisiana VoodooLouisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, describes a set of underground religious practices which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American...
(LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
n African Americans) - WintiWintiWinti is the Afro-Surinamese traditional religion that resulted from the coming together of different elements of the religious beliefs of the slaves that were brought to Suriname from different west African tribes . Similar religious developments can be seen elsewhere in the America's and the...
(SurinameseSurinamese peopleSurinamese people are the inhabitants of Suriname or people of Surinamese descent. Suriname had formerly been the colony of Dutch Guiana which was founded during the early 17th century. Following Suriname's independence in 1975, many Surinamers migrated to the Netherlands...
)
- Candomblé
- Asian ethnic religions
- Bön (Tibetans)
- Chinese Ethnic ReligionChinese folk religionChinese folk religion or Shenism , which is a term of considerable debate, are labels used to describe the collection of ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among Han Chinese ethnic groups for most of the civilization's history until today...
or Shenism, and TaoismTaoismTaoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
(HansHan ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
) - Dongbaism (Nakhi)
- JudaismJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
(JewsJewsThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
) - Kirant MundhumKirant MundhumKirat Mundhum is the religion of the Kirat people of Nepal. The practice is also known as Kirat Veda, Kirat Veda, Kirat-Ko Veda or Kirat Koved. According to some scholars, such as Tom Woodhatch, it is a blend of animism , Saivite Hinduism, and Tibetan Buddhism...
(Kirats) - MuismKorean shamanismKorean shamanism, today known as Muism or sometimes Sinism , encompasses a variety of indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Korean people and the Korean area...
or Sinism (Koreans) - MandaeismMandaeismMandaeism or Mandaeanism is a Gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist...
- Ryukyuan ShintoRyukyuan religionRyukyuan religion is the indigenous belief system 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...
and IjunIjunis a Shinto-derived religion founded by Takayasu Ryūsen in Okinawa. This modern religion started in 1972 and in 1980 became registered under the Religious Corporations Law...
(Ryukyuans) - Siberian Shamanism
- ShintoShintoor Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
(JapaneseJapanese peopleThe are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and 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. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
) - SikhismSikhismSikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
and RavidassiaRavidasiRavidassia are people who follow the Ravidassia Dharam a religion based on the teachings of Guru Ravidas. The members of the Ravidasi religion believe in Guru Ravidas or Raidas as their founding prophet. The members are called Ravidasias who believe in Guru Ravidas to be their spiritual master and...
(PunjabiPunjabi peopleThe Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
) - TengrianismTengriismTengriism is a Central Asian religion that incorporates elements of shamanism, animism, totemism and ancestor worship. Despite still being active in some minorities, it was, in old times, the major belief of Turkic peoples , Bulgars, Hungarians and Mongols...
(Turko-Mongols) - YazdânismYazdânismYazdânism is a neologism introduced by Mehrdad Izady in 1992 to denote a group of native Kurdish monotheistic religions: Alevism, Yarsan and Yazidism....
(Kurds) - ZoroastrianismZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
(Persians, ParsiParsiParsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
, and other IraniansIranian peoplesThe Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
) - HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
(IndiansIndian peopleIndian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...
, Indian diasporaNon-resident Indian and Person of Indian OriginA Non-Resident Indian is an Indian citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides permanently outside India. Other terms with the same meaning are overseas Indian and expatriate Indian...
), and ethnic religions of IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
not necessarily classified as Hindu:- DonyipoloismDonyi-PoloDonyi-Polo is an animist religion, literally meaning "Sun-Moon" . It is followed by many of the tribal groups of Arunachal Pradesh, India like the Galos, Adis, Apatanis, Nishis, Hill Miris, Mishings...
(ArunachaliArunachal PradeshArunachal Pradesh is a state of India, located in the far northeast. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and shares international borders with Burma in the east, Bhutan in the west, and the People's Republic of China in the north. The majority of the territory is claimed by...
) - SanamahismSanamahismSanamahism is the worship of Sanamahi, the Creator aspect of Sidaba Mapu, the trinity God of the Meeteis. Sanamahism is one of the oldest sects of South Asia...
(MeiteiMeitei peopleThe Meeteis or Meiteis are the majority ethnic group of Manipur, India, and because of this are sometimes referred to as Manipuris. Generally speaking, Meitei is an endonym and Manipuri is an exonym...
) - Sarna (Santals)
- Donyipoloism
- Arctic ethnic religions
- Sami shamanism / Noaidi
- Eskimo shamanismShamanism among Eskimo peoplesShamanism among Eskimo peoples refers to those aspects of the various Eskimo cultures that are related to the shamans’ role as a mediator between people and spirits, souls, and mythological beings...
/ Inuit mythologyInuit mythologyInuit 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 animist principles....
- American ethnic religions
- Northern American religions and PeyotismNative American ChurchNative American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or the Peyote religion, originated in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and is the most widespread indigenous religion among Native Americans in the United States...
- Anishinaabe traditional beliefs
- Ancient Mexicah ReligionAztec religionAztec religion is the Mesoamerican religion practiced by the Aztec empire. Like other Mesoamerican religions, it had elements of human sacrifice in connection with a large number of religious festivals which were held according to patterns of the Aztec calendar...
, anta Muerte|Santa Muerte Worship - Maya religionMaya religionThe traditional Maya religion of western Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico is a southeastern variant of Mesoamerican religion. As is the case with many other contemporary Mesoamerican religions, it results from centuries of symbiosis with Roman Catholicism...
(ethnic Maya; GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
ns)
- Northern American religions and Peyotism
- European and Near Eastern ethnic religions
- PaganismPaganismPaganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
and NeopaganismNeopaganismNeopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
- Paganism
Ethnic Christian Churches
- Armenian Apostolic ChurchArmenian Apostolic ChurchThe Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
- Assyrian Christianity
- Bulgarian Orthodox ChurchBulgarian Orthodox ChurchThe Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate 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 DenmarkChurch of DenmarkThe Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Church of Denmark or Danish National Church, is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland...
- Church of EnglandChurch of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
- Church of the Faroe IslandsChurch of the Faroe IslandsThe Church of the Faroe Islands was a diocese of the Lutheran Church of Denmark until it became independent on 29 July 2007, as the smallest of the world's few remaining state churches....
- Church of IcelandChurch of IcelandThe National Church of Iceland, or Þjóðkirkjan, formally called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, is the state church in Iceland. Like the established churches in the other Nordic countries, the National Church of Iceland professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity. Its head is the...
- Church of NorwayChurch of NorwayThe Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...
- Church of ScotlandChurch of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
- Church of SwedenChurch of SwedenThe Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...
- Coptic Church
- Ethiopic Church
- Eritrean Orthodox Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of FinlandEvangelical Lutheran Church of FinlandThe Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....
- Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic ChurchGeorgian Orthodox and Apostolic ChurchThe Georgian Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church is an autocephalous part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since the 4th century AD, Georgian Orthodoxy has been the state religion of Georgia, and it remains the country's largest religious institution....
- Greek Orthodox ChurchGreek Orthodox ChurchThe Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
- Macedonian Orthodox ChurchMacedonian Orthodox ChurchThe Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric or just Macedonian Orthodox Church is the body of Christians 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 Macedonian...
- Russian Orthodox ChurchRussian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
- Romanian Orthodox ChurchRomanian Orthodox ChurchThe Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
- Serbian Orthodox ChurchSerbian Orthodox ChurchThe Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
Reconstructionist Neopagan revivals
Heathenism (Germanic)
Heathenism (also Heathenry), or Greater Heathenry, is a blanket term for the whole Germanic Neopagan movement. Various currents and denominations have arisen over the years within it.- Forn Siðr: ÁsatrúÁsatrúis a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
or Vanatrú (Norse PaganismNorse paganismNorse paganism is the religious traditions of the Norsemen, a Germanic people living in the Nordic countries. Norse paganism is therefore a subset of Germanic paganism, which was practiced in the lands inhabited by the Germanic tribes across most of Northern and Central Europe in the Viking Age...
)- Íslenska ÁsatrúarfélagiðÍslenska ÁsatrúarfélagiðThe Ásatrúarfélagið is an Icelandic Germanic Neopagan, Ásatrú, religious organization with the purpose of promoting and continuing a revived form of Norse paganism...
(1972) - Ring of Troth (1987)
- Asatru Folk AssemblyAsatru Folk AssemblyThe Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, an organization of Germanic neopaganism, is the US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. Gardell classifies the AFA as folkish....
(1996) - Swedish Asatru Assembly (1994)
- Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost (1996)
- Folktrú (folklorist Scandinavian Forn Siðr)
- Foreningen Forn Sed (1999)
- Samfälligheten för Nordisk SedSamfälligheten för Nordisk SedSamfälligheten för Nordisk Sed is a religious organisation of Nordisk Sed in Sweden. It is one of the proponents of the Folktro approach to Heathenry. The regional units where known as gäll until 2007 when the organisation was re-structured. Samfälligheten was formed in the early 1990s, originally...
(1999)
- Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið
- OdinismOdinismOdinism is a type of Germanic Neopaganism.Odinism may also refer to:*Norse paganism** the cult of Odin- See also :*Odinist Fellowship*Odinic Rite*The Odin Brotherhood*Wotanism, a Völkisch / White Nationalist movement*Wodenism...
or Wotanism (ethnically exclusivist movements)- Odinic RiteOdinic RiteThe Odinic Rite is a religious organization, practicing a form of Northern Indo European religion termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin...
(1973) - Odinist FellowshipOdinist FellowshipThe Odinist Fellowship was the name of an early Odinist organization, founded by Else Christensen and her husband Alex Christensen in Canada in 1969...
(1996)
- Odinic Rite
- Theodism (American tribalist movements)
- Armanism or Irminism (or Irminenschaft) (German Paganism and AriosophicalAriosophyArmanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
movements)- Heidnische Gemeinschaft (1985)
- ArtgemeinschaftArtgemeinschaftThe Artgemeinschaft Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft is a German Neopagan and Neonazi organization, founded in 1951 by Wilhelm Kusserow...
(1951) - Deutsche Heidnische FrontDeutsche Heidnische FrontDeutsche Heidnische Front is a far right Neo-pagan group which was created in 1998 as the German section of the Heathen Front...
(1998) - New Armanen-OrdenArmanen-OrdenThe Armanen-Orden is an Arman Heathen organisation active in the German countries. It was founded in 1976 by Adolf Schleipfer and his then-wife Sigrun von Schlichting as the reorganisation of the Ariosophical Guido von List Society, though its doctrine is not limited to List's teachings...
- UrglaaweUrglaaweUrglaawe is a tradition within Heathenism and bears some affinity with Asatru and other traditions related to historical Germanic paganism. It derives its core from the Deitsch healing practice of Braucherei, from Deitsch folk lore and customs, and from other Germanic and Scandinavian sources...
(Pennsylvanian DeitschPennsylvania DutchPennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
Paganism)
Celtism (Celtic)
- Celtic ReconstructionismCeltic Reconstructionist PaganismCeltic Reconstructionist Paganism is a polytheistic, animistic, religious and cultural movement...
(1980s) - DruidismNeo-DruidismNeo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
or Druidry, or Neodruidism or Neodruidry- Reformed Druids of North AmericaReformed Druids of North AmericaThe Reformed Druids of North America is an American Neo-Druidic organization. It was formed in 1963 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota as a humorous protest against the college's required attendance of religious services. This original congregation is called the Carleton Grove, sometimes...
(1963) - Order of Bards, Ovates and DruidsOrder of Bards, Ovates and DruidsThe Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic organisation based in England, but based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards...
(1964) - Ár nDraíocht FéinÁr nDraíocht FéinÁr nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, Inc. is a non-profit religious organization dedicated to the study and further development of modern, Neo-druidism practice....
(1983)
- Reformed Druids of North America
Other European
- Hellenic Neopaganism (Hellenism)
- Supreme Council of Ethnikoi HellenesSupreme Council of Ethnikoi HellenesThe Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes , commonly known as YSEE, is a non-profit umbrella organisation in Greece established in 1997 to defend and restore the ethnic, polytheistic, Hellenic tradition, religion and way in contemporary Greek society...
- HellenionHellenionHellenion may refer to:*Hellenion , an Ancient Greek sanctuary in Naucratis of Egypt *Hellenion , a temple of Zeus Sellanios in Sparta...
- Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes
- Roman Way to the GodsRoman polytheistic reconstructionismRoman polytheistic reconstructionism, also known as Cultus Deorum Romanorum , Religio Romana or Romano-Italic Tradition, is the contemporary movement which reconstructs or revives the traditional Roman and Italic religious cults.-Practices:Roman polytheistic reconstructionism is a revived...
or Religio Romana- Nova RomaNova RomaNova Roma is an international Roman revivalist and reconstructionist organization created in 1998 by Joseph Bloch and William Bradford, later incorporated in Maine as a non-profit organization with an educational and religious mission...
- Nova Roma
- Armenian Neopaganism (Hetanism)
- Slavic NeopaganismSlavic NeopaganismSlavic Neopaganism is a modern fakeloric, polytheistic, reconstructionistic, and Neopagan religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers , and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of pre-Christian Slavic religion.- Rebirth of Slavic spirituality :The pre-Christian religions...
(Rodnovery)- RUNVira, Sylenkoism
- Native Polish Church
- Native Faith Association of Ukraine
- Baltic NeopaganismBaltic neopaganismThe Baltic countries were the last part of Europe to be Christianized, and vestiges of paganism blend into a Neopaganism movement that is largely independent of Western Asatru.*Romuva in Lithuania*Dievturība in Latvia...
- Lithuanian RomuvaRomuva (church)Romuva is a Baltic ethnic religious organization, reviving the religious practices of the Lithuanian people before their Christianization. Romuva is a folk religion community that claims to continue living Baltic pagan traditions which survived in folklore and customs.Romuva primarily exists in...
- Latvian DievturityDievturibaDievturība is a Neopagan religious movement, which claims to be a modern revival of the folk religion of the Latvians before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievtuŗi , literally "Dievs keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs".The Dievtuŗi movement was...
- Lithuanian Romuva
- Finnish NeopaganismFinnish neopaganismFinnish Neopaganism is a Neopagan religious system that attempts to revive old Finnish paganism, the pre-Christian polytheistic ethnic religion of the Finnish people....
(Suomenism) - TaaraismTaaraismTaaraism is a Neopagan ethnic religion practiced as of 2000 by approximately 1,900 people in Estonia, albeit 11% of the population claims affinity to it. Maausk is a parallel movement considered more Reconstructionist and traditionalist...
and Maausk (Estonian Neopaganism)- Maavalla KodaMaavalla KodaMaavalla Koda is a religious organisation uniting adherents of two Estonian native religious denominations, Taaraism and Maausk....
- Maavalla Koda
Ancient Near East
- Semitic NeopaganismSemitic NeopaganismSemitic Neopaganism is the revival, mostly US based, of religious traditions deriving from Ancient Semitic religion...
- Church of the Guanche PeopleChurch of the Guanche PeopleThe Church of the Guanche People is a neopagan sect founded in 2001 in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna . According to its followers, the mission of this organization is to rescue and spread the pagan religion of the Guanche people...
(Guanche religion)
- Church of the Guanche People
- Kemetism (Egyptian Neopaganism)
- Ausar Auset, "Black" Kemetism or Neterianism
- Kemetic OrthodoxyKemetic OrthodoxyKemetic Orthodoxy is a branch of Kemeticism, a reconstruction of Egyptian polytheism, founded in 1988 by Tamara Siuda.Kemetic Orthodoxy does not follow a single scripture, but rather a fluid understanding of balance, justice and truth...
, "White" Kemetism - Church of the Eternal Source
- Ta NoutriTa NoutriTa Noutri is a French Kemetic website and online community , whose name is a French transcription of one of the ancient native names for Egypt, meaning "the Land of Gods".-History:...
See also
- AnimismAnimismAnimism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
- Ancestor worship
- Civil religionCivil religionThe intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator...
- National godNational godThe concept of a national god is most closely associated with the God of Israel who in the Torah is described as the sole God to be worshipped by the nation of Israel...
- PaganismPaganismPaganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
- ShamanismShamanismShamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
- TotemismTotemismTotemism is a system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant...