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A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion
Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
 that operates under a common name, tradition and identity.

The term describes various Christian denomination
Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions....
s (for example, Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, and the many varieties of Protestantism
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 or Restorationism
Restorationism

Restorationism, sometimes called Christian primitivism, refers to the belief held by various religious movements that pristine or original Christianity should be restored, while usually claiming to be the source of that restoration....
). The term also describes the four branches of 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....
 (Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
, Conservative
Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern Jewish denominations of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s....
, Reform
Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in Reform Judaism and in Reform Judaism ....
 and Reconstructionist
Reconstructionist Judaism

Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Judaism Jewish denominations based on the ideas of the late Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization....
), and describes the two main branches of 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....
 (Sunni
Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the Demographics of Islam Divisions of Islam of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa?l-Jama?ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short....
 and Shia).

In 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....
, the major deity or philosophical belief identifies a denomination, which also typically has distinct cultural and religious practices.






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Worldreligion
A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion
Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
 that operates under a common name, tradition and identity.

The term describes various Christian denomination
Christian denomination

A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions....
s (for example, Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
, and the many varieties of Protestantism
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 or Restorationism
Restorationism

Restorationism, sometimes called Christian primitivism, refers to the belief held by various religious movements that pristine or original Christianity should be restored, while usually claiming to be the source of that restoration....
). The term also describes the four branches of 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....
 (Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism is a Jewish denominations of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict constructionist and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmudic texts and as subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and Acharonim....
, Conservative
Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism is a modern Jewish denominations of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s....
, Reform
Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to the spectrum of beliefs, practices and organizational infrastructure associated with Reform Judaism in Reform Judaism and in Reform Judaism ....
 and Reconstructionist
Reconstructionist Judaism

Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern American-based Judaism Jewish denominations based on the ideas of the late Mordecai Kaplan . The movement views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization....
), and describes the two main branches of 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....
 (Sunni
Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the Demographics of Islam Divisions of Islam of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa?l-Jama?ah or Ahl as-Sunnah for short....
 and Shia).

In 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....
, the major deity or philosophical belief identifies a denomination, which also typically has distinct cultural and religious practices. The major denominations include Shaivism
Shaivism

Shaivism,names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being....
, Shaktism
Shaktism

Shaktism is a Hindu denominations of Hinduism that focuses worship upon Shakti or Devi ? the Hindu Divine Mother ? as the absolute, ultimate Godhead....
, Vaishnavism
Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu or his associated avatars, principally as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....
, Smartism
Smartism

Smartism is a religious denomination of the Hinduism religion. The term Smarta refers to adherents who follow the Vedas and Shastras....
 and Halumatha
Halumatha

Halumatha is a religious denomination of the Hinduism religion mainly followed by Kurubas and Other Backward Classes. The majority of members of Halumatha are followers of Advaita and Nature Worship....
.

Formation of denominations

Denominations often form slowly over time for many reasons. Due to historical accidents of geography, culture and influence between different groups, members of a given religion slowly begin to diverge in their views. Over time members of a religion may find that they have developed significantly different views on theology
Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
, philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, religious pluralism
Religious pluralism

Religious pluralism is a loosely defined expression concerning acceptance of different religions, and is used in a number of related ways:* As the name of the worldview according to which one's religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, and thus that at least some truths and true values exist in other religions....
, ethics
Ethics

Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....
 and religious practices and rituals. Consequently, different denominations may eventually form. In other cases, denominations form very rapidly, either resulting from a split or schism in an existing denomination, or if people share an experience of spiritual revival or spiritual awakening, and choose to form a new denomination based on that new experience or understanding.

Examples

An example within Christianity is the Mennonite
Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christianity Anabaptist denominations named after Menno Simons , though his writings articulated, and thereby, formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders....
 and the Church of the Brethren
Church of the Brethren

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination originating from the Schwarzenau Brethren organized in 1708 by eight people led by Alexander Mack, a miller, in Schwarzenau , Germany....
 denominations. Both denominations are similar in their beliefs, yet they are unique because their traditions were influenced by different founders (Menno Simons
Menno Simons

Menno Simons was an Anabaptist religious leader from Friesland . Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as Mennonites....
 and Alexander Mack
Alexander Mack

Alexander Mack may refer to:*Alexander Mack, founder of the Church of the Brethren*Alexander Mack , Civil War Medal of Honor recipient....
 respectively). Their division is administrative, and there is much communication and interaction between them. Since its founding, the Mennonite denomination has split into a number of smaller Mennonite denominations, due to geography, social and theological differences.

Another example is the Lutheran Church
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
. When Martin Luther
Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a Germans monk, theology, university professor, priest, father of Protestantism, and Protestant Reformers whose ideas started the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western culture....
 protested Catholic practices, he and his followers were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
 as heretics
Heresy

Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief, especially a religion, that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief....
. This led to the formation of alternative communities of practice
Community of practice

The concept of a community of practice refers to the process of social learning that occurs and shared sociocultural practices that emerge and evolve when people who have common goals interact as they strive towards those goals....
 that became known as "Lutheran" or "Protestant." Over time, the various churches who considered themselves Lutheran identified with one another and through various definitions of "Lutheran" practices (five solas
Five solas

The Five solas are five Latin phrases that emerged during the Protestant Reformation and summarize the Reformers' basic theological beliefs in contradistinction to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church of the day....
, priesthood of all believers
Priesthood of all believers

The universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament....
) the conglomerations of churches formed concrete denominations based on a common school of thought related to these practices. Even today, there are major ideological differences between different denominations of Lutherans, although there may be significant overlap between their beliefs.

See also

  • Schools of Buddhism
    Schools of Buddhism

    Schools of Buddhism are classified in various ways. Normal English-language usage divides Buddhism into Theravada and Mahayana. The most common classification among scholars is threefold, with Mahayana split into East Asian and Vajrayana, or Tibetan Buddhism ....
  • Christian denomination
    Christian denomination

    A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.Worldwide, Christians are divided, often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions....
  • Denominationalism
    Denominationalism

    Denominationalism is the division of one religion into separate groups, sects, schools of thought or religious denomination....
  • Hindu denominations
    Hindu denominations

    Hinduism comprises numerous sects or denominations. The denominations are roughly comparable to different religions. The main divisions in current Hinduism are Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and Smartha....
  • Islamic denominations
  • Jewish denominations
    Jewish denominations

    Several groups, sometimes called "denominations", "branches," or "movements," have developed among Jews of the modern era, especially Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries....
  • Non-denominational
  • Schism
    Schism (religion)

    The word schism , from the Greek language s??s?a, skh?sma , means a split or a division, usually in an organization or a movement. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group....
     (a splitting of a group into more groups)