AGNOSTICISM: Belief that (1) God, if he exists, is by nature unknowable and will always be unknowable, or (2) that the individual being asked cannot conclude if God exists or not, for lack of evidence one way or the other.
AMISH: Peaceful Christian fundamentalist group famous for its rejection of technology and strict adherence to OT and NT (Old Testament and New Testament) laws.
ANCESTOR WORSHIP: Belief that good relations need to be kept with tribal ancestor spirits. Often a form of shamanism.
ANIMISM: The belief that all objects have spirits.
ASATRU: A modern uptake of Nordic religion.
ATHEISM: Either (1) the active and extrinsic disbelief that God exists, or (2) an intrinsic lack of belief due to lack of knowledge about God in local culture.
AUM SHINRIKYO: Dangerous and violent religious community responsible for the 1995 Sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway and other crimes. Eventually, they apologized, stopped using the bible, and formed the more prosaic group called Aleph.
BAHA'I FAITH: Belief that a series of prophets have come from God, and that Baha'i is the latest religion founded by God. A liberal offshoot of Islam, but persecuted in Iran.
BRAHMA KUMARI: This group are preparing to rule the world after a coming apocalupse, and embrace many practices which are now called New Age.
BRANCH DAVIDIANS: Apocalyptic suicide cult famed for its dramatic armed fight against authorities in the town of Waco, USA in 1993.
BUDDHISM: The belief that meditation and good living can break the cycle of reincarnation and result in enlightenment.
CELTIC PAGANISM: Modern reconstruction of Celtic paganism form part of the neo-pagan range of religions.
CHEN TAO: A series of civilizations on Earth have arisen but destroyed themselvves in nuclear war. Each time, some faithful believers were rescued by flying saucers and put back on Earth.
CHINESE RELIGION: A varied cultural religion practiced traditoinay on a town by town and region by region basis.
CHRISTADELPHIANS: Bible based christians.
CHRISTIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH IN ZION: Fundamentalist anti-science flat-earth christian cult, who also predicted the end of the world would occur 4 different times.
CHRISTIANITY: Belief that a single creator God had a son, Jesus Christ, born to a human mother, and that Jesus' crucifixion by the Romans brings salvation.
CONCERNED CHRISTIANS: Fundamentalist Christians actice in the USA, Israel, and Greece who expected the end of the world in the year 2000, starting with a nuclear attack on the USA, which they appeared to be trying to instigate themselves.
CONFUCIANISM: A collection of moral and ethical teachings.
DAMI XUANJIAO: A millenarian cult based on the belief that Jesus would return to judge survivors in 1999. Suspected of being on the verge of mass suicide after predictions of the end of the world failed in year 2000.
DEISM: Belief in a single creator God who is not 'personal' and does not have human emotions, and which many believers say does not interact with the world.
DIVINE LIGHTMISSION: A self help religious group involving meditation, with few fixed beliefs.
DRUIDISM: Cetic religion in prehistoric England, famous for building Stonehenge. Modern reconstructed Druidism is part of the neo-pagan range of religions.
DRUZE: A semi-secretive esoteric religion with features of a mystery religion.
DUALISM: Belief that either (1) there is a good and evil God of equal or almost equal power, or (2) there are two gods, such as a male and a female.
EBIONITES: 1st century Jewish Christians, possibly the earliest form of Christianity to exist.
ECKANKAR: New Age religion, a mix of Saint Mat, Theosophy, and Scientology.
GNOSTICISM: The belief that we must escape from this world, which was created and is ruled by an inferior and unworthy God, and reunite with the true God.
HARE KRISHNA: The embracing of Krishna through correct living, honesty, spiritual life and austerity.
HEATHENISM: Modern uptake of Nordic religion. Part of the neo-pagan range of religions.
HEAVEN'S GATE: Apocalyptic suicide cult who combined biblical eschatology with New Age ideas about UFO's. All 39 members committed suicide in San Diego, CA in 1997.
HINDUISM: Cultural religion of India which was historically decentralized and disparate and not a single belief system. Western influence made it into a single religion, an identity which Hindus now accept.
HOOKERS FOR JESUS/THE FAMILY OF GOD: Sexually promiscuous group who fell foul of police suspicion. As is often the case, increasing pressure from outside resulted in the group retreating even further into insanity, and they became the Family, predicting the end of the world.
HUMANISM: An organized form of atheism where moral and ethical goodness is emphasized.
ISLAM: Strict monotheism taught by Muhammed, the world's second largest religion.
JAIN: Beliefs include non-violence and equality of all living things.
JEHOVAH'S WITNESS: A 140 year old Christian fundamentalist/literalist organization famous for preaching that the world is about to end.
JUDAISM: Organized Judaism emerged from Babylonian writings. Belief that God has a special contract with a Hebrew tribe, involving many specific rules of behavior.
MENNONITE: A Protestant Christian denomination.
MITHRAISM: Roman mystery religion that believed that the son of the sun was a savior who was sacrificed for the good of all.
MONOTHEISM: Belif in a single creator god.
MYSTICISM: The belief that God is unknowable but accessible and that doctrinal relifion hampers spiritual growth.
NEW AGE: A disparate and diverse collectoin of popular beliefs and practices.
OCCULTISM: Normally existing within other belief systems, occult systems concentrate on esoteric meanings in texts,often with magical undertones.
PANTHEISM: God is everywhere, and everything, but is not transcendent and may have no distinct consciousness.
POLYTHEISM: Belief in multiple Gods, often in some form of heirarchy.
RASTAFARIAN: God fathered a black Jesus; marijuana use in rituals.
RAVIDASSIA: Souls are part of the divine and proper living allows us to realize God.
SATANISM: An atheist religion that uses dark and evil symbology for self development and anti-religious purposes.
SIKHISM: Prayer, meditation, and self control to become a soldier of God.
TAOISM: A relaxed and peaceful religion based on following and accepting the flow of life.
UNIVERSALISM: Belief that all people go to Heaven.
ZOROASTRIANISM: An ancient dualistic religion from Iran with one good god (Ahura Mazda) and one evil one (Ahriman).
Source: {http://www.humanreligions.info/religions.html}
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