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Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.
Ex: Native American religions: Sun god, Snow god, etc... |
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A religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally.
Ex:
Hinduism lacks a central authority, but followers of Hinduism often collaborate and share religious insights. |
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A large and fundamental division within a religion.
Ex:
The two main branches of Islam are Sunni and Shia. |
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A set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.
Ex:
The Christian cosmogony, fundamentally, states that God created the world in 7 days. |
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A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body.
Ex:
Eastern Orthodox is a denomination of Christianity. |
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The basic unit of geographic organization in the Roman Catholic Church.
Ex:
The Archdiocese of Denver serves the Catholics living in the city of Denver, CO, and the surrounding metropolitan area. |
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A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concerned.
Ex:
Hinduism is an ethnic religion. For instance, no Hindu texts mention snow, as Hinduism originated in the tropical climate of the Indus Valley. |
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Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).
Ex:
Fundamentalist Christians believe that evolution is untrue. |
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During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure.
Ex:
Chinatown districts in many cities originated from ghetto areas where Chinese immigrants settled in the 1930s. |
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A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.
Ex:
Catholicism is presided over by the Pope and the Vatican. |
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A religion that is native to members of a proto-Western society that has changed little over time.
Ex:
All Native American religions are considered to be indigenous, as they still remain today in Native American reservations and have not changed in hundreds of years, having originated in ancient times. |
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The boundaries between the world's major religions.
Ex:
There is a stark interfaith boundary between India and Pakistan, dividing Hinduism and Islam. |
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The boundaries dividing denominations within the same faith.
Ex:
Protestant and Catholic Christians settle in different places within the United States, creating an intrafaith boundary. |
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An individual who helps diffuse a universalizing religion.
Ex:
Numerous Christians are missionaries, diffusing Christianity worldwide and making it the world's most common religion. |
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The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.
Ex:
Christianity is a monotheistic religion. |
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A follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times.
Ex:
Followers of the Greco-Roman polytheistic religion were considered to be pagans by early Christians. |
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A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.
Ex:
The Muslim hajj to Mecca is a pilgrimage. |
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A belief in multiple gods.
Ex:
Perhaps the most famous polytheistic religion is Hellenic Polytheism (Zeus, Athena, etc.). |
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A relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.
Ex:
Puritanism is a sect of Protestantism. |
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The principle of followers of a religion not interpreting religious texts literally and being more worldly than conservative in their following of the religion.
Ex:
My family and I are more secular Hindus. |
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A range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world.
Ex:
Ouija-board practitioners and such could be considered as modern-day shamans, as they purport to communicate between the corporeal world and the spirit world. |
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A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.
Ex:
Christianity |
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