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| Religious Denomination in 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Christianity | 15.88% | |||
| Protestant Christianity | 11.41% | |||
| Eastern Orthodox Christianity | 3.7% | |||
| OtherChristians | 0.4% | |||
| Sunni Islam | 22.39% | |||
| Shia Islam | 2.48% | |||
| Unaffiliated | 15.58% | |||
| Vaishnavism | 10.24% | |||
| Shaivism | 4.03% | |||
| Shaktism | 0.48% | |||
| OtherHinduism | 0.39% | |||
| Buddhism | 6.62% | |||
| Folk religion | 5.61% | |||
| Other religions | 0.79% | |||
Areligious denomination is a subgroup within areligion that operates under a common name and tradition, among other activities.The term refers to the variousChristian denominations (for example,non-Chalcedonian,Eastern Orthodox,Catholic, and the branches ofProtestantism, such asLutheranism). It is also used to describe the five major branches ofJudaism (Karaite Judaism,Orthodox,Conservative,Reform, andReconstructionist). Within Islam, it can refer to the branches or sects (such asSunni andShia),[1][2] as well as their various subdivisions, such as sub-sects,[3]schools of jurisprudence,[4]schools of theology[5] and religious movements.[6][7]
The world's largest religious denomination is theSunni Islam.[8]
AChristian denomination is a generic term for a distinct religious body identified by traits such as a common name, structure, leadership and doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as church or fellowship. Divisions between one group and another are defined by doctrine and church authority; issues such as the biblical interpretation, the authority of apostolic succession, eschatology, and papal primacy often separate one denomination from another. Groups of denominations often sharing broadly similar beliefs, practices and historical ties are known as branches ofChristianity.
The largest Christian denomination is theCatholic Church.
InHinduism, the major deity or philosophical belief identifies a denomination,[citation needed] which also typically has distinct cultural and religious practices. The major denominations includeShaivism,Shaktism,Vaishnavism andSmartism.[citation needed]
Historically, Islam was divided into three major sects, well known asSunni,Khawarij andShi'ah. Nowadays,Sunnis constitute about 90% of the overallMuslim population; theShi'ahs are around 10%,[9] whileIbadis, from theKharijites,have diminished to a level below 0.15%.
Today, many of theShia sects are extinct. The major survivingImamah-Muslim Sects areUsulism(with nearly more than 8.5%),Nizari Ismailism(with nearly more than 1%),Alevism(with slightly more than 0.5%[10] but less than 1%[11]). The other existing groups includeZaydi Shi'a ofYemen whose population is nearly more than 0.5% of the world's Muslim population,Musta'li Ismaili (with nearly 0.1%[12] whoseTaiyabi adherents reside inGujarat state inIndia andKarachi city inPakistan. There are also significantdiaspora populations in Europe, North America, the Far East andEast Africa[13]).
On the other hand, newMuslim sects likeAfrican American Muslims,Ahmadi Muslims[14](with nearly around 1%[15]),non-denominational Muslims, andQuranist Muslims were later independently developed.
A survey by thePew Research Center suggests that up to 25% of Muslims globally self-identify asnon-denominational Muslims.[16]
Jewish religious movements, sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed amongJews from ancient times. Today, the main division is between theOrthodox,Reform andConservative lines, with several smaller movements alongside them. This threefold denominational structure is mainly present in the United States, while in Israel the fault lines are between the religious Orthodox and thenon-religious.
The movements differ in their views on various issues. These issues include the level of observance, the methodology for interpreting and understandingJewish law,biblical authorship,textual criticism and the nature or role ofthe messiah (ormessianic age). Across these movements there are marked differences inliturgy, especially in the language in which services are conducted, with the more traditional movements emphasizing Hebrew. The sharpest theological division occurs between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews who adhere to other denominations, such that the non-Orthodox movements are sometimes referred to collectively as the "liberal denominations" or "progressive streams."
The term "multi-denominational" may describe (for example) areligious event that includes several religious denominations from sometimes unrelated religious groups. Manycivic events include religious portions led by representatives from several religious denominations to be as inclusive or representational as possible of the expected population or audience. For example: the Sundaythanksgiving mass at Campamento Esperanza (English:Camp Hope) inChile, whereservices were led by both aRoman Catholicpriest and by anEvangelicalpreacher during theChilean2010 Copiapó mining accident.[17][18]
Chaplains - frequentlyordainedclergy of anyreligion - are often assigned tosecular organizations to providespiritual support to its members who may belong to any of many different religions or denominations. Many of these chaplains, particularly those serving with themilitary or other large secular organizations, are specifically trained to minister to members of many different faiths, even faiths with opposing religiousideology from that of the chaplain's own faith.[19]
Military organizations that do not have large numbers of members from several individual smaller but related denominations will routinely hold multi-denominational religious services, often generically called "Protestant" Sunday services, so minority Protestant denominations are not left out or unserved.[20][21]
Multi-denominational may also refer to a person's faith, in that their belief or affiliation crosses over formal boundaries that strict adherents would not consider. For instance, someone may have been raised Protestant but find Buddhist or Hindu scripture or practice to be helpful without fully abandoning their affiliation with Christianity and therefore may not consider themselves fully Hindu or Buddhist, nor do they consider themselves fully Christian as much as strict adherents. This would not be the same as pantheism as they may not feel any affiliation to say islam. They may class themselves as Christian-Buddhist or Advaita-Christian or just simply spiritual but not religious. They may pray but not meditate or vice versa or both and they may benefit from a wide range of scripture and they may attend both Church and temple.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The community currently numbers around 15 million spread around the world
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