A new religious movement

New religious movement

A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...

 is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as 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...

, 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...

 or 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...

, in which case they will be distinct from pre-existing denomination

Religious denomination

A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...

s. Scholars studying the sociology of religion

Sociology of religion

The sociology of religion concerns the role of religion in society: practices, historical backgrounds, developments and universal themes. There is particular emphasis on the recurring role of religion in all societies and throughout recorded history...

 have almost unanimously adopted this term as a neutral alternative to the word "cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

". They continue to try to reach definitions and boundaries.

An NRM may be one of a wide range of movements ranging from those with loose affiliations based on novel approaches to spirituality

Spirituality

Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...

 or religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 to communitarian enterprises that demand a considerable amount of group conformity and a social identity that separates

Separatism

Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...

 their adherents from mainstream

Mainstream

Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....

 society. Use of the term is not universally accepted among the groups to which it is applied. NRMs do not necessarily share a set of particular attributes, but have been "assigned to the fringe of the dominant religious culture", and "exist in a relatively contested space within society as a whole".

List

Separate lists by type:

• Hinduism-oriented new religious movements
• List of Neopagan movements
• List of groups referred to as cults or sects in government documents

Name	Founder	Year founded	Type
3HO 3HO 3HO is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing the teachings of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan, founder of the group....	Harbhajan Singh Yogi Harbhajan Singh Yogi Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji , also known as Yogi Bhajan and Siri Singh Sahib, was a spiritual leader and entrepreneur who introduced Kundalini Yoga and Sikhism to the United States...	1969	Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism 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...
Aaronic Order Aaronic Order The Aaronic Order, now usually referred to as the House of Aaron, is a Christian sect founded in 1942 by Maurice L. Glendenning ....	Maurice Lerrie Glendenning	1930s	Mormonism Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
Aetherius Society Aetherius Society The Aetherius Society was founded by Dr George King , an English-born Master of Yoga, occultist, alleged spiritual healer and UFO Contactee. The society was first established in London in 1955, and later becoming incorporated in America as a not-for-profit organisation in 1960. Its guiding...	George King George King (Aetherius Society) George King was Founder-President of The Aetherius Society, a UFO religion. He was also an inventor, author, lecturer and spiritual teacher.-Early years:...	1955	UFO religions
Adidam, previously Free Daist Avabhasan Communion, Free Daist Communion, Crazy Wisdom Fellowship, Johannine Daist Community, Laughing Man Institute, Dawn Horse Communion, Free Primitive Church of Divine Communion, Free Communion Church, Dawn Horse Fellowship	Adi Da Adi Da Adi Da Samraj , born Franklin Albert Jones in Queens, New York, was a spiritual teacher, writer and artist, and the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam...	1972	Hindu Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions... -inspired
Adonai-Shomo Adonai-Shomo Adonai-Shomo was the name given to a commune which existed from 1861 to 1896 in Massachusetts.-Second Coming:The commune was founded by Frederick T. Howland, a Quaker who had become convinced that the Second Coming of Christ and the subsequent Last Judgement would come shortly...	Frederick T. Howland	1861	Adventist Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Adonism Adonism Adonism is a Neopagan religion founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler , who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam. Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient pagan religion, it has been recognised by academics as being "instead the single-handed...	Franz Sättler	1925	Neopagan Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Adventures in Enlightenment, A Foundation
Aetherius Society Aetherius Society The Aetherius Society was founded by Dr George King , an English-born Master of Yoga, occultist, alleged spiritual healer and UFO Contactee. The society was first established in London in 1955, and later becoming incorporated in America as a not-for-profit organisation in 1960. Its guiding...	George King George King (Aetherius Society) George King was Founder-President of The Aetherius Society, a UFO religion. He was also an inventor, author, lecturer and spiritual teacher.-Early years:...	1954	UFO UFO religion UFO religion is an informal term used to describe a religion that equates UFO occupants with gods or other semi-divine beings. Typically, the UFO occupants are held to be extraterrestials and that humanity either currently is, or eventually will become, part of a preexisting extraterrestrial... -Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
African Church Incorporated	Jacob Kehinde Coker	1901
African Independent Churches, also known as African Initiated Church African Initiated Church An African Initiated Church is any of a number of Christian churches independently started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent, in which they sometimes hold to one or more African tribal belief systems syncretised with Christianity.-Nomenclature:A variety of... es
African Theological Archministry African Theological Archministry The African Theological Archministry is a new religious movement, one in the tradition of the Yoruba religion, that was founded by Walter Eugene King. In 1970, King declared himself a Yoruba king and took the regnal name "Oba Efuntola Adelabu Adefunmi I"... , previously Order of Damballah Hwedo Ancestor Priests, Shango Temple, and Yoruba Temple	Walter Eugene King Adefunmi Oba Efuntola Oseijeman Adelabu Adefunmi was the first African-American to ever be initiated into the priesthood of the initiation cult of any African traditional religion...	1973	Voodoo
Agasha Temple of Wisdom Agasha Temple of Wisdom The Agasha Temple of Wisdom is a spiritualist group founded in 1943 by Richard Zenor. After the publication of James Crenshaw's book Telephone Between Two Worlds in 1950, in which both Zenor and the temple were prominently featured, the temple became more popular...	Richard Zenor Richard Zenor Richard Zenor was a medium who channeled the master teacher Agasha and founded the Agasha Temple of Wisdom. Zenor's teachings were later collected in book form by one of the Temple's members, William Eisen, in the 1980s...	1943	Spiritualism Spiritualism Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
Agni Yoga Society	Nicholas Roerich Nicholas Roerich Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...	mid-1920s	Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
Ahmadiyya Movement	Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Mīrzā Ghulām Aḥmad was a religious figure from India and the founder of the Ahmadiyya Community. He claimed to be the Mujaddid of the 14th Islamic century, the promised Messiah , and the Mahdi awaited by the Muslims in the end days...	1889	Black Islam
Aladura Aladura Aladura is a religion founded c.1922–1930 in West Nigeria by various people, with around 1 million adherents worldwide."Aladura" means "Praying People" in Yoruba....	Josiah Ositelu	1930	Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Alamo Christian Foundation Alamo Christian Foundation The Alamo Christian Foundation is a Christian denomination which has at times been referred to as a cult. The current status of the church is hard to determine after the church's founder, Tony Alamo, was arrested numerous times, beginning in 1991 and culminating in his 2009 conviction as a child... , also known as Alamo Christian Church, Consecrated, Alamo Christian Ministries, and Music Square Church	Tony Alamo Tony Alamo Tony Alamo is an American religious leader and convicted child sex offender. He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of an organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The organization is based in and around Fouke and Alma, Arkansas, United States, and has... ; Susan Alamo	1969	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... ; Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Altruria Altruria Altruria was a short-lived Utopian commune in Sonoma County, California based on Christian socialist principles and inspired by William Dean Howells's 1894 novel, A Traveler from Altruria.-History:...	Edward Biron Payne	1894	Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...  Socialist Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Amana Church Society, also known as Church of True Inspiration	Eberhard Gruber; Johann Rock	1714	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
American Buddhist Movement American Buddhist Movement The American Buddhist Movement, also known as the Association of American Buddhists, is a group which promotes Buddhism through publications, ordination of monks, and classes....		1980	Western 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...
American Buddhist Society and Fellowship, Inc. American Buddhist Society and Fellowship, Inc. The American Buddhist Society and Fellowship, Inc. is a Buddhist organization founded by Robert Ernest Dickhoff in 1945 and incorporated in 1947. The organization has one location in New York City.-References:...	Robert Ernest Dickhoff Robert Ernest Dickhoff Robert Ernst Dickhoff was a writer on the paranormal and the founder of the American Buddhist Society and Fellowship, Inc. and an author of several books relating to UFOs and the hollow earth theory....	1945	Tibetan 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...
American World Patriarchs American World Patriarchs American World Patriarchs is a Christian religious organization established in 1967.The group was founded by Uladyslau Ryzy-Ryski, a priest from Belarus who had been consecrated as bishop of Laconia, New Hampshire and the states of New England by the American Orthodox Catholic Church. He was later...	Uladyslau Ryzy-Ryski	1972	Eastern Liturgy Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
Amica Temple of Radiance Amica Temple of Radiance The Amica Temple of Radiance is a new religious movement begun in 1959 in Los Angeles by Roland Hunt and Dorothy Bailey based on the teachings of Ivah Bergh Whitten....	Ivah Berg Whitten	1932	Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
Ananda Marga Ananda Marga Ananda Marga, organizationally known as Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha , meaning the samgha for the propagation of the marga of ananda , is a social and spiritual movement founded in Jamalpur, Bihar, India in 1955 by Shrii Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar .Ánanda Márga followers describe Ánanda Márga as a...	Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar , also known by his spiritual name, Shrii Shrii Anandamurti , was an Indian philosopher, author, social revolutionary, poet, composer and linguist...	1955	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...
Ancient British Church in North America Ancient British Church in North America The Ancient British Church in North America is a small body claiming to be Eastern Orthodox in Toronto to serve marginalised people who feel that they are rejected by the Eastern Orthodox Community and the Roman Catholic Church.The church was founded by its first presiding bishop Jonathan Vartan...	Jonathan V. Zotique		Homosexually Oriented
Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis The Ancient and Mystical Order Rosæ Crucis , also called Rosicrucian Order, is a philosophical and humanist worldwide fraternal organization. Members are known as students...	H. Spencer Lewis	1915	Rosicrucianism
Ancient Teachings of the Masters Ancient Teachings of the Masters Ancient Teachings of the Masters is the name Darwin Gross used to carry on the original teachings of Paul Twitchell after his termination from Eckankar.... , also known as ATOM	Darwin Gross Darwin Gross Darwin Gross was an American spiritual teacher who succeeded to the leadership of Eckankar in 1971 at the death of its founder Paul Twitchell. Gross officially took up the position of "Living ECK Master" on October 22, 1971 and appointed his successor Harold Klemp as Living Eck Master on October...	1983	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Anglo-Saxon Federation of America Anglo-Saxon Federation of America The Anglo-Saxon Federation of America, founded in 1933, is the oldest and largest group in the British Israelism movement.In 1928, Howard B. Rand, a lawyer and Bible student, started conducting a small Anglo-Saxon group in his house. In 1933, he met W. J...	Howard B. Rand	1928	British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
Ansaaru Allah Community	As Siddid Al Imaan Al Haahi Al Mahdi Dwight York Dwight York , also known as Malachi Z. York, Issa Al Haadi Al Mahdi, et alii, is an American black supremacist and leader of the Georgia-based "Nuwaubian" movement, currently imprisoned on a 135 year sentence for child molestation.York's "ministry" began in the late 1960s, from 1967 preaching to...	late 1960s	Black Islam
Anthroposophy Anthroposophy Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...	Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...	1912	Western Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
Antiochian Catholic Church in America Antiochian Catholic Church in America The Antiochian Catholic Church in America is one of the Independent Catholic Churches. The ACCA is distinct from most of these churches in that it largely embraces the theology and much of the practice of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Indian Orthodox Church, from which the clergy of the...	Gordon Mar Peter	1980s	Independent Catholic Catholic The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"... , Monophysite Monophysitism Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature, his humanity being absorbed by his Deity...
Antoinism Antoinism Antoinism is a healer and Christian-oriented new religious movement founded in 1910 by the Walloon Louis-Joseph Antoine in Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Seraing. With a total of 64 temples, over forty reading rooms across the world and thousands of members, it remains the only religion established in Belgium...	Louis-Joseph Antoine	1910	Healing Healing Physiological healing is the restoration of damaged living tissue, organs and biological system to normal function. It is the process by which the cells in the body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area.... , Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean)	Samuel Heinrich Froehlich Samuel Heinrich Froehlich Samuel Heinrich Froehlich was an evangelist responsible for organizing the Evangelical Baptist Church in Western Europe, which eventually spread to become known as the Nazarener-Gemeinde in Eastern Europe and the Apostolic Christian Church in the United States of America during the 1830s and 1840s...	1906	European Free-Church Free church The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
Apostolic Christian Church of America Apostolic Christian Church of America The Apostolic Christian Church of America is a Christian denomination, based in the United States. Its website states, "The Apostolic Christian Church believes in the infallibility of the Bible, and it is founded on faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God...	Samuel Heinrich Froehlich Samuel Heinrich Froehlich Samuel Heinrich Froehlich was an evangelist responsible for organizing the Evangelical Baptist Church in Western Europe, which eventually spread to become known as the Nazarener-Gemeinde in Eastern Europe and the Apostolic Christian Church in the United States of America during the 1830s and 1840s...	1830	European Free-Church Free church The term "free church" refers to a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separated from government . A free church does not define government policy, nor have governments define church policy or theology, nor seeks or receives government endorsement or funding for its general mission...
Apostolic Church	Daniel Powell Williams	1916	Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Apostolic Church of Christ (Pentecostal) Apostolic Church of Christ (Pentecostal) Apostolic Church of Christ is a Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in North Carolina in 1969 by Johnnie Draft and Wallace Snow. Both these men had been members of the Church of God prior to creating this one. The only difference between this church and that from which it was founded is...	Johnnie Draft; Wallace Snow	1969	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God The Apostolic Overcoming Holy Church of God was founded in 1916 as the Ethiopian Overcoming Holy Church of God by the late Bishop W.T. Phillips in Mobile, Alabama...	William Thomas Phillips	1920	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Arcane School	Alice and Foster Bailey Alice Bailey Alice Ann Bailey , known as Alice A. Bailey or AAB to her followers, was an influential writer and theosophist in what she termed "Ageless Wisdom". This included occult teachings, "esoteric" psychology and healing, astrological and other philosophic and religious themes...	1937	Alice Bailey Groups
Arica School Arica School The Arica School, also known as the Arica Institute or simply as Arica, is a human potential movement group founded in 1968 by Bolivian-born philosopher Oscar Ichazo ....	Oscar Ichazo Oscar Ichazo Oscar Ichazo is the Bolivian-born founder of the Arica School, which he established in 1968.Ichazo's Enneagram of Personality theories are part of a larger body of teaching that he terms Protoanalysis...	1968	Sufism Sufism Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
Art of Living Foundation, also known as Association for Inner Growth and Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Preeth	Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar usually known as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, born Ravi Shankar Ratnam, born 13 May 1956) is a spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation , which aims at relieving individual stress, societal problems and violence. It is an NGO with UNESCO consultative status...	1981	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...
Arya Samaj Arya Samaj Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 10 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya...	Mul Shankara Swami Dayananda Saraswati Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati was an important Hindu religious scholar, reformer, and founder of the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reform movement. He was the first to give the call for Swarajya – "India for Indians" – in 1876, later taken up by Lokmanya Tilak...	1875	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...
Aryan Nations Aryan Nations Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian... , also known as Church of Jesus Christ Christian, Aryan Nations	Wesley Swift	late 1940s	British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
Ásatrú Ásatrú is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....	Stephen McNallen Stephen McNallen Stephen A. McNallen is an influential Germanic Neopagan leader and writer. Born in Breckenridge, Texas, McNallen has been heavily involved in Ásatrú since the 1970s.-Life:...	1970s	Neo-pagan
Assemblies of God Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...	merger	1914	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ The Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ is a Oneness Pentecostal Christian denomination formed in 1952 by the merger of the Assemblies of the Church of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Only Apostolic Church of God, and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The organization describes itself as "a...	merger	1952	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Assemblies of Yahweh Assemblies of Yahweh The Assemblies of Yahweh is a nonprofit religious organization with its international headquarters in Bethel, Pennsylvania. The organization developed independently out of a radio ministry begun by Elder Jacob O. Meyer in 1966...	C.O. Dodd	1937	Adventist; Sacred Name Sacred Name Movement The Sacred Name Movement is a movement within Adventism in Christianity, propagated by Clarence Orvil Dodd from the 1930s, that claims to seek to conform Christianity to its "Hebrew Roots" in practice, belief and worship. The best known distinction of the SNM is its advocacy of the use of the...
Assembly of Christian Soldiers Assembly of Christian Soldiers The Assembly of Christian Soldiers is a Christian Identity church that was established in 1971 by former Ku Klux Klansmen. At its peak, the church had approximately 3000 members organized into 16 congregations in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi....	Jessie L. Thrift	1971	Unclassified, Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically... -based
Assembly of Yahweh Assembly of Yahweh The Assembly of Yahweh was the first religious organization in the Sacred Name Movement. It was formed in Holt, Michigan, in the 1930s.-Description:...	Lorenzo Dow Snow E. B. Adam	1949	Adventist
Association for Research and Enlightenment Association for Research and Enlightenment The Association for Research and Enlightenment , also known as Edgar Cayce's A.R.E., was founded by Edgar Cayce in 1931 to research and explore subjects such as holistic health, ancient mysteries, personal spirituality, dreams and dream interpretation, intuition, philosophy and reincarnation...	Edgar Cayce Edgar Cayce Edgar Cayce was an American psychic who allegedly had the ability to give answers to questions on subjects such as healing or Atlantis while in a hypnotic trance...	1931	Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
Association of Vineyard Churches Association of Vineyard Churches The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination with over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide....	John Wimber John Wimber John Richard Wimber was a musician, charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Movement, a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian denomination which began in the USA and has now spread to many countries world-wide.-Life and ministry:John Richard Wimber was the son of Basil...	1982	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostals Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Astara, Inc.	Robert and Earlyne Chaney	1951	Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...  Orders
Aum Shinrikyo Aum Shinrikyo Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.... , also known as Aleph	Shoko Asahara Shoko Asahara , born on March 2, 1955, is a founder of the controversial Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death...	1987	Japanese 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...
Ausar Auset Society Ausar Auset Society The Ausar Auset Society is a Pan-African religious organization founded in 1973 by Ra Un Nefer Amen for the purpose of providing members a societal framework through which the Kemetic spiritual way of life can be lived and to promote Rosicrucian values...	R.A. Straughn Ra Un Nefer Amen Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent.-Early life:...	mid-1970s	Rosicrucianism
Babism Bábism The Babi Faith is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb—meaning "Gate"—from a Shi'a theological term...	Báb Báb Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází was the founder of Bábism, and one of three central figures of the Bahá'í Faith. He was a merchant from Shíráz, Persia, who at the age of twenty-four claimed to be the promised Qá'im . After his declaration he took the title of Báb meaning "Gate"...	1844	Islam Islam Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
Bahá'í Faith Bahá'í Faith The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....	Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Nuri Bahá'u'lláh Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...	1863	Middle Eastern, Baha'i Bahá'í Faith The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship	Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen was a saintly Tamil-speaking teacher and Sufi mystic from the island of Sri Lanka who first came to the United States on October 11, 1971 and established the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia...	1971	Sufism Sufism Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
Bethel Ministerial Association Bethel Ministerial Association The Bethel Ministerial Association is an organization of Christian ministers.It was founded in 1934 by Reverend Albert Franklin Varnell as a way to allow Christian ministers of similar doctrine to come together. Membership in the association is open to ministers only. The specific doctrine of the...	Albert Franklin Varnell	1934	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Bible Presbyterian Church Bible Presbyterian Church The Bible Presbyterian Church is an American Protestant denomination.-History:The Bible Presbyterian Church was formed in 1937, predominantly through the efforts of such conservative Presbyterian clergymen as Carl McIntire, J. Oliver Buswell and Allen A. MacRae. Francis Schaeffer was the first...	Carl McIntire Carl McIntire Carl McIntire was a founder of, and minister in, the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long president of the and the American Council of Christian Churches, and a popular religious radio broadcaster, who proudly identified himself as a fundamentalist.-Youth and education:Born in Ypsilanti,...	1938	Reformed Presbyterian Presbyterianism Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ The Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ World-Wide was an African-American Oneness Pentecostal denomination started in 1957 in Washington, DC. In 1997, a division over who was the rightful successor to Presiding Bishop and founder Smallwood Edmond Williams occurred...	schism	1957	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Brahma Kumaris	Dada Lekhraj Dada Lekhraj Lekhraj Khubchand Kripalani , , also known as Bhai or Dada Lekhraj was the Co-founder of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University movement...	1936	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...
Branch Davidian Branch Davidian The Branch Davidians are a Protestant sect that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists , a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church around 1930...	Victor T. Houteff Victor Houteff Victor Tasho Houteff was a religious reformer and author.Houteff was born in Raicovo, Bulgaria, and as a child baptised as a member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. As a young man, he was engaged in the mercantile trade...	1930	Seventh Day Adventist Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
Branhamism Branhamism Branhamism refers to the distinctive doctrines of William M. Branham , an American faith healer and preacher of the mid-twentieth century. The term is generally disliked by adherents, who typically refer to themselves as "Message Believers" or simply "Christians", and to Branham's teachings as The...	William M. Branham William M. Branham William Marrion Branham was a Christian minister, usually credited with founding the post World War II faith healing movement...	1951	Oneness Pentecostal
Breatharians also known as Inedia	Wiley Brooks	1970s	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... -influenced
The Brethren (Jim Roberts group), also known as The Body of Christ and The Garbage Eaters	Jimmie T. Roberts	c. 1970	Unclassified Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...  Churches
British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David... , also called Anglo-Israelism
Bruderhof, also known as the Hutterian Brethren and Hutterian Society of Brothers	Eberhard Arnold Eberhard Arnold Eberhard Arnold was a Christian German writer, philosopher, and theologian. He was the founder of the Bruderhof in 1920....	c. 1920	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Brunstad Christian Church
Builders of the Adytum Builders of the Adytum The Builders of the Adytum is a school of the Western mystery tradition based in Los Angeles which is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt religious organization. It was founded by Paul Foster Case and has its roots in both the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Masonic blue lodge system....	Paul Foster Case Paul Foster Case Paul Foster Case was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum. The Knowledge Lectures given to...	1922	Ritual Magick Magick Magick is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick...
Candomblé Candomblé Candomblé 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...		19th century	Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word... ; Neo-African; Divination Divination Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
Cao Dai Cao Dai Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ... , also known as Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do	Ngô Văn Chiêu Ngô Van Chiêu Ngô Văn Chiêu was the first disciple of Đức Cao Đài. His religious name is Ngô Minh Chiêu. He was born in 1878 and raised by his aunt. He developed an interest in Chinese folk religion during this period. Later he served in the colonial bureaucracy and developed a fascination with spiritism... ; Lê Văn Trung Lê Van Trung Lê Văn Trung was the first acting Giáo Tông of Cao Đài.The term Giáo Tông means “leader or head of a religious group”. Translators noticed similarities between the structural hierarchy of Caodaiism and the Roman Catholic Church, and, for lack of better words or whatever reasons, borrowed...	1919	Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word... ; Vietnamese Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
Cargo cult Cargo cult A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional pre-industrial tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices... s			Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word... ; Nativist Nativism (politics) Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....
CAUSA International	Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...	1970	Other Psychic Psychic A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...  New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...  Groups; Unification Movement Unification Church The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
Celestial Church of Christ Celestial Church of Christ The Celestial Church of Christ is an African Initiated Church founded by the Rev. Samuel Biléhou Joseph Oschoffa on 29 September 1947 in Porto-Novo, Benin...	Samuel Oshoffa Samuel Oshoffa Samuel Bilehou Joseph Oshoffa was the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ after reportedly resurrecting people from the dead. He founded the church in 1947 after being lost for three months near Porto-Novo in Benin. The church now has its main offices in Nigeria...	1947	Nativist Nativism (politics) Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....  Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
The Centers Network
Chabad Chabad Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
Charismatic Movement Charismatic movement The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...		1950s
Chen Tao, also called God's Salvation Church and God Saves the Earth Flying Saucer Foundation
Cheondoism Cheondoism Cheondoism or Chondoism is a 20th-century Korean religious movement, based on the 19th century Donghak movement founded by Choe Je-u that had its origins in the peasant rebellions which arose starting in 1812 during the Joseon Dynasty... , also called Chendogyo
Cherubim and Seraphim Cherubim and Seraphim "Cherubim and Seraphim" is an episode of the British television detective mystery show Inspector Morse dramatized on ITV. It was first broadcast in 1992. Cherubim and Seraphim are both Biblical words and their origin is described in Christian angelic hierarchy.-Set-Up:The story involves a group... , also known as Sacred Cherubim and Seraphim Society and Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim The Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim is the first African initiated church established in 1925 by Moses Orimolade Tunolase. The church was born out of the Anglican church community among the Yoruba people in Western Nigeria.-History:...	Moses Orimolade Tunolase	c. 1925	African Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Christ Apostolic Church Christ Apostolic Church Christ Apostolic Church is the first Aladura Pentecostal church present in Nigeria and other countries. It has come into existence in the first half of the...	T. O. Obadare	1941	Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Christadelphians Christadelphians Christadelphians is a Christian group that developed in the United Kingdom and North America in the 19th century... , also called Thomasites	John Thomas John Thomas (Christadelphian) Dr. John Thomas was the founder of the Christadelphian movement, a Restorationist religion with doctrines similar in part to some 16th century Antitrinitarian Rationalist Socinians and the 16th century Swiss-German pacifist Anabaptists.-Early life:John Thomas M.D., born in Hoxton Square, Hackney,...	1844	Baptist family
The Christian Community The Christian Community The Christian Community is a Christian denomination. It was founded in 1922 in Switzerland by a group of mainly Lutheran theologians and ministers led by Friedrich Rittelmeyer, inspired by Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian philosopher and founder of anthroposophy... , also known as the Christian Community Church and Christengemeinschaft	Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher... Friedrich Rittelmeyer Friedrich Rittelmeyer Friedrich Rittelmeyer was a Protestant German minister, theologian and co-founder and driving force of The Christian Community.-Life:...	1922	Anthroposophy Anthroposophy Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
Christian Identity Christian Identity Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...		1982	British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
Christian Reformed Church in North America Christian Reformed Church in North America The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed churches of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was founded by Gijsbert Haan and Dutch immigrants who left the Reformed Church in...	Gijsbert Haan Gijsbert Haan Gijsbert Haan or alternate spelling Gysbert Haan was the leader in the 1857 Secession of Dutch-Americans from the Reformed Church in America, and the creator of the Christian Reformed Church in the United States and Canada...	1857	Reformed Presbyterian Presbyterianism Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
Christian Science Christian Science Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...	Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of Christian Science , a Protestant American system of religious thought and practice religion adopted by the Church of Christ, Scientist, and others...	1876	Christian Science Christian Science Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,... ; Metaphysical Metaphysics Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
Christian World Liberation Front, also known as the Spiritual Counterfeits Project Spiritual Counterfeits Project The Spiritual Counterfeits Project is a Christian evangelical parachurch organisation located in Berkeley, California. Since its inception in the early 1970s it has been involved in the fields of Christian apologetics and the Christian countercult movement. Its current president is Tal Brooke...	Jack Sparks; Fred Dyson; Pat Matrisciana	1969	Christian Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... -Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
Church of All Worlds Church of All Worlds The Church of All Worlds is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children through tribal community dedicated to responsible stewardship and...	Tim Zell Oberon Zell-Ravenheart Oberon Zell-Ravenheart is a co-founder of the Church of All Worlds, as well as a writer and speaker on the subject of Neopaganism. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in 1965... ; Lance Christie	1962	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Church of Aphrodite Church of Aphrodite The Church of Aphrodite is a Neopagan religious group founded in 1938 by Gleb Botkin , a Russian émigré to the United States. Monotheistic in structure, the Church believes in a singular female Goddess, who is named after the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.Having grown up in the Russian...	Gleb Botkin Gleb Botkin Gleb Evgenievich Botkin was the son of Dr. Eugene Botkin, the court physician who was murdered at Ekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks with Tsar Nicholas II and his family on July 17, 1918....	1939	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Church of Bible Understanding Church of Bible Understanding The Church of Bible Understanding was founded in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1971 by Stewart Traill. It is a communal organization, teaching a form of evangelical Christianity....	Stewart Traill	1971	Adventist; Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
Church of Daniel's Band Church of Daniel's Band The Church of Daniel's Band is a nondenominational holiness church originally organized in imitation of the early Methodist class meeting at Marine City, Michigan...		1893	Non-Episcopal Episcopal polity Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...  Methodism Methodism Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
Church of God in Christ Church of God in Christ The Church of God in Christ is a Pentecostal Holiness Christian denomination with a predominantly African-American membership. With nearly five million members in the United States and 12,000 congregations, it is the largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest Christian church in the U.S....	Charles H. Mason Charles Harrison Mason Bishop Charles Harrison 'C.H.' Mason was an American Pentecostal–Holiness and Charismatic, denomination leader. He was the founder, Chief Apostle and first Senior Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Inc. He was also the grandfather of Bishop J.O...	1908	Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church of God in Christ, Mennonite Church of God in Christ, Mennonite is a 19th century offshoot of the Mennonite Church. They are also known as Holdeman Mennonites, after a leader, John Holdeman, who saw the decay in the Old Mennonite Church and having tried his best to reach all the mennonites in the US and Canada, and make them...	John Holdeman	c. 1870	German Mennonite Mennonite The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
The Church of God (Jerusalem Acres) The Church of God (Jerusalem Acres) The Church of God is a holiness Pentecostal body that descends from the Christian Union movement of Richard Spurling, A. J. Tomlinson and others...	Grady R. Kent	1957	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Holiness Holiness movement The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Church of God Mountain Assembly Church of God Mountain Assembly The Church of God, Mountain Assembly is a holiness pentecostal Christian body formed in 1906, with roots in the late 19th century American holiness movement and early 20th century Pentecostal revival...	J.H. Parks, Steve N. Bryant, Tom Moses, William O. Douglas	1906	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Holiness Holiness movement The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Church of God of Prophecy Church of God of Prophecy The Church of God of Prophecy is a Christian denomination with beliefs and principles similar to Pentecostal Holiness Christian faith. It is one of five Church of God bodies headquartered in Cleveland, Tennessee that descended from a small meeting of believers who gathered at the Barney Creek...	Ambrose Tomlinson	1903	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Holiness Holiness movement The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Church of Israel Church of Israel The Church of Israel is a denomination that emerged from the Church of Christ in the Latter Day Saint movement and is now affiliated with the Christian Identity movement, a charge which its leader, Dan Gayman, denies.The Church of Israel was first organized in 1972...	Dan Gayman	1974	British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
Church of Satan Church of Satan The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.- History :...	Anton LaVey Anton LaVey Anton Szandor LaVey , born Howard Stanton Levey, was the founder of the Church of Satan as well as a writer, occultist, and musician...	1966	Satanism Satanism Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
Church of the Lamb of God	Ervil LeBaron Ervil LeBaron Ervil Morrell LeBaron was the leader of a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist group who ordered the killings of many of his opponents, using the religious doctrine of blood atonement to justify the murders...	1970	Latter-day Saints Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself... ; Polygamy Polygamy Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...  Practicing
Church of the Living Word, also known as The Walk	John Robert Stevens John Robert Stevens John Robert Stevens founded The Living Word Fellowship in the 1950s and was the movement's leader until his death....	1954	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... ; Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
Church of the Lord (Aladura) Church of the Lord (Aladura) The Church of the Lord is an African Initiated Church founded by the first Primate and Late Prophet Dr. Josiah Olunowo Ositelu in 1925, but inaugurated in 1930 in Ogere-Remo, Shagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria; Reference: Journey So Far, ISBN 3-8258-6087-7; Publication - TCLAW Publishers, 2009."Aladura"...	Josiah Ositelu	1930	Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...  Family
Church of World Messianity Church of World Messianity The Church of World Messianity , abbreviated COWM, is a "new religion" founded in 1935 by Mokichi Okada. The religion's key concept is Johrei, claimed to be a method of channeling divine light into the body of another for the purposes of healing...	Mokichi Okada Mokichi Okada Mokichi Okada was the founder of the Church of World Messianity, in which he is known by the honorific title Meishū-sama...	1934	Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Church Universal and Triumphant Church Universal and Triumphant Church Universal and Triumphant is an international New Age religious organization founded in 1975 by Elizabeth Clare Prophet. It is an outgrowth of The Summit Lighthouse, founded in 1958 by Prophet's husband, Mark L. Prophet...	Mark Prophet; Elizabeth Clare (Wolf) Prophet Elizabeth Clare Prophet Elizabeth Clare Prophet was an American spiritual author and lecturer who was the leader of The Summit Lighthouse and Church Universal and Triumphant, a New Age religious movement which gained media attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s while preparing for potential nuclear disaster.During...	1958	Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society... ; Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, also known as CARP	Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...	1955	Unification Church Unification Church The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
Commandment Keepers: Holy Church of the Living God Commandment Keepers The "Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation of the Living God Pillar & Ground of Truth, Inc.: " are a sect of Black Jews, founded in 1919 by Nigerian-born Rabbi Wentworth Arthur Matthew, who believe that people of Ethiopian descent represent one of the lost tribes of Israel...	Arnold Josiah Ford Arnold Josiah Ford Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford was the first black rabbi in America, and a prominent member of Harlem's Black Jews.Ford was born in Barbados to Edward Thomas Ford and Elizabeth Augustine Ford...	1924	Black Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
Community Chapel and Bible Training Center Community Chapel and Bible Training Center Community Chapel and Bible Training Center was a controversial independent church created in 1967 and pastored by Donald Lee Barnett in which he taught his version of Oneness Pentecostalism...	Donald Lee Barnett Donald Lee Barnett Donald Lee Barnett is an American pastor who founded Community Chapel and Bible Training Center, a controversial church near Burien, Washington, and was its only pastor during its 21-year history, from 1967 to 1988...	1967	Latter Rain Latter Rain Movement The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial to this day...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Community of Christ Community of Christ The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...	Jason Briggs, Zenos Gurley, William Marks	1860	Missouri Mormons Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
Concerned Christians Concerned Christians Monte Kim Miller formed a group known as the Concerned Christians in Colorado, during the 1980s. Created as an element of the Christian countercult movement to combat New Age religious movements and anti-Christian sentiment, it has shifted to more of a apocalyptic Christian movement as the group...
Confederate Nations of Israel Confederate Nations of Israel The Confederate Nations of Israel is a hybrid church–political organization with roots in Mormon fundamentalism that was organized in 1977 by Alex Joseph...	Alexander Joseph Alex Joseph Alex Joseph was an outspoken polygamist and founder of the Confederate Nations of Israel, Mormon fundamentalist sect...	1978	Latter-day Saints Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself... ; Polygamy Polygamy Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...  Practicing
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism is a modern stream 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.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...	Sabato Morais Sabato Morais Sabato Morais was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.- Early years :... , Marcus Jastrow Marcus Jastrow Marcus Jastrow was a renowned Talmudic scholar, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive A Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature.... , H. Pereira Mendes Henry Pereira Mendes Henry Pereira Mendes was an American rabbi who was born in Birmingham, England and died in New York.-Family history and education:...	1887	Mainline Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
A Course in Miracles A Course in Miracles A Course in Miracles is a self-study curriculum that aims to assist its readers in achieving spiritual transformation. The book describes a non-dualistic philosophy of forgiveness and includes what are meant to be practical lessons and applications for the practice of forgiveness in one's daily life...	Helen Schucman Helen Schucman Helen Schucman was an American clinical and research psychologist from New York City. She was a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University in New York from 1958 until her retirement in 1976... William Thetford William Thetford William Thetford was trained as a psychologist and remained professionally active in this field throughout his life. Thetford worked in a collaborative venture with Helen Schucman in writing and providing some of the initial edits for A Course In Miracles , a self-study curriculum...	1975	New Thought New Thought New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
Covenant of the Goddess Covenant of the Goddess The Covenant of the Goddess is a cross-traditional Wiccan group of solitary Wiccan practitioners and over one hundred affiliated covens . It was founded in 1975 in order to increase co-operation among Witches and to secure for Witches and covens the legal protection enjoyed by members of other...	merger	1975	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans is an association of Unitarian Universalists who define themselves as Pagans or Neopagans.-History:...	Margot Adler Margot Adler Margot Adler is an author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio .- Early life :Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly in New York City...	1987	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord was a radical Christian Identity organization formed in 1971 in the small community of Elijah in southern Missouri, United States.- Leadership :...	James D. Ellison James Ellison (polygamist) James Ellison former student at Lincoln Bible College, Lincoln, IL was a white supremacist leader from San Antonio, Texas who, in 1971, founded the radical organization The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. Ellison purchased a strip of land near Elijah, Arkansas to serve as his compound...	mid-1970s	British Israelism British Israelism British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
Creativity Creativity (religion) Creativity is a nontheistic, ethnocentric religion founded in 1973 by Ben Klassen with the publication of the book Nature's Eternal Religion and was later expounded upon in the books The White Man's Bible, and Salubrious Living...	Ben Klassen Ben Klassen Bernhardt "Ben" Klassen was an American religious leader who founded the Church of the Creator with the publication of his book Nature's Eternal Religion in 1973...	early-1970's	Pantheism Pantheism Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...  and Agnostic Atheism Agnostic atheism Agnostic atheism, also called atheistic agnosticism, is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity and agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either...  and White Racialism Racialism Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations. Currently, racialism entails a belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, but not necessarily that any absolute hierarchy between the races has been demonstrated by a rigorous and comprehensive scientific process... .
Crossroads Movement		1970s
Cyberchurch Cyberchurch An Internet Church or Online Church or Cyberchurch refers to a wide variety of ways that a religious group is using the internet to facilitate its religious activities, particularly worship services.-History:... es
Dalit Buddhist movement	Bhimrao Ramji Sakpal	1956	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...
Dances of Universal Peace Dances of Universal Peace The Dances of Universal Peace are meditative, spiritual practices using the mantras of all world religions to promote peace. The DUP dances, of North American Sufic origin, combine chants from world faiths with dancing, whirling, and a variety of movement with singing.-The Dances:Conducted in the...
Dianic Wicca Dianic Wicca Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...	merger	1971	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Eckankar Eckankar Eckankar is a new religious movement founded in the United States in 1965, though practiced around the world long before with a solid following in China. It focuses on spiritual exercises enabling practitioners to experience what its followers call "the Light and Sound of God." The personal...	Paul Twitchell Paul Twitchell Paul Twitchell was an American spiritual writer, author and founder of the group known as Eckankar. He is accepted by the members of that group as the Mahanta, or Living ECK Master of his time. He directed the development of the group through to the time of his death...	1971	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Elan Vital Elan Vital (organization) Elan Vital is the name of several organizations that support the work of Prem Rawat, also known by the honorary title "Maharaji". Prem Rawat speaks of the possibility of knowing inner peace through four techniques of Knowledge. Elan Vital organizations exist in several countries with the purpose of...  (formerly Divine Light Mission Divine Light Mission The Divine Light Mission was an organization founded in 1960 by guru Shri Hans Ji Maharaj for his following in northern India. During the 1970s, the DLM gained prominence in the West under the leadership of his fourth and youngest son, Guru Maharaj Ji... )	Shri Hans Ji Maharaj Hans Ji Maharaj Hans Ram Singh Rawat, known as Shri Hans Ji Maharaj was born in Gadh-ki-Sedhia, north-east of Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. His parents were Ranjit Singh Rawat and Kalindi Devi...	1920s	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Esoteric Nazism Esoteric Nazism The term Esoteric Nazism refers to semi-religious developments of Nazism in the post-World War II period. After 1945, esoteric elements of the Third Reich were developed into new völkisch religions of white identity. Examples of post-war Nazi mystical philosophies include Esoteric Hitlerism and...
Eucharistic Catholic Church	Robert Clement	1974	Homosexually Oriented
Evangelical Methodist Church Evangelical Methodist Church The Evangelical Methodist Church is a Christian denomination headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The denomination currently has churches in the United States, Mexico, Burma/Myanmar, Canada, Europe, and Africa. Congregations are located in 23 U.S. states, and they have a presence in 20 other...	J.H. Hamblen	1946	Non-Episcopal Episcopal polity Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...  Methodist Methodism Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
Falun Gong Falun Gong Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...	Li Hongzhi Li Hongzhi Li Hongzhi is the founder and spiritual master of Falun Gong , a "system of mind-body cultivation" in the qigong tradition. Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and subsequently gave lectures and taught Falun Gong exercises across China...	1992	Taoist Taoism Taoism 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...
Family International, previously known as the Children of God, the Family of Love and the Family	David Berg David Berg David Brandt Berg , frequently known by the pseudonym Moses David, was the founder and leader of the New Religious Movement formerly called Children of God, now called "The Family International".-Early years :Berg was born to Hjalmer Emmanuel Berg and Rev...	1968	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... , Jesus movement Jesus movement The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...  offshoot, with countercultural and Evangelical Evangelicalism Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...  beliefs
Fellowship of Isis Fellowship of Isis The Fellowship of Isis is an international spiritual organization devoted to promoting awareness of the Goddess. It is dedicated specifically to the Egyptian goddess Isis because the FOI co-founders believed Isis best represented the energies of the dawning Aquarian Age...	Olivia Robertson	1976	Magick Magick Magick is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick...  Family
Feraferia Feraferia Feraferia is a Nevada City, California-based Neopagan community, practicing Hellenic-inspired Goddess worship.The founder of the group, Frederick McLaren Charles Adams II, met and was deeply influenced by Robert Graves and his book The White Goddess...	Frederick Adams	1967	Neopagan, Goddess Goddess A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
Findhorn Foundation Findhorn Foundation The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain....	Eileen Caddy Eileen Caddy Eileen Caddy MBE was a spiritual teacher and new age author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, near the village of Findhorn, Moray Firth, in northeast Scotland... ; Peter Caddy Peter Caddy Peter Caddy was a British caterer, hotelier, and founder of the Findhorn Foundation community.Educated at Harrow, he apprenticed as a director with J. Lyons and Company, and was a member of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship... ; Alexis Edwards; Roger Benson	1963	Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament... -Anthroposophistical Anthroposophy Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development... -Rosicrucian
Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas The Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas is a predominantly African-American Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination based in the United States...	W.E. Fuller	1898	Black Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Followers of Christ	Marion Reece (or Riess)	late 19th century	Unclassified Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Foundation for A Course In Miracles	Kenneth and Gloria Wapnick	1983	Christian Science Christian Science Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,... -Metaphysical Metaphysics Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:... ; New Thought New Thought New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis Fraternitas Rosae Crucis Fraternitas Rosae Crucis is a Rosicrucian fraternal organization founded by Paschal Beverly Randolph in 1858, and is the oldest Rosicrucian Order in the US...	Paschal Beverly Randolph Paschal Beverly Randolph Randolph also edited the Leader and the Messenger of Light between 1852 to 1861 and wrote for the Journal of Progress and Spiritual Telegraph .2 as anonymous.3 under the pseudonym "Count de St. Leon".- References :...	1858	Rosicrucianism
Freedomites Freedomites Freedomites, also called Svobodniki or Sons of Freedom, first appeared in 1902 in Saskatchewan, Canada, and later in the Kootenay and Boundary districts of British Columbia, as a Doukhobor extremist group...
Friends of the Western Buddhist Order Friends of the Western Buddhist Order The Triratna Buddhist Community is an international fellowship of Buddhists, and others who aspire to its path of mindfulness, under the leadership of the Triratna Buddhist Order...  (FWBO)	Sangharakshita Sangharakshita Sangharakshita is a Buddhist teacher and writer, and founder of the Triratna Buddhist Community, which was known until 2010 as the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, or FWBO....  (Dennis Lingwood)	1967	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...
Fundamentalist Christianity Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
General Assembly and Church of the First Born		1927	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
General Church of the New Jerusalem General Church of the New Jerusalem The General Church of the New Jerusalem is an international church based in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, and based on the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg...	schism	1890	Swedeborgianism The New Church The New Church is the name for a New religious movement developed from the writings of the Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg . Swedenborg claimed to have received a new revelation from Jesus Christ through continuous heavenly visions which he experienced over a period of at least...
Ghost Dance Ghost Dance The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...
Global Peace Festival Global Peace Festival The Global Peace Festival is a series of festivals intended to promote world peace and cooperation under the motto “One Family under God.” It was begun in 2007 and has been backed by the Unification Church. In 2008 festivals were held in North America, Central and South America, Europe, the...	Hyun Jin Moon Hyun Jin Moon Hyun Jin Moon, also known as Preston Moon , is the third son of Korean spiritual leader Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han. Hyun Jin Moon took part in the 1988 and 1992 summer Olympic Games as a member of the South Korean equestrian team. He graduated from the Harvard Business School with an...	2007	Unification Church Unification Church The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
Grail Movement Grail Movement The Grail Movement is an organization which originated in Germany in the late 1940s, inspired by the work of Oskar Ernst Bernhardt , principally In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message...	Oskar Ernst Bernhardt Abd-ru-shin Oskar Ernst Bernhardt , also known as Abd-ru-shin or Abdruschin is best known as the author of the "In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message"....	1924	Spiritualist Spiritualism Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living... , Psychic Psychic A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...  and New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational... ; Channeling Mediumship Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
Hanuman Foundation	Richard Alpert (Ram Dass)	1980	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...
Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy was founded by Swami Rama of the Himalayas in 1971. The headquarters and main campus is located on in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania, with branches distributed around the globe including Cameroon, India, Great Britain,...	Swami Rama Swami Rama Swāmī Rāma was born Brij Kiśore Dhasmana or Brij Kiśore Kumar, to a northern Indian Brahmin family in a small village called Toli in the Garhwal Himalayas. He became the lineage holder of the Sankya Yoga tradition of the Himalayan Masters...	1971	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...
"I AM" Activity	Guy Ballard Guy Ballard Guy Warren Ballard was an American mining engineer who became, with his wife, Edna Anne Wheeler Ballard, the founder of the "I AM" Activity....		I AM Groups; Ascended Masters Ascended Master Teachings The students of "Ascended Master Teachings" organizations believe that the Presence of Life/God - Individualizes as the "I AM", and incarnates throughout the created universes until it achieves The Ascension . The "Teachings" as all Religious Teachings.....
Independent Fundamental Churches of America Independent Fundamental Churches of America The Independent Fundamental Churches of America was founded in Cicero, Illinois in 1930. The name was officially changed to IFCA International in 1996. It is an association of nearly 1000 independent Protestant churches located largely in the United States and up to three times that number of...	R. Lee Kirkland	1922	Unaffiliated Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
Insight Meditation Society Insight Meditation Society The Insight Meditation Society is a non-profit organization for study of Buddhism located in Barre, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1975, by Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein, and is rooted in the Theravada tradition. IMS meditation practices are based on the teachings of the...	Jack Kornfield Jack Kornfield Jack Kornfield is a teacher in the vipassana movement of American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, including as a student of the Thai monk Ajahn Chah... , Sharon Salzberg Sharon Salzberg Sharon Salzberg is a New York Times Best selling author and influential teacher of Buddhist meditation practices in West. She co-founded the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, Massachusetts with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein, in 1974... , Joseph Goldstein Joseph Goldstein Joseph Goldstein is one of the first American vipassana teachers , co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism , resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight and...	1976	Theravada Theravada Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...  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...
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel International Church of the Foursquare Gospel The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. As of 2000 it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. In 2006, membership in the United States...	Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Semple McPherson Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...	1923	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
International Community of Christ International Community of Christ International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent, is an independent Christian denomination that offers a distinctive, alternative presentation of Christian teachings and a new authoritative dispensation that it believes fulfills the messianic church under Jesus. The church functions...  also known as Church of the Second Advent (CSA) and Jamilians	Eugene Douglas Savoy Gene Savoy Douglas Eugene "Gene" Savoy was an American explorer, author, religious leader, and theologian. He served as Head Bishop of the International Community of Christ, Church of the Second Advent from 1971 until his passing...	1972	New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...  Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
International Society for Krishna Consciousness International Society for Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...	Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was a Gaudiya Vaishnava teacher and the founder-acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna Movement"...	mid-1960s	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...
Jediism Jediism Jediism is a religious movement based on the philosophical and spiritual ideas of the Jedi as depicted in Star Wars media.-Belief:Practitioners identify themselves with the Jedi Knights in Star Wars, believe in the existence of the Force and that interaction with the Force is possible. Believers...		2000s	New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...	Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell , or Pastor Russell, was a prominent early 20th century Christian restorationist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and founder of what is now known as the Bible Student movement, from which Jehovah's Witnesses and numerous independent Bible Student groups emerged...	1870	Adventist; Bible Student Bible Student movement The Bible Student movement is the name adopted by a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement that emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell, also known as Pastor Russell...  Groups
Jesus Army Jesus Army The Jesus Army is the identity that the Jesus Fellowship Church uses in its outreach and street-based work. It is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom, that is part of the British New Church Movement....  (also known as "Jesus Fellowship Church" and "Bugbrooke Jesus Fellowship")	Noel Stanton (split from Baptist Union)	1977	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... , Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Jesus Movement Jesus movement The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...		late 1960s	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
Jews for Jesus Jews for Jesus Jews for Jesus is a conservative, Christian evangelical organization that focuses on the conversion of Jews to Christianity. Its members consider themselves to be Jews – either as defined by Jewish law, or as according to the view of Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus defines “Jewish” in terms of...	Moishe Rosen Moishe Rosen Martin "Moishe" Rosen was the founder and former Executive Director of Jews for Jesus, an evangelical Christian missionary organization that focuses specifically on evangelism to the Jewish people. His parents were Ben Rosen and Rose Baker. Rosen was raised in Denver, Colorado...	1970	Hebrew Christians Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religious movement that arose in the 1960s and 70s. It blends evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual.... ; Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
John Frum John Frum John Frum is a figure associated with cargo cults on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. He is often depicted as an American World War II serviceman, who will bring wealth and prosperity to the people if they follow him. He is sometimes portrayed as black, sometimes as white; from David Attenborough's...		1936	Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word... ; Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
Kemetic Orthodoxy Kemetic Orthodoxy Kemetic 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...	Tamara Siuda Tamara Siuda Tamara L. Siuda is the founder and current head of Kemetic Orthodoxy and the House of Netjer. She is known formally within her faith as Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith and uses the honorific Reverend outside of the faith to...	1988	Kemetic
Kerista Kerista Kerista was a new religion that was started in New York City in 1956 by John Peltz "Bro Jud" Presmont. Throughout much of its history, Kerista was centered on the ideals of polyfidelity and creation of intentional communities. Kerista underwent several incarnations that later became known as the...	John Presmont	1956	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —After 1960
Konkokyo Konkokyo or just Konko, is a new religion of Japanese origin also regarded as a type of Sect Shinto. It is a syncretic, henotheistic and panentheistic religion, which worships God under the name of Tenchi Kane No Kami, the Golden God of Heaven and Earth. Tenchi Kane No Kami is also referred to as Kami, or...	Bunjiro Kawate	1859	Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Kripalu Center Kripalu Center The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health is a non-profit organization that operates a health and yoga retreat in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its facility is a former Jesuit novitiate and juniorate seminary built in 1957. The center has described itself as North America's largest residential facility...  (Kirpalu)	Amrit Desai Amrit Desai Amrit Desai is a Yoga master who founded the Kripalu Center and currently oversees the Amrit Yoga Institute in Salt Springs, Florida, located in the Ocala National Forest.- Life and career :...	1966	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...
Lama Foundation Lama Foundation The Lama Foundation is a community in the mountains of New Mexico, seventeen miles north of Taos.-History:The Lama Foundation was founded in 1967 by Barbara Durkee and Stephen Durkee . It began with the purchase of of land adjacent to federal forested land, and continues today as a place for...	Steve Durkee	1967	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —After 1960
Landmark Education Landmark Education Landmark Education LLC is a personal training and development company which offers educational programs in approximately 115 locations in more than 20 countries worldwide....  (formerly Erhard Seminars Training Erhard Seminars Training Erhard Seminars Training, an organization founded by Werner H. Erhard, offered a two-weekend course known officially as "The est Standard Training"... ) also known as Forum and LEC	Werner Erhard Werner Erhard Werner Hans Erhard is an author of transformational models and applications for individuals, groups, and organizations...	1971	Human Potential Movement Human Potential Movement The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
Latter Rain Movement	schism led by George Hawtin and Percy Hunt	1946	Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Laymen's Home Missionary Movement	Paul S. L. Johnson Paul S. L. Johnson Paul Samuel Leo Johnson was an American scholar and pastor, the founder of the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement. He authored 17 volumes of religious writings entitled Epiphany Studies in the Scriptures, and published two magazines from about 1918 until his death in 1950...	c. 1920	Adventist; Bible Student Bible Student movement The Bible Student movement is the name adopted by a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement that emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell, also known as Pastor Russell...  Groups
Lectorium Rosicrucianum Lectorium Rosicrucianum The Lectorium Rosicrucianum is a worldwide school of Esoteric Christianity founded in 1935 by Dutch mystics Jan van Rijckenborgh, his brother Zwier Willem Leene and Catharose de Petri...		1924	Rosicrucianism
The Living Word Fellowship The Living Word Fellowship The Living Word Fellowship is a group of nondenominational Christian churches located in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico, often described as a new religious movement or cult. The group was founded in South Gate, California, by John Robert Stevens in 1951...	John Robert Stevens John Robert Stevens John Robert Stevens founded The Living Word Fellowship in the 1950s and was the movement's leader until his death....	1951	Latter Rain Latter Rain Movement The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial to this day...  Pentecostals Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Local Church movement	Ni Shu-tsu (Watchman Nee Watchman Nee Watchman Nee was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly... )	1920s	Independent Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians... ; Other Bible Students Bible Student movement The Bible Student movement is the name adopted by a Millennialist Restorationist Christian movement that emerged from the teachings and ministry of Charles Taze Russell, also known as Pastor Russell...
Love Family Love Family The Love Family, or the Church of Jesus Christ at Armageddon, was a U.S. communal religious movement led by Paul Erdman, who named himself Love Israel. The Love Family began in 1968 as one small communal household on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill, and within the first ten years expanded to a network of... , also known as the Church of Jesus Christ at Armageddon and Love Israel	Paul Erdman	1969	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune...
Lucis Trust Lucis Trust The Lucis Trust is a nonprofit service organization incorporated in the United States in 1922 by Alice Bailey and her husband Foster Bailey, to act as a fiduciary trust for the publishing of Mrs. Bailey's twenty-four books of esoteric philosophy published under Alice Bailey's name, and to fund and...	Alice A. Bailey	1923	Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist; Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
Mahikari Mahikari Mahikari is a Japanese new religious movement , with a number of variants or offshoots, founded in 1963 by Yoshikazu Okada...	Kotama Okada Yoshikazu Okada Yoshikazu Okada , born February 27, 1901 in the Aoyama area of Tokyo's Minato Ward, also known as Kōtama Okada, was the founder of a new religious movement in Japan generally referred to as Mahikari....	1959	Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Maranatha Campus Ministries Maranatha Campus Ministries Maranatha Campus Ministries was a Charismatic/Pentecostal-oriented Christian ministry founded by Bob Weiner which existed from 1971 to 1990. Its primary outreach was to college and university campuses....	Bob Weiner	1972	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Mazdaznan Mazdaznan Mazdaznan is a syncretistic religious health movement based on Zoroastrian and Christian ideas with special focus on breathing exercises, vegetarian diet and body culture. It was founded at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, born Otto Hanisch...	Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish was the founder of the religious movement known as Mazdaznan. His origin is not verified, and differing birth dates are mentioned in various documents. According to some sources, he was born Otto Hanisch, a German immigrant from Poznan...	1902	Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism 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...
Meher Baba Meher Baba Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....  followers	Merwan Sheriar Irani Meher Baba Meher Baba , , born Merwan Sheriar Irani, was an Indian mystic and spiritual master who declared publicly in 1954 that he was the Avatar of the age....	1921	Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism 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...
Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism Messianic Judaism is a syncretic religious movement that arose in the 1960s and 70s. It blends evangelical Christian theology with elements of Jewish terminology and ritual....
Mita Congregation Mita Congregation The Mita Congregation is a Christian congregation based in Puerto Rico. The congregation has chapters in the United States, Canada, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico El Salvador, Spain, and in the Dominican Republic...	Juanita García Peraza Juanita García Peraza Juanita Garcia Peraza, also known as "Mita" was the founder of the "Mita congregation", the only Protestant religion of Puerto Rican origin.-Early years:...	1940	Deliverance Deliverance ministry In charismatic Christianity, deliverance ministries are activities carried out by individuals or groups aimed at solving problems related to demons and spirits, especially possession. Leaders of and adherents to these ministries emphasize the activities of evil spirits in many physical,...  Pentecostal
Moody Church Moody Church The Moody Church is a historic Protestant church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. right|thumb|270px|-Building:...	Dwight L. Moody Dwight L. Moody Dwight Lyman Moody , also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts , the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers.-Early life:Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large...	1864	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...  and Evangelical Evangelicalism Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...  Churches
Moorish Science Temple of America Moorish Science Temple of America The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American organization founded in the early 20th century by Timothy Drew. He claimed it was a sect of Islam but he also drew inspiration from Buddhism, Christianity, Freemasonry, Gnosticism and Taoism....	Timothy Drew	1925	Black Islam
Moral Re-Armament Moral Re-Armament Moral Re-Armament was an international Christian moral and spiritual movement that, in 1938, developed from the American minister Frank Buchman's Oxford Group. Buchman, a Lutheran, headed MRA for 23 years, from 1938 until his death in 1961...	Frank N. D. Buchman Frank N. D. Buchman Franklin Nathaniel Daniel Buchman , best known as Dr. or Rev. Frank Buchman, was a Protestant Christian evangelist who founded the Oxford Group...	1921
Mormonism Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...	Joseph Smith, Jr.	1830	Latter-day Saints Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness The Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness is a 501 non-profit religious corporation, incorporated in California on June 25, 1971. Before incorporation, the group was founded in California in 1968 by John-Roger...	John-Roger Hinkins Roger Delano Hinkins Roger Delano Hinkins , known and published as John-Roger, is an American author, public speaker, and founder of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness , as well as several other New Age spiritual and self-help organizations.-Early life and education:Hinkins was born on September 24, 1934, and...	1971	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Namdhari Namdhari Namdhari are a sect of Sikhism. The main difference between Namdhari Sikhs and mainstream Sikhs is their belief in Jagjit Singh as their living Guru...	Balak Singh Balak Singh Balak Singh , was an Indian Sikh religious leader who founded Namdhari sect.-External links:*http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/gurus/Guru%20Balak/Balak%20Singh.htm*http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/namdhari.html...	mid-19th century	Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism 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...
Nation of Islam Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...	Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad was an African American religious leader, and led the Nation of Islam from 1934 until his death in 1975...	mid-1930s	Black Muslims
Nation of Yahweh Nation of Yahweh The Nation of Yahweh is a predominantly African-American religious group that is the most controversial offshoot of the Black Hebrew Israelites line of thought. It was founded in 1979 in Miami by Hulon Mitchell, Jr., who went by the name Yahweh ben Yahweh. Its goal is to return African Americans,...	Hulon Mitchell, Jr.	1970s	Black Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
National Spiritualist Association of Churches National Spiritualist Association of Churches The National Spiritualist Association of Churches is one of the oldest and largest of the Spiritualist churches in the United States. It was formed in 1893 in Chicago, Illinois. Among its leaders were Harrison D. Barrett and James M. Peebles, both former Unitarian clergymen, and Cora L. Richmond,...	Harrison D Barrett, James M. Peebles, Cora L. Richmond Cora L. V. Scott Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott was one of the best-known mediums of the Spiritualism movement of the last half of the 19th century. Most of her work was done as a trance lecturer, though she also wrote some books whose composition was attributed to spirit guides rather than her own...	1893	Spiritualism Spiritualism Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living...
Native American Church Native American Church Native 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...		1906	Drug-related Drug subculture Drug subcultures are examples of countercultures, which are primarily defined by recreational drug use.Drug subcultures are groups of people united by a common understanding of the meaning and value of the incorporation into one's life of the drug in question...  Groups
New Apostolic Church New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...	Heinrich Geyer	1863	Unclassified Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...  Churches
New Kadampa Tradition New Kadampa Tradition The New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organisation founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition"...	Geshe Kelsang Gyatso	mid-1970s	Tibetan 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...
New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn The New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn is a Wiccan organization/tradition/denomination that, despite its name, has little or nothing to do with the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.The NROOGD Tradition of the Craft originated in 1967 with a group of friends The New Reformed...		1969	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...  and Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
New Thought New Thought New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...	Phineas Parkhurst Quimby	mid-19th century	Metaphysical Metaphysics Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
Odinism Odinism Odinism 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...	Orestes Brownson Orestes Brownson Orestes Augustus Brownson was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer...	1848	Neo-paganism
Oomoto Oomoto Oomoto also known as Oomoto-kyo , is a sect, often categorised as a new Japanese religion originated from Shinto; it was founded in 1892 by Deguchi Nao...	Mrs. Nao Deguchi	1899	Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...  Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Open Bible Standard Churches Open Bible Standard Churches right|thumb | OBSC Pacific Office in [[Eugene, Oregon]]The Open Bible Standard Churches or Open Bible Churches is an association of Pentecostal churches with headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Open Bible Churches is affiliated with , an accredited Bible college in Eugene, Oregon...	merger	1935	White Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostals Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Opus Dei Opus Dei Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...	Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer	1928	Roman Catholic
Ordo Templi Orientis Ordo Templi Orientis Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...	Carl Kellner; Theodor Reuss Theodor Reuss Theodor Reuss was an Anglo-German tantric occultist, anarchist, police spy, journalist, singer, and promoter of Women's Liberation; and head of Ordo Templi Orientis.-Early years:...	1895; 1906	Ritual Magick Magick Magick is an Early Modern English spelling for magic, used in works such as the 1651 translation of De Occulta Philosophia, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, or Of Magick...
Pentecostal Church of God Pentecostal Church of God The Pentecostal Church of God is a trinitarian Pentecostal Christian denomination headquartered in Joplin, Missouri, United States. As of 2006, there were 117,000 members and 2,870 clergy in 1,170 churches in the United States. Sixty churches and missions exist among the Native Americans...		1919	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Peoples Temple Peoples Temple Peoples Temple was a religious organization founded in 1955 by Jim Jones that, by the mid-1970s, included over a dozen locations in California including its headquarters in San Francisco...	Jim Jones Jim Jones James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...	1955	Other Psychic Psychic A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot... , New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...  Groups
Philosophical Research Society Philosophical Research Society The Philosophical Research Society is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1934, by the prolific author and scholar Manly Palmer Hall, which provides learning and development of a philosophy of life which embraces conciliation of religion and science and higher understandings of life...	Manly Palmer Hall Manly Palmer Hall Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian-born author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his 1928 work The Secret Teachings of All Ages.-Early years:...	1934	Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...  Orders
Pilgrims of Arès Pilgrims of Arès The Pilgrims of Arès is the name of a new religious movement founded in 1974 and whose founder was Michel Potay. It was named after the town of Arès, Gironde, where Michel Potay would have received revelations. Beliefs and practices are based on the Revelation of Arès, written by Potay.-Members and...	Michel Potay	1974
Plymouth Brethren Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...	John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...	1830	Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals...
Potter's House Potter's House Christian Fellowship The Potter's House Christian Fellowship is a Christian Pentecostal church organization founded by Pastor Wayman Mitchell in Prescott, Arizona in 1970. The official organization title is Christian Fellowship Ministries or CFM....  also known as Chritian Fellowship Ministries (CFM), The Door, Victory Chapel, Christian Center, Crossroads Chapel, etc.	Wayman Mitchell Wayman Mitchell Wayman Othell Mitchell is the founder of Christian Fellowship Ministries or the Potters House. This organisation is a fellowship of 1,716 independent churches in 110 nations throughout the world. Individual churches of the Potters House also use other names, including: The Door, Victory Chapel,...	1970	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Radha Soami Satsang Beas Radha Soami Satsang Beas Radha Soami Satsang Beas is a spiritual society founded by Jaimal Singh in 1891 at a site called Dera Baba Jaimal Singh on the West bank of the Beas River, Punjab, India....	Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Shiv Dayal Singh Seth Shiv Dayal Singh was born on the 25th august. At the age of five, he was sent to school where he learnt Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Gurumukhi. He also acquired a working knowledge of Arabic and Sanskrit...	1861	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Raëlism Raëlism Raëlism is a UFO religion that was founded in 1974 by Claude Vorilhon, now known as Raël.The Raëlian Movement teaches that life on Earth was scientifically created by a species of extraterrestrials, which they call the Elohim...	Claude Vorilhon (Rael)	1973	Flying Saucer Groups UFO religion UFO religion is an informal term used to describe a religion that equates UFO occupants with gods or other semi-divine beings. Typically, the UFO occupants are held to be extraterrestials and that humanity either currently is, or eventually will become, part of a preexisting extraterrestrial...
Rainbow Family Rainbow Family The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a loosely affiliated group of individuals committed to principles of non-violence and egalitarianism. They put on events known as Rainbow Gatherings....	Barry Adams	late-1960s	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —After 1960
Rajneesh movement Rajneesh movement The Rajneesh movement is a term used by Hugh B. Urban and other commentators to refer collectively to persons inspired by the Indian mystic Osho , particularly initiated disciples who are referred to as "neo-sannyasins" or simply "sannyasins", also formerly known as Rajneeshees or "Orange People",...	Rajneesh Chandra Mohan Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) Osho , born Chandra Mohan Jain , and also known as Acharya Rajneesh from the 1960s onwards, as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh during the 1970s and 1980s and as Osho from 1989, was an Indian mystic, guru, and spiritual teacher who garnered an international following.A professor of philosophy, he travelled...	1966	Eastern Rajneesh movement The Rajneesh movement is a term used by Hugh B. Urban and other commentators to refer collectively to persons inspired by the Indian mystic Osho , particularly initiated disciples who are referred to as "neo-sannyasins" or simply "sannyasins", also formerly known as Rajneeshees or "Orange People",...  Family
Rama computer cult Rama computer cult The Rama Computer Students were, and to some extent still are, an American spiritual and professional group. They were led by Frederick Lenz, known within the group as Zen Master Rama or Rama. The group took different forms over the years, in later years being organized as a career development...
Rastafari	Leonard Howell Leonard Howell Leonard Percival Howell , known as The Gong or G.G. Maragh , was a Jamaican religious figure. According to his biographer Hélène Lee, Howell was born in an Anglican family... , Joseph Hibbert Joseph Hibbert Joseph Nathaniel Hibbert was, along with Leonard Howell, Archibald Dunkley, and Robert Hinds, one of the first preachers of the Rastafari movement in Jamaica following the coronation of Ras Tafari as Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia on 2 November 1930.In about 1911, at the age of 17, he moved... , Archibald Dunkley Archibald Dunkley Henry Archibald Dunkley was, along with Leonard Howell, Joseph Hibbert, and Robert Hinds, one of the first preachers of the Rastafari movement in Jamaica following the coronation of Ras Tafari as Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia on 2 November 1930.... , Robert Hinds	1935	Black Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
Reformed Druids of North America Reformed Druids of North America The 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...		1960s	Neo-Paganism Neopaganism Neopaganism 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...
Religious Science Religious Science Religious Science, also known as Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applies to the teachings, while the term "Religious Science"...	Ernest Holmes Ernest Holmes Ernest Shurtleff Holmes was an American writer and spiritual teacher. He was the founder of a Spiritual movement known as Religious Science, a part of the greater New Thought movement, whose spiritual philosophy is known as "The Science of Mind." He was the author of The Science of Mind and...	1948	New Thought New Thought New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
Risshō Kōsei Kai Rissho Kosei Kai is a Japanese Buddhist lay movement founded in 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma.-History:Rissho Kosei-kai was founded on March 5, 1938 by Nikkyo Niwano and Myoko Naganuma, both former members of the Buddhist sect Reiyūkai. Rev. Niwano met Ms. Naganuma while he was engaged in missionary work...	Nikkyo Niwano Nikkyo Niwano was one of the founders and first president of the Buddhist organization, Risshō Kōsei Kai.-Early life:Born on November 15, 1906 to farmers, Nikkyō had a humble life in a small town. Later in his youth he moved to Tokyo to work and it was here that he began to study several different religions....  and Myoko Naganuma Myoko Naganuma was the co-founder and first vice-president of the Buddhist religious sect Risshō Kōsei Kai.-Early life:She was born as Masa Naganuma on December 25, 1889 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. At the age of sixteen she was adopted by her older sister, but soon left for Tokyo. In Tokyo she found work as a...	1938	Nichiren Buddhist Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...
Rosicrucian Fellowship Rosicrucian Fellowship The Rosicrucian Fellowship – "An International Association of Christian Mystics" – was founded in 1909 by Max Heindel as herald of the Aquarian Age and with the aim of publicly promulgating "the true Philosophy" of the Rosicrucians....	Carl Louis von Grasshof Max Heindel Max Heindel - born Carl Louis von Grasshoff in Aarhus, Denmark on July 23, 1865 - was a Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic. He died on January 6, 1919 at Oceanside, California, United States.- Early infancy :...	1909	Rosicrucianism
Sacred Name Movement Sacred Name Movement The Sacred Name Movement is a movement within Adventism in Christianity, propagated by Clarence Orvil Dodd from the 1930s, that claims to seek to conform Christianity to its "Hebrew Roots" in practice, belief and worship. The best known distinction of the SNM is its advocacy of the use of the...
Sahaja Yoga Sahaja Yoga Sahaja Yoga is a new religious movement founded by Nirmala Srivastava, more widely known as 'Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi' and affectionately as 'Mother' by her followers . According to the movement, Sahaja Yoga is the state of self realization produced by kundalini awakening and is accompanied by the...	Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi Nirmala Srivastava Nirmala Srivastava was the founder of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement...	1970	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...
Saiva Siddhanta Church Saiva Siddhanta Church Śaiva Siddhanta Church is a spiritual institution and identifies itself with the Śaivite Hindu religion. It is based on the precepts of the Nandinatha Sampradaya, and traces its origins to a two thousand year-old lineage of the Kailāsa Paramparā Gurus.The Church was founded in 1949 by...	Subramuniy	1957	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...
The Salvation Army The Salvation Army The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....	William Booth William Booth William Booth was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General...	1865	Nineteenth Century Holiness Holiness movement The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
Sant Nirankari Mission
Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission is a non-profit organization dedicated to spirituality, peace, and service to humanity. It was founded by Sant Darshan Singh and is now guided by Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj. It continues to carry on the work begun by Kirpal Singh...	schism	mid-1970s	Sant Mat Sant Mat Sant Mat was a loosely associated group of teachers that became prominent in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent from about the 13th century...
Scientology Scientology Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...	L. Ron Hubbard L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard , better known as L. Ron Hubbard , was an American pulp fiction author and religious leader who founded the Church of Scientology...	1955	Other Psychic Psychic A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot... , New Age New Age The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...  Groups
Self-Realization Fellowship Self-Realization Fellowship Self-Realization Fellowship / Yogoda Satsanga Society of India is a worldwide spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in 1920 and based in Mount Washington in Los Angeles, California....	Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda Paramahansa Yogananda , born Mukunda Lal Ghosh , was an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of a...	1935	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...
Semitic Neopaganism Semitic Neopaganism Semitic Neopaganism is the revival, mostly US based, of religious traditions deriving from Ancient Semitic religion...	Raphael Patai Raphael Patai Raphael Patai , born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.-Family background:...	1960s	Neo-paganism, Feminism Feminism Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
Seventh-day Adventist Church Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...	Ellen G. White Ellen G. White Ellen Gould White was a prolific author and an American Christian pioneer. She, along with other Sabbatarian Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husband James White, would form what is now known as the Seventh-day Adventist Church.Ellen White reported to her fellow believers her...	1860	Seventh Day Adventists Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
Seventh-day Adventist Reform Movement	schism	1925	Seventh Day Adventists Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
Shakers Shakers The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, is a religious sect originally thought to be a development of the Religious Society of Friends...	Ann Lee Ann Lee Mother Ann Lee was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, or Shakers....	1750s	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —Before 1960
Shepherd's Rod Shepherd's Rod The Shepherd's Rod is a message believed and adopted by Davidian Seventh-day Adventists or Davidians, and authored by Victor T. Houteff . Davidians have claimed themselves a part of the Seventh Day Adventist Church but the majority were disfellowshipped because they follow the interpretations by... , also known as the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association	Victor T. Houteff Victor Houteff Victor Tasho Houteff was a religious reformer and author.Houteff was born in Raicovo, Bulgaria, and as a child baptised as a member of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. As a young man, he was engaged in the mercantile trade...	1935	Seventh Day Adventists Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
Shiloh Youth Revival Centers Shiloh Youth Revival Centers The Shiloh Youth Revival Centers movement was the largest Jesus People communal movement in the United States in the 1970s. Founded by John Higgins in 1968 as a small communal house – House of Miracles – in Costa Mesa, CA, the movement quickly grew to a very large movement catering mostly to...	John J. Higgins, Jr.	1969	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —After 1960
Shinnyo-en	Shinjo Ito Shinjo Ito is the founder of the reputed Buddhist school Shinnyo-en.He was born in Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan. After a career as an aeronautic engineer, he dedicated himself to a religious life...  and Tomoji Ito	1936	Japanese 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...
Shinreikyo Shinreikyo Shinreikyo is a Japanese New Religion founded in 1947. It claims to have 100,000 members.-Founder:The group claims Kanichi Otsuka as its founder, but his wife Kunie Miyashitain also had a role in the development of the group. Kanichi Otsuka claimed to be a child prodigy and took the religious...	Kanichi Otsuka	post–World War II World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...	Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Shri Ram Chandra Mission Shri Ram Chandra Mission The Shri Ram Chandra Mission is a non-profit organization, a new religious movement. It was registered in 1945 in Lucknow, India, by Shri Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur in memory of his spiritual teacher, Shri Ram Chandra of Fatehgarh , whom he met a few times before Lalaji's death in 1931, and...	Shri Ram Chandraji Maharaj	1945	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...
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres The International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres is a non-profit organization named after Swami Sivananda and founded by his disciple Swami Vishnu-devananda...	Kuppuswami Iyer Swami Sivananda Swami Sivananda Saraswati was a Hindu spiritual teacher and a proponent of Yoga and Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He studied medicine and served in Malaya as a physician for several years before taking up monasticism...	1935	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...
Soka Gakkai International Soka Gakkai International is a lay religious movement within Nichiren Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism derived from the teachings of the thirteenth-century Japanese monk, Nichiren Daishonin....	Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Tsunesaburo Makiguchi Tsunesaburō Makiguchi was a Japanese educator who founded and became the first president of Sōka Gakkai....	1930	Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...
Subud Subud Subud is an international spiritual movement that began in Indonesia in the 1920s as a movement founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo. The basis of Subud is a spiritual exercise commonly referred to as the latihan kejiwaan, which was said by Muhammad Subuh to represent guidance from...	Muhammed Subud Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo . As a young man Muhammad Subuh claimed to have received a series of intense experiences that he believed gave him contact with a spiritual energy from a higher power...	1933	Sufism Sufism Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
Sufi Ruhaniat International Sufi Ruhaniat International "The Sufi Ruhaniat International is the Universal Sufi Order founded by Murshid Samuel L. Lewis shortly before he died in 1971. The Ruhaniat is composed of sincere mureeds who tread the Path of Initiation and Discipleship, seeking the truth of the Inner Life through personal practice and direct...	Samuel L. Lewis Samuel L. Lewis Samuel Lewis was an American mystic and dance teacher who founded the Dances of Universal Peace movement. He was also known under his Sufi name Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti and was addressed by his mureeds and others as Murshid...	1968	Sufism Sufism Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
Sukyo Mahikari Sukyo Mahikari Sukyo Mahikari is a nonprofit spiritual and community service organization with centers in more than 75 countries. Originally founded by Kotama Okada in 1959 under the name L.H. Yokoshi Tomo no Kai, Sukyo Mahikari was registered on 23 June 1978 by Keishu Okada as part of an amicable settlement...	Sekiguchi Sakae	1978	Mahikari Mahikari Mahikari is a Japanese new religious movement , with a number of variants or offshoots, founded in 1963 by Yoshikazu Okada...  Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
Summum Summum Summum is a religion and philosophy that began in 1975 as a result of Claude "Corky" Nowell's claimed encounter with beings he described as "Summa Individuals"...	Claude Rex Nowell Claude Nowell Claude Rex Nowell, also known as Corky King, Corky Ra, and Summum Bonum Amon Ra , was the founder of Summum, a 501, philosophical and religious organization that practices a modern form of mummification which has become known worldwide.-Biography:Nowell was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the...	1975	Unclassified Christian Christian A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...  Churches
Tenrikyo Tenrikyo Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion originating in revelations to a 19th-century Japanese woman named Nakayama Miki, known as Oyasama by followers...	Miki Nakayama	1838	Shinto Shinto or 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... ism
Toronto Blessing Toronto Blessing The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...	Randy Clark	1994	Pentecostalism Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...	Brahmananda Saraswati Brahmananda Saraswati Brahmananda Saraswati was the Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math, a revered Hindu spiritual title in India, from 1941 to 1953.-Early life:...  (Guru Dev), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...	1958	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...
True Buddha School True Buddha School The True Buddha School is a modern Vajrayana Buddhist sect based in Taiwan and parts of East Asia with influence from Sutrayana and Taoism.Founded in the late 1980s, the founder of this sect is Lu Sheng-yen , often referred to by his followers as a tulku, a Tibetan term for a reincarnated teacher...	Lu Sheng-yen Lu Sheng-yen Lu Sheng-Yen , commonly referred to by followers as 師尊 is the founder and spiritual leader of the True Buddha School, a new Buddhist sect with teachings taken from Sutrayana and Vajrayana , as well as Taoism...	Late 1980s	Tibetan 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... /Taoism Taoism Taoism 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...
Twelve Tribes Twelve Tribes (new religious movement) The Twelve Tribes , formerly known as The Vine Christian Community Church, Northeast Kingdom Community Church, The Messianic Communities, and the Community Apostolic Order is an international confederation of religious communities founded by Gene Spriggs that sprang out of the Jesus Movement in...	Gene and Marsha Spriggs	1972	Communal Commune Commune may refer to:In society:* Commune, a human community in which resources are shared* Commune , a township or municipality* One of the Communes of France* An Italian Comune... —After 1960
Two by Twos, also known as Cooneyites, Christian Conventions, the Workers and Friends, the Truth, etc.	William Irvine William Irvine (Scottish evangelist) William Irvine was an evangelist from the late nineteenth century, and continuing through the first half of the twentieth century.Mr. Irvine was born in Kilsyth, located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, the third of eleven children of a miner...	1897	Independent fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...  family
Umbanda Umbanda Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with Catholicism, Spiritism and Kardecism, and considerable indigenous lore....	Zélio Fernandino de Moraes Zélio Fernandino de Moraes Zélio Fernandino de Moraes was a Brazilian medium who is considered the founder of the Umbanda Branca sect.He was born on 10 April 1891 in São Gonçalo. At the age of 17, Zélio joined the Brazilian Navy. He was hospitalized with paralysis, but claimed to have been miraculously healed...	1920	Spiritism Spiritism Spiritism is a loose corpus of religious faiths having in common the general belief in the survival of a spirit after death. In a stricter sense, it is the religion, beliefs and practices of the people affiliated to the International Spiritist Union, based on the works of Allan Kardec and others...
Unification Church Unification Church The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...	Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...	1954	Millenarian Millenarianism Millenarianism is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed, based on a one-thousand-year cycle. The term is more generically used to refer to any belief centered around 1000 year intervals... ; Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek... ; Syncretistic Syncretism Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations		1979	Fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...  and Evangelical Evangelicalism Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...  Churches
Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...	merger	1961	Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...
United Holy Church of America United Holy Church of America The United Holy Church of America, Inc. is a predominantly Black Pentecostal Holiness Christian denomination. International headquarters are located in Greensboro, North Carolina. The UHC of A consists of 516 churches, 17 districts, and 8 territories...	Isaac Cheshier	1900	Black Trinitarian Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...  Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
United House of Prayer for All People United House of Prayer For All People The United House of Prayer for All People is a Christian denomination founded by Marcelino Manuel da Graca . Marcelino Manuel da Graça was born in Brava in the Cape Verde Islands...	Marcelino Manoel de Graca Marcelino Manuel da Graca Marcelino Manuel da Graça , better known as Charles Manuel "Sweet Daddy" Grace, was the founder and first bishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. He was born January 25, in Brava in the Cape Verde Islands, then a Portuguese possession off the west coast of Africa...	1925	African American Pentecostal Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
United Israel World Union United Israel World Union United Israel World Union was founded by David Horowitz. Its mission is to present scholarly, historical and biblical research on the Lost Tribes of Israel and to promote their return to the Hebrew Faith and Jewish identity....	David Horowitz	1944	Other Jewish Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...  Groups
United Lodge of Theosophists United Lodge of Theosophists The United Lodge of Theosophists, or ULT, was founded in 1909 by a Theosophical Society member, Robert Crosbie . Crosbie wanted to focus exclusively on the literature left behind by H.P. Blavatsky and William Quan Judge....	Robert Crosbie Robert Crosbie Robert Crosbie was a theosophist and founder of the United Lodge of Theosophists ....	1909	Theosophy Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
United Pentecostal Church International United Pentecostal Church International The United Pentecostal Church International is a Pentecostal Christian denomination, headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, Missouri. It is a part of the Oneness or "Apostolic" portion of the Pentecostal Movement, and was formed in 1945 by a merger of the former Pentecostal Church,...	merger	1945	Apostolic Oneness Pentecostalism Oneness Pentecostalism refers to a grouping of denominations and believers within Pentecostal Christianity, all of whom subscribe to the nontrinitarian theological doctrine of Oneness...  Pentecostals Pentecostalism Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
Unity Church Unity Church Unity, known informally as Unity Church, is a religious movement within the wider New Thought movement and is best known to many through its Daily Word devotional publication...	Charles Fillmore Charles Fillmore (Unity Church) Charles Sherlock Fillmore , born in St. Cloud, Minnesota, founded Unity, a church within the New Thought movement, with his wife, Myrtle Page Fillmore, in 1889...	1903	New Thought New Thought New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
Universal Great Brotherhood Universal Great Brotherhood The Universal Great Brotherhood is a cultural, non governmental, non religious, non profit, non sectarian organization. This organization was founded in Caracas, Venezuela by Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere and registered with the United Nations DPI in 1949 in Algiers, Africa...	Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere Serge Raynaud de la Ferriere Serge Raynaud de la Ferrière was a French religious philosopher.He was born in Paris, France, the son of Georges Constantine Louis Raynaud, who was an engineer, and Virginie Marie Billet. His parents moved to Brussels, Belgium when he was two years old, and his mother died there when he was only...	late 1940s	Other Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...  Groups
Universal Life Church Universal Life Church The Universal Life Church is a religious organization that offers anyone semi-immediate ordination as a ULC minister free of charge. The organization states that anyone can become a minister immediately, without having to go through the pre-ordination process required by other religious faiths...	Kirby Hensley Kirby J. Hensley The Reverend Kirby James Hensley was the president and founder of the Universal Life Church Hensley was born as second in a family of seven children on July 23, 1911, in the mountains of Lowgap, North Carolina. For over 65 years he studied and preached religion throughout the United States...	1962	Liberal Family
Universal White Brotherhood Universal White Brotherhood The Universal White Brotherhood is a New Age-oriented new religious movement founded in Bulgaria in the early 20th century by Peter Deunov and established in France in 1947 by Mihail Ivanov , one of his followers, then renamed Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov...	Peter Deunov Peter Deunov Peter Konstantinov Deunov was a spiritual master and founder of a School of Esoteric Christianity. He is called Master Beinsa Douno by his followers.-Biography:Born on 11 July 1864 in Hadarcha , Bulgaria, around 60 km from Varna...	1900	Other Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...  Groups
Urantia Urantia Foundation The Urantia Foundation is a Chicago-based non-profit that provides materials, promotes events, and provides guidance associated with The Urantia Book...	William S. Sadler William S. Sadler William Samuel Sadler was a well-known American psychiatrist and professor at McCormick Theological Seminary. For over sixty years he practiced medicine in Chicago, thirty-three years being associated in practice with his wife, Lena Kellogg....	1934	UFO UFO religion UFO religion is an informal term used to describe a religion that equates UFO occupants with gods or other semi-divine beings. Typically, the UFO occupants are held to be extraterrestials and that humanity either currently is, or eventually will become, part of a preexisting extraterrestrial...
Vajradhatu Vajradhatu Vajradhatu was the name of the umbrella organization of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist lamas to visit and teach in the West. It served as the vehicle for the promulgation of his Buddhist teachings, and was also the name by which his community was known from 1973 until...	Chögyam Trungpa Chögyam Trungpa Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...	1973	Tibetan 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...
Vedanta Society Vedanta Society The Vedanta Society of Southern California, with its headquarters in Hollywood, was founded in 1930 by Swami Prabhavananda. The society is a branch of the Ramakrishna Order, and maintains subcenters in Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and Trabuco Canyon...	Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...	1894	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...
Volunteers of America Volunteers of America Volunteers of America, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a national, nonprofit, faith-based human services organization providing support programs to more than two million people throughout the United States each year...	Ballington Booth Ballington Booth Ballington Booth was an Officer in The Salvation Army and a co-founder of Volunteers of America.Born in Brighouse, England, Ballington Booth was the second child of William and Catherine Booth, founders of The Salvation Army in 1878...  and Maud Booth Maud Ballington Booth Maud Elizabeth Charlesworth later changed her name to Maud Ballington Booth, was an Salvation Army leader and co-founder of the Volunteers of America....	1896	Nineteenth Century Holiness Holiness movement The holiness movement refers to a set of beliefs and practices emerging from the Methodist Christian church in the mid 19th century. The movement is distinguished by its emphasis on John Wesley's doctrine of "Christian perfection" - the belief that it is possible to live free of voluntary sin - and...
The Way International The Way International The Way International is a non denominational Christian ministry based in New Knoxville, Ohio, with home fellowships located in the United States and in over 30 other countries. It was founded by Victor Paul Wierwille in 1942 as a radio program, and became The Chimes Hour Youth Caravan in 1947, and...	Victor Paul Wierwille Victor Paul Wierwille Victor Paul Wierwille was the founder of The Way International .-Biography:He was raised in and later ordained by the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1941, and he officially left that church in 1957...	1942	Independent fundamentalist Fundamentalist Christianity Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...  family
White Eagle Lodge	Lady Elizabeth Carey	1943	Other Theosophical Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...  Groups
Wicca Wicca Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...	Gerald Gardner Gerald Gardner Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...	c. 1949	Occult Occult The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g... ist
Women's Federation for World Peace Women's Federation for World Peace The Women's Federation for World Peace is an organization whose stated purpose is to encourage women to work more actively in promoting peace in their communities and greater society. It was founded in 1992 by Hak Ja Han, the wife of Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, and is supported by...	Hak Ja Han Hak Ja Han Hak Ja Han or Hakja Han Moon is an influential member of the Unification Church and the wife of the church's founder, Sun Myung Moon. They married in April 1960 and have 13 children and 20 grandchildren...	1992	Unification Church Unification Church The Unification Church is a new religious movement founded by Korean religious leader Sun Myung Moon. In 1954, the Unification Church was formally and legally established in Seoul, South Korea, as The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity . In 1994, Moon gave the church...
The Word Foundation The Word Foundation The Word Foundation is a non-profit organization which was chartered in the state of New York on 22 May 1950. It is the publisher of Thinking and Destiny and other works by Harold W...	Harold W. Percival Harold W. Percival Harold Waldwin Percival was a Theosophist and writer who founded The Word Foundation, famous for his magnum opus Thinking and Destiny....	c. 1904	Theosophy Theosophy Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
Zion's Order, Inc. Zion's Order, Inc. Zion's Order, Inc. is a sect in the Latter Day Saint movement that was founded by Merl Kilgore in 1951.Kilgore was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 1950, when he left the church to join the Aaronic Order. He moved to Bicknell, Utah, where he and another member of...	Dr. Merle Kilgore	1938	Utah Mormons Mormonism Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...

External links

• AcademicInfo: Religious Movements Gateway – Directory of Online Resources
• Hartford Institute of Religious Research: New religious movements
• Online texts about NRMs
• SSSR Resolution on New Religious Groups
• Diskus The on-disk journal of international Religious Studies
• Law Encyclopedia
• Hadden, Jeffrey K.
  Jeffrey K. Hadden
  Jeffrey K. Hadden was an American professor of sociology who began teaching at the University of Virginia in 1972. Hadden earned his Ph.D...
  
   and Douglas Cowan The New Religious Movements Homepage @The University of Virginia http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/
• Religious Movements in the United States: An Informal Introduction