Religion

I have been trying to familiarise myself with the different types of religion that have been or that are prevalent now. After a fair bit of reading, this is my further categorisation of those religions. The first job in understanding where these concepts arose from is to split the religions or belief systems into two different groups.

Monotheistic religions
These religions attribute all power and influence to one deity. This being is 'all-powerful' in the strongest meaning of the term. If you're wondering what Abrahamic means - see Abrahamic religions

Christianity - Abrahamic
Islam - Abrahamic
Judaism - Abrahamic
Zoroastrianism
Mandaeism - Part Abrahamic, recognises certain elements of other Abrahamic religions
Bahá'í Faith - everyone is right, majority if not all prophets from all religions are manifestations of God - massive amount of sitting on the fence here
Hinduism - both monotheistic and polytheistic, some believe that all deities (devas & devis) or avatars are one specific all-mighty being (the name differs from one denomination). Others believe the deities are indeed separate.


Polytheistic/Other
The following belief systems are a little more complex, and to lump them together like this is not pretty, but practical. It basically shows us the modern alternatives to monotheistic faiths, which after all, are the more common (or fashionable!). Polytheistic faiths, of course, were much more prevalent in classical times; the Greek and Roman belief systems were certainly polytheistic in a sense, but they were more like Hinduism in their acceptance of a 'more' supreme deity (i.e Zeus), or group of deities (the Roman archaic triad, for example).


Buddhism - has four deities called Brahmas, the concepts of reincarnation and betterment of the soul (and consequently a better 'physical form') through enlightenment and meditation. Despite this the soul does not appear to be able to attain deity-like status.
Hinduism - see above
Taoism - spiritual belief free of deities, belief in understanding the universe by understanding yourself and your own mind.

Scientology has been removed, because its not a religion, its a scam, and a pretty big one at that - more info on the post above



Now I realise this is not a complete set of religious beliefs, but I feel it is more important, now I have a broad feeling for belief systems, to begin to analyse their origins and the similarities that may lie within. That's for the next post, when I'll probably start by looking at similarities in the Abrahamic religions and try and delve into their actual origins.