Sociology of religion

thumb|Depiction of witchcraft in John William Waterhouse's painting The Magic Circle (1886)

thumb|300px|Major denominations and religions of the world A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had separated from a main body, but it can now apply to any group that diverges from a larger organization to follow a distinct set of beliefs and practices. Sects often form when there is a perception of heresy either within the subgroup or from the larger group.

thumb|A totem pole in [[Ottawa, Ontario, Canada]]

branch of sociology

Indigenous (Scheduled) tribe in South Asia

implicit religious values of a nation

Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will". The Latin authors defined it as follows: Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (), a god "whose numen everything obeys", and a "divine power" () "which pervades the lives of men". It causes the motions and cries of birds during augury. In Virgil's recounting of the blinding of the one-eyed giant, Polyphemus, from the Odyssey, in his Aeneid, he has Odysseus and his men first "ask for the assistance of the great numina" (). Reviewing public opinion of Augustus on the day of his funeral, the historian Tacitus re

ethnic group of people whose members are also unified by a common religious background

In social science, disenchantment () is the cultural rationalization and devaluation of religion apparent in modern society. The term was borrowed from Friedrich Schiller by Max Weber to describe the character of a modernized, bureaucratic, secularized Western society. In Western society, according to Weber, scientific understanding is more highly valued than belief, and processes are oriented toward rational goals, as opposed to traditional society, in which "the world remains a great enchanted garden".

A hierophany is a manifestation of the sacred. The word is a formation of the Greek adjective hieros (, 'sacred, holy') and the verb phainein (φαίνειν, 'to reveal, to bring to light').

five or more largest and most widespread religious movements

adjective to worldliness, as opposed to sacredness

Demonization or demonisation is the reinterpretation of polytheistic deities as evil, lying demons by other religions, generally by the monotheistic and henotheistic ones. The term has since been expanded to refer to any characterization of individuals, groups, or political bodies as evil.

thumb|The magic circle|magical circle and triangle, magical objects/symbols used in the evocation of the seventy-two spirits of the Ars Goetia

The term ' (German for "primeval monotheism") or "primitive monotheism'" expresses the hypothesis of a monotheistic Urreligion, from which polytheistic religions allegedly degenerated. This evolutionary view of religious development contrasts diametrically with another evolutionary view on the development of religious thought: the hypothesis that religion progressed from simple forms to complex: first pre-animism, then animism, totemism, polytheism, and finally monotheism.

The concept of Magic in Islam

religion in which belief systems and rituals are systematically arranged and formally established

an argument about the positive correlation between the rise of Protestant Pietism and early experimental science

metatheories of religion in the social sciences

Classifications of religious movements

Postsecularism (also, postsecular turn) refers to a range of theories regarding the persistence or resurgence of religious beliefs or practices in the present. The "post-" may refer to after the end of secularism or after the beginning of secularism.

belief in witchcraft in Europe

Wikimedia list article

attitude of deep respect tinged with awe

various types of witchcraft practices across Asia

thumb|270x270px|Importance of religion by country in a 2008-2009 poll by Gallup.In sociology, desecularization (also spelled desecularisation) is a resurgence or growth of religion after a period of secularization. The theory of desecularization is a reaction to the theory known as the secularization thesis, which posits a gradual decline in the importance of religion and in religious belief itself, as a universal feature of modern society. The term desecularization was coined by Peter L. Berger, a former proponent of the secularization thesis, in his 1999 book The Desecularization of the Worl

religious souvenir

customs of social and political behavior, socially constructed and historically specific

American folk religion

the ability to understand religion

the belief that Christianity is being oppressed in the Western world

core practice in Christian denominations

Christianese refers to the contained terms and jargon used within many of the branches and denominations of Christianity as a functional system of religious terminology or religiolect. It is characterized by the use in everyday conversation of certain words, theological terms, puns and catchphrases, in ways that may be only comprehensible within the context of a particular Christian sect or denomination. The terms used do not necessarily come from the Bible itself. They may have come into use through discussions about doctrine, through the social history of the Christian church at large, or in

social movement

symbol of division between rich and poor in religions

adoption of a dominant culture's religion

sociological theory that a nonsectarian quasi-religious faith exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history