Top 10 Lesser Known Religions

Source

Many have heard of Christianity, Baptist, Buddhism, Mormonism, and so on. Have you heard of a religion based on spirits, dreaming, or even the religion of the earth being represented as a turtle? This list covers religions that people practice all over the world and some ancient religions such as, Zoroastrianism. Diversity in religion is what makes or World an interesting place to live in. A lot of people will be informed from the religions in this list.

10. Candomble

Candomble is the most African religion in Brazil and the oldest. It identifies Yoruba spirits with Catholic saints. Originally, the leaders of Brazilian faiths have been women, called mothers of the saint. They perform rituals such as animal sacrifice. They also watch over people who are possessed by various spirits.

9.Sikhsm

Sikhism is an Indian religion, Sikhs call the faith” The way of the Guru” All 10 human gurus that led the Sikhs inhibited one spirit. After the death of the 10th guru the spirit transferred itself into sacred scripture of Sikhism. Sikhs practice their worship in a building called gurdwara. In the gurdwara a statue of Guru Granth is on an elevated platform with flowers and fanned. The Sikhs listen to and participate in singing from the Guru Granth. They observe the “five k’s”: They do not cut their hair, they carry combs, they wear special steel bracelets, they carry swords, and the wear a special kind of pants. Male Sikhs for the most part wear turbans over their hair. Since September 11, 2001, attacks Sikhs in the United States experienced discriminatory treatment and violence because some people wrongly associated their distinctive appearance with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.

8. Umbanda

Umbanda has elements from Christianity, African and native religions and believes in reincarnation. Umbanda believes in only one creator God and the cult of saints. They have adopted the creed in psychics as a way to contact spirits of deceased people. Also, the Umbanda religion rejects the witchcraft of Macumba and Quimbanda rituals such as animal sacrifice. Since mid-2004 381,000 Europeans study this religion.

7. Jainism

Jainism is a religious movement of the Jains and follows the religious path of Vardhamana Mahavira a prophet also known as the Jina, or “Victor”. Jina lived in the same time as Buddha. After Mahavira the Jains had numerous rulers. One ruler of the Jainism was Candragupta Maurya who fasted to death on a small hill overlooking a village. The monks and nuns take the five “great vows” pledging to stay away from injuring life, false speech, taking what is not given, unchastity, and appropriation. Although there is a sixth vow not taking food and drink at night. Today the Jains are small but influential prosperous group of 2,604,837 people (1981 census).

6. Zoroastrians

Zoroastrians is one of the most ancient living religions. The founder of Zoroastrian is Zarathushtra who historians think lived around the beginning of the first millennium BCE. It was the religion of Iran under the rule of the Iranian–speaking Aryan populations. The roots of Zoroastrianism can be found in eastern Iranian, tribal, and basically pastoral society. The religion originated around 1000 BCE and developed further under the first Persian Empire.

5. Quimbanda

In recent years, despite gaining a greater following among some middle class whites, it has begun to assert itself as a separate tradition from Umbanda. Rituals are concerned with necromancy,divination or preparation of amulets, potions or other devices intended to bring supernatural aid, to obtaining resources or to deal with other areas of life. Additionally, the spirit-entities of this cult provide advice to their followers to aid in resolving life’s problems.Since mid-2004 104,352,000 Asian peoples follow this religion.

4. The Dreaming

Aboriginal religion turns not on worship but on identification. The participation in and acting out of archetypal paradigms. One of the religious beliefs was that before animals and humans and plants were created, there were souls and they knew that they would become physical, but not when. They then knew the time was right and they all one by one all said “we will do our very best to try to help the one that takes care of us all. They all became animals and the plants. Then the last soul became the human. That is why Aboriginal people respect the environment and want to be with the nature because they are their friends.

3. Turtles and Tortoises

Now your probably saying to yourself isn’t a turtle the same as a tortoise, but it is not true. A turtle lives near water and can breath underwater on the other hand a tortoise stores their own water and walks on sand. Nevertheless, the religions that have the turtle and tortoise belief system do not distinguish from the two. The earth rests on the back of a turtle or tortoise is what some believe. North American Indians and South as well as Inner Asia have turtle Symbols. North American Indians believe that a turtle dived to the bottom of the ocean and got a little soil underneath its nails; when the turtle came to the surface, God scraped its nails and made a ball like small pebble. The ball of soil from the dirt underneath the turtles nails grew and became as large as the universe itself. In some versions of Inner Asia stories Mandishire (the bodhisattva Manjusri) transforms himself into a great turtle and supports the earth he has made on the surface of the waters. China has a symbol of the turtle as the entire universe; the dome shaped back represents the sky, and the belly stands for the earth.

2. Pentecostalism

Pentecostalism is a popular religion; a soccer stadium with 100,000 people came to here a priest named Marcelo Rossi speak about the Pentecostalism in November 1997. Pentecostal churches look down on other religions in Brazil because they think the violence and drugs are due to these other “evil” religions. The largest Pentecostal church in Brazil is the Igreja Universal do Reino de Dues, the Universal Church of God’s Kingdom. This new form of Catholicism may not count as a lesser known religion, although together with Afro-Brazilian religions and New Pentecostal movements, it helps make for religious life and diversity in Brazil. Since mid-2004 107 different countries follow Pentecostalism.

1.Spiritism

Spiritism is a religion that is not seen as a religion at all to its followers. Spiritism does not support formal adoration, require regular frequency or formal membership and says that they are not opposed to science, instead trying to harmonize with it. Mainly Christianity and Western traditions are the roots of Spiritism. Spiritists pray to God, who is seen as the ultimate cause, or source, of all things and beings Spiritism is based on a philosophical doctrine written by Léon Denizard Rivail. L`eon observed a series of phenomena that could be only attributed to incorporeal intelligence (spirits). A very popular movie Ghost with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze was moderately similar to the teachings of Spiritism depicting an after life.