Why Are Denominations And Branches Included?

Typologies of religious hierarchies are complex because they consider a range of social, organisational and belief (spiritual/existential) factors. We use an (up to) three-tiered structure to classify religious groups which allows users to precisely specify their religious affiliation, as the nuance of differing branches of any religious or spiritual movement are often quite pronounced.

At the top of the hierarchy sits the dominant category of what is, in the case of Christian religions for instance, the ‘church’, with sub-categories of each church listed within the database as well, should participants wish to take a ‘deeper dive’.

Note: We also have options such as ‘Self Defined Christian’ and ‘Non-Religious Buddhist in our datasets.

Examples:

• Christian → Catholic → Roman Catholic
• Christian → Orthodox → Greek Orthodox
• Islam → Sunni → Hanafi
• Buddhist → Mahayana → Zen
• Hindu → Vaishnava → Smarta
• Spiritism → Afro Brazilian → Candomble
• Humanist → at present we do not have other branches or sub groups listed for humanism. Know of any? Please get in touch!