Ethnic religion 344406 223272529 2008-07-03T10:21:23Z 87.5.84.15 Tibetan Buddhism is followed by Tibetans, Mongols, Manchus and many other Asian ethnicities; it's also spreading in the West. '''Ethnic religions''' may include officially sanctioned and organized [[civil religion]]s with an organized [[clergy]], but they are characterized in that adherents generally are defined by their ethnicity, and conversion essentially equates to cultural assimilation to the people in question. Contrasted to this are [[imperial cult]]s that are defined by political influence detached from ethnicity. In antiquity, religion was one defining factor of [[ethnicity]], along with [[language]], regional [[customs]], national costume, etc. As [[Xenophanes]] famously comments: : ''Men make gods in their own image; those of the [[Ethiopians]] are black and snub-nosed, those of the [[Thracians]] have blue eyes and red hair.'' ([[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Stromata]]'' 7.4) With the rise of [[Christianity]], [[Islam]] and [[Buddhism]], ethnic religions came to be marginalized as "leftover" traditions in rural areas, referred to as [[paganism]] or [[Shirk (polytheism)|shirk]] (idolatry). The notion of ''[[goyim|gentiles]]'' ("nations") in Judaism reflect this state of affairs, the implicit assumption that each nation will have its own religion. Historical examples include [[Germanic polytheism]], [[Celtic polytheism]], [[Slavic polytheism]] and pre-Hellenistic [[Ancient Greek religion|Greek religion]]. Contemporary ethnic religions are [[Shinto]] of the [[Japanese people]], [[Judaism]] of the [[Jewish people]] (see: [[Who is a Jew?]]), and [[Hinduism]]<ref>Sopher, ''Geography of Religions'', Prentice-Hall, 1967, page 13</ref> (except for some, comparatively small Hindu movements: see [[Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?]]). Over time, even revealed religion will assume local traits and in a sense will revert to an ethnic religion. This has notably happened in the course of the [[History of Christianity]], which saw the emergence of [[national church]]es with "ethnic flavours" such as [[Germanic Christianity|Germanic]], [[Ethiopian church|Ethiopian]], [[Armenian church|Armenian]], [[Greek Orthodoxy|Greek]], [[Russian Orthodoxy|Russian]] and others.''' ==Indigenous traditional ethnic religions== {{see|List of mythologies}} * [[African traditional religions|African]] ** [[San religion]] ** [[Yoruba religion]] * Asian ** [[Bön]]/[[Tibetan Buddhism]] ** [[Chinese folk religion]] ** [[Korean shamanism]] ** [[Mandaeism]] ** [[Ryukyuan religion]] ** [[Shamanism in Siberia]] ** [[Shinto]] (Japan) ** [[Tengriism]] (Turkic-Mongolic) ** [[Yazdânism]] (Kurdish) ** [[Zoroastrianism]] ([[Parsi]]) * [[Circumpolar religion|Arctic]] ** [[Sami religion]] / [[Noaidi]] ** [[Shamanism among Eskimo peoples]] / [[Inuit mythology]] * Indo-European ** [[Folk Hinduism]] ** [[Slavic Religion]] * [[Native American religions|North America]] ** [[Anishinaabe traditional beliefs]] ** [[Mesoamerican Calendar Religion]] / [[Mexico]] / [[Central America]] ==Ethnic Christian Churches== {{see|National church}} * [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] * [[Assyrian Christianity]] * [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] * [[Church of England]] * [[Church of Scotland]] * [[Church of Sweden]] * [[Coptic Church]] * [[Ethiopic Church]] * [[Eritrean Orthodox Church]] * [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark]] * [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland]] * [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland]] * [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway]] * [[Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church]] * [[Greek Orthodox Church]] * [[Macedonian Orthodox Church]] * [[Russian Orthodox Church]] * [[Romanian Orthodox Church]] * [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] ==[[Folkish]] Neopagan revivals== {{see|Paganism}} {{see|Polytheistic reconstructionism}} * [[Baltic neopaganism|Baltic]] ** [[Romuva (church)|Lithuanian]] ** [[Dievturība|Latvian]] * [[Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism|Celtic]] * [[Finnish neopaganism|Finnish]] * [[Germanic neopaganism|Germanic]] ([[Ásatrú|Norse]], [[Theodism|Anglo-Saxon]]) * [[Hellenic neopaganism|Greek]] * [[Slavic neopaganism|Slavic]] ==See also== * [[Animism]] * [[Civil religion]] * [[Evolution of religion]] * [[Paganism]] * [[Pre-Christian Alpine traditions]] * [[Shamanism]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== [[Category:Religion]] [[Category:Paganism]]