Ethnicity and culture are distinct from faith.
Look it up, for crying out loud!
Look it up indeed. Seems religions can be classified as either universal or ethnic. Many references exist - here's a couple:
oak.cats.ohiou.edu
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2. Universalizing religions
a. membership open to all who choose to make a solemn symbolic commitment
b. membership is usually relatively easy - baptism, declaration of faith, etc.
c. they often have evangelic overtones because members are admonished to spread the faith
d. large geographic distributions
e. examples: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism
3. Ethnic religions
a. membership is by birth or by adopting a complex lifestyle
b. strong territorial or ethnic group identification
c. small geographic distributions
d. examples: Judaism, Hinduism, Shinto
4. Indigenous ("Tribal") religions
a. special forms of ethnic religions
b. practiced by localized culture groups not yet fully absorbed into a larger society
c. close ties with nature
d. small geographic distributions
suu.edu
We classify all religions into two basic groups. The first is called proselytizing or universalizing, one that actively seeks converts and to spread their faith. The three major proselytizing religions are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
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The second major classification of religions is called ethnic religions, those associated with distinct ethnic or tribal groups, occupy usually only one area of the earth, and do not actively seek converts. Major ethnic religions include Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Judaism, and Animism. |
