There are more than 5,000 religious cults in the world, which have had and still have their own admirers. A special science - religious studies - deals with the study and classification of such diversity.
There are several dozen classifications of religions in science, but the most famous and most universal is the classification of E. Tylor, which divides religions according to an evolutionary principle.
Ancestor cult
The lowest level in this classification is occupied by the cult of ancestors. Despite the fact that this type of religion is the oldest of all, it has many followers all over the world. The peoples of Southeast Asia (residents of India, China, Indonesia and Thailand) make daily offerings to the spirits of their ancestors in the form of food, drink and flowers. In addition, the cult of ancestors is very widespread in Japan and in the countries of Central and South America.
Fetishism
Fetishism or worship of special sacred things and symbols began to spread with the development of the social system. The object of worship in religions of this kind was magic items and amulets. One way or another, even world religions include echoes of fetishism (as an example, the symbolic wearing of crosses by Christians, statues of Buddha, Christ, or the Muslim Kaaba stone can be cited).
Idolatry
Idolatry - that is, worship of the image of a deity appeared with the development of artistic and technical skills in people. Idols were carved from stone or wood and were distributed throughout the world. In part, idolatry was combined with shamanism and animism (in the case of wooden images of Indian totems or stones of the Easter Islands). Idolatry later developed into polytheism.
Polytheism
Polytheism or polytheism is the most voluminous type in terms of the number of religions. It can include the worship of any pantheon of deities, ranging from ancient Egyptian and ancient Sumerian beliefs, which have long had no admirers, and ending with one of the world's largest religions - Hinduism. Polytheism also includes such widespread in the modern world religions as Shintoism, Taoism, Jainism, partly Buddhism (in which historically it is customary to recognize not only the existence of Buddha, but also various gods, demigods and devas), Vika (neo-paganism). On the territory of Russia, polytheism is widespread in eastern Siberia, on the territory of the Altai Mountains, in Udmurtia, Chuvashia, and partly Bashkiria.
Monotheism
Modern world religions are considered monotheistic - Christianity (and all its many branches), Islam, Judaism. In monotheism, or monotheism, the idea of the existence of a single Creator or one divine principle in several figures develops. Of the lesser known, but major monotheistic teachings, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism can be distinguished.
