Each of the largest religions in the world has its own denominations that differ from each other. It is necessary to understand the difference between a confession and religion itself and to present the peculiarities of the view of each confession on the doctrine to which it belongs.
The concept of confession as a component of religious doctrine
"Confession" is translated from Latin as "denomination". This is a broad understanding of this word, however, with the development of various directions of Christian Protestantism, a narrower, more specific meaning has appeared. Now a confession is one of the movements, a religious community or a church within the framework of one creed. There can be from several to very many of them. Nevertheless, the most famous, most popular confessions in Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism (the largest religions in the world in terms of the number of believers) are about three to five. In general, there are a huge number of confessions, the names of which for many people who do not belong to them will sound strange and incomprehensible.
The most numerous denominations of several of the largest religions in the world
There is a simplified division of Christianity into confessions, which many know: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism. A slightly educated person will be able to expand the concept of Protestantism and divide it into three major branches: Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Calvinism. You can add Pentecostalism and Baptism to the list of Protestant denominations, but the more well-known communities, such as Mormons, Moonists, Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose in the twentieth century, exist separately, not fitting into the primitive three-part division.
In Islam, everything is also not so simple. There are three main branches: Sunnism, Shiism, and Salafism. The latter, as well as the Sufis, a smaller group, are often referred to as Sunnis due to the coincidence in many views on the basic principles of religion. Sunnis make up the overwhelming majority of Muslims today. Shiites are the second largest denomination. Shiites are traditionally divided into the following movements: Twelver Shiites, Ismailis, Alawites, Alevis, Zaidis and other small communities. There are also Kharijites and other currents and sects that do not belong to the main directions of Islam.
There are no less different confessions in Buddhism. As with the two previous religions, Buddhism has three main branches: Mahayana, Hinayana, and Vajrayana. In modern religion, Mahayana and Theravada are distinguished. There are dozens of schools and teachings within these currents. This is not surprising, since among the most popular beliefs, Buddhism is the oldest religion with a long history. It is hardly possible to list all the existing Buddhist denominations, as well as the communities of other major religions. Many denominations prove that the scriptures of any denomination can be read and understood in different ways by the followers of this teaching.
