The term Western religion refers to religions A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity or deities, or ultimate truth. Religion is commonly identified by the practitioner's prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, that originated within Western culture Western culture refers to cultures of European origin, and are thus which historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from the Eastern religions Eastern religion is a term used to refer to religions originating in the Eastern world —India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia —and thus have dissimilarities with Western religions. This includes the East Asian and Indian religious traditions, as well as animistic indigenous religions. The contrast between Western and Eastern religions largely pertains to the distinction between monotheism In theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Some forms of Hinduism also use this form of and polytheism Polytheism is the belief in or worship of multiple deities, called gods and goddesses. These are usually assembled into a pantheon, along with their own mythologies and rituals. Many religions, both historical and contemporary, have a belief in polytheism, such as Hinduism, Shinto, Ancient Greek Polytheism, Roman Polytheism, Germanic Polytheism,, respectively, and the term Abrahamic religion Abrahamic religions has become a popular and often used designation for the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, emphasizing their common origin and values. For some 1,300 years their histories and thought have been intertwined. The three are all considered inextricably linked to one another because of a 'family likeness' and a is often used in lieu of using the East and West terminology.
Western culture itself was significantly developed through the emergence of Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament as it was introduced in the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor, Augustus in the late 4th century and evolved in the course of the European Middle Ages The Middle Ages of European history is a period of international history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. It is commonly dated from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and contrasted with a later Early Modern Period; the time during which the Reformation and the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance, and the term "Christendom Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity. This community numbers in the billions of people of the world population. This community is spread across many different nations and ethnic groups connected only by faith in Christ and" largely indicates this intertwined history. Western Christianity was significantly influenced by Hellenistic religion Hellenistic religion is any of the various systems of beliefs and practices of the peoples who lived under the influence of ancient Greek culture during the Hellenistic period and the Roman Empire . There was much continuity in Hellenistic religion: the Greek gods continued to be worshipped, and the same rites were practiced as before. Change came (notably Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism. The central concept of Platonism is the Theory of Forms: the transcendent, perfect archetypes, of which objects in the everyday world are imperfect copies and Gnosticism Gnosticism refers to diverse, syncretistic religious movements in antiquity consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god, the demiurge; this being is frequently identified with the Abrahamic god, (as opposed to the Gospel according to the) as well as the Roman imperial cult The Roman Imperial cult identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned, charismatic authority of the Roman State. The framework for Imperial cult was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus, and was rapidly established throughout the Empire and its provinces, with marked local variations in its. Western Christianity is based on Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church,[note 1] is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians[note 2] and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Church, and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches (called (Latin Rite The Latin Rite or Latin Church is the majority rite or particular church within the Catholic Church, comprising roughly 80% of its membership. The Latin Rite is one of the 23 sui iuris particular churches within the Catholic Church. This particular church developed in western Europe and north Africa, where, from antiquity to the Renaissance, Latin), as opposed to Eastern Orthodoxy The Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church,[note 1] and commonly referred to in English-speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church,[note 2] is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members. It is considered by its adherents to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, from which it was divided by the Great Schism of the 11th century, and further includes all Protestant traditions Protestantism is a branch within Christianity that contains many denominations with differing practices and doctrines. It principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 splitting off Roman Catholicism from the 16th century.
Since the 19th century, Western religious practice has diversified into numerous new religious movements A new religious movement is a faith-based community, or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of recent origin. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, in which case they will be distinct from pre-existing denominations. Scholars studying the sociology of religion have almost unanimously, including Occultism The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g. an "occult bleed" may be one detected indirectly by the presence of otherwise unexplained anaemia, Spiritism Spiritism is a philosophical doctrine, established in France in the mid-nineteenth century and diverse forms of Neopaganism Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by pre-Christian pagan beliefs of Europe.
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Contrary to the dominant . Western. perception, Islam is not an Eastern culture . Islam is the last . religion. revealed to mankind as a guide to the true path that recommends itself to all humanity. Muslims are responsible for communicating ...
