Taxonomia Religionum

Founded: ~65,000+ years (oldest continuous spiritual tradition)

Australia (hundreds of distinct nations)

In the Dreaming (Tjukurpa/Jukurrpa), ancestral beings rose from the earth and traveled across the featureless world, singing and creating all landforms, animals, plants, and laws. The Dreaming is not past — it is an eternal present underlying all reality. The landscape IS the creation story.

Founded: 1844 CE

Persia (modern Iran)

Creation has neither beginning nor end. God has always been creating. The universe is an emanation of God's will. Physical and spiritual evolution are ongoing processes.

Founded: ~1st century CE influences; formalized ~14th-15th century

Bali, Indonesia

Blends Hindu cosmology (Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva) with indigenous animism. Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa is the supreme divine principle. The universe consists of visible (sekala) and invisible (niskala) realms. Cosmic balance between opposing forces (rwa bhineda) is fundamental.

Founded: ~5th century BCE

Indian Subcontinent (Nepal/Northern India)

No creator god. No ultimate beginning to the universe. Existence is a beginningless cycle of dependent origination (pratityasamutpada). The universe arises, persists, and dissolves through natural processes of cause and effect. The Buddha considered cosmogonic speculation unhelpful (the 'poisoned arrow' parable).

Founded: 1926 CE

Vietnam (Tay Ninh)

Cao Dai (Supreme Being / Highest Power) created the universe through the interaction of yin and yang. The Mother Goddess (Dieu Tri Phat Mau) gave birth to all beings. God has revealed truth progressively through three eras, with Cao Dai as the Third Era of divine revelation unifying all previous religions.

Founded: ~30 CE

Roman Palestine / Eastern Mediterranean

God created the universe from nothing. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth' (Genesis 1:1). Humanity created in God's image but fell through original sin (Genesis 3). Christ as Logos present at creation (John 1:1-3).

Founded: ~551 BCE (Confucius)

China (Lu state)

Confucius largely avoided cosmogonic speculation. 'The Master did not speak of prodigies, force, disorder, or gods' (Analerta 7.21). Focus on human relations, not cosmic origins. Later Neo-Confucians developed cosmological ideas (li/qi — principle and material force).

Founded: 1017 CE

Fatimid Egypt; now Lebanon, Syria, Israel

God is an indivisible, unknowable unity (Tawhid). The cosmos emanates through five cosmic principles: Universal Mind (al-Aql), Universal Soul, the Word, the Precedent, and the Immanent. Influenced by Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. God manifested in human form through al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

Founded: Prehistoric (~500-1300 CE arrival)

Hawaiian Islands

The Kumulipo is a 2,000-line creation chant tracing origin from cosmic darkness (po) through progressive stages into light (ao). Life begins in the sea with coral and evolves through complex forms. Kane is the primary creative force. Humans are kin to all living things through shared genealogy.

Founded: ~1500 BCE (Vedic period; roots much older)

Indian Subcontinent

Multiple creation narratives. Rigveda's Nasadiya Sukta questions even whether creation can be known. Brahman as ultimate reality from which the universe emanates and into which it dissolves. Cosmic cycles (kalpas) of creation, preservation, and destruction governed by Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Each kalpa spans 4.32 billion years.

Founded: Prehistoric (~4,500+ years in Arctic)

Circumpolar Arctic (Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Siberia)

The Inuit cosmos is ruled by no one. There are no divine creator figures, no creation-from-nothing narrative. The world simply exists, populated by beings (human, animal, spirit) who all possess inua (soul/spirit). Raven appears in some regional creation narratives but is a trickster-transformer, not a deity. Sedna (Sea Woman) became mistress of sea animals through a traumatic origin story, not through divine creation. The cosmos has multiple layers: sky, earth, sea-floor, and underworld.

Founded: 610 CE

Arabian Peninsula (Mecca/Medina)

Allah created the heavens and the earth in six periods (ayyam). 'He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth' (Quran 6:101). Humanity created from clay; Adam as first prophet. No doctrine of original sin inherited through generations.

Founded: ~6th century BCE (Mahavira; tradition claims much older)

Indian Subcontinent

The universe (loka) is uncreated and eternal — it has no beginning and no end. No creator god. The universe functions through natural laws. Jain cosmology describes a multi-layered universe with specific spatial structure. Matter (pudgala), souls (jiva), and other fundamental substances have always existed.

Founded: ~2000-1500 BCE

Levant (ancient Israel/Palestine)

God (YHWH) created the universe from nothing in six days, resting on the seventh. Humanity created in God's image (tzelem Elohim). Genesis 1-2 provides two complementary creation narratives.

Founded: Prehistoric roots; syncretic form ~15th century

Java, Indonesia

Blends pre-Hindu Javanese animism, Hindu-Buddhist cosmology, and Sufi mysticism. The universe emanates from divine unity; human souls are sparks of divine essence. Semar, a uniquely Javanese divine trickster, mediates between gods and humans.

Founded: Prehistoric (Great Plains traditions; documented from 18th century)

Great Plains (modern South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska)

Wakan Tanka (Great Mystery/Great Spirit) is not an anthropomorphic deity but the all-encompassing sacred force permeating the universe. From Han (primordial darkness), Wakan Tanka emanated Inyan (Rock), Maka (Earth), Skan (Sky), and Wi (Sun) — sixteen Wakan Tankas total. All beings are aspects of this unified sacred field. The Sacred Hoop (Cangleska Wakan) represents the interconnection of all things.

Founded: ~1st-2nd century CE (possibly older)

Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq/Iran)

The supreme deity, the Great Life (Hayyi Rabbi), emanates light-beings (uthras). The material world was created by a flawed demiurge (Ptahil). The physical world is a mixture of light and darkness. Water is the primordial sacred element.

Founded: 3rd century CE (Mani, ~216-274 CE)

Sassanid Persia; spread to Roman Empire, Central Asia, China

Two co-eternal principles: the Realm of Light (Father of Greatness) and the Realm of Darkness. The material world was created when Darkness invaded Light, trapping particles of light in matter. The cosmos is a machine for separating light from darkness.

Founded: Prehistoric (arrived in Aotearoa ~1300 CE)

Aotearoa / New Zealand

In Te Kore (the void), Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (Earth Mother) were locked in embrace. Their children — Tane, Tangaroa, Tu — pushed them apart to create light and space. Tane Mahuta created humans from earth. All life descends through whakapapa (genealogy).

Founded: Prehistoric (Southwest arrival 1000-1525 CE; traditions older)

Diné Bikéyah (Four Corners: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado)

The Diné emerged upward through a series of lower worlds (usually four: Black, Blue, Yellow, and Glittering/White worlds) into the present Glittering World, guided by the Holy People (Diyin Dine'é). Four sacred mountains define the boundaries of Diné Bikéyah. Changing Woman (Asdzáá Nádleehé) is the most revered deity — she represents the cycle of seasons and renewal. Wind (Nilch'i) is the animating force of all life.

Founded: Roots in Enlightenment (~18th century); formalized 20th century

Global (Western origin)

The universe originated through natural processes (Big Bang, ~13.8 billion years ago). Life evolved through natural selection over ~3.8 billion years. No supernatural creation event. The universe is not created for humanity — humans are a product of blind evolutionary processes on an ordinary planet. This is the explicit rejection of all cosmogonic narratives in the taxonomy.

Founded: Prehistoric (formalized ~8th century CE)

Japan

As told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki: primordial deities (kami) emerged from cosmic chaos. Izanagi and Izanami (male and female kami) stirred the cosmic ocean and created the Japanese islands and many kami. Amaterasu (sun goddess) is the supreme kami, ancestor of the imperial line.

Founded: 1469 CE

Punjab (Indian Subcontinent)

One God (Ik Onkar) created the universe through divine will (hukam). Before creation, God existed in a state of abstract meditation (sunn samadhi). Creation emerged from the divine Word (Shabad). Multiple worlds and realms exist.

Founded: ~300 BCE (Zeno of Citium)

Athens; spread through Roman Empire; modern global revival

The universe is a single living, rational organism governed by Logos (divine reason/natural law). Matter and reason are not separate — Logos permeates all matter (materialist pantheism). The cosmos undergoes eternal cycles of conflagration (ekpyrosis) and regeneration (palingenesis). Everything that happens is determined by the chain of cause and effect (fate/heimarmene), which IS the Logos.

Founded: ~4th century BCE (as philosophy; religious Taoism later)

China

'The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao' (Daodejing 1). The Dao (Way) is the ultimate source — formless, nameless, prior to all things. 'The Dao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced the Ten Thousand Things' (Daodejing 42). Yin and Yang emerge as the dynamic polarity of all existence.

Founded: 1838 CE (Nakayama Miki)

Japan (Tenri, Nara Prefecture)

God the Parent (Tenri-O-no-Mikoto) created humanity from muddy loam at the place called Jiba (now Tenri City). Creation involved a series of divine models and providences. God created humans to live joyously — the 'Joyous Life' is the original divine intention.

Founded: 1954 CE (Gerald Gardner)

England; now global

The universe is sacred and alive, permeated by divine energy manifesting as the God and Goddess (or multiple deities). No single creation narrative — emphasis on the eternal cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth reflected in nature. The Wheel of the Year ritualizes this cycle through eight sabbats.

Founded: Prehistoric (formalized traditions ~1000+ years old)

West Africa (modern Nigeria, Benin, Togo)

Olodumare (Supreme Creator) is the source of all existence and ase (life force). Creation was delegated to the Orishas: Obatala molded humans from clay, Oduduwa created dry land from primordial waters using a snail shell, a hen, and a palm nut. Ile-Ife is the sacred city of origin.

Founded: ~1500-1000 BCE (Zarathushtra)

Persia (modern Iran / Central Asia)

Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) created a perfect spiritual world, then a material world as a battleground against Angra Mainyu (Destructive Spirit). Creation is inherently good — the material world is an ally, not a prison. Time is divided into a finite period of 'mixture' (gumezishn) during which good and evil are intermixed.