Basic Groupings    Theravada Buddhism: The oldest Buddhist school, Theravada is practiced mostly in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Thailand, with minority representation elsewhere in Asia and the West. [14], There are no accurate numbers on the population of Zoroastrians in Iraq because they are listed as "Muslims" on their government-issued documents.[15].

Mormonism (including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints): Originating in 1830 in the United States under Joseph Smith, Mormonism is not characterized as a form of Protestant Christianity because it claims additional revealed Christian scriptures after the Hebrew Bible and New Testament. After the Six-Day War in Israel, rioting caused the majority of Jews to flee. ), Hinduism is an extremely diverse set of beliefs and practices with no single founder or religious authority. Small communities of Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians are also found throughout the country. Our funeral rituals are different from those of Muslims. He was chosen to be the Kakai representative in Halabja, the first such position in contemporary Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) history. Hoa Hao: a minority tradition of Buddhism practiced in Vietnam that stresses lay participation, primarily by peasant farmers; it eschews expensive ceremonies and temples and relocates the primary practices into the home. The core characteristics and beliefs of the world's major religions are described below. Spiritualism: the belief that souls and spirits communicate with the living usually through intermediaries called mediums.Syncretic (fusion of diverse religious beliefs and practices)     Cao Dai: a nationalistic Vietnamese sect, officially established in 1926, that draws practices and precepts from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Catholicism.
Photo by REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal. IS and hard-line Islamist groups have killed around 200 Kakais. Alawites are a closed, secretive religious group who assert they are Shia Muslims, although outside scholars speculate their beliefs may have a syncretic mix with other faiths originating in the Middle East. L'Irak abrite des lieux saints importants pour les chiites ou pour les sunnites. Likewise, Samarra is home to the al-Askari Mosque, containing the mausoleums of the Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari, the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams, respectively, as well as the shrine of Muhammad al-Mahdi, known as the "Hidden Imam", who is the twelfth and final Imam of the Shia of the Ja'farī Madhhab. Shawais laid out the differences between Kakais and Muslims in terms of rituals and beliefs with rare candor. [6] Iraq's indigenous Assyrian people represent roughly 3% of the population (earlier CIA Factbook), mostly living in Northern Iraq, concentrated in the Ninewa and Dahuk governorates. In shaman-based religions, the shaman is also responsible for leading sacred rites. However, these places must first be recognized as places of worship. Variants    Ismaili faith: A sect of Shia Islam, its adherents are also known as "Seveners," because they believe that the rightful seventh Imam in Islamic leadership was Isma'il, the elder son of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq. Islam exists in two sects; Sunni and Shia. Christianity, including Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Assyrian Church of the East, accounted for 1% and other religions made up the remaining 1-4%. Orthodox Christianity: The oldest established eastern form of Christianity, the Holy Orthodox Church, has a ceremonial head in the Bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), also known as a Patriarch, but its various regional forms (e.g., Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox) are autocephalous (independent of Constantinople's authority, and have their own Patriarchs).

Christianity - Descending from Judaism, Christianity's central belief maintains Jesus of Nazareth is the promised messiah of the Hebrew Scriptures, and that his life, death, and resurrection are salvific for the world. Sunni has four schools of Islamic doctrine and law - Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali - which uniquely interpret the Hadith, or recorded oral traditions of Muhammad. Their scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib - also known as the Adi Granth - is considered the living Guru, or final authority of Sikh faith and theology. It encompasses several forms or denominations which are extremely varied in structure, beliefs, relationship to state, clergy, and governance. Political Views.
Similarly, Najaf is renowned as the site of the tomb of Alī ibn Abī Tālib (also known as "Imām Alī"), who the Shia consider to be the righteous caliph and first imām. Kakais have kept their beliefs hidden, and this secrecy has prevented them from forming their own independent political parties and gaining representation in the parliaments of the central Iraqi government and Kurdistan Region. [11], Zoroastrianism was one of the dominant religions in Kurdistan before the Islamic era. The Kurds and Turkmen are predominantly Sunni Muslims, but Iran’s Arabs are both Sunni and Shiʿi.

The Orthodox Christian faith shares many theological tenets with the Roman Catholic Church, but diverges on some key premises and does not recognize the governing authority of the Pope. It is called a jamkhaneh. Currently, Zoroastrianism is an officially recognized religion in Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran. Capital Baghdad Population (2010) 31,670,000 Annual population growth rate (2000-2010) 2.9% Population gain (2000-2010) 7,814,000 GDP per capita $1,314 (US) Literacy Druze faith: A highly secretive tradition and a closed community that derives from the Ismaili sect of Islam; its core beliefs are thought to emphasize a combination of Gnostic principles believing that the Fatimid caliph, al-Hakin, is the one who embodies the key aspects of goodness of the universe, which are, the intellect, the word, the soul, the preceder, and the follower. Catholicism is comprised of 23 particular Churches, or Rites - one Western (Roman or Latin-Rite) and 22 Eastern. Sheikh Muhammad al-Mufti had declared in one of his Friday sermons in Halabja at the time that a custodian of Muslims cannot be a non-Muslim, in reference to Adham. teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (also known as Gautama Buddha "the enlightened one").