Identity and Scope

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Identity and Scope

Identity and Scope

Names (endonyms/exonyms). Peoples or schools. Core era(s) and footprint.
Why: anchors the unit of analysis before interpretation.

Identity and Scope

What exactly is the religious subject being analyzed, and by what names, boundaries, relationships, populations, places, periods, and recognition regimes does that subject exist?

Core religion or internal division; self-designation and external classification; peoples, communities, lineages, schools, churches, denominations, orders, rites, movements, and other native forms; membership and affiliation; internal diversity; parentage and overlap; geographic and temporal extent; continuity and reconstruction; demographic composition; legal and scholarly recognition; contested identity; inclusion and exclusion rules; and the exact analytical level at which every later claim is valid.

Why: Identity and Scope is the framework’s control layer. It fixes the unit of analysis before any claim is made about history, beings, cosmology, ritual, institutions, law, death, symbolism, or transformation. The original framework correctly stated that this dimension must “anchor the unit of analysis before interpretation,” but that function requires far more than a name, era, and footprint.

A religion cannot be analyzed rigorously until the researcher has determined:

A failure here corrupts every later section. A Catholic claim can be falsely presented as universally Christian. A Sunni legal position can be falsely presented as universally Islamic. A local lineage can be mistaken for an entire religion. A scholarly umbrella label can be mistaken for an indigenous self-identity. An institution can be mistaken for a sect. A modern reconstruction can be described as uninterrupted antiquity. A regional population can be treated as a distinct religious division when no such identity exists.

Cardinal Structural Rule: Core Religion and Sect

Within this framework, Sect is a universal structural class, not a pejorative judgment, a measure of legitimacy, or a claim that every community uses the English word “sect.”

A Sect is any identifiable division within one Core Religion, at any level of the hierarchy.

A community may call itself a church, communion, denomination, school, legal school, philosophical school, rite, order, lineage, teacher lineage, sampradāya, panth, madhhab, ṭarīqa, movement, fellowship, association, tradition, or another historically specific form. Its indigenous or historically appropriate form must be preserved separately. Structurally, however, every accepted internal division belongs in the Sect system.

The project ontology is therefore:

Branch
  └── Core Religion
        └── Sect
              └── Sect
                    └── Sect
                          └── ...

The current project distinguishes Core Religions from all internal divisions: divisions such as Catholic Christianity, Sunni Islam, Theravāda Buddhism, Shaivism, Reform Judaism, or Quanzhen Daoism belong in the Sect hierarchy rather than being silently promoted to the same analytical level as their parent religions.

This hierarchy may be as deep as the evidence requires. It cannot, however, be represented honestly as a tree alone. A Sect receives one primary parent for navigation, but it may also possess any number of additional relationships because religious identities frequently overlap, cross-cut, nest, affiliate, share communion, follow lineages, or combine several structures at once.

A legal school may cross regional identities. A monastic order may exist within several dioceses. A Sufi ṭarīqa may cross legal schools and national boundaries. A Hindu lineage may combine theological, philosophical, regional, caste-community, and devotional identities. A Jewish rite may overlap denomination and ethnocultural identity. A Buddhist ordination lineage may cross national schools.

The identity model must therefore preserve both:

  1. A primary navigational hierarchy, and
  2. A multidimensional relationship graph.

Project Ontology

1. Branch

A Branch is the project’s broad navigational or organizational grouping.

A Branch does not automatically imply:

The current project’s Branch classifications are useful for organizing the website and database. They must not be mistaken for claims that all traditions naturally divide themselves into “Eastern,” “Western,” or “Regional and Historical” forms.

2. Core Religion

A Core Religion is the highest resolved religious unit accepted into the project’s principal religion table.

It is not necessarily:

It is the highest-level religious identity that the project has determined is sufficiently coherent, distinct, evidenced, and analytically useful to receive a complete twelve-dimensional analysis.

3. Sect

A Sect is every accepted internal division of a Core Religion, regardless of depth or native form.

Capitalized Sect refers to the project’s structural class.

Lowercase sect should be used cautiously outside that technical meaning because the ordinary English term may carry historical, sociological, legal, or polemical implications.

A Sect may be:

4. Institution

An Institution is an organization, office-bearing body, property-holding body, school, monastery, temple administration, congregation, diocese, charity, council, court, foundation, mission agency, or other organized entity belonging to a Core Religion or Sect.

An institution is not automatically a Sect.

The clean rule is:

A Sect is a distinct religious subdivision. An Institution is an organization belonging to a Core Religion or Sect.

A local congregation, monastery, temple, seminary, diocese, charitable corporation, publishing house, or shrine administration becomes a Sect only when the evidence establishes a persistent religious identity that exceeds its status as an organization.

5. Analysis Subject

Every analysis must identify one exact Analysis Subject:

The subject cannot drift between levels.

A Core Religion analysis must not silently become an analysis of its dominant Sect.

A Sect analysis must not silently universalize its parent’s position.

Every accepted Sect receives the same twelve-dimensional framework as its Core Religion, with explicit rules governing what is inherited, qualified, contested, rejected, or independently answered.

Purpose of Identity and Scope

Identity and Scope must determine all of the following.

  1. The exact Analysis Subject.
  2. Whether it is a Core Religion or Sect.
  3. Its parent path.
  4. Its native or historical organizational form.
  5. Its principal basis of religious distinctiveness.
  6. Its hierarchy level.
  7. Its membership structure.
  8. Its relationship to other divisions.
  9. Its self-designations.
  10. Its external names.
  11. Its legal and administrative names.
  12. Its historical names.
  13. Its disputed, rejected, or pejorative names.
  14. Its indigenous language and script.
  15. Its pronunciation.
  16. Its etymology and literal meaning.
  17. Its naming history.
  18. Its boundaries.
  19. Its inclusion criteria.
  20. Its exclusion criteria.
  21. Its modes of belonging.
  22. Its entry and exit rules.
  23. Its treatment of dual or overlapping affiliation.
  24. Its internal diversity.
  25. Its principal divisions.
  26. Its cross-cutting schools, orders, rites, and lineages.
  27. Its relations to parent, sibling, predecessor, successor, rival, derived, and overlapping traditions.
  28. Its recognition status from multiple perspectives.
  29. Its claimed origin.
  30. Its earliest secure attestation.
  31. Its temporal scope.
  32. Its present status.
  33. Its geographic origin.
  34. Its formative regions.
  35. Its historical and current centers.
  36. Its territorial, diasporic, transnational, and digital forms.
  37. Its population and demographic composition.
  38. The method by which adherents are counted.
  39. Its legal status.
  40. Its public and scholarly classification.
  41. Its continuity claims.
  42. Its revival or reconstruction status.
  43. Its unresolved identity disputes.
  44. Its evidentiary basis.
  45. Its confidence level.
  46. The exact limits beyond which the analysis may not generalize.

The completed section should produce seven integrated results:

Identity Completeness Standard

A description is not complete merely because it says:

“Christianity is a monotheistic world religion founded in the first century and practiced globally.”

A complete Identity and Scope analysis must determine:

Foundational Analytical Distinctions

1. Identity versus Name

A name labels an entity.

Identity is the historically and socially sustained configuration to which the name refers.

One identity may possess many names.

One name may refer to several different identities.

A name may survive after the identity changes.

An identity may survive through a change of name.

2. Self-Designation versus External Classification

A community’s self-designation records how it identifies itself.

An external classification records how another community, scholar, government, census, court, archive, or database identifies it.

Neither should silently replace the other.

3. Endonym versus Exonym

An endonym is a name used from within the community or relevant linguistic group.

An exonym is a name assigned or used from outside.

An exonym may be neutral, useful, outdated, colonial, inaccurate, or insulting.

An endonym may itself be disputed among insiders.

4. Preferred Name versus Official Name

The preferred public name may differ from:

5. Core Religion versus Religious Family

A Core Religion is an accepted analysis subject in the project.

A religious family is a comparative or genealogical grouping of several religions.

“Abrahamic religions,” “Dharmic religions,” or “Indo-Iranian religions” may be useful families without being Core Religions themselves.

6. Branch versus Religious Family

A Branch is a project-organizational category.

A religious family is a historical, genealogical, linguistic, or comparative relation.

The two must not be confused.

7. Core Religion versus Sect

A Core Religion is the accepted highest-level religious subject.

A Sect is any accepted internal division within that Core Religion.

The distinction is structural, not a ranking of dignity, truth, size, antiquity, or legitimacy.

8. Sect versus Native Form

Sect is the universal structural class.

NativeForm records whether the division understands itself as a:

9. Sect versus Institution

A Sect is a religious identity.

An Institution is an organization.

A Sect may possess many institutions.

An institution may serve several Sects.

10. Sect versus Congregation

One congregation is ordinarily an institution or local community, not a Sect.

It becomes a Sect only when it develops or represents a distinct, persistent religious identity.

11. Sect versus Doctrine

A doctrine is a teaching.

A Sect may be distinguished by a doctrine, but an isolated teaching is not itself a Sect without a corresponding collective identity.

12. Sect versus Practice

A practice may cross many Sects.

A meditation method, fast, liturgy, pilgrimage, or healing technique is not automatically a Sect.

13. Sect versus Movement

A movement may become a Sect when it acquires:

A short-lived campaign or informal circle may remain a movement without becoming an accepted Sect.

14. Sect versus School

A School may be a Sect even when it lacks exclusive membership.

The Sect record should state that its native form is a School and that its membership shape is non-exclusive or non-membership-based.

15. Sect versus Order

An Order may be a Sect when it constitutes a persistent religious subdivision.

The organization administering the Order remains an Institution.

The disciplined identity, rule, transmission, or lineage is the Sect.

16. Sect versus Lineage

A lineage may qualify as a Sect when it sustains a recognized transmission identity beyond one teacher and immediate followers.

A personal teacher circle does not automatically qualify.

17. Sect versus Rite

A Rite may qualify as a Sect when it forms a persistent religious subdivision with identifiable community, institutions, lineage, or status.

A liturgical variation alone may remain a ritual form rather than a Sect.

18. Sect versus Regional Presence

A population living in a particular country is not automatically a Sect.

A regional form qualifies when the evidence shows a distinct religious identity, not merely a location.

19. Sect versus Ethnic Population

An ethnic group may possess a distinctive religious form.

Ethnicity alone does not establish a Sect.

The religious distinctiveness must be demonstrated.

20. Religion versus Peoplehood

Some traditions are inseparable from collective peoplehood, ancestry, land, language, law, or communal history.

The analysis must not force them into a voluntary-membership model.

21. Religion versus Culture

Religion may permeate cuisine, kinship, law, art, language, and identity.

“Cultural” participation may persist without doctrinal assent.

The two categories may overlap without being identical.

22. Religion versus Philosophy

A tradition may be classified as religious, philosophical, ethical, political, educational, or several at once.

Its own categories and lived institutions must be recorded before assigning a modern Western distinction.

23. Religion versus Worldview

A worldview is a structured account of reality.

A religion ordinarily includes some combination of identity, authority, practice, community, sacred value, and transmission beyond worldview alone.

24. Religion versus Spirituality

“Spirituality” may denote personal experience or discipline outside formal institutions.

It may also be an internal dimension of a religion.

The distinction is historically and culturally variable.

25. Religion versus Civil Religion

Civil religion sacralizes a polity, constitution, people, ruler, founding event, or national destiny.

It may coexist with formal religions without constituting a Sect of them.

26. Religion versus Institution

A religion may exist through many institutions or without a single central institution.

One legal corporation must not be mistaken for the whole religion.

27. Religion versus Legal Category

A state may legally define religion for registration, taxation, census, education, or litigation.

That definition may not match religious or scholarly identity.

28. Membership versus Participation

A person may participate without becoming a member.

A member may rarely participate.

Some traditions do not maintain formal membership.

29. Belonging versus Belief

Belonging may derive from:

Doctrinal belief may be central, secondary, variable, or absent as a membership test.

30. Identity versus Practice

A person may identify without practicing.

A person may practice without identifying.

A community may treat inherited practice as sufficient identity.

31. Affiliation versus Commitment

Census affiliation, legal membership, ritual participation, personal conviction, and institutional commitment are different measures.

32. Individual versus Collective Identity

Religious identity may attach to:

33. Exclusive versus Overlapping Affiliation

Some systems expect one exclusive affiliation.

Others permit simultaneous legal school, lineage, devotional, regional, ethnic, and institutional identities.

34. Primary Parent versus Complete Relationship

The primary parent controls navigation.

It does not exhaust the Sect’s actual relations.

35. Parentage versus Influence

A Sect may be influenced by another religion without belonging to it.

Influence does not make the influencing religion a parent.

36. Derivation versus Present Belonging

A movement may historically derive from a religion but now understand itself as separate.

Historical origin and current identity must both be recorded.

37. Self-Identification versus Parent Recognition

A group may identify within a Core Religion while the parent institution rejects it.

The framework must preserve both assertions.

38. Recognition versus Legitimacy

Recognition records who classifies or accepts the identity.

Legitimacy is a normative judgment concerning rightful authority or authenticity.

39. Legal Recognition versus Religious Recognition

A state may recognize a group that its claimed parent rejects.

A religious community may recognize a group that lacks legal status.

40. Current Identity versus Historical Phase

A current Sect may have passed through several former names and organizational forms.

A historical phase should not automatically be entered as a separate Sect unless it possessed a distinct identity warranting separate analysis.

41. Continuous Tradition versus Revival

A revival reactivates weakened, discontinued, hidden, or remembered forms.

It is not automatically an uninterrupted lineage.

42. Revival versus Reconstruction

A revival may draw substantially upon living memory.

A reconstruction depends more heavily upon texts, archives, archaeology, comparison, or creative inference.

43. Identity Continuity versus Doctrinal Continuity

A community may remain socially continuous while changing doctrine.

Another may reproduce doctrine without continuous population or institution.

44. Name Continuity versus Entity Continuity

The same name may be used for materially different communities across time.

A renamed institution may remain continuous.

45. Geographic Presence versus Geographic Identity

Being present in a place is not the same as being religiously constituted by that place.

46. Homeland versus Current Center

A sacred or ancestral homeland may differ from current demographic and institutional centers.

47. Territorial versus Nonterritorial Identity

Some religions are organized by land or jurisdiction.

Others are organized by lineage, network, language, institution, or digital connection.

48. Majority Form versus Normative Core

The numerically largest Sect is not automatically the normative center of the Core Religion.

49. Dominant Form versus Universal Form

A politically powerful Sect must not be presented as representing all other Sects.

50. Popular Label versus Analytical Precision

A public umbrella term may be useful but insufficiently precise for analysis.

The exact subject must be disambiguated.

51. Historical Classification versus Present Identity

A term used by earlier scholars or states may no longer be accepted.

Historical accuracy requires preserving the old term without imposing it upon current communities.

52. Externally Imposed Category versus Collective Selfhood

An external category may eventually become internalized and transformed into a genuine shared identity.

The analysis must trace both imposition and later appropriation.

53. Fuzzy Boundary versus Analytical Failure

Some religious boundaries are genuinely porous or contested.

A rigorous analysis may conclude that no single sharp boundary exists.

That is not analytical failure.

54. Scope versus History

Identity and Scope states the temporal and geographic envelope.

Historical Context narrates developments within that envelope.

55. Scope versus Evidence

Identity and Scope states the identity claim.

Sources of Evidence evaluates the materials supporting it.

Governing Principles

1. Lock the Analysis Subject Before Researching Content

Every claim must belong to one exact Core Religion or Sect.

2. Capitalize Sect When Referring to the Project Class

This prevents confusion with historical or polemical uses of the ordinary word.

3. Preserve the Native Form

A Church must still be recorded as a Church.

A madhhab must still be recorded as a madhhab.

The universal Sect class must not erase indigenous organization.

4. Never Use One Sect as an Unmarked Proxy for the Core Religion

Every generalization must be graded.

5. Never Force a Denominational Tree onto a Cross-Cutting Tradition

Use one primary parent and a relationship graph.

6. Never Make Every Institution a Sect

Distinct religious identity, not organizational existence alone, is required.

7. Never Make Every Difference a Sect

A belief, practice, site, text, office, population, or spelling variant may belong elsewhere in the ontology.

8. Never Exclude a Sect Merely Because It Lacks Exclusive Membership

Schools, lineages, rites, and devotional currents may cross-cut other identities.

9. Never Exclude a Historical Sect Merely Because It Is Extinct

Historical significance and evidence are sufficient.

10. Never Treat a Modern Reconstruction as Uninterrupted Without Evidence

Record continuity type and gaps.

11. Never Treat an External Name as Neutral by Default

Record origin, user, period, and acceptance.

12. Never Treat Self-Identification as the Only Relevant Classification

Parent, scholarly, legal, historical, and rival perspectives also matter.

13. Never Let an External Classification Silently Override Self-Identity

Preserve disagreements explicitly.

14. Date Every Identity Claim

A name or boundary may be true in one period and false in another.

15. Locate Every Identity Claim

A classification may apply in one region and not another.

16. Identify the Perspective Behind Every Boundary

Ask who includes or excludes whom.

17. Distinguish Descriptive from Normative Boundaries

“Group A is historically derived from Group B” differs from “Group B recognizes Group A as legitimate.”

18. Allow Multiple Simultaneous Identities

Do not assume affiliation must be exclusive.

19. Distinguish Population Counts by Method

Census affiliation, membership rolls, attendance, initiation, ancestry, and self-identification are not interchangeable.

20. Use Date Ranges and Confidence Intervals

Do not force false precision.

21. Treat Branch as Project Navigation

Do not make Branch a theological or civilizational essence.

22. Treat Core Religion as a Resolved Analytical Unit

Do not claim it is a naturally self-evident category in every case.

23. Require Evidence for Parentage

Historical influence is not enough.

24. Preserve Contested Placement

A group may sit structurally under one Core Religion while claiming to be the whole religion or a separate religion.

25. Distinguish Current Recognition from Historical Classification

Recognition changes.

26. Distinguish Active from Visible

A suppressed or clandestine Sect may be active but publicly invisible.

27. Distinguish Dormant from Extinct

A dormant identity may remain recoverable through memory, texts, lineage, or institutions.

28. Include Household and Vernacular Identity

Official institutions do not monopolize belonging.

29. Include Marginalized and Defeated Divisions

Dominant classifications often erase them.

30. Protect Restricted Identity Information

Do not expose vulnerable, clandestine, initiatory, or persecuted communities.

31. Maintain Claim-Level Evidence

A whole Sect should not receive one undifferentiated confidence rating.

Its name, parentage, category, dates, and recognition may have different confidence levels.

32. Separate Emic and Etic Evidence

Identity research must distinguish insider claims from outside analysis while evaluating authenticity, independence, and representativeness.

33. Make Uncertainty Visible

Use:

34. Prevent Scope Drift

Every section must remain within the locked subject, time, place, and population.

35. Reopen Identity Determinations When New Evidence Appears

Identity resolution is reviewable, not infallible.

Comprehensive Identity and Scope Template

Part I — Analysis Subject Lock

1. Analysis Subject Identification

Record:

Questions to answer

2. Parent Path

For a Sect, record the complete primary path:

Branch
  → Core Religion
      → Parent Sect
          → Child Sect
              → Analysis Subject

Questions to answer

3. Analysis Purpose

State whether the analysis is intended to be:

Questions to answer

4. Temporal Scope Lock

Record:

Required statement

This analysis concerns [subject] during [period], with earlier and later forms included only where necessary to establish identity and continuity.

5. Geographic Scope Lock

Record:

Required statement

Geographically, this analysis covers [places and populations] and does not assume that forms found there represent the subject everywhere.

6. Population Scope Lock

Record:

7. Perspective Scope

State whether the analysis prioritizes or distinguishes:

No perspective should be left implicit.

8. Inclusion Rules

Specify what is included:

9. Exclusion Rules

Specify what is excluded:

10. Scope Boundary Cases

List every unresolved case and state:

11. Required Analysis Subject Statement

This analysis treats [Preferred Name] as a [Core Religion/Sect] within [parent path], principally distinguished by [basis], operating through [membership structure], during [period], in [geographic scope], among [population], while excluding [boundaries]. Its classification is [recognition status] and [confidence level].

Part II — Unit Ontology and Core Religion Determination

12. Ontological Type

Classify the subject as one or more of the following:

One type may be primary and others secondary.

13. Core Religion Qualification Test

A candidate Core Religion should ordinarily satisfy the following.

13.1 Recognizable Religious Identity

13.2 Multidimensional Coherence

13.3 Distinction from Existing Core Religions

13.4 Historical Durability or Significance

13.5 Boundary Discernibility

13.6 Internal Structure

13.7 Evidence

14. Core Religion Nonqualification Cases

A candidate should not automatically become a Core Religion merely because it is:

15. Core Identity Determination Outcomes

A candidate may be resolved as:

16. Core Religion Internal Generalization Capacity

Before accepting a Core Religion as an analysis subject, ask:

17. Religious Family Profile

Where applicable, record:

18. Composite and Syncretic Core Identity

Questions to answer

19. Ethnoreligious Identity

Questions to answer

20. Philosophical-Religious Identity

Questions to answer

21. Civil-Religious Identity

Questions to answer

22. New Religious Movement Identity

Questions to answer

23. Historical or Extinct Religion

Questions to answer

Part III — Naming, Language, and Terminology

24. Preferred Name

Record the name used as the project’s primary public label.

Selection criteria

25. Self-Designation

Record every name the community uses for itself.

For each:

26. Endonyms

Determine:

27. Exonyms

For every exonym, record:

28. Translated Names

Questions to answer

29. Historical Names

Record:

30. Former Institutional Names

Distinguish a Sect’s identity from changes in the names of its institutions.

31. Legal Names

Record names used in:

32. Scholarly Names

Questions to answer

33. Popular Names

Record common public and media names separately from precise analytical terminology.

34. Abbreviations and Acronyms

For each:

35. Adjectival Form

Record the correct adjective for:

36. Adherent Name

Record:

37. Etymology

Questions to answer

38. Original Script

Record:

39. Transliteration

Questions to answer

40. Pronunciation

Record:

41. Name Scope

Questions to answer

42. Name Equivalence

Determine whether two names are:

43. Contested Names

For each disputed name, record:

44. Pejorative or Rejected Names

Record for historical retrieval without using them as preferred labels.

State:

45. Colonial Names

Questions to answer

46. Naming Authority

Questions to answer

47. Name Change Timeline

Show:

Earliest known name → historical variants → institutional changes → current preferred name.

48. Naming Evidence Ledger

Every name must be linked to:

Part IV — Boundaries, Belonging, and Membership

49. Boundary Type

Classify boundaries as:

50. Boundary Shape

Classify the subject’s boundaries as:

51. Inclusion Criteria

Possible criteria include:

Questions to answer

52. Exclusion Criteria

Possible exclusions include:

Questions to answer

53. Membership Concept

Determine whether the tradition possesses:

54. Membership Unit

Membership may attach to:

55. Full Membership

State what constitutes full standing.

56. Partial or Graded Membership

Identify:

57. Hereditary Membership

Questions to answer

58. Conversion-Based Membership

Questions to answer

59. Initiatory Membership

Questions to answer

60. Institutional Membership

Questions to answer

61. Practice-Based Affiliation

Questions to answer

62. Lineage-Based Affiliation

Questions to answer

63. Ethnocultural Affiliation

Questions to answer

64. Non-Membership School

Questions to answer

65. Nominal Affiliation

Define how the analysis treats people who identify but do not participate.

66. Cultural Affiliation

Define how the analysis treats people who participate in holidays, food, rites of passage, or communal life without doctrinal commitment.

67. Lapsed Membership

Questions to answer

68. Dual or Multiple Affiliation

Questions to answer

69. Overlapping Sect Affiliation

Record every combination normally permitted, such as:

70. Exclusive Affiliation

Questions to answer

71. Entry Process

Identity and Scope records the status change and eligibility.

Ritual and Practice records the performance.

Questions to answer

72. Exit Process

Questions to answer

73. Expulsion

Questions to answer

74. Children

Questions to answer

75. Intermarriage

Questions to answer

76. Adoption and Fictive Kinship

Questions to answer

77. Clerical and Lay Identity

Questions to answer

78. Monastic and Nonmonastic Identity

Questions to answer

79. Territorial Belonging

Questions to answer

80. State-Imposed Affiliation

Questions to answer

81. Self-Identification

Questions to answer

82. Community Recognition

Questions to answer

83. Boundary Dispute

For every disputed inclusion, record:

84. Boundary Maintenance

Identify mechanisms such as:

The detailed rules belong in later dimensions; here they identify the boundary.

85. Boundary Change

Record whether boundaries are:

The causal history belongs under Contact and Transformation.

Part V — Sect Architecture and Internal Religious Diversity

86. Sect Qualification Test

A candidate qualifies as a Sect when the evidence establishes all of the following:

  1. A recognizable collective identity exists.
    It possesses a name, lineage, community, historical identity, institutional identity, or persistent external classification.
  2. It belongs principally within one Core Religion.
    The connection may be self-asserted, historically demonstrated, institutionally recognized, scholarly, or contested, but it must be recorded.
  3. It is religiously distinguishable from the rest of the Core Religion.
    The distinction may involve doctrine, interpretation, authority, succession, law, ritual, institution, lineage, devotion, ethnicity, language, geography, reform, or another defined basis.
  4. It possesses continuity or sufficient historical significance.
    It need not survive today, but it must exceed a momentary gathering or incidental label.
  5. Its identity is evidentially supportable.
    The analysis must record who uses the name, when, where, at what level, and with what confidence.

87. What Does Not Automatically Qualify as a Sect

The following require separate evidence before acceptance:

88. Sect Candidate Status

Before acceptance, every possible division should remain a Sect Candidate.

A candidate should receive one determination:

89. Primary Parent

Every accepted Sect should have one primary parent for navigation.

Questions to answer

90. Additional Relationship Graph

Every Sect may possess any number of additional relationships.

These relationships must not be compressed into the primary tree.

91. Sect Axis 1: Primary Basis of Differentiation

The primary category answers:

What is the principal reason this division is treated as a distinct religious identity?

Primary categoryDefinition
Doctrinal or TheologicalDistinguished primarily by teaching concerning ultimate reality, revelation, salvation, liberation, divine beings, scripture, or doctrine
Philosophical or InterpretiveDistinguished by an exegetical, philosophical, intellectual, or interpretive school
Juridical or EthicalDistinguished by religious law, jurisprudence, ethical discipline, or legal reasoning
Ritual or LiturgicalDistinguished by worship, rite, calendar, sacramental form, liturgical language, or ceremonial usage
Authority or SuccessionDistinguished by leadership, succession, ordination, revelation, transmission, or authority claims
Institutional or DenominationalDistinguished by formal organization, communion, governing body, denomination, or institutional independence
Monastic, Ascetic, Order, or LineageDistinguished by monastic rule, disciplined community, initiatory chain, teacher lineage, or ascetic institution
Mystical, Devotional, or EsotericDistinguished by devotional orientation, mystical method, esoteric transmission, initiatory practice, or spiritual discipline
Reform, Revival, or RestorationFormed to reform, revive, reconstruct, purify, modernize, or restore an earlier or claimed original form
Ethnocultural or LinguisticDistinguished by peoplehood, ethnicity, caste-community, language, script, inherited culture, or communal history
Geographic, Regional, or DiasporicDistinguished by region, country, migration, diaspora, localization, or adaptation to a new setting
Syncretic, Composite, or DerivedCombines several traditions or derives materially from more than one religious source
Social or Political AdaptationDistinguished by response to social order, political ideology, colonialism, modernity, or public movement
Mixed or ContestedNo single basis predominates or sources materially disagree

A Sect receives one current primary category and any number of secondary categories. The category must follow evidence rather than familiarity.

92. Sect Axis 2: Native or Historical Form

Record the form recognized by the Sect or historical sources:

The structural class remains Sect; the native form prevents erasure of actual religious organization.

93. Sect Axis 3: Hierarchy Level

LevelMeaning
Major DivisionOne of the broadest internal divisions of the Core Religion
Primary BranchA major Sect within a broad division
Secondary BranchA subdivision of a Primary Branch
School or TraditionA more defined doctrinal, interpretive, legal, ritual, or devotional school
Order or LineageAn order, transmission lineage, initiatory chain, or monastic subdivision
Regional or Cultural FormA geographically, linguistically, or ethnoculturally bounded form
Local or Specialized FormA narrow but persistent religious subdivision
Cross-CuttingA division overlapping several branches and not truthfully reducible to one subordinate branch
Uncertain LevelDistinct identity is established but exact position is unresolved

Hierarchy level describes scale and position. It does not determine substantive identity.

94. Sect Axis 4: Membership Shape

Membership shapeMeaning
Exclusive AlternativeAffiliation normally excludes competing affiliation at the same level
Nested SubsetEvery member is also a member of the parent Sect
Overlapping IdentitySimultaneous affiliation with another Sect is possible
Cross-Cutting CurrentThe identity operates across several otherwise separate branches
Institutional AffiliationBelonging depends substantially on membership in or recognition by an institution
Practice-Based AffiliationParticipation centers on a practice rather than exclusive membership
Lineage-Based AffiliationAffiliation follows initiation, ordination, transmission, or teacher lineage
Ethnocultural AffiliationBelonging is substantially inherited or tied to communal identity
Non-Membership SchoolA recognizable school without ordinary membership boundaries
Contested or VariableMembership rules differ by source, period, or community

This axis prevents the database from representing every religion as a denominational partition.

95. Sect Axis 5: Origin Mechanism

Record one primary mechanism and any number of secondary mechanisms:

96. Sect Axis 6: Relationship to Parent and Other Subjects

Relationship types include:

A Sect may occupy many of these relations simultaneously.

97. Sect Axis 7: Recognition and Identity Status

Possible statuses include:

The framework may structurally classify a group as a Sect while clearly preserving that the group rejects the term, rejects the parent, or claims sole continuity.

98. Sect Axis 8: Temporal Status

Possible statuses include:

99. Sect Axis 9: Geographic Form

Record all applicable geographic roles:

100. Sect Axis 10: Evidence and Confidence

Every category, relationship, date, name, and parentage assertion must record:

A Sect must not receive one unsupported category label. Different sources may classify it differently, and the project determination must remain visible alongside those perspectives.

101. Sect Axis 11: Framework Inheritance

Every framework claim inherited from a parent must receive one determination:

No answer should be copied automatically.

The inherited claim remains linked to the parent evidence, while every difference receives Sect-specific evidence.

102. Sect Dossier Required Statement

[Sect] is an accepted Sect within [Core Religion and parent path]. Its native form is [form]. It is principally distinguished by [primary basis], with secondary distinctions in [categories]. Its hierarchy level is [level], its membership structure is [shape], and it originated through [mechanisms]. It is [recognized/contested] according to [perspectives], operates during [period], and is present in [geographies].

Part VI — Internal Diversity and Core-Level Generalization

103. Internal-Diversity Census

Inventory all significant variation by:

104. Major-Division Map

Identify the broadest internal divisions.

Questions to answer

105. Cross-Cutting Current Map

Identify every order, lineage, school, rite, devotional current, regional identity, and intellectual tradition crossing the main divisions.

106. Generalization Grades

Every Core Religion claim should be labeled as one of the following:

The core-level analysis must never universalize a Sect-specific answer. The supplied Sect model explicitly requires core claims to distinguish universal, predominant, Sect-specific, historically variable, contested, absent, and non-generalizable material.

107. Dominant-Sect Bias

Questions to answer

108. Elite–Popular Distinction

Record differences between:

109. Majority–Minority Distinction

Questions to answer

110. Suppressed and Marginalized Sects

Record:

111. Internal-Diversity Synthesis

The Core Religion contains [major divisions] and is further cross-cut by [schools, lineages, rites, regions, and other forms]. Claims concerning the Core Religion are therefore graded according to [generalization system], and no one Sect is treated as the unmarked norm.

Part VII — Recognition, Classification, and Relationship

112. Self-Recognition

Questions to answer

113. Parent Recognition

For a Sect:

114. Sibling Recognition

Questions to answer

115. Institutional Recognition

Identify recognition by:

116. Legal Recognition

Record by jurisdiction:

117. Census Classification

Questions to answer

118. Scholarly Classification

Record:

119. Common External Classification

Questions to answer

120. Rival or Hostile Classification

Record polemical classifications separately.

Do not use them as neutral descriptions.

121. Historical Classification

Questions to answer

122. Claims to Exclusive Continuity

Questions to answer

123. Claims to Separate-Religion Status

Questions to answer

124. External Placement without Self-Acceptance

Questions to answer

125. Relationship Graph

Record relationships to:

126. Relationship Perspective

Every relationship must identify:

127. Relationship Direction

Distinguish:

These are not interchangeable.

128. Relationship Time

Record start and end dates.

A historical relation may no longer be current.

129. Recognition Matrix

PerspectiveClassificationRecognition levelDate and placeEvidenceContest

Part VIII — Geographic Scope and Spatial Identity

130. Place of Origin

Questions to answer

131. Formative Region

The place where the tradition acquired its distinctive form may differ from its earliest origin.

132. Historical Center

Record major historical centers without narrating their entire development.

133. Current Center

Questions to answer

134. Sacred Homeland

Questions to answer

135. Territorial Jurisdiction

Questions to answer

136. Majority Regions

Record where the subject constitutes a demographic or cultural majority.

137. Minority Presence

Record:

138. Diaspora

Questions to answer

139. Mission or Expansion Geography

Record geographic identity without duplicating historical mechanisms.

140. Regional Variants

Questions to answer

141. Urban and Rural Forms

Record major identity differences where they affect scope.

142. Indigenous Territory

Questions to answer

143. Historical Geography

Use historically accurate regions rather than retrojecting modern countries.

144. Political Geography

Questions to answer

145. Linguistic Geography

Map language communities separately from political boundaries.

146. Nonterritorial Networks

Record:

147. Digital Geography

Questions to answer

148. Geographic Granularity

Use exact levels as appropriate:

149. Geographic Uncertainty

Record:

150. Geography Statement

[Subject] originated or first becomes securely attested in [place], was principally formed in [regions], currently possesses major centers in [places], and exists through [territorial, diasporic, transnational, or nonterritorial forms].

Part IX — Temporal Scope, Continuity, and Current Status

151. Claimed Origin

Record the community’s claimed origin:

Do not treat the claim automatically as historical chronology.

152. Earliest Direct Attestation

Record:

153. Earliest Retrospective Attestation

A later source may describe an earlier origin.

Keep retrospective evidence separate from contemporary evidence.

154. Organizational Foundation

Record the date at which a named institution or movement was formally established.

This may differ from religious emergence.

155. Identity Consolidation

Questions to answer

156. Major Differentiation Date

For a Sect:

157. Temporal Status

Classify as:

These statuses and date intervals are central to the supplied Sect model.

158. Date Fields

Record separately:

Do not force one “founding year.”

159. Periodization

Questions to answer

160. Continuity Types

Assess separately:

161. Continuity Gaps

For every gap, record:

162. Revival Status

Questions to answer

163. Reconstruction Status

Questions to answer

164. Current Status Date

Every statement that a religion or Sect is current, active, extinct, suppressed, or revived must be dated.

165. Temporal Scope Statement

This analysis treats [subject] from [start period] through [end or current date]. Its claimed origin is [claim], its earliest secure attestation is [evidence], and its present status is [status].

Part X — Demographic and Social Scope

166. Adherent Definition

Before reporting population, state who counts as an adherent.

Possible definitions:

167. Population Measure

Record:

168. Census Population

Questions to answer

169. Institutional Membership

Questions to answer

170. Participation-Based Estimate

Questions to answer

171. Ancestry-Based Estimate

Questions to answer

172. Self-Identification Estimate

Questions to answer

173. Overlap and Double Counting

Questions to answer

174. Undercount

Possible causes:

175. Overcount

Possible causes:

176. Demographic Composition

Record where relevant:

177. Demographic Center of Gravity

Questions to answer

178. Generational Structure

Record:

179. Gender Distribution

Questions to answer

180. Convert–Heritage Composition

Questions to answer

181. Population Vitality

Classify cautiously:

Historical explanation belongs under Historical Context and Contact and Transformation.

182. Demographic Uncertainty Statement

Population estimates range from [range] because sources use [different definitions]. Sect totals are [additive/nonadditive] because [membership structure].

Part XI — Regional and Historical Identity Resolution

The Regional and Historical Branch cannot begin by assuming a known Core Religion and then discovering its Sects.

It must begin with:

People or community
  + geography
  + historical period
  + names
  + practices and institutions
  + source evidence
      → candidate religious identity
      → determination of Core Religion or other unit
      → internal Sect resolution only afterward

This separate method is required because many traditions lacked one centralized self-name, varied by locality or polity, were classified by outsiders, were embedded in kinship and law, survive through fragmentary or hostile evidence, or possess uncertain relations to modern revivals.

183. People or Community

Record:

184. Geography

Record:

185. Historical Period

Questions to answer

186. Tradition Names

Record all:

187. Practice and Institution Cluster

Questions to answer

188. Source Configuration

Questions to answer

189. Candidate Identity Test

Determine whether evidence supports:

190. External Umbrella Test

Questions to answer

191. Regional Religious Complex

Use this status where:

192. Archaeological Culture versus Religion

Questions to answer

193. People Name versus Religion Name

A people’s name should not automatically become the name of its religion unless the evidence supports that usage.

194. Polity Religion versus Ethnic Religion

Questions to answer

195. Village, Clan, and Lineage Variation

Questions to answer

196. Restricted Knowledge

Questions to answer

197. Revival Relationship

Questions to answer

198. Regional and Historical Determination Statement

The evidence supports treating [candidate] as [Core Religion/family/complex/several traditions/external category/historical phase/revival/reconstruction/unresolved candidate] because [identity, geography, period, practice, institution, and evidence findings].

Part XII — Identity Evidence, Perspective, and Confidence

199. Identity Claim Unit

Every claim should be atomic.

Examples:

Each receives separate evidence.

200. Claim Perspective

Classify each claim as:

201. Evidence Types

Identity claims may rely upon:

202. Authenticity

Questions to answer

203. Independence

Questions to answer

204. Representativeness

Questions to answer

205. Temporal Relevance

A nineteenth-century classification does not establish current identity without continuity evidence.

206. Geographic Relevance

A classification from one country does not automatically apply globally.

207. Internal Agreement

Questions to answer

208. External Agreement

Questions to answer

209. Confidence Scale

Use:

210. Evidence Conflict

For every conflict, record:

211. Analyst Determination

The project determination should state:

212. Identity Claim Ledger

ClaimPerspectiveSourceDate and placeConfidenceConflictDetermination

Part XIII — Parent Inheritance and Scope Propagation

213. Claim-Level Inheritance

A Sect does not inherit an entire parent section automatically.

Every parent claim receives its own inheritance decision.

214. Inherited Unchanged

Use only when:

215. Inherited with Qualification

Record the exact difference.

216. Period-Limited Inheritance

A Sect may have shared the parent position historically but not currently.

217. Geography-Limited Inheritance

A claim may apply only in certain regions.

218. Contested Inheritance

The Sect may dispute the parent claim without wholly rejecting it.

219. Rejected Inheritance

The Sect explicitly rejects the parent position.

220. Independent Answer

A Sect may require an entirely separate analysis.

221. Unknown Inheritance

Use where evidence is insufficient.

222. Core-Level Aggregation

When Sect analyses are combined upward, the Core Religion must not flatten their differences.

223. Aggregation Rule

A Core claim should state:

224. Scope Propagation

Every later claim should inherit:

Part XIV — Universal Identity Dossiers

225. Universal Core Religion Dossier

Record:

226. Universal Sect Dossier

Record:

227. Universal Name Dossier

Record:

228. Universal Boundary Dossier

Record:

229. Universal Recognition Dossier

Record:

230. Universal Relationship Dossier

Record:

231. Universal Geographic Dossier

Record:

232. Universal Temporal Dossier

Record:

233. Universal Demographic Dossier

Record:

Required Analytical Outputs

234. Analysis Subject Card

A concise control record containing:

235. Core Religion–Sect Topology

Show:

236. Sect Qualification Register

Show every candidate and its determination.

237. Sect Axis Matrix

SectNative formPrimary categorySecondary categoriesLevelMembership shapeStatus

238. Name Register

Show every endonym, exonym, historical, legal, translated, contested, and rejected name.

239. Boundary Matrix

BoundaryInclusionExclusionAuthorityPerspectivePeriod and placeContest

240. Membership Matrix

StatusHow acquiredRights of belongingExitOverlapCommunity recognition

241. Recognition Matrix

Show self, parent, sibling, institutional, legal, scholarly, historical, and public classification.

242. Relationship Graph

Show parentage, affiliation, communion, lineage, influence, split, merger, overlap, recognition, and rejection.

243. Internal-Diversity Map

Show divisions by Sect, region, lineage, rite, language, ethnicity, class, gender, and generation.

244. Generalization Matrix

ClaimDistribution gradeSupporting SectsRejecting SectsRegionPeriod

245. Geographic Scope Map

Show origin, formative region, historical centers, current centers, sacred homeland, diaspora, minority regions, and nonterritorial networks.

246. Temporal Scope Timeline

Show claimed origin, earliest evidence, formation, differentiation, suppression, revival, reconstruction, and current status.

247. Continuity Matrix

Continuity typeEvidenceGapsCurrent claimConfidence

248. Demographic Profile

Show definitions, counts, overlap, composition, geography, and uncertainty.

249. Regional and Historical Resolution Record

Show people, place, period, names, practices, evidence, candidate identities, and final determination.

250. Identity Evidence Ledger

Every name, boundary, placement, relationship, date, geography, and demographic claim linked to evidence.

251. Parent-Inheritance Matrix

Parent claimSect decisionQualificationSect evidenceCurrent status

252. Final Identity Synthesis

One-sentence Core Religion statement

[Core Religion] is a [ontological type] identified by [principal names and boundaries], historically and currently present among [populations and geographies], internally divided into [major Sect structures], and recognized through [principal self, institutional, legal, and scholarly classifications].

One-sentence Sect statement

[Sect] is a [native form] within [Core Religion and parent path], principally distinguished by [basis], structured through [membership shape], active during [period] in [geographies], and [recognized or contested] by [perspectives].

Mandatory Identity and Scope Deliverables

A completed analysis must contain all of the following.

1. Exact Analysis Subject

Core Religion or one named Sect.

2. Subject Type

Core Religion, Sect, candidate, family, complex, historical formation, revival, reconstruction, or unresolved subject.

3. Parent Path

Every level from Branch through Core Religion to the subject.

4. Scope Statement

Time, place, population, perspective, inclusions, and exclusions.

5. Preferred Name

The project’s selected public name.

6. Self-Designation Register

Every major self-name.

7. Endonym Register

Language, script, pronunciation, and community.

8. Exonym Register

Origin, user, acceptance, and problems.

9. Historical-Name Register

Former names and date ranges.

10. Legal-Name Register

Names in state and institutional records.

11. Scholarly-Name Register

Academic classifications and disagreements.

12. Rejected-Name Register

Pejorative, colonial, misleading, or superseded names.

13. Etymology Profile

Linguistic origin and popular-etymology controls.

14. Pronunciation Profile

Original and accepted modern forms.

15. Name-Equivalence Map

Synonyms, translations, aliases, homonyms, and broader–narrower relations.

16. Core Religion Determination

Why the subject qualifies or does not qualify as a Core Religion.

17. Sect Qualification Record

Why each accepted Sect qualifies.

18. Sect Candidate Register

Every unresolved or rejected candidate.

19. Sect Determination Register

Accepted, alias, institution, doctrine, practice, geographic presence, Core candidate, disputed, insufficient, or rejected.

20. Native-Form Profile

Church, denomination, school, rite, order, lineage, movement, or other form.

21. Primary Sect Category

Principal basis of differentiation.

22. Secondary Sect Categories

Every additional supported category.

23. Hierarchy-Level Profile

Major division through local, specialized, cross-cutting, or uncertain level.

24. Membership-Shape Profile

Exclusive, nested, overlapping, cross-cutting, institutional, practice-based, lineage-based, ethnocultural, non-membership, or variable.

25. Origin-Mechanism Profile

Every relevant differentiation process.

26. Primary Parent

One navigational parent with justification.

27. Relationship Graph

Every additional relationship.

28. Recognition Profile

Self, parent, sibling, institutional, legal, scholarly, public, and historical recognition.

29. Boundary Profile

Every inclusion and exclusion rule.

30. Membership Profile

Formal, hereditary, initiatory, institutional, practice-based, lineage-based, ethnocultural, nominal, and cultural forms.

31. Multiple-Affiliation Profile

Overlapping and dual identity.

32. Entry Profile

Status change and authority.

33. Exit Profile

Renunciation, disaffiliation, expulsion, and residual identity.

34. Children and Mixed-Heritage Profile

Parental transmission and later choice.

35. Intermarriage Profile

Effects on identity and descendants.

36. Internal-Diversity Census

Every major Sect and cross-cutting current.

37. Core-Level Generalization Rules

Distribution labels for every later claim.

38. Dominant-Sect Bias Control

Protection against universalizing the best-documented Sect.

39. Official–Popular Comparison

Institutional identity and lived identity.

40. Geographic-Origin Profile

Claimed and attested origins.

41. Formative-Region Profile

Places where distinctive identity developed.

42. Historical-Center Profile

Major past centers.

43. Current-Center Profile

Present demographic and institutional centers.

44. Sacred-Homeland Profile

Ancestral and sacred territorial claims.

45. Diaspora Profile

Dispersal, homeland relation, and Sect formation.

46. Nonterritorial-Network Profile

Lineage, transnational, itinerant, and digital identities.

47. Temporal-Scope Profile

Claimed origin, earliest evidence, formation, differentiation, and current cutoff.

48. Current-Status Profile

Active, extinct, absorbed, dormant, suppressed, clandestine, revived, reconstructed, or uncertain.

49. Continuity Profile

Population, lineage, doctrine, ritual, institution, language, place, material, memory, and name.

50. Revival Profile

Living continuity, memory, recovery, and current identity.

51. Reconstruction Profile

Evidence, inference, invention, authority, and transparency.

52. Population Definition

Who counts and why.

53. Population Estimate

Date, method, geography, and uncertainty.

54. Overlap Control

Prevention of Sect double-counting.

55. Demographic Composition

Age, gender, ethnicity, language, caste-community, class, and migration status.

56. Legal Classification

Status by relevant jurisdiction.

57. Census Classification

How states count the subject.

58. Scholarly Classification

Consensus and competing models.

59. Public Classification

Common usage and distortions.

60. Regional and Historical Resolution

People–place–time determination before Sect discovery.

61. External-Umbrella Test

Whether one label improperly combines separate traditions.

62. Regional-Complex Test

Whether the evidence supports a family or complex rather than one Core Religion.

63. Restricted-Identity Register

Information withheld for safety, sacred restriction, or community rights.

64. Identity Claim Ledger

Every atomic identity claim.

65. Perspective Field

Who asserts every claim.

66. Evidence Field

Source for every claim.

67. Confidence Field

Degree of certainty.

68. Conflict Field

Competing classifications.

69. Analyst Determination

Project placement and reasons.

70. Parent-Inheritance Matrix

Claim-level inheritance for each Sect.

71. Core Aggregation Matrix

How Sect claims are synthesized upward.

72. Final Identity Synthesis

One concise statement and one complete dossier.

Non-Overlap Rules

Historical Context

Identity and Scope determines what the subject is, its time envelope, and its spatial envelope.

Historical Context explains how it developed through time.

Identity may state that a Sect emerged in the sixteenth century. Historical Context narrates the events, causes, actors, and phases of that emergence.

Sources of Evidence

Identity and Scope states:

“This name is an endonym,” or “This group is a Sect of X.”

Sources of Evidence evaluates the text, archive, inscription, ethnography, legal record, or testimony supporting that claim.

Pantheon and Supernatural Beings

Identity and Scope determines which religious community is being described.

Pantheon and Supernatural Beings identifies the entities recognized by that community.

A cult centered on one deity becomes a Sect only if it possesses the required collective identity.

Cosmology and Myth

Identity and Scope determines which subject’s cosmology is in scope.

Cosmology and Myth explains that subject’s world structure and narratives.

Ritual and Practice

Identity and Scope may identify a ritual tradition as a Sect when it constitutes a persistent religious division.

Ritual and Practice explains what adherents do.

Sacred Space and Material Culture

Identity and Scope determines whether a regional shrine network constitutes a Sect, an Institution, or merely a set of places.

Sacred Space and Material Culture documents the physical sites and objects.

Religious Specialists and Institutions

Identity and Scope distinguishes Sect from Institution.

Religious Specialists and Institutions explains the offices, governance, authority, training, and organizations belonging to the resolved subject.

Social Function and Law

Identity and Scope identifies membership, boundary, and legal-recognition status.

Social Function and Law analyzes substantive duties, rights, family rules, purity, discipline, law, and social order.

Death and Afterlife

Identity and Scope determines which community’s death system is being described.

Death and Afterlife analyzes personhood, dying, funerary transition, and postmortem destiny.

Symbolism and Cultural Expression

Identity and Scope records symbols used as identity markers and names the communities using them.

Symbolism and Cultural Expression analyzes their form, meaning, reception, and cultural operation.

Contact and Transformation

Identity and Scope records present and historical identity states.

Contact and Transformation explains how contact, mission, colonialism, reform, schism, migration, suppression, revival, and reconstruction changed those identities.

Final Quality-Control Audit

A complete Identity and Scope analysis must answer every applicable question below with yes, not applicable, contested, restricted, insufficiently evidenced, or explicitly unknown.

Analysis Subject Control

  1. Is one exact Analysis Subject identified?
  2. Is it a Core Religion or Sect?
  3. Is the subject’s stable identifier recorded?
  4. Is the project Branch recorded?
  5. Is the parent Core Religion recorded?
  6. Is the immediate parent Sect recorded where applicable?
  7. Is the full parent path recorded?
  8. Is the framework version recorded?
  9. Is the analysis date recorded?
  10. Is the research purpose stated?
  11. Is the selected analytical level justified?
  12. Is a broader subject being substituted silently?
  13. Is a narrower Sect being used as an unmarked proxy?
  14. Is the subject current, historical, or both?
  15. Is the temporal cutoff explicit?
  16. Is the geographic scope explicit?
  17. Is the population scope explicit?
  18. Is the perspective scope explicit?
  19. Are inclusion rules explicit?
  20. Are exclusion rules explicit?
  21. Are boundary cases listed?
  22. Are unresolved candidates separated from accepted subjects?
  23. Is scope drift prevented in later dimensions?
  24. Can every later claim be linked back to this subject?
  25. Is the one-sentence scope statement complete?

Ontology

  1. Is Branch distinguished from religious family?
  2. Is Branch identified as project organization rather than emic identity?
  3. Is Core Religion defined?
  4. Is Sect defined?
  5. Is Institution defined?
  6. Is Analysis Subject defined?
  7. Is Core Religion distinguished from Sect?
  8. Is Sect distinguished from institution?
  9. Is Sect distinguished from congregation?
  10. Is Sect distinguished from doctrine?
  11. Is Sect distinguished from practice?
  12. Is Sect distinguished from one building?
  13. Is Sect distinguished from one publisher?
  14. Is Sect distinguished from one charity?
  15. Is Sect distinguished from one political party?
  16. Is Sect distinguished from geographic presence?
  17. Is Sect distinguished from spelling variation?
  18. Is Sect distinguished from unsupported pejorative label?
  19. Is Sect distinguished from a temporary teacher circle?
  20. Is religious family distinguished from Core Religion?
  21. Is regional complex distinguished from Core Religion?
  22. Is peoplehood distinguished from voluntary membership?
  23. Is philosophy distinguished from religion without imposing a rigid binary?
  24. Is culture distinguished from religion?
  25. Is civil religion considered?
  26. Is ethnoreligion considered?
  27. Is new religious movement status considered?
  28. Is revival status considered?
  29. Is reconstruction status considered?
  30. Is historical or extinct status considered?
  31. Is composite identity considered?
  32. Is syncretic identity considered without assuming impurity?
  33. Is the subject’s primary ontological type stated?
  34. Are secondary ontological types stated?
  35. Is ontological uncertainty stated?

Core Religion Determination

  1. Does a recognizable religious identity exist?
  2. Is that identity self-recognized, externally recognized, or reconstructed?
  3. Does it possess historical durability or significance?
  4. Does it possess multidimensional coherence?
  5. Is it more than one doctrine?
  6. Is it more than one practice?
  7. Is it more than one institution?
  8. Is it more than one population label?
  9. Is it distinct from accepted Core Religions?
  10. Would Sect placement be more accurate?
  11. Is its boundary discernible?
  12. Is internal diversity representable?
  13. Can it support a twelve-dimensional analysis?
  14. Is its preferred name supported?
  15. Is its time range supported?
  16. Is its geography supported?
  17. Is its population supported?
  18. Is its internal structure supported?
  19. Is it actually a religious family?
  20. Is it actually a regional complex?
  21. Is it several religions combined externally?
  22. Is it an external administrative category?
  23. Is it a historical phase of another religion?
  24. Is it a modern revival?
  25. Is it a reconstruction?
  26. Is it a Sect of an existing Core Religion?
  27. Is it an unresolved candidate?
  28. Are alternative determinations stated?
  29. Is the selected determination justified?
  30. Is confidence stated?

Naming

  1. Is the preferred name recorded?
  2. Is the self-designation recorded?
  3. Are all major self-designations recorded?
  4. Is the principal endonym recorded?
  5. Are regional endonyms recorded?
  6. Are historical endonyms recorded?
  7. Are institutional endonyms recorded?
  8. Are all major exonyms recorded?
  9. Is the creator or user of every exonym recorded?
  10. Is every exonym’s date recorded?
  11. Is every exonym’s language recorded?
  12. Is every exonym’s acceptance status recorded?
  13. Are translated names recorded?
  14. Are transliterated names recorded?
  15. Are historical names recorded?
  16. Are former institutional names recorded?
  17. Are legal names recorded?
  18. Are census names recorded?
  19. Are scholarly names recorded?
  20. Are popular names recorded?
  21. Are abbreviations recorded?
  22. Are acronyms expanded?
  23. Is the correct adjectival form recorded?
  24. Is the adherent name recorded?
  25. Are singular and plural forms recorded?
  26. Are gendered forms recorded where applicable?
  27. Is the original script recorded?
  28. Is the language recorded?
  29. Is transliteration standardized?
  30. Are alternate transliteration systems cross-referenced?
  31. Are diacritics preserved?
  32. Is a search-friendly form preserved?
  33. Is pronunciation recorded?
  34. Is stress recorded?
  35. Are tones recorded where relevant?
  36. Is vowel length recorded where relevant?
  37. Is etymology recorded?
  38. Is popular etymology checked?
  39. Is literal meaning recorded?
  40. Is semantic development recorded?
  41. Is naming authority identified?
  42. Are name changes dated?
  43. Are regional name differences mapped?
  44. Are Sect-specific name differences mapped?
  45. Are contested names recorded?
  46. Are objectors identified?
  47. Are reasons for rejection stated?
  48. Are pejorative names marked?
  49. Are colonial names marked?
  50. Are externally imposed names marked?
  51. Are reclaimed names identified?
  52. Are homonyms disambiguated?
  53. Are broader and narrower names distinguished?
  54. Are exact synonyms distinguished from partial equivalents?
  55. Are spelling variants merged appropriately?
  56. Are distinct identities prevented from being merged by similar names?
  57. Is name scope stated?
  58. Is every name linked to evidence?
  59. Is confidence stated for name equivalence?
  60. Is the naming synthesis complete?

Boundaries and Belonging

  1. Is the subject’s boundary type identified?
  2. Is the boundary shape identified?
  3. Are doctrinal boundaries identified?
  4. Are ritual boundaries identified?
  5. Are institutional boundaries identified?
  6. Are legal boundaries identified?
  7. Are genealogical boundaries identified?
  8. Are ethnic boundaries identified?
  9. Are linguistic boundaries identified?
  10. Are territorial boundaries identified?
  11. Are initiatory boundaries identified?
  12. Are self-identification boundaries identified?
  13. Are externally imposed boundaries identified?
  14. Are inclusion criteria stated?
  15. Are exclusion criteria stated?
  16. Are necessary criteria distinguished from sufficient criteria?
  17. Is birth considered?
  18. Is ancestry considered?
  19. Is initiation considered?
  20. Is profession of faith considered?
  21. Is institutional registration considered?
  22. Is practice considered?
  23. Is law considered?
  24. Is lineage considered?
  25. Is residence considered?
  26. Is ethnicity considered?
  27. Is marriage considered?
  28. Is self-identification considered?
  29. Is communal recognition considered?
  30. Is state assignment considered?
  31. Is the membership unit identified?
  32. Can individuals belong?
  33. Can households belong?
  34. Can lineages belong?
  35. Can peoples belong?
  36. Can institutions belong?
  37. Is full membership defined?
  38. Are partial statuses defined?
  39. Are novices defined?
  40. Are associates defined?
  41. Are cultural affiliates defined?
  42. Are nominal affiliates defined?
  43. Are lapsed members defined?
  44. Is hereditary membership defined?
  45. Is conversion-based membership defined?
  46. Is initiatory membership defined?
  47. Is institutional membership defined?
  48. Is practice-based affiliation defined?
  49. Is lineage-based affiliation defined?
  50. Is ethnocultural affiliation defined?
  51. Are non-membership schools recognized?
  52. Is dual affiliation addressed?
  53. Is multiple affiliation addressed?
  54. Is simultaneous Sect affiliation addressed?
  55. Is exclusive affiliation identified by level?
  56. Is overlapping affiliation identified?
  57. Is cross-cutting affiliation identified?
  58. Is entry defined?
  59. Is exit defined?
  60. Is expulsion defined?
  61. Is residual identity after exit addressed?
  62. Are children’s identities addressed?
  63. Are mixed-parentage children addressed?
  64. Is intermarriage addressed?
  65. Is adoption addressed?
  66. Is ritual kinship addressed?
  67. Is clerical identity addressed?
  68. Is monastic identity addressed?
  69. Is territorial belonging addressed?
  70. Is state-imposed identity addressed?
  71. Is self-identification sufficient or insufficient?
  72. Is community recognition required?
  73. Are boundary disputes recorded?
  74. Are claimants and rejecters recorded?
  75. Are boundary changes dated?
  76. Is boundary hardening noted?
  77. Is boundary softening noted?
  78. Are porous boundaries preserved rather than falsely sharpened?
  79. Is consent distinguished from imposed classification?
  80. Is the complete boundary synthesis present?

Sect Qualification and Resolution

  1. Is every possible Sect first treated as a candidate?
  2. Does the candidate possess a recognizable collective identity?
  3. Does it possess a name?
  4. Does it possess historical identity?
  5. Does it possess a lineage?
  6. Does it possess a community?
  7. Does it possess institutional identity?
  8. Does it possess persistent external classification?
  9. Does it belong principally within one Core Religion?
  10. Is that belonging self-asserted?
  11. Is it historically demonstrated?
  12. Is it institutionally recognized?
  13. Is it scholarly?
  14. Is it contested?
  15. Is the principal parent recorded?
  16. Is the religious distinction identified?
  17. Is the distinction doctrinal?
  18. Is it interpretive?
  19. Is it juridical?
  20. Is it ritual?
  21. Is it authority-based?
  22. Is it institutional?
  23. Is it lineage-based?
  24. Is it devotional?
  25. Is it mystical?
  26. Is it reform-based?
  27. Is it ethnocultural?
  28. Is it linguistic?
  29. Is it geographic?
  30. Is it diasporic?
  31. Is it composite?
  32. Is it socially or politically adaptive?
  33. Does the candidate possess continuity?
  34. If extinct, does it possess historical significance?
  35. Is it more than a temporary gathering?
  36. Is identity supported by evidence?
  37. Is the name user identified?
  38. Is the period identified?
  39. Is the geography identified?
  40. Is analytical level identified?
  41. Has an isolated belief been rejected as a Sect?
  42. Has a cross-cutting practice been rejected unless collective identity exists?
  43. Has one congregation been rejected unless distinct identity exists?
  44. Has one institution been rejected unless distinct identity exists?
  45. Has one geographic population been rejected unless religious identity exists?
  46. Has a spelling variant been resolved as an alias?
  47. Has an unsupported pejorative label been rejected?
  48. Has an individual teacher circle been tested for durable lineage?
  49. Is the final candidate disposition recorded?
  50. Is the determination evidence-backed?

Sect Native Form and Categories

  1. Is the native or historical form recorded?
  2. Is it a branch?
  3. Church?
  4. Communion?
  5. Denomination?
  6. Sect?
  7. School?
  8. Philosophical school?
  9. Legal school?
  10. Rite?
  11. Order?
  12. Monastic order?
  13. Lineage?
  14. Teacher lineage?
  15. Devotional current?
  16. Mystical current?
  17. Movement?
  18. Reform movement?
  19. Revival?
  20. Reconstruction?
  21. Association?
  22. Fellowship?
  23. Community?
  24. Tradition?
  25. Sampradāya?
  26. Panth?
  27. Madhhab?
  28. Ṭarīqa?
  29. Sangha?
  30. Shrine network?
  31. Historical cult?
  32. Scholarly classification?
  33. Other source-specific form?
  34. Is the primary basis of differentiation recorded?
  35. Are secondary bases recorded?
  36. Is the primary category evidence-based?
  37. Is doctrinal or theological classification defined?
  38. Is philosophical or interpretive classification defined?
  39. Is juridical or ethical classification defined?
  40. Is ritual or liturgical classification defined?
  41. Is authority or succession classification defined?
  42. Is institutional or denominational classification defined?
  43. Is monastic, ascetic, order, or lineage classification defined?
  44. Is mystical, devotional, or esoteric classification defined?
  45. Is reform, revival, or restoration classification defined?
  46. Is ethnocultural or linguistic classification defined?
  47. Is geographic, regional, or diasporic classification defined?
  48. Is syncretic, composite, or derived classification defined?
  49. Is social or political adaptation classification defined?
  50. Is mixed or contested classification available?

Sect Hierarchy and Membership Shape

  1. Is the hierarchy level recorded?
  2. Is it a Major Division?
  3. Primary Branch?
  4. Secondary Branch?
  5. School or Tradition?
  6. Order or Lineage?
  7. Regional or Cultural Form?
  8. Local or Specialized Form?
  9. Cross-Cutting?
  10. Uncertain Level?
  11. Is scale distinguished from substantive category?
  12. Is membership shape recorded?
  13. Is it an Exclusive Alternative?
  14. Nested Subset?
  15. Overlapping Identity?
  16. Cross-Cutting Current?
  17. Institutional Affiliation?
  18. Practice-Based Affiliation?
  19. Lineage-Based Affiliation?
  20. Ethnocultural Affiliation?
  21. Non-Membership School?
  22. Contested or Variable?
  23. Is exclusivity identified only at the proper level?
  24. Are nested and overlapping relations distinguished?
  25. Is a false denominational partition avoided?
  26. Is one primary parent recorded?
  27. Is the primary parent justified?
  28. Is unlimited depth permitted?
  29. Is a maximum depth avoided?
  30. Is the relationship graph present?

Sect Origin, Relationships, and Recognition

  1. Is the origin mechanism recorded?
  2. Is gradual differentiation considered?
  3. Is doctrinal dispute considered?
  4. Is interpretive development considered?
  5. Is succession dispute considered?
  6. Is institutional schism considered?
  7. Is legal-school formation considered?
  8. Is lineage transmission considered?
  9. Is charismatic founding considered?
  10. Is revelatory claim considered?
  11. Is reform considered?
  12. Is revival considered?
  13. Is restoration considered?
  14. Is reconstruction considered?
  15. Is merger considered?
  16. Is syncretism considered?
  17. Is mission expansion considered?
  18. Is regional localization considered?
  19. Is diaspora adaptation considered?
  20. Is ethnic differentiation considered?
  21. Is linguistic differentiation considered?
  22. Is political separation considered?
  23. Is state reorganization considered?
  24. Is colonial transformation considered?
  25. Is postcolonial transformation considered?
  26. Is suppression and underground continuation considered?
  27. Is externally imposed classification considered?
  28. Is unknown origin permitted?
  29. Is contested origin permitted?
  30. Is one primary mechanism designated where defensible?
  31. Are secondary mechanisms recorded?
  32. Is every relationship typed?
  33. Is subdivision-of distinguished from school-within?
  34. Is order-within distinguished from institution-member-of?
  35. Is communion distinguished from affiliation?
  36. Is derivation distinguished from influence?
  37. Is reform distinguished from revival?
  38. Is revival distinguished from reconstruction?
  39. Is split-from distinguished from successor-to?
  40. Is merger recorded?
  41. Is overlap recorded?
  42. Is cross-cutting recorded?
  43. Is competition recorded?
  44. Is exclusive-continuity claim recorded?
  45. Is recognition recorded?
  46. Is nonrecognition recorded?
  47. Is rejection recorded?
  48. Is external classification recorded?
  49. Is historical-only relationship recorded?
  50. Is recognition status recorded?
  51. Is self-identification recorded?
  52. Is parent recognition recorded?
  53. Is sibling recognition recorded?
  54. Is institutional recognition recorded?
  55. Is legal recognition recorded?
  56. Is scholarly consensus recorded?
  57. Is common external classification recorded?
  58. Is historical classification recorded?
  59. Is internal contest recorded?
  60. Is external contest recorded?
  61. Is rejection by parent recorded?
  62. Is claim to represent the whole religion recorded?
  63. Is separate-religion claim recorded?
  64. Is externally imposed label recorded?
  65. Is uncertainty recorded?
  66. Is every recognition claim perspectival?
  67. Is every relationship dated?
  68. Is every relationship geographically scoped?
  69. Is every relationship evidenced?
  70. Is confidence stated?

Internal Diversity and Generalization

  1. Are all Major Divisions inventoried?
  2. Are all Primary Branches inventoried?
  3. Are all Secondary Branches inventoried?
  4. Are all schools inventoried?
  5. Are all legal schools inventoried?
  6. Are all philosophical schools inventoried?
  7. Are all rites inventoried?
  8. Are all orders inventoried?
  9. Are all lineages inventoried?
  10. Are all devotional currents inventoried?
  11. Are all mystical currents inventoried?
  12. Are regional forms inventoried?
  13. Are diasporic forms inventoried?
  14. Are ethnocultural forms inventoried?
  15. Are cross-cutting currents inventoried?
  16. Are historical Sects inventoried?
  17. Are suppressed Sects inventoried?
  18. Are extinct Sects inventoried?
  19. Are revived Sects inventoried?
  20. Are reconstructed Sects inventoried?
  21. Are dominant and minority Sects distinguished?
  22. Is the best-documented Sect identified?
  23. Is dominant-Sect bias controlled?
  24. Are official and popular forms distinguished?
  25. Are household forms included?
  26. Are elite and nonelite forms distinguished?
  27. Are regional differences mapped?
  28. Are linguistic differences mapped?
  29. Are gender differences mapped?
  30. Are generational differences mapped?
  31. Are class and caste differences mapped?
  32. Are urban and rural forms mapped?
  33. Is every Core Religion claim graded?
  34. Is universal or nearly universal material identified?
  35. Is overwhelming predominance identified?
  36. Is predominant but nonuniversal material identified?
  37. Is widespread material identified?
  38. Is Sect-specific material identified?
  39. Is regional material identified?
  40. Is lineage-specific material identified?
  41. Is institutional material identified?
  42. Is historical material identified?
  43. Is popular but unofficial material identified?
  44. Is official but weakly practiced material identified?
  45. Is contested material identified?
  46. Is rejected material identified?
  47. Is absence from major Sects identified?
  48. Is non-generalizable material marked?
  49. Is uncertainty preserved?
  50. Can the Core Religion synthesis be traced to its Sects?

Recognition and Relationships

  1. Is self-recognition documented?
  2. Is parent recognition documented?
  3. Is sibling recognition documented?
  4. Is institutional recognition documented?
  5. Is legal recognition documented by jurisdiction?
  6. Is census classification documented?
  7. Is scholarly classification documented?
  8. Is public classification documented?
  9. Is historical classification documented?
  10. Is hostile classification documented?
  11. Are polemical labels separated from analytical terms?
  12. Are claims to sole authenticity documented?
  13. Are claims to separate-religion status documented?
  14. Is project placement explained where self-identification differs?
  15. Is relationship direction explicit?
  16. Is parentage distinguished from influence?
  17. Is affiliation distinguished from communion?
  18. Is historical relation distinguished from current relation?
  19. Is every recognizing party identified?
  20. Is every rejecting party identified?
  21. Is degree of recognition stated?
  22. Is recognition partial or conditional?
  23. Is recognition date stated?
  24. Is recognition geography stated?
  25. Is legal status current?
  26. Is legal status prevented from defining religious truth?
  27. Is state classification distinguished from community identity?
  28. Is census classification critically assessed?
  29. Are overlapping legal and religious categories recorded?
  30. Is the complete recognition matrix present?

Geographic Scope

  1. Is claimed place of origin recorded?
  2. Is earliest attested place recorded?
  3. Is formative region recorded?
  4. Are historical centers recorded?
  5. Are current centers recorded?
  6. Is sacred homeland recorded?
  7. Is ancestral territory recorded?
  8. Is territorial jurisdiction recorded?
  9. Are overlapping jurisdictions recorded?
  10. Are majority regions recorded?
  11. Are minority regions recorded?
  12. Are diaspora regions recorded?
  13. Are mission-expansion regions recorded?
  14. Are regional variants recorded?
  15. Are suppressed regions recorded?
  16. Are extinct regions recorded?
  17. Are revival regions recorded?
  18. Is global or transnational status recorded?
  19. Is digital or nonterritorial status recorded?
  20. Are political boundaries distinguished from historical regions?
  21. Are modern state names prevented from being retrojected?
  22. Are exact place names recorded?
  23. Are historical place-name variants recorded?
  24. Are language regions mapped?
  25. Are urban and rural distributions mapped?
  26. Are migration corridors mapped where identity-relevant?
  27. Are sacred territories protected where necessary?
  28. Are indigenous land claims represented accurately?
  29. Is geographic presence distinguished from regional Sect identity?
  30. Is a country branch prevented from becoming a Sect automatically?
  31. Is the geographic role of each place stated?
  32. Is time attached to geographic claims?
  33. Is population attached to geographic claims?
  34. Is geographic uncertainty stated?
  35. Are disputed boundaries stated?
  36. Are inaccessible regions stated?
  37. Are data gaps stated?
  38. Is map scale appropriate?
  39. Does the geographic synthesis avoid “core” and “periphery” as unexamined value judgments?
  40. Is the geographic scope statement complete?

Temporal Scope and Continuity

  1. Is claimed origin recorded?
  2. Is claimed timelessness recorded?
  3. Is founder date recorded where applicable?
  4. Is revelatory origin recorded separately from historical evidence?
  5. Is earliest direct attestation recorded?
  6. Is earliest retrospective attestation recorded?
  7. Is organizational foundation recorded?
  8. Is identity consolidation recorded?
  9. Is major differentiation recorded?
  10. Is period of greatest activity recorded where relevant?
  11. Is suppression recorded?
  12. Is disappearance recorded?
  13. Is merger recorded?
  14. Is absorption recorded?
  15. Is dormancy recorded?
  16. Is clandestine continuity recorded?
  17. Is revival recorded?
  18. Is reconstruction recorded?
  19. Is transformation into successor recorded?
  20. Is current-status date recorded?
  21. Are date ranges used?
  22. Is uncertainty represented?
  23. Is one forced founding year avoided?
  24. Is claimed date distinguished from attested date?
  25. Is identity emergence distinguished from institution formation?
  26. Is schism date distinguished from later identity consolidation?
  27. Is active status recorded?
  28. Is active-but-small status available?
  29. Is historical status available?
  30. Is extinct status available?
  31. Is absorbed status available?
  32. Is merged status available?
  33. Is dormant status available?
  34. Is suppressed status available?
  35. Is clandestine status available?
  36. Is revived status available?
  37. Is reconstructed status available?
  38. Is disputed continuation available?
  39. Is uncertain status available?
  40. Is population continuity assessed?
  41. Is lineage continuity assessed?
  42. Is institutional continuity assessed?
  43. Is doctrinal continuity assessed?
  44. Is ritual continuity assessed?
  45. Is legal continuity assessed?
  46. Is linguistic continuity assessed?
  47. Is territorial continuity assessed?
  48. Is material continuity assessed?
  49. Is memory continuity assessed?
  50. Is name continuity assessed?
  51. Is self-identification continuity assessed?
  52. Are continuity gaps identified?
  53. Are gaps dated?
  54. Is concealment distinguished from extinction?
  55. Is revival distinguished from uninterrupted transmission?
  56. Is reconstruction distinguished from revival?
  57. Are modern continuity claims evaluated?
  58. Is present status verified?
  59. Is temporal scope prevented from becoming a full historical narrative?
  60. Is the temporal synthesis complete?

Demography

  1. Is “adherent” defined?
  2. Is self-identification used?
  3. Is census affiliation used?
  4. Is institutional membership used?
  5. Is initiation used?
  6. Is ancestry used?
  7. Is household status used?
  8. Is regular participation used?
  9. Is doctrinal assent used?
  10. Is community recognition used?
  11. Is the selected definition justified?
  12. Is population date recorded?
  13. Is geographic scope recorded?
  14. Is source recorded?
  15. Is method recorded?
  16. Is margin of error recorded?
  17. Are inclusion rules recorded?
  18. Are exclusion rules recorded?
  19. Are census categories adequate?
  20. Are multiple affiliations permitted?
  21. Are inactive members counted?
  22. Are children counted?
  23. Are institutional rolls current?
  24. Are duplicate memberships present?
  25. Is participation frequency defined?
  26. Is household practice included?
  27. Is ancestry-based counting justified?
  28. Are mixed-heritage persons addressed?
  29. Is double-counting across Sects controlled?
  30. Is overlap structure incorporated?
  31. Is undercount assessed?
  32. Is persecution-related undercount assessed?
  33. Is clandestine practice assessed?
  34. Is census omission assessed?
  35. Is overcount assessed?
  36. Are inactive rolls assessed?
  37. Is state assignment assessed?
  38. Is cultural affiliation distinguished from active membership?
  39. Are outdated estimates rejected?
  40. Is age composition recorded?
  41. Is gender composition recorded?
  42. Is ethnic composition recorded?
  43. Is language composition recorded?
  44. Is caste-community composition recorded?
  45. Is class composition recorded?
  46. Is educational composition recorded?
  47. Is nationality recorded?
  48. Is migration status recorded?
  49. Is urban–rural distribution recorded?
  50. Is convert–heritage composition recorded?
  51. Is demographic center distinguished from institutional center?
  52. Is generational structure recorded?
  53. Is youth retention addressed?
  54. Is aging population addressed?
  55. Is growth or decline cautiously classified?
  56. Is current demographic uncertainty stated?
  57. Are exact numbers prevented from implying false precision?
  58. Are different counting methods compared?
  59. Is the demographic synthesis dated?
  60. Is the demographic profile complete?

Regional and Historical Resolution

  1. Is the people or community identified?
  2. Is the self-name recorded?
  3. Is the external name recorded?
  4. Is language recorded?
  5. Is kinship structure considered?
  6. Is political structure considered?
  7. Is settlement pattern considered?
  8. Is geography precisely defined?
  9. Is ecological region considered?
  10. Is sacred landscape considered?
  11. Is historical period fixed?
  12. Are later forms prevented from being projected backward?
  13. Are all tradition names inventoried?
  14. Are people names distinguished from religion names?
  15. Are archaeological labels distinguished from religious identities?
  16. Are colonial labels identified?
  17. Are modern revival names identified?
  18. Are practices inventoried?
  19. Are institutions inventoried?
  20. Is internal variation assessed?
  21. Is one coherent system demonstrated?
  22. Is a family of related traditions possible?
  23. Is a regional complex possible?
  24. Are several distinct religions possible?
  25. Is an externally imposed category possible?
  26. Is a historical phase of another religion possible?
  27. Is a local Sect of a wider religion possible?
  28. Is a modern revival possible?
  29. Is a reconstruction possible?
  30. Is unresolved status possible?
  31. Are textual sources assessed?
  32. Are oral sources assessed?
  33. Is archaeology assessed?
  34. Are inscriptions assessed?
  35. Are hostile reports assessed critically?
  36. Are missionary sources assessed critically?
  37. Are living descendants included?
  38. Is self-identification evidence available?
  39. Are village differences assessed?
  40. Are clan differences assessed?
  41. Are lineage differences assessed?
  42. Are polity differences assessed?
  43. Is one external umbrella being decomposed where necessary?
  44. Is a regional complex distinguished from one religion?
  45. Is archaeological culture distinguished from religion?
  46. Is state cult distinguished from household religion?
  47. Is restricted knowledge protected?
  48. Are precise sacred locations protected?
  49. Is revival continuity evaluated?
  50. Is the final Regional and Historical determination explicit?

Evidence, Inheritance, and Final Synthesis

  1. Is every identity claim atomic?
  2. Is every name claim evidenced?
  3. Is every parentage claim evidenced?
  4. Is every Sect-category claim evidenced?
  5. Is every hierarchy claim evidenced?
  6. Is every membership-shape claim evidenced?
  7. Is every origin-mechanism claim evidenced?
  8. Is every relationship claim evidenced?
  9. Is every recognition claim evidenced?
  10. Is every temporal claim evidenced?
  11. Is every geographic claim evidenced?
  12. Is every demographic claim evidenced?
  13. Is claim perspective recorded?
  14. Is self-description identified?
  15. Is parent description identified?
  16. Is sibling description identified?
  17. Is rival description identified?
  18. Is legal classification identified?
  19. Is census classification identified?
  20. Is scholarly classification identified?
  21. Is historical classification identified?
  22. Is analyst determination identified?
  23. Is source authenticity assessed?
  24. Is source independence assessed?
  25. Is source representativeness assessed?
  26. Is temporal relevance assessed?
  27. Is geographic relevance assessed?
  28. Is internal agreement assessed?
  29. Is external agreement assessed?
  30. Is evidence conflict recorded?
  31. Is confidence graded?
  32. Are unsupported claims rejected?
  33. Are uncertain claims left uncertain?
  34. Are emic and etic accounts separated?
  35. Are community claims preserved?
  36. Are scholarly determinations labeled?
  37. Are legal classifications prevented from overriding religious identity silently?
  38. Are hostile sources prevented from defining the subject uncritically?
  39. Are dominant institutions prevented from erasing minorities?
  40. Are current sources used for current status?
  41. Is every parent claim assigned an inheritance status?
  42. Is inherited-unchanged status justified?
  43. Is inherited-with-qualification status documented?
  44. Is period-limited inheritance documented?
  45. Is geography-limited inheritance documented?
  46. Is contested inheritance documented?
  47. Is rejected inheritance documented?
  48. Is not-applicable inheritance documented?
  49. Is independent Sect answer documented?
  50. Is unknown inheritance documented?
  51. Are parent evidence links preserved?
  52. Are Sect-specific evidence links added?
  53. Are Core Religion claims aggregated from Sect evidence?
  54. Is overlapping Sect membership considered during aggregation?
  55. Are generalization grades retained?
  56. Is the final subject statement complete?
  57. Is the final naming synthesis complete?
  58. Is the final boundary synthesis complete?
  59. Is the final Sect topology complete?
  60. Is the final recognition synthesis complete?
  61. Is the final geographic synthesis complete?
  62. Is the final temporal synthesis complete?
  63. Is the final demographic synthesis complete?
  64. Is the final uncertainty statement complete?
  65. Can another researcher identify the exact subject?
  66. Can another researcher reproduce the Sect determination?
  67. Can another researcher trace every name to its source?
  68. Can another researcher reconstruct every boundary?
  69. Can another researcher distinguish tree placement from graph relations?
  70. Can another researcher determine who recognizes the identity?
  71. Can another researcher determine where and when each claim applies?
  72. Can a later framework section avoid scope drift using this record?
  73. Can a Core Religion analysis identify which claims are truly core-wide?
  74. Can a Sect analysis distinguish inherited from Sect-specific material?
  75. Does the analysis avoid treating one institution as the whole religion?
  76. Does it avoid treating one Sect as the whole Core Religion?
  77. Does it avoid treating one practice as a Sect?
  78. Does it avoid treating one population as a religious division without evidence?
  79. Does it avoid treating every tradition as an exclusive membership system?
  80. Does it preserve the fact that religious identity can be nested, overlapping, cross-cutting, inherited, chosen, contested, and historically transformed?

Only after Identity and Scope has passed this audit should the analysis proceed to Historical Context. The subject must be fixed before its history can be narrated; otherwise the history will repeatedly change its object without admitting that it has done so.