That complexity is revealed by the thousands of separate churches, sects, and denominations that make up the modern Christian tradition.
Religious communities, including brotherhoods, mystery cults, synagogues, churches, sects, and monastic and missionary orders, serve initially to preserve and interpret their traditions or the body of doctrine, practices, and liturgical forms through which religious experience comes to be expressed.
We carried out a descriptive exploratory study using a qualitative survey among the pastors of the churches (sects) that are reticent toward vaccination and of parents of targeted children, as well as control groups of pastors and church members from non-reticent sects.
The German scholar Ernst Troeltsch sought to impose a meaningful pattern on this confusion by organizing the complex relationships of the Christian community to the world into three types of religious social organization: church, sect, and mystical movement.
She is currently working on a documentary about Janis Joplin and promoting her film Prophet's Prey, about Warren Jeffs, the former leader of a fundamentalist church sect who is serving a life sentence for sexual assault on children.
Trinity Lutheran Church, which operates a preschool on church property, applied for a grant through the program but was rejected under a provision in the state constitution that prohibits state money from going "directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, or denomination of religion".
In the book, Wallis brings together a significant amount of information and presents an analysis of the church-sect structure which simultaneously exhibited a denomination-cult pattern.
The Encyclopedia of Religion and Society noted that Wallis "displayed characteristic skill in assimilating and simplifying a large amount of diverse material into a parsimonious reworking of the classic church-sect typology".
No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution".
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources denied the church's application in 2012 for a scrap-tire grant program to refurbish its playground, citing the state's constitution, which says, "No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, or denomination of religion".
Various churches and sects condemn many harmless, pleasurable sexual activities that adults can reasonably enjoy.
