There are many different divisions, or denominations within the Christian faith. Many of them are similar when it comes to basic theology, but that is where the similarities end. Some denominations stress certain portions of Scripture; many others believe that those same portions are irrelevant to the Christian lifestyle. A few denominations exist primary for political reasons; others abhor government and had radically different ideology. There are most likely hundreds of denominations within the Christian faith; a brief overview of some more prominent ones is listed below.

Anglican -- Anglicans express their faith in the Apostle's Creed, an ancient document that states basic truths of Christianity. Anglicans see themselves as a "bridge" between Protestant denominations (Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Baptist) and the Catholic Church. The Anglican Church also includes smaller denominations such as the Episcopal Church and the Church of England.

Baptist -- Unlike several other Protestant denominations, who believe in baptizing infants, the Baptist denomination believes that a person should not be baptized unless they have made a personal commitment to Christianity. Baptists also believe that baptism should be by immersion within water, not by pouring or sprinkling.

Catholic -- The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest denomination in Christianity; it contains more members than all other denominations put together. Catholics believe in seven sacraments -- ceremonial signs of God within a person's life.

Eastern Orthodox -- This denomination is the primary Christian church in the Soviet Union, Greece, and Eastern Europe. The Eastern Orthodox denomination is very similar to the Catholic Church. Icons -- religious images -- are an important part of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Pentecostal -- Pentecostal churches are not really considered a denomination; there are 50 "denominations" within the Pentecostal church, and many of them differ radically in matters of theology. However, Pentecostal churches teach that every Christian should endeavor to become "filled with the Spirit"; an experience that allows the believer to speak in foreign tongues (without previous knowledge of the language) and performs miracles.

Presbyterian -- The Presbyterian (or Reformed) tradition is based around the works of a Protestant scholar named John Calvin. One of the points Calvin stressed was that God, through his infinite wisdom, had already decided who would go to heaven and who would go to hell. This concept was adopted by the Presbyterian Church and is known as predestination. For the most part, Presbyterians do not believe that Christians are capable of performing miracles in modern times.

Seventh-Day Adventist -- This denomination observes the Sabbath on Saturdays, rather than on Sunday. (most churches have services on Sundays because Jesus was raised from the dead on a Sunday) Adventists believe that Christ will return in person; they also study Biblical prophecies to discover the time of His return.

In the early times; at the time of Grecian rule, there were four sects of Judaism; the Essenes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and then came another called the Zealots. After the destruction of the temple only the Pharisees survived... Then in the ninth century, came the Karaites which basically did not believe in the oral Torah, and a strict interpretation of the written one without any rabbinical instruction as they didn't consider that as handed down from God, but just the work of human beings. In the 18th century, there came the Chasids; their main distinguish is believing in a Rebbe, which is considered more enlightened than other Jews to which they consult in all their life's affairs.

There are different sects nowadays in different places. In the U.S.A, there is Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements. The Orthodox believes in following the 613 commandments in the Torah, and believes that it is the Word of God. Reform on the other hand believe that the written Torah isn't the word of God but different pieces of work that was brought together, and they don't believe in strictly following the commandments. Conservative is somewhere in the middle; believes that the written Torah as well as other Jewish literature as inspired by God but that there is some human work in it, believes in the observance of the Jewish law, but believes that it should change with society. But there are differences in it; one may tend to be more like Reform, while another is almost orthodox. There are also Reconstructionists; they do not believe that God chose the Jewish people but lay more stress on observing Jewish laws. Similar movements exist throughout the world...

"La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun rasullulah'

"There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger."

This is the declaration said to proclaim a person a Muslim. Essentially, a Muslim must believe that God is the only Divine Creator; Islam means submission and obedience to God, and that Muhammad was an obedient and righteous follower whom God chose to be a messenger (which is defined as a person who brings laws or a Book) and brought the final message to mankind.

There are four schools of thought in Islam; they study the Quran and Sunna and accordingly have resolutions to certain aspects of Muslim life and problems that have come about recently. A person doesn't necessarily belong to one school of thought though. Of them is the Jafri mathab (school of thought) to which Shitte or Shi'ah Muslims belong to.

Islam is mainly about Sunni Muslims (which believe in following Prophet

Mohammed’s example in Islam; hence Sunni from Sunna), which are the huge majority, and there are also Shi'ah (meaning sect). Shi'ah believe that the rightful successors after Muhammad should have been of the descendants of Ali, the prophets cousin and son-in-law.

There are others which have been separated from Islam and are now separate religions, such as Bahai', Nation of Islam, the Ahmadyah movement, and Sufisim.