Erroneous Ideologies

Atheism
Pre-Christian

A system of thought opposed to theism (the belief in God) and modern day religions.¹

Hedonism
Pre-Christian

A system of ethics that teaches that pleasure and happiness are the goals of our conduct, and anything that increases this pleasure and happiness is right and anything that denies it is wrong.¹

Occultism
Pre-Christian

The practice of magic, astrology, divination and idolatry.¹

Witchcraft
Pre-Christian

A type of occultism that involves a pact with the devil or the help of evil spirits to realize evil ends, such as invoking the dead, invoking forced love in others or invoking calamity upon others.^{1, 2}

Paganism
Pre-Christian

Every religion other than Christianity, Judaism and Islam.¹

Polytheism
Pre-Christian

The belief and worship of many gods.¹

Rationalism
17th century

The claim that human reason is the “sole source and final test” of what is true.¹

Neopaganism
18th century

The revival of paganism from historically Christian, Jewish or Muslim cultures.¹

Relativism
18th century

The claim that there are no absolute universal values and that there are no universal truths.¹

Shamanism
18th century

A practice of violent magic.¹

Anarchism
19th century

A social and political doctrine that proposes to do away with government and to organize society in a way that does not need it; it assumes that we are entitled to satisfy all our desires and that any external restraint is tyranny.¹

Bolshevism
19th century

A form of Leninism with a focus on violence and the installation of educated intellectuals into positions of power.^{1, 2, 3}

Communism
19th century

A social system where all the means of production and all consumed goods are owned by the community and not by any individual.¹

Leninism
19th century

A social and political agenda to make Marxism a reality; an agenda whereby a revolutionary party, known as a vanguard party, is created (where its members are bound by policies decided in the party) to lead the working class into a conflict with capitalists leading to a revolution, an overthrow, and the establishment of socialism.¹

Marxism
19th century

A social and political doctrine that theorizes and encourages class struggle and conflict between capitalists and laborers, revolution of the labor class against capitalists, the overthrow of the economy, and the implementation of socialism and, ultimately, communism.^{1, 2}

Scientism
19th century

The claim that scientific knowledge is the “only legitimate form of knowledge”; this claim is a belief and cannot be verified by science and is therefore unfounded by its own definition.^{1, 2}

Secularism
19th century

The claim that the our life’s duty is to be the best version of ourselves physically, morally and intellectually and to improve life using material means, science and the act of doing good, all apart from religion.^{1, 2}

Socialism
19th century

A social system where all means of production are owned by the community and not by any individual.¹

Theosophism
19th century

The study of divine wisdom received, not by revelation from God (theology), not by human reasoning (philosophy), but by direct intuition of the divine essence.¹

Wiccanism
19th century

A modern practice of witchcraft.¹