This movie type contains titles that explore the history and/or reality of the beliefs, practices, rituals, and institutions that form any of the world's religious systems - from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism to ancient/ extinct religions, indigenous/ folk religions, paganism/occult, and Japanese "New Religion" cults. These will be objective, and often comparative, anthropological or historical studies of religion and religious forms rather than propaganda or teachings from religious leaders and devotees.
