In the Roman Catholic Church, abbots continue to be elected by the monks of an abbey to lead them as their religious superior in those orders and monasteries that make use of the term ( some orders of monks, as the Carthusians for instance, have no abbots, only priors ).

Ambrosians is a term that might be applied either to members of one of the religious brotherhoods which at various times since the 14th century have sprung up in and around Milan or, exceptionally to a 16th century sect of Anabaptists.

Anointing of the Sick, known also by other names, is distinguished from other forms of religious anointing or " unction " ( an older term with the same meaning ) in that it is intended, as its name indicates, for the benefit of a sick person.

The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music ( in music theory and religious contexts ), or more generally, a song ( or composition ) of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term " national anthem " or " sports anthem ".

The change was brought on because internationally, the term Bishop is more commonly related to religious leaders than the previous title.

Cultural Christian is a broad term used to describe people with either ethnic or religious Christian heritage who may not believe in the religious claims of Christianity, but who retain an affinity for the culture, art, music, and so on related to it.

Another frequent application of the term is to distinguish political groups in areas of mixed religious backgrounds.

In its narrow sense, the term is applied only to those for whom the unmarried state is the result of a sacred vow, act of renunciation, or religious conviction.

An alternative term, expressing an ideological ( sometimes religious ) approach aimed at distancing oneself from the source of the count, is למניינם ( according to their count ).

Historically, the term often referred to the combination of economic liberalism, which champions laissez-faire markets, with the classical conservatism concern for established tradition, respect for authority and religious values.

In a historical or geopolitical sense the term usually refers collectively to Christian majority countries or countries in which Christianity dominates or was a territorial phenomenon .“ Christendom is originally a medieval concept steadily to have evolved since the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual rise of the Papacy more in religio-temporal implication practically during and after the reign of Charlemagne ; and the concept let itself to be lulled in the minds of the staunch believers to the archetype of a holy religious space inhabited by Christians, blessed by God, the Heavenly Father, ruled by Christ through the Church and protected by the Spirit-body of Christ ; no wonder, this concept, as included the whole of Europe and then the expanding Christian territories on earth, strengthened the roots of Romance of the greatness of Christianity in the world .”

The term " creed " can also refer to a person's political or social beliefs or is sometimes used to mean religious affiliation.

Any use of the term " Cathar " to refer to people after the suppression of Catharism in the 14th century is a cultural or ancestral reference, and has no religious implication.

Since the 1980s the term " new religions " or " new religious movements " has slowly entered into Evangelical usage, alongside the word " cult ".

Deists referred to this kind of manipulation of religious doctrine as " priestcraft ", a highly derogatory term.

It is important to note that the Great Conversation is not static, which is the impression that one might obtain from some descriptions of perennialism, a confusion with religious perennialism, or even the term perennialism itself.

The term can also refer to the academic study of esoteric religious movements and philosophies, or more generally of alternative or marginalized religious movements or philosophies whose proponents distinguish their beliefs, practices, and experiences from mainstream institutionalized traditions.

While the main usage is religious, the term is also used to characterize a movement that has great commitment.

Some fatwās have drawn a great deal of attention in Western media, giving rise to the term fatwā being used loosely for statements by non-Muslims that advocate an extreme religious or political position, and loosely or as slang for other sorts of decrees, for example:

The term usually has a religious connotation indicating unwavering attachment to a set of irreducible beliefs.

A good many scholars, however, use the term in the broader descriptive sense to refer to various groups in various religious traditions including those groups that would object to being classified as fundamentalists.

Gnosticism ( from gnostikos, " learned ", from gnōsis, knowledge ) is a modern scholarly term for a set of religious beliefs and spiritual practices found among some early Christian and non-Christian groups called " gnostic " (" knowing ") by Irenaeus and other early Christian leaders.

According to the anarchist historian Max Nettlau, the first use of the term libertarian communism was in November 1880, when a French anarchist congress employed it to more clearly identify its doctrines.

" The next recorded use of the term was in Europe, when " libertarian communism " was used at a French regional anarchist Congress at Le Havre ( 16 – 22 November 1880 ).

The term was later applied to a number of revolutionary movements, especially socialism, anarchism, and communism, as well as more reformist movements such as green politics, social democracy, and social liberalism.

Trotskyists in particular believe that Stalinism contradicted authentic Marxism and Leninism, and they initially used the term " Bolshevik – Leninism " to describe their own ideology of anti-Stalinist ( and later anti-Maoist ) communism.

Some analysts like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Mortal Danger: Misconceptions about Soviet Russia and the Threat to America consider the use of the term " Stalinism " is an excuse to hide the inevitable effects of communism as a whole on human liberties.

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO ( which along with its allies represented the First World ), or communism and the Soviet Union ( which along with its allies represented the Second World ).

" However, by the 1930s, the term socialized medicine was routinely used negatively by conservative opponents of publicly funded health care who wished to imply it represented socialism, and by extension, communism.

However, such states do not use that term themselves, seeing communism as a phase to develop after the full maturation of socialism, and instead often use the titles of " people's republic ," " socialist republic ," or " democratic republic.

The term Red Scare denotes the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents.

Some socialists like left communists oppose the idea of a vanguard party pulling a nation towards communism, and thus the term " socialist state " is liable to cause confusion.

The term " neoconservative " ( sometimes shortened to " neocon ") was initially used in the 1930s, to describe American liberals who criticized communists for following a path closer to Soviet communism.

The term " Cambridge " in the name Cambridge Five refers to the conversion of the group to communism during their education at Cambridge University in the 1930s.

The term dissident was used in the Eastern bloc, particularly in the Soviet Union, in the period following Joseph Stalin's death until the fall of communism.

The new class is also used as a polemic term by critics of countries that followed the Soviet type of communism to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist Party functionaries which arose in these states.

And the term equality of outcome is seen as more controversial which connotes socialism or possibly communism and is viewed skeptically.

Pinko is a critical term coined in America in 1925, originally to describe a person regarded as being sympathetic to communism, though not necessarily a Communist Party member.

The term has its origins in the notion that pink is a lighter shade of red, a colour associated with communism.

A number of Christians, of various political persuasions, object to the use of the word communism in the term " Christian communism " due to that word's association with the governments of nations such as the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, Vietnam, and North Korea, which are seen or have been seen as oppressive in the US.

They point out the existence of significant communist opposition to the totalitarian " communist states " of the 20th century ( including, for example, Trotskyism ), and argue that, if they were to abandon the term communism, it would only serve to further obscure the history of that opposition.

Thus, these Christian communists hold that the term ' Christian communism ' is accurate and appropriate, as long as it is specified that they belong to the democratic, anti-Stalinist branch of communism.

From the ecosocialist point of view, both communism and capitalism are two faces of the productivism " mode of production " ( a marxist term ), which should be phased out if our planet is to survive.

The use of the word communism in a religious context predates the use of the term to describe more secular forms of communism, such as that advocated by François Babeuf in the 18th century, and Karl Marx in the 19th century.