Hello, and may the Peace of God be with you.

This work-in-progress resource has links to the official websites of most of the world’s religions and to other sites that are helpful in understanding their fundamental beliefs, governance, and differentiation. That is a lot of links. Hence the site’s name, Domine, dirige nos, which means: Lord, direct us! A little bit of Internet theological humor. Ahem.

Your Webmaster is using this site to teach himself html. This has absolutely nothing to do with my making a living, so don’t expect miracles.

Of course, I hope the effort to complete the site has better results for me than it did for the protagonists in Arthur C. Clarke’s story.

Background to the site

I first got hooked on learning more about the differences between faith groups by reading Mead and Hill’s Handbook of Religious Denominations in the United States 1. Then, as a birthday present, my wife gave me Barnett, Kurian, and Johnson’s World Christian Encyclopedia 2. So I decided that assembling links to all North American denominations would be an easy way to learn html.

Four years later, I estimate that accounting for every faith group in North America would require perhaps 10 thousand URL entries. Work on this page has taught me a lot about hubris.

I also struggle with the issue of taxonomy. For example: is the Old Catholic Church of America a “Catholic Church”, an “Old Catholic Church” 3, a “Self-Governing Church with Apostolic Succession” 4, a “Cult” 5, or simply an apostolic church? I suspect for many the question is not one that can be answered by reference to any single established authority.

This Web site is a project for my education. So forgive me for misspellings, failing to use your denomination’s full formal name, etc. Forgive me especially if my taxonomy misstates or misrepresents fundamental aspects of your Creed or Belief. I mean no disrespect. Quite the opposite. I am using this work as a means of appreciating God’s different manifestations to individuals. I live near Washington, DC, and am Episcopalian. So my most comprehensive entries cover North American, Christian, Protestant, and Anglican religious groups. But, as I hope the listings will show, I have a genuine interest in learning about all other denominations and faiths. Please, e-mail me with corrections or additions.

I also want to acknowledge the other wonderful sites on this subject. They partly inspired this work. Some are listed here.

Thanks to my site host

Many thanks to my good friend Chris Weuve for kindly agreeing to host this Web page at kentaurus.com. If you would like to know more about Chris, check out his homepage. Worth dropping by, especially if you are a science fiction fan.

Got a better idea? Say so

Suggestions (and especially lessons learned from similar efforts of your own) are cordially solicited. Email wade_hinkle@verizon.net

Wade Hinkle
Annandale, Virginia

1 Frank S. Mead and Samuel S. Hill, Handbook of Religious Denominations in the United States, 11th Edition (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001).

2 David B. Barnett, George T. Kurian, and Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Encyclopedia: A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions In the Modern World, 2nd Edition, 2 volumes, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

3 That’s how it describes itself in its homepage.

4 As it is categorized on the very comprehensive Web page on Christian churches and denominations, The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church Today.

5 Which seems to be the feeling of one former priest in the Society of St. Pius the Tenth. Read the Rev. Anthony Cekada, SSPX, “A Warning On The Old Catholics: False Bishops, False Churches,” Roman Catholic, October 1980.