Registry of Religions (ROR)

The Registry of Religions (ROR) is a standardized reference system for identifying and coding the world’s religions and their major divisions. It provides unique, stable identifiers that enable consistent data exchange across ministry information systems.

The Editor of the Registry of Religions is Lee Berryman.

Each record in the Registry contains the following fields:

Code – ROR codes are the primary codes within Registry of Religions. ROR codes use a letter-based system: a single letter identifies the Base Religion, while a full three-letter code identifies the Religious Division. The first letter of every three-letter code always indicates the Base Religion. Each code is permanent — once assigned, it is never reused, even if the religion it represents is removed from the database.

Name – ROR Names are identifiers recommended as standard reference names in the format of Base Religion – Religious Division. Examples:

BMA – Buddhism – Mahayana
CRC – Christianity – Roman Catholicism
EAF – Ethnoreligion – African Traditional Religion
MSN – Islam – Sunni

DisplayName – ROR DisplayName provides a preferred religion display name that removes the hyphenation and excludes Base Religion where appropriate. Examples:

BMA – Mahayana Buddhism
CRC – Roman Catholicism
EAF – African Traditional Religion
MSN – Sunni Islam

Practitioner – ROR Practitioner provides the common reference name for a religious adherent.

Overview – ROR Overviews are crafted as stand-alone overviews of the religious variety that might be displayed on a Religion overview page.

Description – ROR Descriptions are written to support auto-generated summary statements — typically beginning with the Display Name — that describe a religious variety in context, such as within a people group profile.

Code Table

A single Code Table contains all the elements of the Registry of Religions.

Change Management

This section defines the process that the registry editor will follow to maintain the registry.

1. Governing Philosophy – Changes are made to the Registry of Religions as often as needed to add, remove, or clarify codes.

2. How to make a change request – Any query, perceived error, or suggested clarification may be proposed by email to the ROR Editor.

3. How change requests are processed – When a change request is received, the editor will review it and, if warranted, update the appropriate code as soon as possible.

4. How Updates are Made – Code tables are updated on a rolling basis, and the web API always reflects the latest version.