[daerogami]

It just means a religion with a formal structure and leadership behind it. The term points to the institution and its influence, not the beliefs themselves. An unorganized religion is basically personal or informal practice without a central authority, like an individual or essentially a book club.

[MangoToupe]

> An unorganized religion is basically personal or informal practice without a central authority, like an individual or essentially a book club.

Right, but I don't know what is referred to by "practice" that is at all distinct from "worldview" or "ideology".

[eks391]

If the way you practice your religion is standardized by an authority across several churches, it is organized religion. For example: Catholic sects and Mormons are organized faiths. They have manuals for the priests to follow and you can go to the same one elsewhere and get mostly the same experience. Some small churches localized to a city are also organized. Islam sects in the Middle east are usually organized between Sunni and Shia. To my knowledge, Islam is not organized in the USA even though the Imam might align with a sect, because there is no authority they report to or strict standard for their patrons. Most Protestant churches are unorganized, and non-denominational are almost always unorganized because they are one-offs.

This is my informal understanding; I am not a religious scholar