How is christianity's religious leadership organized?

Answer 1

Islam used to be governed from the top down by the Caliph, but the splitting of Islam into Sunni and Shiite Sects along with the increasing impiety of the Umayyad Caliphs turned the Caliph into a primarily political figure.

In the Sunni World, Imams and Sufi Mystics led communities and scholars determined the laws as they applied to real world situations. Then the different imams would accept the rulings of a certain scholar and would take the name of that scholar for their set of teachings. In this way, you had the Maliki School, the Hanafi School, the Shafi'i School, and the Hanbali School become dominant in different areas of the Sunni World. To this day only the schools have councils that arbitrate issues, but it is a "first among equals" situation and there is no top-down authority. The abolition of the Caliphate in 1936 in Turkey sealed this end to hierarchy.

In the Shiite World, Imams promoted among themselves those Imams whom they believed had greater understanding of the traditions and developed the concept of the Ayat-Allah (Ayatollah) which functioned like a Catholic Bishop. These Ayatollahs would appoint one among them to represent the entire community or worshipers in the entire country and he would become the Supreme Ayatollah. Currently, the Supreme Ayatollah of Iran is Khamenei and the Supreme Ayatollah of Iraq is Al-Sistani. However, there is no "Pope-like" figure to arbitrate disagreements between the various Supreme Ayatollahs.

Answer 2

The caliph is the highest title in islam, however it was abolished in 1924 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was the president of turkey. He abolished it because the royal family of turkey had been hereditary caliphs of islam since 1517, and he was anti-monarchist. Once the title of caliph had been abolished there was no other hierarchy for islam since everybody else was appointed by the caliph, there were only local religous leaders left. There is no current head of islam, even though there have been several conferences about appointing ine since, but not all countries with a predominantly muslim population accept the idea and so no agreement has been reached.

There is currently no head of islam

Answer 3

It varies by denomination.

There are two basic forms of organization of churches: hierarchal and congregational. Hierarchal is what it sounds like - leadership in the form of a hierarchy, what is termed 'top down' leadership (modern corporations follow this model). Congregational is similar to a democratic republic in that the congregation decides who its leadership will be and those leaders serve at the pleasure of the congregation (which means if the congregation doesn't like its leadership it can change it).

Specifics of how each model is employed vary considerably between denominations and occasionally between different sects within a denomination. The some of best known hierarchical churches are: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and United Methodist. Baptist is probably the best known of the congregational churches.

Answer 4

Islam is currently primarily congregationalist. It used to be governed from the top down by the Caliph, but the splitting of Islam into Sunni and Shiite Sects along with the increasing impiety of the Umayyad Caliphs turned the Caliph into a primarily political figure.

In the Sunni World, Imams and Sufi Mystics led communities and scholars determined the laws as they applied to real world situations. Then the different imams would accept the rulings of a certain scholar and would take the name of that scholar for their set of teachings. In this way, you had the Maliki School, the Hanafi School, the Shafi'i School, and the Hanbali School become dominant in different areas of the Sunni World. To this day only the schools have councils that arbitrate issues, but it is a "first among equals" situation and there is no top-down authority. The abolition of the Caliphate in 1936 in Turkey sealed this end to hierarchy.

In the Shiite World, Imams promoted among themselves those Imams whom they believed had greater understanding of the traditions and developed the concept of the Ayat-Allah (Ayatollah) which functioned like a Catholic Bishop. These Ayatollahs would appoint one among them to represent the entire community or worshipers in the entire country and he would become the Supreme Ayatollah. Currently, the Supreme Ayatollah of Iran is Khamenei and the Supreme Ayatollah of Iraq is Al-Sistani. However, there is no "Pope-like" figure to arbitrate disagreements between the various Supreme Ayatollahs.

Answer 5

It is organized by the ability to continue living to make a compromise in the world of Islamic people.