for intelligent dudes on R&S lol?

Question

I have a weird question and maybe a dumb one , not sure lol
but every religion I know ends with an ISM .... except Christianity
any ideas why ?
what does ISM mean in a word

just one of these ones I ponder on and it hurts

ahh yes forget Islam also
and thanks for the links

no worries about the cut and paste this time guys...
very interesting

Answer 1

Well, I call it Stupidism...does that count?

Actually, though, there does seem to be a legitimate reason for this....

"the phrase "the isms" was used as a collective derogatory term to lump together the radical social reform movements of the day (such as slavery abolitionism, feminism, alcohol prohibitionism, Fourierism, pacifism, early socialism, etc.) and various spiritual or religious movements considered non-mainstream by the standards of the time (such as Transcendentalism, spiritualism or "spirit rapping", Mormonism, the Oneida movement often accused of "free love", etc.). Southerners often prided themselves on the American South being free from all of these pernicious "Isms" "......

From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-ism

Seems it's just another way christianity puts other beliefs down.

(sorry for the copy & paste)

Answer 2

Because Christianity has been labeled a religion in recent years, but never was one. That is why "ism" isn't a part of it. Also, ism is a term for belief and practice of something. You are either a Christian, (Christ-like one), or not. Belief and practice can apply to anything, yet may be in error.

Answer 3

I see you are attempting to advance the cause of weirdquestionism without our realising it. But from an objectionalist point of view there would be quite a few objectionalisms to that. But nice try anyway.
I think everything should be an ism. I think we should all be isms. It would simplify everything,even language. ISM by the way is a suffix. As in suffixism.

Answer 4

Here are some religions that don`t have "ism" at the end.
Mormon
Muslim
Shinto
Jehovahs witness
Bahai
Christianity
for example: you can`t have Muslimism or christianitism etc...
-ism= an action or it`s result, a system, principle or ideological movement ie: feminism or a state of quality ie: heroism.

Answer 5

In the present day, it appears in the title of a standard survey of political thought, Today's ISMS by William Ebenstein, first published in the 1950s, and now in its 11th edition.

The -ism suffix can be used to express the following concepts:

doctrine or philosophy (e.g. pacifism, olympism)
theory developed by an individual (e.g. Marxism)
political movement (e.g. feminism)
artistic movement (e.g. cubism)
action, process or practice (e.g. voyeurism)
characteristic, quality or origin (e.g. heroism)
state or condition (e.g. pauperism)
excess or disease (e.g. botulism)
prejudice or bias (e.g. racism)
characteristic speech patterns (e.g. Yogiism, Bushism)
religion or belief system (e.g. Mormonism)
Many isms are defined as an act or practice by some, while also being defined as the doctrine or philosophy behind the act or practice by others. Examples include activism, altruism, despotism, elitism, optimism, sexism and terrorism.

Answer 6

Because the people who devised the language were Christian. So, naturally, they wanted to distinguish their beliefs from all other belief systems.

The suffix ism just means a collection of beliefs centered around the item suffixed.

Answer 7

-ism is an English suffix and it basically means the practice or condition of. Upon doing more research, I've found that this ALSO comes from Latin.

-ity is derived from Latin/Greek and means state or "quality".

I guess most religions (judaism, buddhism) is more about the practice of certain things and christianity is supposed to refer to the state of being Christ-like.

Answer 8

Ism - The belief of

Answer 9

'Ism' is a suffix that has been used to label anything that is not mainstream. So it is a derogatory term. So since Christianity was the one labeling the other things, it doesn't have the hated suffix...

Answer 10

The suffix "ism" was first used to form a noun of action from a verb. For example, baptize (or literally derived from "to dip") becomes "baptism." It is taken from the Greek suffix -ismos, Latin -ismus, and Old French -isme, that likewise forms abstract nouns from verbal stems.

Answer 11

ISM Means Religion! > Christianity Is Salvation thru the "Blood" Of Jesus Christ! Makes Him Our "LIVING" Savior!
The World is full of Religions, However they do not confess Jesus as God. Therefore, they do not have a Living Savior. "Praise God, For Jesus." HE IS ALIVE> Amen. ( That was a very Good Question) (Smile ) + + +