Religions that are commonly not called as such

Definition of Religion:
1.Belief in superhuman or divine power or powers being to be obeyed.
2. The state or way of life of a person.
3.As well as the belief in a system.
4. A pursuit or interest followed with devotion.

Capitalism
1.The term Capitalism was used for the first time by the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray in 1854, to denote ownership over a great amount of capital2. The 'religion' of capitalism3 is basically nothing but the extreme of trying to gain money4, and other forms of capital in great amounts. An actual point of origin or time is not known, but the idea of capitalism already existed in the Roman, the Chinese, the Mongol empires. At that time, Capitalism took the form of trading. But acquiring capital was not the sole goal in life until the late 1800's. (Family was considered more important).
'The Medieval world considered greed to be a destructive force that could wreak havoc on the well-being of the community. A merchant was allowed to make a fair return that is, or that would allow him to live in a manner appropriate for someone of his social standing.'5
3.Capitalism developed out of the wish of gaining as much as possible with the least amount of work.
Capitalism was not fully integrated into society until the 1800's.
2.Principal capitalistic figures today would be any person that hords great amounts of Capital. Capitalism is exemplified in the 'American Dream', which basically means nothing but that a person starts with nothing and finishes with great capital at his/her command.
4.Today, most people 'practice' capitalism. The homeland of capitalism is now the United States of America.
5.The potent Symbol for capitalism is money. Money serves as a universal good which can be used by everyone to be exchanged for anything that can be purchased.
6.The main ritual of capitalism is the profiteering at any cost including war, death and destruction.
The best example of this is the second Iraq war in which large corporations have made great profits in the pursuit of war.
Another example would be the second world war which was about nothing else than capital. Germany wanted to acquire 'Lebensraum' (Living space) and the U.S. Economy profiteered like never before by selling arms, materials and equipment to both sides (only until the U.S. entered the war), the Japanese wanted to gain territory and resources. We should not forget one of the major causes of the devastated German economy was the payments Germany had to pay after accepting sole responsibility for the first World War, and the dismantlement of German factories (most of the equipment moved to France).
7.In the religion of capitalism, money is sacred and great wealth promises salvation. A person that practices capitalism can be 'bought'. This person has only one moral objective which is the gaining of more capital thus making the 'free' market a unassailable moral good.

Communism
1.Communism on the other hand originates with the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, published in 1848. The Ideal of communism is helping the community and through the community the individual as well. Communism is said to have started with the Communist Manifesto, a document which stated that everyone was equal and that everyone has a right to live at a comfortable and similar standard.
2.The Principal figures associated with Communism are Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) who ruled Russia with an iron fist. In China Máo Zédōng (1893-1976) was someone who believed that a human can still be a living god, Mao was a strong supporter of cults that followed Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and of course himself.
3.Communism gained great popularity in Europe, Asia and America in 1849 until the mid 1900's. The strongest supporters were in the working classes. Communist-sympathizers were hunted and discredited over the following 150 years and still are. Some nations started persecuting Communists on their own soil.(These were capitalistic nations, even though communists did not pose a threat to them).
In the 1950's, the United States started a witch hunt hunting communists initiated by Senator Joseph McCarthy (he was a Republican). He condemned and prosecuted communists throughout the U.S. denying suspected communists employment in the private sector and government6. He even targeted Generals, other Senators and members of the film industry (the film industry had more than 300 victims).
George W. Bush challenged his opponents of being a socialists (or god forbid a communist) in the elections of 2000 and 2004. Painting his opponents as socialists became his political strategy.
4. There are not many communistic nations left and sympathizers are becoming rare.
5. Communism does not have one or multiple symbol(s) that represent Communism but rather an ideal, the ideal off everyone being equal.
6. Communism does not seem to have any ritual(s). This is probably due to the non-uniformity between the different communistic governments.
7. There are only two things sacred in a communistic society; one is Family and the other is Community.
P.S.: A common misconception is that Communism is inconsistent with democratic Principles, which is not true. Good examples for this are First Nations.
Another popular myth is that Russia's and China's versions of Communism closely reflect the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Both China as well as Russia replaced one elite group with another one, while Marx and Engels dreamed of a world of equality, without elitism, class or financial disparity./div>