denomination

Body or branch within the Christian church. With the growth and spread of Christianity, different groups of Christians split away from each other in order to worship in the way they believed to be right, such as schism (formal split) between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054. These differences have led to intolerance, persecution and a history of bloodshed, death, and division within the Christian church, although such hostility is directly against the teachings of Jesus. Over the last few decades, the ecumenical movement has worked to encourage cooperation and unity between the denominations.