1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Denomination

DENOMINATION (Lat. denominare, to give a specific name to), the giving of a specific name to anything, hence the name or designation of a person or thing, and more particularly of a class of persons or things; thus, in arithmetic, it is applied to a unit in a system of weights and measures, currency or numbers. The most general use of “denomination” is for a body of persons holding specific opinions and having a common name, especially with reference to the religious opinions of such a body. More particularly the word is used of the various “sects” into which members of a common religious faith may be divided. The term “denominationalism” is thus given to the principle of emphasizing the distinctions, rather than the common ground, in the faith held by different bodies professing one sort of religious belief. This use is particularly applied to that system of religious education which lays stress on the principle that children belonging to a particular religious sect should be publicly taught in the tenets of their belief by members belonging to it and under the general control of the ministers of the denomination.