Zankou:
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Same here! I was going to mention the Coptics as well ... I used to know a Coptic girl. But I don't accept Mohism and pagan reconstructionism as relics, to me that's a bunch of bunk, those religions died and you can't resurrect them.
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I agree that they are not relic, but they retain minority status. They also at least attempt to follow (as much as is feasible, although that is usually weak willed...) the beliefs of those religions.
As to Mohism, I think at least some societies in the Far East claim to have retained an unbroken lineage. They claim to be remaining pockets of antique Mohism. I do not know if any of their claims have been verified, but this is somewhat different than pagan reconstructionism, which admits of Christianization for a period of over a thousand years.
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You know another religious obsession of mine? Ritual sacrifice. Man o man, that's one of the deepest and most fascinating topics known to man. You ever read any Renee Girard? It blew my mind apart!
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No, I have not. Do you have any suggestions for books from him? I find the idea of ritual sacrifice to be interesting as well.
The decline of ritual sacrifice seems also to have been a point in history where man became far more separated from the divinities he worshipped. The acceptance of exchange between man and the divine seems a principle of religious thought that ought to have been retained. Amongst those people who retain those traditions, it seems that there is very much a sense of the religion being "alive".