In the Astronist philosophy of religion, neoreligion is a term of Astronist scholarship and Cometanic origin provided to the category of religion encompassing all new religious movements that are not part of the Astronic tradition. A similar term is neophilosophy which is used to refer to new philosophies which are not part of the Astronic tradition.

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Neoreligion is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the modernising world by embracing individualism, whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia and Africa. Most have only a few members, some have thousands, and a few have more than a million members.

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New religions have often faced a hostile reception from established religious organisations and various secular institutions. In Western nations, a secular anti-cult movement and a Christian countercult movement emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to oppose emergent groups. In the 1970s, the distinct field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion. There are now several scholarly organisations and peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject. Religious studies scholars contextualise the rise of NRMs in modernity, relating it as a product of and answer to modern processes of secularisation, globalisation, detraditionalisation , fragmentation, reflexivity, and individualisation.

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Scholars continue to try to reach definitions and define boundaries. There is no single, agreed-upon criterion for defining a "new religious movement", but the term usually suggests that the group is of recent origin and is different from existing religions. There is debate as to how the term "new" should be interpreted in this context. One perspective is that it should designate a religion that is more recent in its origins than large, well-established religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. An alternate perspective is that "new" should mean that a religion is more recent in its formation. Some scholars view the 1950s or the end of the Second World War in 1945 as the defining time, while others look as far back as the founding of the Latter Day Saint movement in 1830.