These words refer to the articles of faith on which a group of adherents, as to a religion, are agreed. Creed most specifically refers to a concise statement of the essential points to which all believers must subscribe: the Athanasian creed . Doctrine suggests a particular stand that may be briefly summarized but which usually can involve complex or extensive theological discussion for full treatment: the easily affirmed doctrine of the Trinity to which so many church fathers devoted at least a volume of explanation. The word may also refer to any item that makes up a creed : the doctrine of the Resurrection. By extension, the word can also sometimes refer, in other fields, to views generally subscribed to: the Keynesian economic doctrine of stimulating growth through the unbalanced budget.

Dogma refers to an authoritative stand or a body of such stands that all believers must accept as correct. A dogma , however, need not be of such first-rank importance as to be part of a religion’s creed ; it best suggests, in fact, an accretion of moral stands that have become institutionalized by time into an inflexible set of rules for the living of life: the shattering of worn-out dogma during the Reformation and Counter Reformation. By extension, the word refers to any set of unquestioned assertions or attitudes in any field: Maoist dogma that branded the Soviet Union as a betrayer of the revolution. Tenet refers to an attitude, principle or precept that may or may not be part of a body of dogma or doctrine . In any case, tenet suggests something more provisional in nature than these other words and thus more susceptible to change: holding to the tenet that the best officers are those who come up through the ranks.