creed

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A formal statement of religious belief; a confession of faith.
• noun A system of belief, principles, or opinions.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To credit; believe.
• noun A statement of belief on any subject, religious, political, scientific, or other; especially, a formal statement of religious belief; a “form of words, setting forth with authority certain articles of belief which are regarded by the framers as necessary for salvation, or at least for the well-being of the Christian Church” (Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, I. i.).
• noun What is believed; accepted doctrine; especially, religious doctrine.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb obsolete To believe; to credit.
• noun A definite summary of what is believed; esp., a summary of the articles of Christian faith; a confession of faith for public use; esp., one which is brief and comprehensive.
• noun Any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to.
• noun See under Apostle, Athanasian, Nicene.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun That which is believed; accepted doctrine, especially religious; a particular set of beliefs; any summary of principles or opinions professed or adhered to.
• noun A reading or statement of belief that summarizes the faith it represents; a definite summary of what is believed; a confession of faith for public use; esp., one which is brief and comprehensive.
• noun rare The fact of believing; belief, faith.
• verb To believe; to credit.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun any system of principles or beliefs
• noun the written body of teachings of a religious group that are generally accepted by that group