What is "calathumpian"

Calathumpian, also spelled "callothumpian", "carathumpian" and "calisthumpian", is a term that is used in a non-judgmental way to describe a religion or philosophy in its infancy. The description is of a relatively original belief, held by a small group, personally assembled, or not institutionalized. It can also be sometimes used as a non-specific example of a religious or political persuasion.

Calathumpian (which may be derived from an apocryphal origin from the Latin term “calathus” which comes from Greek "κάλαθος" = rubbish bin) is a description applied, sometimes pejoratively, to individuals who believe things that mainstream believers (at that time and place) tend to regard as rubbish.

In Australia, Callithumpian has a more general meaning of any set, or sets of minority philosophical, religious, political, etc., beliefs not covered by specified categories, e.g. Mr John Howard ( Australian House of Representatives Hansard, 1993 Oct 21) —"With regard to the service on 11 November next for the entombment of the Unknown Soldier, . . . these occasions have always been in the Australian tradition: Liberal, Labor, National Party, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Callithumpian, whatever one likes. They have never been exclusively one party, one denomination."

There was also a Maryland criminal Know Nothing gang in Baltimore, Maryland in the mid-1800s known as the "Callithumpians".