You specify "beliefs" but it is not easy to separate out specific beliefs from practices and artifacts. Some are:

Sacred stories: A creation myth
Scripture: A sacred text
Sacred Origins: Frequent reference to the origins of the group/sect
Others levels of reality/experience: The belief that this sensory world is not the only reality that exists
Art/Music: An artistic aesthetic or prohibition against iconography, art or music
Sacred Community: A worshiping community (rather than solitary individuals)Sacred Leaders: Religious "elites". These do not have to be priests but they have to be more learned or devoted religious practitioners as contrasted with the laity who do not devote the same amount of time to religious practice
Worship: Some form of prayer, chant, meditation or devotion
Ritual: Some repeated acts that are done on a weekly, annual or circumstantial (births, marriages, etc.) basis
Ethics: An ethical code that prescribes a correct way to live (this can be as short as The Golden Rule or as involved as canon law)Sacred Objects: These can be venerated, often it is scripture or some other kind of object or relic that is thought to be especially holy
Home Worship: Domestic religious practice & customs (a home altar, a photo of Jesus or crucifix, a mezuzah, a family Bible)Sacred Places: Many religions also have a practice of pilgrimage or travel to special places whether it is Mecca, Fatima, Lhasa, Benares or Israel
Sacred Time: Holy days, feast days or times of the day that are celebrated differently than ordinary time

Charity: Alms giving or charity work
Looking at "beliefs" or "faith" is a very Western way of looking at religion. With other cultures, it is not always a matter of what one believes but what one does and beliefs & practices reinforce each other. The current method of studying religion focuses on "lived religion" which doesn't look only at abstract philosophical systems but at how religion is lived and practiced on the ground by groups of people.

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3 years ago