Starting a religion

[Anala]

Is it orthodox/even possible to start another religion? And if so, is there any strong keystones that need to be addressed when doing so?

[ertyuio]

LMAO. xD At first, I was speculative about the title of your thread, but then I read that you were, indeed, serious.

Nobody here can tell you about the probability of success that comes about as a result of trying to start your own religion. Because, quite frankly, nobody today has been around long enough to have started their own religion. The main ones around today have been there for thousands of years (unless you consider Protestantism, which has been around since the early 1500's, or even Scientology -- which hasn't been very well received), so there's not much to speculate about when considering how difficult it is to brainwash a large mass of people.

But, this is, of course, assuming that you're talking about starting a religion -- and having a fairly large amount of followers. But, if you want to get technical about it, then sure -- you can make your own religion on the way home from work! While you're brushing your teeth in the morning! It's ridiculously simple just to make a religion -- just think of something pertaining to a "higher power" or "supernatural entity", and believe it. I'd say it's pretty possible: but let's get back to what I think you meant.

So, let's consider the world's major religions, formed thousands of years ago: when they began, the people influenced by them were far less knowledgeable about the observable universe than we are today, and could easily have been swayed by men who were good with optical illusions and delusions of grandeur. Humans are gullible -- and they're even more so when they have a smaller basis of knowledge upon which to judge claims. If you want to "make your own religion", then it's gotta be something such that when people hear it, they won't immediately say "What a big load of s**t, snakes can't do that." -- to be successful, it'll have to be something that is ridiculous, but at the same time, that won't push people away outright (Scientology comes to mind).

I guarantee that if humans had no religion, but had our current basis of scientific and technological knowledge, the first guy claiming the same things that the Bible does would be laughed out of every serious discussion, and easily forgotten. Our society's lack of knowledge, when it was vulnerable and gullible, was the main cause of religion's vast success. In many senses, we are still naive of a great deal about our universe -- but you'd be hard-pressed to think of a belief in the supernatural that doesn't directly conflict with our modern conception of logic in some way or another.

[Xujhan]

Why would you want to?

[MegaMadness]

Anyone can try and start their own religion. You just need imagination I could make my own religion right now. I dunno if anyone would join me in it though haha

[Age of Ignorance]

Pastafarianism took off quite quickly. Mind you, that's a religion designed for skeptics of religion.

[Everglow.]

I suppose yes you could make your own religion, but if you make it assuming it will be popular one day you're probably wrong. I don't see why you'd want to, you don't have to be a part of a religion to have beliefs, I'm a clear example of that. If you want to create a religion then go for it and follow it but remember people wont start believeing what you say unless they do actually beileve it, so don't feel that making a religion automatically puts it on the list of official religions. Just believe it what you believe in, it's okay to not be a part of a religion and have your own beliefs. Good luck though.

[Anala]

How about personal worship? What would you call that?

[ertyuio]

Originally Posted by Anala

How about personal worship? What would you call that?

Erm...can you clarify please? Do you mean, privately worshiping a diety that you've been inspired of on your own?

In that case, it's technically still a religion, in the definitions of most respected dictionaries. However, usually when one refers to religion, it's considered assumed that it's something that includes a set of moral or spiritual codes, and that it's organized between a relatively large number of people.

To me, it's a religion -- but I can definitely see why some people would say it's spiritualism or personal faith.

[TheBabyEater]

Honestly, people may think what they want, laugh at what they want, but NO two people share the EXACT same beliefs. Therefore, everyone has their own religion. Just believe what you want to believe, you don't need to clarify what it's called what you "practice" ext. Just be... you.

[BluEiis]

Is it orthodox/even possible to start another religion?

You know, I'm pretty sure Mohammed did his little make up a religion thing as did Buddha... They were normal people, and look at them now. People worship them. I honestly believe at some point in time, all religions had one man or woman who started them. I also believe that the people starting religions make up their own rules. That's why they start it, they aren't happy with the traditions and customs of other religions. Anyone can start a religion. For god's sake, Jim Jones even started one, as did the guy of the Aum Supreme Truth cult. There's also Pastafarianism, etc. etc. Of course, you will eventually begin to believe all the crap you're feeding your followers, and then when the rubber meets the road and the truth comes out you can be in a perfect state of denial. You won't even realize that you made it all up.

Just think, one day, when everyone starts to realize you were just making shit up, you can just hand them all purple Kool Aid and tell them it is their destiny to die!

[forfrosne]

I don't see why not. There's no more evidence for, say, Christianity than for yours.

[OMFG!You'reActuallySmart!]

There's no reason why you couldn't start your own religion. There's hundreds, even thousands of religions out there today. Yours may not be well-received but at the end of the day, it boils down to religious faith, otherwise known as blind faith. Chances are, many people will view you as intentionally stirring up shit, bat-shit crazy, weird or some may understand you.