Forming a New Religion

[Vicious88]

It's time we got a new cult... I mean... Religion... Established. One we can all believe in.

The way I figure it, in order to be successful every Religion Needs at least 3 of the following:

[ ] Some extremely unlikely deity/super-culture to believe in.
[ ] Consequences for not believing.
[ ] Free Food
[ ] Some highly positive and co-incidental life event or happening that the church can take credit for.
[ ] Outrageous promises about what happens after you die. (Because these are the promises we can't get sued over not fulfilling)

So let's collaborate on this... First and foremost, what should we believe in? What should our basic guiding principles be?

Give me your ideas here!

[J.L Hunter]

how about we can all agree that the aformentioned guidelines are agreably disagreable, that the malfunction of church is in fact the lies that the supposed higher echelons spew out to control or to make the believers continue believing. because we all know doubt is the catalyst that changes our current belief structure to a new, more evolved one. I have to choose my words carefully here because i don't want to offend anyone, but as people grow more mature as a consious unit, so does our reliance on superstitions and what not, ie: the disbanding of multiple gods in the place of a shiny brand new one that was much more like a father figure, disiplining as well as praising his followers. That one was the cast away when the concept of a more loving, peaceful god that did not physically cast down plagues among us, but let us learn through our life experiances came around.

I believe a new religion is only a futile endeaver. A means to an end. When we realize we don't need religion to live, that is when we'll learn to live life right.


..... sorry, i ranted a bit too much...

[Mike]

Michael, being a Staunch Catholic, will sit this out.

[Vicious88]

I'm not looking to save the world, I'm not that naive, but I am looking to see how much of an occultist following we can get, and just how best to profit from it. Something so crazy that we will attract the real closet nut-cases and extremists -- because THOSE are the people who dump money into things they believe in.

Don't Drink the Kool Aid!

[Boxofit]

Sorry Josh, but I don't think your wording really matters. I doubt anyone here will take offense to what you said, but, as a rule, if you say anything about any religion, people are offended. As far as making a rligion goes, it can't be too hard, because back in High School, my friend Wes got The Cult of Cthulhuginesh started, and obtained the ability to perform legal marriages under that religion. He only performed one marriage though.

[ArthurDent]

Don't Drink the Kool Aid!

Tracy Morgan told him not to drink the cool-aid. But that tool did anyways.

Huzzah for references that no one understands!

[ArthurDent]

Well.... Let's start a religion!

I think the first thing we should discuss is our "God". Should we just follow the example set by most Religions and have our God be an all knowing, loving deity OR do something more along the lines of Greek mythology or Cthulhuginesh?

[Vicious88]

I'm in favor of a super culture of spirits, with a similar structure to Greek Mythology. Spirits we could worship:
Harvest Spirit
Festival Spirit
Tidal Spirit
War Spirit
Fire Spirit
Forest Spirit
Ice Spirit
Life/Death Spirit
Storm Spirit (or Weather Spirit)
Etc, etc... Basically anything found in nature and 'primitive' society. Want a rock spirit? Sure, why not.

The benefit of having a super culture is that you can assign unique identities to each member. That way instead of having to create an opposing "devil" character, you can simply assign the eternal damnation role to one of your super culture members, as an addendum to their other godly responsibilities.

I also tend to like the idea of individualized spirits because it has tie-ins to the Japanese tradition of leaving little shrines here and there for wandering spirits to rest in, and providing offerings to the spirits will help your town (either by guarding it, blessing the harvest, increasing the fisheries, or bringing just general good luck).