How to start your own religion

[woofer]

What every atheist forum needs...instructions for starting your own religion (pretty funny actually)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danweiss/ ... 29533.html

[Hydra009]

A few more tips:

Heavenly Host - Start with a single central figure - a God, most likely.  But a single being is boring, there's no conflict or drama there.  Add prophets, saints, avatars, angels, demons,  demigods, etc.  Before you know it, you've got your own pantheon rich with story-telling possibilities.

Co-opt existing culture/religion - take another major religion's most famous prophet and make him your own.  Take a holiday.  Take a ritual.  Take everything.  Remember, the difference between homage and ripoff lies in whether you like it or not.

Be holy - You want people to constantly think your beliefs are noble and pure and really could change the world for the better.  Even if they're not.  Especially if they're not.  That way, your cult's inevitable failings - if they're even noticed at all - can be explained away as "doing it wrong".

Be vague - preach a creed that is coherent, but adaptable.  You're gonna want to fudge it to fit time and culture.

Prepare for Doomsday - dream up some sort of apocalypse in which your [s:tpl3y82t]cultists[/s:tpl3y82t] Holy Warriors fight the forces of darkness and ultimately triumph.  Nothing instills fervor and urgency quite like a good doomsday (WARNING:  do not set specific dates for the doomsday.  Remember to be vague.)

Isolation - Insulate your cult from the outside world.  Have your own schools and communities.  Control what cult members see and hear.  Demonize outsiders, competing religions, as well as recreative activities that may detract from the cult.

Maddeningly complex - Make your dogma simple, but create enough depth in there for followers to drown in.  Turn simple contradictions into "profound truths" that followers can spend their lives trying to figure out but never quite getting there.  Confront outsiders with staggering amounts of text to wade through and claim that they're criticizing what they don't understand when they engage you in debate.

[widdershins]

I tried to drum up interest in a cult here a couple of years ago.  Interest we tepid, to say the least.  So, I followed the sage advice of that age-old adage, if at first you don't succeed, just give up because you're obviously no good at it.

[Alaric I]

A few more tips:

Co-opt existing culture/religion - take another major religion's most famous prophet and make him your own.  Take a holiday.  Take a ritual.  Take everything.  Remember, the difference between homage and ripoff lies in whether you like it or not.

This is one of the most important.  If you build off of another religion than you instantly have some merit.  The hard part to that is tweeking thing just enough to change minds, but not too much so you don't sound crazy.  That's how we have three Abrahamic religions.

[_Xenu_]

I tried to drum up interest in a cult here a couple of years ago.  Interest we tepid, to say the least.  So, I followed the sage advice of that age-old adage, if at first you don't succeed, just give up because you're obviously no good at it.

Maybe this will help.
[youtube:y693ff6i]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3wTtmrFQxI[/youtube:y693ff6i]

[woofer]

A few more tips:

Heavenly Host - Start with a single central figure - a God, most likely.  But a single being is boring, there's no conflict or drama there.  Add prophets, saints, avatars, angels, demons,  demigods, etc.  Before you know it, you've got your own pantheon rich with story-telling possibilities.

Co-opt existing culture/religion - take another major religion's most famous prophet and make him your own.  Take a holiday.  Take a ritual.  Take everything.  Remember, the difference between homage and ripoff lies in whether you like it or not.

Be holy - You want people to constantly think your beliefs are noble and pure and really could change the world for the better.  Even if they're not.  Especially if they're not.  That way, your cult's inevitable failings - if they're even noticed at all - can be explained away as "doing it wrong".

Be vague - preach a creed that is coherent, but adaptable.  You're gonna want to fudge it to fit time and culture.

Prepare for Doomsday - dream up some sort of apocalypse in which your [s:3j8j63vr]cultists[/s:3j8j63vr] Holy Warriors fight the forces of darkness and ultimately triumph.  Nothing instills fervor and urgency quite like a good doomsday (WARNING:  do not set specific dates for the doomsday.  Remember to be vague.)

Isolation - Insulate your cult from the outside world.  Have your own schools and communities.  Control what cult members see and hear.  Demonize outsiders, competing religions, as well as recreative activities that may detract from the cult.

Maddeningly complex - Make your dogma simple, but create enough depth in there for followers to drown in.  Turn simple contradictions into "profound truths" that followers can spend their lives trying to figure out but never quite getting there.  Confront outsiders with staggering amounts of text to wade through and claim that they're criticizing what they don't understand when they engage you in debate.

Nice additions  :-D

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Toothfairy dammit! I want the holy dental church complete with preachers with the brightest of the bright white choppers!