Some people need religion to be good, some people do not, what matters is actually how we act and live with the others. There is nothing good if what you do here on earth will get you a place in the heaven, while what you are doing is creating harm to others.


(7 minutes read)

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Have you ever wanted to start your own religion?

Okay that is a stupid question, but I am not actually encouraging you to start one, but with this post I want to share my observation about how religions emerged from the society. If you suddenly get inspired to create one, I do not want to be blamed on.


How to Start One

If your goal is actually to get more people to join your cult, not only to satisfy your inner needs to find a compass in your personal life, there are some things need to be done. Firstly, concept. Your concept of course has to be new, or at least have some speciality or unique points, compared to other existed ones. Many have failed because the lack of uniqueness.

However, that is not enough. You have to make a difference in the society, which means your concept has to be radical. If you want to see how major religions did it, look at its pioneers. For example, let's observe Moses. If you have never heard of him, he is one of the biggest prophets in the abrahamic religions; he is responsible for taking the Jewish people out from their slavery in Egypt to the "promised land." What is radical about this? Getting those people out. No one has never did it before. Apart from God's part in that action, Moses has definitely nailed it, and his is now the leader of the tribe.

You may say that Moses did not actually start a new religion, and you are totally right, but he is considered one of the biggest change-maker in the history of Judaism. How about someone else who actually started one, Jesus maybe? 

He changed the idea of the saviour or 'Messiah' that Jewish people wanted at that time. When everyone wanted a strong king who could be the second Moses, making them free from the Roman Empire, Jesus actually radically changed the idea of the kingdom that he wanted to build. He also changed the idea of how we should treat each other, lots of different things compared to the old testament.

You can find many more: Muhammad, who proposed an equality between men and women in the time where patriarchy was really strong in that area, Buddha who created the idea of achieving heaven by making peace with ourself, and so on.

TL;DR : Your idea has to oppose the social norm happening in the society in that time.

Get Ready To Be Opposed

Nothing comes easy without a fight. Once you share your idea to the public, there will be a lot of reactions. The more radical your idea is, more likely you will be opposed by the public. However, there is also a better chance to find loyal followers. Jesus had twelve, Buddha had less than ten at first. These people are your best hope to spread your religion. Slow, but steady.

Most religion did not even get spread throughout the nation while their pioneer was still alive. Maybe with the power of social media, you might be able to see everyone following your religion; a luxury that the pioneers in the past did not have.

You will receive a lot of rejection everywhere, but why not keep going? You are fighting for the truth, right?

So far maybe you could say that these methods are the same methods to start a new movement. Yes, religion is not far different than any other movements: a bunch of people gathering together, doing something regularly, then try to spread your believe to everyone else. However, you need one more thing...

You Need Some 'Magic'.

Lately we have seen the "Black Lives Matter" movements. What magic do we need to ensure people that this movement are fighting for the truth? None. Black lives matter, we do not need a magical or surreal experience. If you are human, you know that racism is something should not be a part in our society. The same way with how we treat any groups of movement such as LGBTQ+. We are humans, we do not need to believe in supernatural thing to understand that racism is not the way we should live.

This is where the different lies. To build a religion, you need a supernatural thing. Let's take a look at a modern religion: scientology. (It has nothing to do with worshipping science lol). This so-called 'religion' believe in no classical God, a personal supernatural creature that hear our prayers, they gather in the name of an idea how to reach a perfection in life. This is actually the basic of this religion, even nowadays there are a lot of interpretations, including how scientology perceive afterlife. But as we see, this religion could not be as famous as any other major players in the world.

If Jesus only share his teaching without saying that he is the son of God (I am not saying that he is not a son of God, we do not need to believe in one thing or another to observe this situation.), he will not get as many followers, he will not be more than Greek philosophers. Sharing his teaching about love and peace without saying that he is not an ordinary human may not be enough to make most people to believe in him. 

You have to worship something supernatural: a human, an object, anything that could not be explained with our common sense. It has to be based on faith, and hence it is called so.

There is a reason why religions are different than any other groups: they are based on belief. It can't and won't be proved, you just need to believe it. This is an important key in building a religion.

How To Keep Them Alive

Once your religion is alive and burning, you want them to stay alive in the society. If somehow you could ever witness your religion become a major one, there is a huge chance you could see them alive at least until your death. Social movements last long enough. However, if you want keep them alive for hundreds or thousands of years, you must think of it from the beginning.

Let's observe the religion of the people who built Stonehenge (the one in the top of this article). Stonehenge was a temple to praise God. Which God? The big shining one, who rises from the east and sets on the west. Sun was considered the God, and not surprisingly by a lot of tribes such as Inca or Egyptians, because it gives life. Without the sun, there will be no life. What if suddenly the sun refuses to rise? We will be dead. Therefore, there is a need to worship it, make the sun happy so it will rise everyday. Makes sense, right?

Yes, for people at that time. 6000 years ago no one understand what a sun is. Don't be cocky, we know that sun is a gas giant not long ago. Don't you dare to mock Egyptians for worshipping sun, some of you still even think that horoscopes decide your faith.

However, once the understanding of the sun was founded, there is no need to worship it. Why should we? We know that it will rise for at least the next 10 billions years, does not matter if we pray to the sun or not. This is the end of the sun-based religions. 

Therefore, how could you prevent your religion from extinction?


Do Not Worship Object(s).

Worshipping objects is the worst investment for your religion. Most religion that still alive today do not have an object to worship. Abrahamic religions worship a monotheist God, a concept that could be easily adjusted throughout the time. The same as any religions who believe in an afterlife or heaven.

We proved that sun is not the God? Doesn't matter. Adam and Eve not the first humans? It's okay. If your religion is based on an idea, rather than an object, it is easier to be adjusted. Even some catholic priests now admit that Adam and Eve were not the first human, they could adjust their belief, such as "What could we learn from this metaphor?", rather than believing that actually Adam and Eve were the first humans.

This makes the major religions nowadays could stay alive for at least 1000 years. The Bible and Quran will survive no matter how advanced our understanding of the universe, since there are always things that we could learn from them. Once the believers understand the function of those holy books, they will find a way to keep them updated, in a sense that there are still relevance by reading them and extract the important things to apply in our daily life.

Additional Tips

Create a lot of ambiguity. You have to find the sweet spot between the clarity of your idea. If your concept is too clear, people could easily find loop holes and the mistakes in it. If your concept is too ambiguous, people will not be convinced. Need an example? Trinity. Not a lot of people actually understand the concept of the holy Trinity, and it will make people eager to learn more. The number of God in Hinduism that exceed thousands is also a good advice. Don't be too obvious.

Make it personal. People who believe that there is a personal God, who listen to our prayers and protect us, tend to believe in a religion more. There is actually a reason to this, and I will discuss it in the next episode. What is important: you have to make sure people feel the benefit of joining your religion. It might be physically or financially, but it has to be big enough to convince people.

For the last time, this tutorial to create a religion is not proved, even by me, and I am not planning to prove it. This is totally based on the observation throughout the history of the humankind. What matters is, religions exist supposedly to make the believers' life better, and also our world a better place to live. However, there is one thing you need to remember: you have a common sense, the one that should lead you in a moral-based decision. 

Doesn't matter what you believe in, morality is inside us all. Some people need religion to be good, some people do not, but what matters is actually how we act and live with the others. There is nothing good if what you do here on earth will get you a place in the heaven, while what you are doing is creating harm to others.

Stay safe and respect each other, as human being.

Title image credit: theguardian