If you could create a new religion, what would you include to make it wholesome, interesting and helpful for the world?
If you could create a new religion, what would you include to make it wholesome, interesting and helpful for the world?
The Satanic Temple and Buddhism both fill that niche for me. So, I would make it like them.
Not completely safe there with Buddhism: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_violence
I don't have anything to back this up, but I wonder if there's a strong correlation between a religion being minority in a region and how "peaceful" it is, because my suspicion is that majority/power of any kind will always come at the risk of attracting chuds or corrupting the fearful into protecting themselves by attacking others. Literally "others" I guess.
Pet hypothesis just held up by vibes though so
And a sect of the TST was removed because they started pushing for violence. Every religion is vulnerable to corruption by people's pride and other hindrances. Buddhism is no exception. Nor is any imaginary one folks come up with in this thread.
Anyway, power corrupts. We've always known that. The 'devil' in Buddhism is the lust or will to power. Lies and manipulation are simply a tool it uses. And, like Buddha Nature, we all have it.
No, it's the satanic temple. Buddhism as practiced in Buddhist countries is the same shit different god, they dgaf, and have not read any scripture.
The western perception of Buddhism versus what Buddhists believe is totally different.
You kill a dog for meat? You drown it so it experiences terror and fights for its life, then you take its strength when you eat it.
It's just like any other religion, you adhere when it suits you, and you probably know nothing about its precepts.
That's a gross over generalization. I get it, I was a militant atheist at one point in my life too and still have a lot of similar biases in my religious views.
There are sincere Christians and ones that pay lip service. Same with Buddhism. There are many Christian sects, some dogmatic, some not. Same with Buddhism.
Half the TST principles are Buddhist. Either being path factors (Right View, Right Action) or expressions of the four immeasurables (compassion, justice).
And I just watched a documentary on TST. They've had issues with members too. Militant sects forming that forgot about compassion as a principle. Etc.
In order to make it wholesome and helpful I would not create one.
Any particular reason that you think we need more religion?
I think it’s just a thought exercise
I don’t think we need more religion, no. I think people would like options with less archaic ideas, and that they would like the community and activity that religious groups can offer if the strange belief requirements can be left behind.
It would have two tenets:
- Be excellent to each other
- Party on, dudes
you forgot 0. Wyld Stallyons!!
The most fun parts of religion are the camaraderie and intricate, abstracted rituals that used to serve one purpose but now serve a different, often symbolic one.
So lots of that. Spaced out throughout the year as to give followers a way of marking the passing of time and a reason to call out of work at regular intervals.
Oh, let's toss in a lil religious specific language to aid as a group identifier and how about some arbitrary rules/guidelines that aren't strictly enforced and vary by region but give those rules loving peoples something to grab onto.
Oh oh oh and unique cuisine! Food goods made in certain ways at certain times, with some slight variation so followers could have techniques and recipes to share and mild, inconsequential things to disagree and hold frivolous, memetic arguments about.
The details don't really matter all that much, as long as it can serve as a way to find community and camaraderie in new places, reinforce solidarity with your fellow humans, and give some rituals for timekeeping and distraction from modern life.
Ah gotta get Festivus on the calendar! I like the rules idea too, maybe a few super random things just to be quirky.
For some people, it's important to have rules!! Of course you need the standard social construct rules, but the less necessary ones are important too. I think they give structure and consistency to people, so even if they're arbitrary, it fulfils that need and as long as isn't disruptive to society, I don't see the harm. Plus, knowing someone also follows the same rules, rituals and holidays you do gives you instant rapport with them, so it aids in building a sense of community. Polite people outside of the new religion will also be curious and interested in hearing about these rules/rituals and whatever reasoning could uphold them, and the followers likely will enjoy explaining them, so this helps them build friendships outside of the religious group as well.
Tho it's crucial that others aren't ostracized for not following the more arbitrary ones and that those that do follow them don't feel any actionable feelings of superior devotion or what-not. I think you can ostracize people who violate rules that relate to already well established social constructs (theft, murder, etc), but not the more frivolous restrictions and behavioral requirements we'd invent here.
Make my god a well-meaning fuckup.
You got cancer? Shit! Aw, fuck man, that keeps happening, I'm sorry. I keep trying to tune this thing better, but I'll level with you, I never actually set out to be a god, things just got kinda out of hand, and... oh fuck! The stratosphere! Nonononono don't be on fire, look, I gotta take this, we'll talk later, ok?
That sounds like a writing prompt.
Sure, but y'know it'd be so much easier to cope with the random shit life threw at you if you knew it wasn't a gigantic fuck-you, eg. you're going to die horribly to teach your loved ones an important lesson about faith lol.
like that the egg story but even after an eternity You still ends up sucking at being a god
There's a fantasy series that has part of this as a plot point. A normal person becomes god with all the godly powers but only for a very short time do they get ALL the power. Its overwhelming in the first few moments and they almost destroy the planet with a mere thought. They realize their mistake a few seconds later, but only have half the power by then, so they put in an ugly workaround, before most of their power runs out. Now that ugly workaround is just "life as we know it" on the planet for the people that live there.
This is a deep spoiler for a popular book series so I don't want to post the series name and I don't think we have a spoiler tag yet.
I’d make it atheistic, include meditation and be proactive with volunteering or useful projects.
i feel like "religion" may not be the word you're looking for, something closer to "system of belief" maybe?
In high school I made up a pretend religion (order of the gecko) with some friends as a joke that had a positive take without the baggage that the religions we were familiar with. The tenets were about actually being accepting and opposing intolerance.
A couple decades later I heard about the Satanic Temple and other than the symboligy it was basically the same!
Buddhism is effectively a "how to" guide to satisfaction , it just goes against everything corporations preach. To be fair, I'm not strong enough to be a Buddhist, but of the religions I've studied, it seems pretty open and shut, "follow these instructions and you will have a good life". Buddhism wins. But it doesn't involve parties and such
General tenants about being excellent to eachother, none of that smiting bullshit for people to cherrypick.
Multitheistic with different gods responsible for different aspects of reality with the general commandment of the religion being that the best way to become closer to the gods (or specific god of preference) is to understand their creation and thus understand them (go do science!)
Throw in some enjoyable aspects like funerals being a celebration rather than a sombre occasion; colour code the gods so we don't even up with everything being fucking gray or gilded; And have a neat little offering ceremony for each god thats simple but unique and inexpensive so people can go all starsigny on it, offerings being a good luck thing rather than mandatory.
Just worship cats.
Didn't this exist already?
Bast is best
I don't think it matters what you include, people are perfectly OK taking parts as they will and leaving others behind when it suits them. Organized religion creates a hierarchy, and there is always someone who will want to bend the hierarchy for themselves but not others.
Two tenants
- You must protect those weaker than you
- You may only punch up or in self defense.
honestly I don't know. When you look at the religions of the world all of them say "love and help each other please :) be good to your fellow human beings, be kind, be gentle" and then you look at the execution of those ideas by the majority of religious people- and it's all twisted and used for hate & you see people saying that without the threat of eternal punishment there is nothing holding them back from hurting others
instead of religion forcing compassion I'd say we should just teach compassion really
That’s wise, good ideas!
That does sound wise. Let's make a religion out of teaching compassion! /j
A religion that aims to have well built and healthy bodies to earn the favor of the gods from said religion.
What about disabilities?
Well, disabled people still can try be healthy to their best extent. Helping others act upon the religion could also count.
Burn them! Oh, that would make it into German nazism.
Tak does not require we think of him, only that we think.
- Terry Pratchett, Thud!
Discworld in general has a ton of good quotes, but Thud! is especially full of relevant ones, being about religious extremists warring against inconvenient truths.
I don't think there is a religion that can be overwhelmingly beneficial today.
Most religions already emphasize kindness, generosity and compassion but it is ultimately easily corruptable. Every religious group seemingly has to hate somebody.
Long ago it would have imperative to human development, to explain the world around us and to motivate people to work cooperatively. Science has fulfilled that role however and now it seems religion makes individuals closer minded, refusing to believe in reason.
If religious people sternly stuck to their principles (looking at American Christians) I don't even think we'd be having this conversation in the first place.
Simply, I would love to start a religion on an already existing short story, The Egg: YouTube Link
Solves a bunch of programs with karma and if everyone believed it the world would undoubtedly be a better place.
Thank you I’ll check it out today.
Smoking weed to resolve differences
Peace pipe or death sentence, either way, someone has a good time.
Cookie based dogma.
Probably a deist one. One where it says that God have left us, because he wanted that we need to go forwards without his guidance, and it's the only way to have more civilized society, especially given how bed-time stories don't have much to do with today's reality.
Gods do not exist and find your way through science and technology.
Oh, and if I’m mortally wounded, definitely do not put me in a machine and sacrifice thousands of psychics to keep me alive.
And remember, Gods don’t exist! Definitely don’t be a heretic or an alien!
Nothing is True Everything is Permitted
Origin
This idiomatic expression originates from Friedrich Nietzsche, the famous philosopher who wrote the phrase in his 1859 book, "The Geneology of Morals." However, Nietzsche attributes the phrase's origin to Hassan-i-Sabbah, the leader of the historical Assassins. This sect was a part of Isma'ili and Shia Islam. However, there is no verified proof of these claims.
Maybe not the best source https://english-grammar-lessons.com/nothing-is-true-everything-is-permitted-meaning/
Ask questions. Evidence trumps all. Oh and I guess be nice.
But at that point it's effectively antithetical to anything religion is. Like the actual teachings of Jesus in the Bible are mostly good to live by. But because 90% of Christians (or other religions/pick a sect) never actually read the Bible, the actual religion in practice is a lot of preachers spreading their own shit or whatever the hierarchy says. And the core concept is to ignore reality and blindly trust the impossible.
Free access to a ps5/ series x with free online.
I would add something about it being illegal to kill people and that being nice to everyone is a virtue!
Fuck no. A religion dictates:
- what you think to be true or false. I'm a human thus an ignorant; there's no fucking way that I'd establish a system of beliefs that would be completely true. And the very fact that people would sheepishly look at my religion and say "its chrue cuz our faith says so lol" makes it counter-productive.
- what you judge as good or bad. Except that my moral values might not hold so well across the time. Worse - once you gather a thousand people, most of them braindead muppets, some will care about the letter of those moral rules instead of the spirit.
- what you do or don't. I'd be effectively removing agency from the people who follow my religion, telling them what they should be doing, be it on rituals or whatever.