9 ms·
Ask HN: Could a religion be started today?
If so, what ingredients would it have & what shape would it take? If not, what barriers would prevent it?
My knee-jerk reaction is that there's no way one could be created today. Freely available information, lack of privacy, and a vastly more educated populace would nip that sucker in the bud.
On the other hand, there are guys like Trump that prove logic and information don't necessarily determine what people believe.
This post* and its comments prompted the question.
*https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12078784
- Gustomaximus 10y agoScientology is obvious example. But sure. Most religions, even old one tend to adopt parts of other religion quite closely. Which also makes Scientology more unique. Some others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_religious_movements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_new_religious_movement...
- dhruvkar 10y agoDoh! Completely forgot about Scientology before posting. Tha ks for the link.
- tlb 10y agoAn interesting trend is secular churches that provide the community and inspirational parts of church without invoking the supernatural. For instance, http://www.sundayassembly.com/ http://www.sundayassembly.com/ Transpersonal psychology has some elements of a religion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpersonal_psychology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpersonal_psychology Both the above seem compatible with logic and freely available information.
- dhruvkar 10y ago> without invoking the supernatural I see this being a key common ingredient for a successful religion today.
- Jugurtha 10y agoSomething along the lines of encompassing every positive thing about religions that pertains to the interaction of humans with other humans, environment, themselves, etc. One that embraces debate and incites to challenge any dogmatic belief. One that doesn't shy away from hard questions, one where people would say "I don't know" instead of coming up with a story to explain something. A human and humane religion, essentially, that takes out the divine from the equation.. If there is a God, I don't think a human can either harm or help him/her. But if you believe in Heaven and Hell, I think it's fair to assume that people go to Hell and Heaven for what they have done to and for humans, and rarely for what they have done to and for the Lord.
- Lorenz-Kraft 10y agoI think that starting a religion is not that difficult because almost all religions are based on austerity/deprivation with a promise.
- bbcbasic 10y agoLike starting a startup
- prawn 10y agoHow different would it need to be from existing religions? If not especially different, I imagine variations spring up almost daily around the world.
- dhruvkar 10y agoYes, Apparently they do. See Gustomaximus's link.
- lttlrck 10y agoI would daub that so long as there are religious/God believing people in the world there is the potential for new religions to be created.
- pesfandiar 10y agoWith a looser definition of religion, we already have modern forms of religion: Apple, Whole Foods, ... They stimulate the same neural paths [1], they have the same cult following, and they for sure have reliable revenue streams from their members. [1] (low quality link, sorry) http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-a-religion-neuroscientists-find-it-triggers-the-same-reaction-in-your-brain-2011-5 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-is-a-religion-neuroscie...
- meric 10y agoThe way people write "Science" capitalising the first letter, and says things like "one day Science will solve these problems for us", sound a lot like putting faith in a religion to me. What is religion but philosophy mixed with some faith?
- notahacker 10y ago> Freely available information, lack of privacy, and a vastly more educated populace would nip that sucker in the bud The evidence of the popularity of some of the sillier conspiracy theories - even or especially amongst the relatively well-educated - would suggest otherwise...
- jjoe 10y agoYou only need three ingredients: miracles, prophecies, and a timeframe. You need a couple of miracles to get people to listen. And you need true prophecies (accurate predictions of the future) to have long term following. Good luck
- imauld 10y agoPokemon Go released just the other day.
- cwt 10y agoThe Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded in 2005. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster