Most religions teach that their traditions and beliefs are true because they originate in divine revelation and encounters (Sutcliffe and Cusack 2013). 

Such revelation might be revealed by a Supreme Being, gods, angels, divinely inspired prophets and charismatic figures, transcendent beings, and more. 

This is why the notion of “invented religion(s)” can be provocative for many. The assumption is that divine revelation guarantees the truth of a movement’s doctrinal, ethical, experiential dimensions, and so on. As such, to assert that Christianity or Islam are “invented” religions is taken by their devout to criticize their traditions as divinely uninspired inventions stemming from the imagination of their respective revered founders and authorities (Cusack 2010, 1). 

The claim regarding invention can be a deliberate point of criticism. When the Latter-Day Saints became part of the political debate in the United States, the media started to refer to Mormonism as a religion “invented” to excuse adultery (Dollard 2012).

On the other hand, however, founders and members of many religious movements accept the “invented” label. Their teachings are “admitted to be the product of the human imagination” (Cusack 2010, 1, 141, 146). Some examples include Pastafarianism, the Church of Beer, Scientology, the Swedish-based Missionary Church of Kopimism, and many more. Despite actively announcing and promoting their invented status, some scholars believe they should still be viewed as real religions: “invented religions look like religions, function like religion, have doctrinal and ritual content that appear religious, and therefore ought to be considered legitimately religious” (Cusack 2010, 148).

For many of these movements, despite authorial invention, the fictional text or film they may derive their beliefs from are considered to contain eternal truths, salvation, wisdom, values, ideals, ethical advice, and guidance for a meaningful life (Cusack 2010). Here deliberate invention does not necessarily mean a “fake” or a “joke,” although for some it could be.

Cusack includes “confrontational” in her definition of these religious movements and refers to the counterculturalism of the 1960s in North America (2010, 141, 146). These refers to religions with “attitude” and include groups such the Church of All Worlds, Church of the SubGenius, and Discordianism. 

These groups are invented in order to target mainstream or conservative political–cultural developments. Pastafarianism or the Church of Flying Spaghetti Monster is an obvious example of a religion invented to oppose creationism in the form of Intelligent Design. Both Matrixism and Jediism affirm critical attitudes towards some Western notions of reality.

References and Resources

Cusack, Carole M. 2010. Invented Religions: Imagination, Fiction and Faith. Farnham: Ashgate.

Kliever, Lonnie D. 1981. “Fictive Religion: Rhetoric and Play.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 49(4):657–669.

Possamai, Adam. 2005. Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament. Brussels: Peter Lang.

Sutcliffe, Steven J., and Cusack, Carole M. 2013. “Introduction: Making it (all?) up – ‘invented religions’ and the study of ‘religion.’” Culture and Religion 14(4):353-361.

Vertovec, Stephen. 1991. “Inventing Religious Tradition: Yagnas and Hindu Renewal in Trinidad.” In Religion, Tradition and Renewal, edited by Armin W. Geertz and Jeppe Sinding Jensen, 79–97. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

York, Michael. 1999. “Invented Culture/Invented Religion: The Fictional Origins of Contemporary Paganism.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 3(1):135–146.