If there was such thing as a benevolent dictator(or a greedy Science Fiction writer), I could see why he or she might want to create a religion for their people. It would end in a mess but I could understand the temptation.
As a mental exercise, I was trying to imagine how such a religion would look and I can't.
First, how do you deal with the presence of evil? How do you explain how a good deity could allow a serial killer to torture victims? The same people who want religion would not want to follow deism because that would not be personal enough for them.
Second, people tend to go to extremes especially when religion is involved. For example, Wicca fits nicely with modern thinking. Its main tenet is basically, "Do what you want as long as you don't hurt anyone else." I read an article, a long time ago, where the writer tried to explain that the rule didn't mean that you had to be worried if you stepped on a bug etc. Apparently, even that nice, simple rule can be twisted to an extreme
Third, what is your religion's definition of god? One of the problem with Christianity is that their god has too many omnis to be real. Is your deity/deities all powerful or are they just sort of powerful?
Fourth, how do you keep people from viewing humanity as us and them? If they are members of your religion, they are going to view other people as them and lesser.
Fifth, you would have to make an exhausting study of human psychology to figure out why religious people remain religious and what they get out of their faith in order to design a religion that is emotionally pleasing.
Sixth, you need to invent rituals that fit in with different cultures and that seems impossible. How could you invent the rituals and practices that work not just for a Western audience but an African Bushman. Anything you invented would mean that its practitioners would probably give up something with a historical connection to their way of live for your- also made up- religion.
As a mental exercise, I was trying to imagine how such a religion would look and I can't.
First, how do you deal with the presence of evil? How do you explain how a good deity could allow a serial killer to torture victims? The same people who want religion would not want to follow deism because that would not be personal enough for them.
Second, people tend to go to extremes especially when religion is involved. For example, Wicca fits nicely with modern thinking. Its main tenet is basically, "Do what you want as long as you don't hurt anyone else." I read an article, a long time ago, where the writer tried to explain that the rule didn't mean that you had to be worried if you stepped on a bug etc. Apparently, even that nice, simple rule can be twisted to an extreme
Third, what is your religion's definition of god? One of the problem with Christianity is that their god has too many omnis to be real. Is your deity/deities all powerful or are they just sort of powerful?
Fourth, how do you keep people from viewing humanity as us and them? If they are members of your religion, they are going to view other people as them and lesser.
Fifth, you would have to make an exhausting study of human psychology to figure out why religious people remain religious and what they get out of their faith in order to design a religion that is emotionally pleasing.
Sixth, you need to invent rituals that fit in with different cultures and that seems impossible. How could you invent the rituals and practices that work not just for a Western audience but an African Bushman. Anything you invented would mean that its practitioners would probably give up something with a historical connection to their way of live for your- also made up- religion.
