What Does It Take To Have An "Authentic" Religion?

What does it take to have an "authentic" religion? In Kumare, Vikram Ghandi tries to explore this question by creating a "fake" religion to see whether people would actually follow it or not. To much of his surprise, the experiment worked as Kumare got at least 14 followers as the movie progressed. In the end, Kumare's teachings and practices were so powerful that even after the truth came out, ten people still stayed loyal to him.

So how did Kumare's "fake" religion become "authentic"? First of all, Ghandi created a series of myths (about his identity and origins), rituals ("the blue light"), and symbols (the staff) that formed the basis of his teachings. Originally "fake" and meaningless, these elements become "authentic" and meaningful as the practice of Kumare's teachings evolves into a transcending experience for the followers. The teachings are "fake" at first but turn to be "authentic" because they answer the people's needs and guide them through their lives. By becoming an experience rather than an experiment, Kumare's religion becomes "authentic" as well since it represents a way of life rather than a simple routine. Therefore, a religion is authentic as long as it is a guiding experience, based on certain myths, rituals and symbols, that creates a meaningful environment for its followers.

A Festivus for the Rest of Us: Do Fake Religions Count?

"Faith begins as an experiment and ends as an experience." 

-William Ralph Inge

A staff, a pole, blue light yoga, and an airing of grievances. Combine these together and you get a fake guru, Kumaré, who created his own spiritual following as an experiment to disprove the importance of religious figures, and a father, Frank, who created his own "Festivus" because had had enough of Christmas. Two very inauthentic movements that took fake traditions and symbols and gave them real meaning for real people.  



At what point do these made-up belief systems move from the realm of cultish groups and quirky family traditions to the ranks of mainline religions? In order to achieve true religious authenticity and authority, do they simply need to gain more followers, create more symbols and traditions, and worship a higher power, or does any of that matter at all? 
 

The purpose of a religion isn’t simply to put faith in a higher power and feel something move within, even though that is important and happens within most religions, it is to give a community of people something to believe in and experience together. Even a fake religion can do that. 

What does it take to follow a fake?

There are many religious “fakes” out there: Festivus from Seinfeld, the Church of Elvis, and Kumaré, a pretend guru. 

I would never participate in a fake religious tradition, you may think, how disgraceful!

Yet many of fakes catch on, and are celebrated by the thousands and come up in everyday conversation.

Many others do not. The Church of the Almighty Dollar –  what is that? According to David Chidester, it among the many obscure, cult followings that pervade American culture.

How do some fakes like Seinfeld’s Festivus gain thousands of followers?

Perhaps it’s because they adapted from a previously established religion, Christmas.

Originally made up by a Seinfeld writer’s father, Festivus combatted the commercialism of Christmas, and proclaimed itself a holiday “For the Rest of Us.” Atheists now celebrate it across the country on December 23^rd. In 2013, a Festivus Pole was displayed in the Wisconsin State Capitol alongside other religious displays.

Festivus was made to criticize Christmas, and involves traditions mirroring Christmas ones; the aluminum pole and the Christmas tree are a prime example. And it has caught on, you may say.

The Christmas traditions were similarly copied and adapted from the pagan Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Christmas was nonexistent until 300 AD. Christians disagreed with the pagan rituals, so they took pagans’ celebrations and made their own, using the darkest day to symbolize Jesus’s light coming into the world. And Christmas is certainly not a fake today, even though it started that way.

Adapting from what is already around you, transforming symbols from the established, certainly help make a fake religion became believable and even authentic.

Fake religions: authentic or inauthentic?

The question on hand in this week's reading out of David Chidester's Authentic Fakes and in the film, Kumaré, is whether or not it the authenticity of a religion matters if its effects are authentic. In my opinion if people latch onto a message in a certain religion, it does not matter the authenticity of the presentation. Vikram Gandhi establishes his credibility as Kumaré by growing out his hair and beard and teaching yoga classes filled with made up moves and rituals. Eventually, people latch on to his message and he meets with them individually. Halfway through the movie, he is doing very little yoga and simply being a friend and advisor to his followers. Although the delivery of his message was phony, the message itself was sincere, and that is what made the largest impact on people. His followers were filled with a new desire to improve their lives and find happiness. In the end, this wildly inauthentic religion turned out to have authentic results.

In many ways, Kumaré’s made up religion is equally as authentic as well established ones. Because he had no history or tradition on which to rely, he gained his followers by being impactful. Often people follow religions because of their family history and traditions, but Kumaré did not have that advantage. His followers came back for him and his message. If we are judging religious authenticity by its positive effects on people, then his religion was certainly authentic.