"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.
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