Search -
Invented Religions (Ashgate New Religions)
Invented Religions - Ashgate New Religions Author:Carole M. Cusack This book investigates four religious movements founded in the West which are intentionally fictional: Discordianism, the Church of All Worlds, the Church of the Sub-Genius, and Jediism. Utilising contemporary scholarship on secularisation, individualism, and consumer capitalism, this book explores these groups as reactions against the religious... more » marketplace of the 1950s and 1960s. Their continued appeal and success, principally in America but gaining wider audience through the 1980s and 1990s, is chiefly as a result of underground publishing and the internet. This book deals with immensely popular subject matter: Jediism developed from George Lucas' Star Wars films, one of the highest grossing film franchises in history and the source and butt for countless pop-culture references and jokes. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, founded by 26-year-old student Bobby Henderson in 2005 as a protest against the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools. Discordianism and the Church of the Sub-Genius retain very strong followings and participation rates among University/College students, particularly at campus events, due to their subversive bent. The environmental focus of the Church of All Worlds sees it finding itself a centre of attention due to its focus on Gaia theology. The groups' continued successes provide a unique opportunity to explore the nature of late/postmodern religious forms, including the use of fiction as part of a bricolage for spirituality, identity-formation, and personal orientation.« less