Religion is a cornerstone of many cultures and civilizations as a whole. It can often play a centerpiece in the actions, or inaction, that people take and is a guiding set of principles for millions upon millions of people.
This role, and its tight cohesion with culture, makes it an interesting topic to explore when you’re building out your own world. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the key questions you should answer when building a religion for your worlds and stories. At the end, you’ll have a fairly detailed write-up that includes, at least in my opinion, all the key points to creating a religion that feels alive and believable.
One last note, none of the below is set in stone or a hard requirement. You know your story best and only need to build your religion to the extent that it influences the story you’re trying to tell. If you reach a question that has no bearing on your world then feel free to skip it. I’ve also tried to lay them out in a sensible order, but you should feel free to mix and match them as it makes sense to you and your goals.
With that out of the way, let’s jump right in!
Note: we've also turned this article into a simple worksheet that includes many of the questions below into an easy to use format. You can download it here.
What makes a Religion a Religion?
Before we start, I think it’s helpful to put together a loose definition of a religion. In my mind, religion can mean a variety of things, especially in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. This might include:
A large organization, similar to many religions of our world.
A loose organization of similar, but different, groups.
A small group worshiping a specific deity or deities.
Various cults acting, or masquerading, as religions.
Just to name a few. Any of these could be considered a religion in your world, and each is likely to behave differently and have differing levels of influence on nearby cultures and their people.
Let’s try and narrow it down just a bit more. For something to be a religion it should at the least satisfy the following points:
It has a shared set of beliefs among peoples.
It has some sort of actions, imagery, and expectations recognizable by those who follow it.
There is some essence of divine or otherworldly aspect to it.
If you can satisfy those three points then I believe it meets the definition of a religion, at least for the purposes of this article.
This leaves the door open to a lot of different types of religion, which is important for a creative endeavor like worldbuilding. Since we’re creating our own religion, it doesn’t necessarily have to fit into what we see in our own world, and in many cases shouldn’t. We have the freedom to take things in a slightly different direction than what our world has, and that’s part of the fun of worldbuilding.
How Religions Get Started
You could probably write an entire article on just this alone, so I’m just going to leave a few notes. You might want to come up with an entire detailed history for your religion, and that’s great, but here I just want to cover the basics of what I feel is necessary for a religion to start.
In general, I like to think about two things as being keys to starting and spreading a religion.
A Shared Belief
All religions start with some sort of shared belief among a group of people. These are the core beliefs that your religion comes from. These would be the basic ideas that all the followers of your religion are supposed to believe and put into practice in their day-to-day lives. You might also want to have some sort of inciting incident that brought these beliefs about. A god revealing himself and performing a miracle would absolutely qualify, but there are many more subtler ways to do it as well.
A Charismatic Leader
In most cases, you also need someone who has the ability to spread your religion. Otherwise, it’s likely to stagnate and never leave its initial place of founding. This might be what you want for a small, local religion, but for something larger practiced across nations, it’s essential. Note that this might be more than one person and could take dozens of years.
There’s certainly more you can add here, but if you start with a shared belief among a group, sprinkle in some details we’ll get to below, and add a leader, you’ve got a pretty good start for your religion.
Religions Are Made By People
One last thing to keep in mind before we get into the actual building of religion; religions are ultimately constructed and run by people. Even those who fully embrace a religion can fall prey to a variety of vices like vanity, a lust for power/wealth, and letting their ego drive their actions.
You don’t have to look far in many of our real-world religions to see these, and other, less-than-glamorous character traits. History is littered with religious figures who have used their power for their own gain.
These sorts of human failings can lead to interesting stories and conflicts among different members of religions. When thinking about your religion consider the people that are involved with and whether their intentions are noble, self-serving, or a healthy mix of both. These disconnects between the tenets of your religion and the actions people take can lead to compelling narratives.
Questions To Ask When Building A Religion
I often find the easiest way to get started with a complex task like building a religion is to break it into a series of questions and answers. Each one of these is designed to help you flesh out a little bit more of your religion without asking too much at once.
Once you’re finished, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what that religion looks like, and hopefully enough to start working them into your stories or expanding their lore further. After you have your answers you can begin creating your religion’s narrative, or simply leave it as is, in many cases having these questions answered is enough to have a believable religion.
These questions are put in a logical order, but it can be fun to start them out of order and see what you come up with. For example, you might start with a specific ritual and consider what type of religion it might fit with, and build from there. Don’t be afraid to experiment or go “out of order”, it can lead to some interesting results you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
You also shouldn’t feel like you have to answer every question below when building out a religion. In some cases, it might be enough to just jot down a few tenants, come up with a holy symbol or two, and handwave the rest. You only need to build out what makes sense for your world and the story you’re trying to tell. As worldbuilders, we often get caught up in the fun of creation. However, in many cases, we have a purpose for our world (like writing a novel), and only need to consider enough to achieve that goal.
What Does The Pantheon Of God(s) Look Like? Are they real?
A good first place to start is to look at the gods or the divine beings that your religion follows. Is your religion polytheistic or monotheistic; is there a single or multiple gods? If there are multiple gods, how do they relate to each other? Are they actively fighting for control, or do they each have their own portfolio that they are responsible for?
You might also want to consider how your religion or religions are set up in relation to these gods. Do people worship them all as a single pantheon or are their separate religions created for each god? Individuals might also pick and choose which gods they venerate, a farmer for example might pray solely to a god of harvest.
Another thing to consider is whether the god(s) are real or not and whether there’s direct proof for this. A world where the gods routinely interact with mortals is going to look different from one where the gods are hands-off or don’t even exist.
Is There an Opposing Force (i.e. Devil)?
Many religions have a sense of dualism to them, in that they have two opposing forces of good and evil present in them. The devil is a pretty universally known example of the evil force that opposes god in many catholic beliefs for example.
Does your religion have a similar evil figure or figures? Are the evil forces on the same level of power as the forces of good, or does one side have the upper hand? You might also consider that an evil force might have worshipers in their own right.
How Did The World Come To Be?
Most religions have some sort of concept of a creation myth and how the world/universe was created. This generally isn’t essential to know in a lot of stories, but I still think it’s an important and interesting question so I’ve added it here.
There are no real rules here, since we’re dealing with divinity it could be anything. Feel free to get creative and think about the role your gods did, or didn’t, play in the creation of your world.
How Involved With the World are The Gods?
Not strictly part of the religion, but important nonetheless to help understand the relationship between the people and their religion is how involved the gods are. This can range from completely uninterested to actively involved in day-to-day life, that is assuming they exist in the first place.
Consider carefully the implications of this question as it can have a huge impact on how people behave and how they interact with religion. Consider, if the gods are real and actively walk the world do atheists exist?
You might also want to consider why the gods get involved with mortals or why they don’t. Are the gods vying for power and attracting mortals helps towards that goal? Is there some higher-powered divine being that actively discourages divine intervention? Answering yes to either of those has some serious implications for how your gods are likely to behave, and consequently how people interact with them.
What are the core Tenets/Beliefs of the Religion?
What sorts of things does your religion stand for? Peace, unity, love, or perhaps violence, hedonism, and personal gain. Either of these groupings could work but would lead to drastically different religions.
Here, you want to create a list of the core ideas that your religion holds. I find it best to start with 3-5 core ideas and expand from there. Feel free to get creative here too, while real-world religions tend to have similar ideals (albeit often gone about in different ways) fantasy or sci-fi religions can be vastly different. In these worlds, you often see entire religions devoted to specific things such as harvest or war.
How strictly enforced are these tenants?
Building off the above, I also like to consider how important these tenets are and what the penalty is for breaking them. It’s also interesting to look at how different social groups behave when it comes to following their religion. It may be that a peasant breaking a religious tenet is seen as significantly worse than someone of the aristocracy doing the same, or vice versa.
How Does Religion Affect Day-to-Day Life?
This is where things, in my opinion, really start to get interesting. In fact, I think if you wanted to skip the first couple of questions and start here that would be perfectly fine. This is where we really start examining how your religion impacts your world.
Think about how the average person interacts with their religion. Does it play a major role in their day-to-day activities or is it something only really considered on special days? How often are people expected to partake in religious activities like attending church?
Remember above how I mentioned that religions are created by people? This is really the synthesis of that. Your religion’s details are often told through the actions of the people and characters in your world. By showing how they interact with religion, how they talk about it, and how they treat it you’re building those details and showing visitors to your world how things work.
Note that this is also likely to say something about the power of the church or religious group. The more entwined they are with day-to-day life the more sway they likely have over important matters. A religion with devout followers willing to die for their beliefs is probably going to be more powerful than one with a less-than-enthusiastic base.
Why Do People Believe Or Practice?
This is related to the last point above, but I believe is important enough to warrant its own section. It’s important to understand why people believe in their religion and what motivates them to practice.
On one side, they might be promised an eternal reward like heaven or some similar paradise. Or, if the gods are more active in your world, praying to them might lead to direct benefits for the faithful. If praying to the god of harvests leads to a higher crop yield then it makes perfect sense why a farming village would have a shrine dedicated to him/her.
Conversely, a more malevolent god might gain followers as a way to ward off their wrath. In the Dungeons and Dragons Pantheon, Umberlee is an evil god of the sea who is prayed to by sailors to help ensure a safe passage. In both cases, there’s a clear reason why someone is an adherent of a particular religion or god. It may be as simple as social pressure, but the point is there is often an underlying reason for belief.
Are There Different Groups?
An important piece of religion in our world is the different sects that pop up and, while still part of the larger religion, the small differences in these groups can lead to serious disagreements. In Christianity, you have the Thirty Years War, which was partly fought between the Catholics and protestants. In Islam, you have the ongoing conflict between the Sunnis and Shias. Our history is littered with the wars fought between different groups following the same broad religion.
That’s not always the case though, and sometimes these groups can coexist peacefully. Consider how different groups in your world apply their faith and how that might look between groups. Depending on the scope of the differences you might have two peaceful groups living together in harmony. Or, you may have the exact opposite with the prospect of bloodshed inevitable.
Are people allowed not to believe?
Building off the above, I think a very important question to answer is if people are “allowed” to not believe and what happens to those who do so openly.
History shows us the entire range of reactions from acceptance to condemnation for heresy. Are there penalties for non-believers in society? This need not be official either; while non-belief might not be against the law in any way, society as a whole might shun those who don’t and limit their ability to move up in life.
I also think it’s important to consider the different levels of “non-belief”. I loosely group them as follows:
Those who believe in the religion, but don’t participate as much as they should or are expected to. These might be pious people, but tend to only outwardly show on important occasions.
Those who believe but don’t participate in any sort of religious events or ceremonies, even on important days.
Those who are religious, but follow a different religion. These may or may not be treated as non-believers depending on your world.
Those who don’t believe but are largely indifferent towards the religion. They likely think little of it, and it has little effect on their day-to-day lives.
Those who don’t believe and are antagonistic against the religion. They not only don’t participate in it, but think that others shouldn’t as well.
Considering how these different groups interact can help flesh out your world and also lead to more interesting characters.
There’s also the question of conversion here as well. Does the religion go out of its way to try and convert people to it? How does that look, and how important is it to the religious leaders?
How Does It Interact With Other Religions?
Another interesting one to consider, and building a bit off the above question, what is the relation between your religion and other religions in your world? Are they generally tolerant of other religions, or is there animosity between them? Perhaps there are some they get along with and others they don’t. It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to see how deadly these sorts of feuds can get.
How Powerful is Religion?
This point is heavily related to other points, but I think it’s okay to consider it somewhat separate. The more powerful your religion is the more likely they are to have a larger influence over the day-to-day lives of commoners and nobility alike, and vice-versa.
I also like to consider the reasons that a church has power. Here’s an article that details some of those ideas as they related to Catholicism during the medieval period and why it wielded a good deal of power.
You should also consider if this power is localized and to what degree. The further away from the power base of the religion you travel the less likely they are to have sway there. Traveling into an area with a different religion, for example, you’re likely to see very little power from the outside religion.
Who are the Important People of Your Religion
Having a handful of important characters is another good way to add some depth to your religion. I think about this in two phases; the specific titles/positions and the individuals who hold that position.
For the first part, think of things like popes, rabbis, priests, etc. These are the various roles that the adherents of your religion can attain. As a part of this, I specifically consider the average title someone might encounter, like a priest, and who the head of the religion is, like the pope. In terms of worldbuilding, it’s probably more important to have this hierarchy spelled out over having specific people in those roles.
Taking it a step further, you can start to set up the characters that hold those roles in your religion. I generally wouldn’t spend too much time here unless your story demands it. In many cases, it might be enough to know that the head of your religion is called the “High Deacon” and his name is Andrei Benedine II. Knowing the ins and outs of how a High Deacon is chosen might be less important than simply knowing the position exists.
What are a few symbols for Your Religion?
A good way to add some easy depth to your religion is to jot down a handful of symbols or icons that denote your religion. In our world, seeing a cross is a sure sign of some sort of Christianity. These symbols can be a great way to “show don’t tell” in your world by helping the people engaging with your world understand where a particular place or person stands. Someone adorned with religious symbolism can be a very quick way to draw conclusions about that person, at least to some degree.
Are there holy days or celebrations, how do these look?
Another quick one, are there any holy days or celebrations tied to your religion? When you create these make sure to keep in mind what is being celebrated and why. You should also keep in mind any restrictions or requirements placed on adherents during these celebrations; needing to fast during it would be an example.
Prayers, rituals, and Other Common Activities.
Another good way to add a bit of depth to your religion is to come up with a handful of simple prayers or rituals that are often performed by its followers. Simple phrases like “praise be to god” or the making of the sign of the cross are common real-world examples. These are simple, but great ways to not only develop the religion and culture, but can also be used in character building by showing a character's inclination towards a religion.
Are there any important historical events?
Consider what types of events might be important to your religion. This could be the founding date of the religion, large events like a schism, the birth, or death, of important figures, just to name a few.
Many times, you don’t necessarily need specific dates to work in historic events. Knowing that the founding of the religion was about 1000 years ago, for example, is often enough to give your world a sense of scale and realism. In fact, having some ambiguity about specific dates can add more realism to the world, as well as set up interesting hooks like two rival factions of the same religion that disagree on the specifics of a date.
More Tips For Making Religions Believable
The above questions should help you start planning out your religion, but I also wanted to provide some additional notes on making your religion believable. The following points are just things to keep in mind and can help you make better, more consistent religions.
Religions Change Over Time
Very few things in life are static, and religions are no exception. As people and culture change, so does religion. The people who are associated with the religion obviously, in most cases, change, and with them can come new plans, goals, and schemes.
People are what ultimately drive religions, and all people come with their own jumble of ideas. As the years pass it’s not uncommon for religions to take on new meanings and emphasize different aspects of their worship. Depending on the timeline you’re looking at for your world, keep this in mind and consider how the changing landscape of cultures and peoples influences your religion, and vice versa.
Different Places With The Same Religion Are Different
As religion changes over time so does religion change over space as well. While the religion might be the same between two different areas that doesn’t mean every aspect of it has to be the same.
This can also be an interesting way to explore different cultures. Two nations that follow the same religion and worship the same pantheon, but one puts a higher emphasis on venerating the god of war, are likely to have different values as a whole. Religion and culture are deeply intertwined and both will have an effect on the other.
Small Things Count
An easy way to make your religion feel like part of your world is to sprinkle in some of the small things like imagery, icons, and phrases. Having a character wearing a religious symbol, a cross necklace is a common real-world example, is a subtle way to show a person’s religious affiliation and help it become more believable. Don’t be afraid to add these types of small things to your world where they make sense, they’re a great way to enrich your world and help it feel alive.
Lack of symbols can be just as poignant too. If everyone in a city clearly displays religious symbols, but a single person doesn’t, that tells you a lot about that person in relation to their peers, at least from a religious point of view.
There are Different Levels Of Belief
As noted above, there are different kinds of beliefs and different people will have varying levels of faith. Not everyone will be a religious zealot just like not everyone will be a staunch atheist. Most people will fall somewhere in the middle and have their own struggles with faith and what it means to be religious. Depending on the story you’re trying to tell, that can be a very rewarding story to explore.
That’s not to say that you can’t have a whole city filled with 100%, completely devoted zealots. But, you need to create a reason for that to be the case for it to be believable.
It’s People That Drive Religion
Lastly, always keep in mind that, in most cases, it’s the people who drive the religion, who worship the deities, and ultimately make the decisions regarding it. The religions you create have to make sense in the context of the culture they are created in.
For example, a religion all about worshiping the god of the sea, praying for the bounty of a successful bounty of fish, and safe passage on the sea doesn’t really make sense in a farming village nowhere near a large body of water. On the flip side, it would make sense for them to worship the god of harvesting or hunting. Keep the people who follow your religion in mind, and consider why they would be motivated to follow a particular set of beliefs.
This has been mentioned several times before, but it’s because it’s that important.
Wrapping Up
As I alluded to at the beginning, the above is meant to be a rough guide and not an all-encompassing guide. It would be impossible to account for all the variations in fantasy and sci-fi worlds, so feel free to expand points or disregard them as you see fit.
Hopefully, the above has provided a nice starting point to build your religion. Always feel free to adjust to fit your goals, but take some time to at least consider all the points above. In doing so, you’ll be well on your way to building out a religion that feels alive and real for your worlds.
