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The most unusual religions of the world. Interesting facts about religion - a little bit of good stuff

Most of the world's population believes in God, the Father and the Holy Spirit, prays in churches, reads the Holy Scriptures, listens to cardinals and patriarchs. This Christians . So what is Christianity? Christianity (from the Greek Χριστός - “anointed one”, “messiah”) - Abrahamic world religion, based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as described in the New Testament. Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. Christians do not doubt the historicity of Jesus Christ.

What is Christianity

In short, it is a religion based on the belief that more than 2000 years ago God came to our world. He was born, received the name Jesus, lived in Judea, preached, suffered and died on the cross as a man. His death and subsequent resurrection from the dead changed the fate of all mankind. His preaching marked the beginning of a new European civilization. What year are we all living in? The students answer. This year, just like others, we count from the birth of Christ.


Christianity is the largest world religion, both in terms of the number of adherents, of which there are about 2.1 billion, and in terms of geographical distribution - almost every country in the world has at least one Christian community.

More than 2 billion Christians belong to various religious denominations. The largest movements in Christianity are Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. In 1054, the Christian Church split into Western (Catholic) and Eastern (Orthodox). The emergence of Protestantism was the result of the reformation movement in the Catholic Church in the 16th century.

Interesting Facts about religion

Christianity originates from the beliefs of a group of Palestinian Jews who believed that Jesus was the messiah, or “anointed one” (from the Greek Χριστός - “anointed one”, “messiah”), who would free the Jews from Roman rule. The new teaching was spread by the Master's followers, especially by the Pharisee Paul, who converted to Christianity. Traveling through Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, Paul preached that faith in Jesus freed his followers from observing the rituals required by the Law of Moses. This attracted numerous non-Jews to the Christian faith, searching for an alternative to Roman paganism, but at the same time unwilling to recognize the obligatory rites of Judaism. Despite the fact that the Roman authorities from time to time renewed the fight against Christianity, its popularity grew rapidly. This continued until the era of Emperor Decius, under whom (250) the systematic persecution of Christians began. However, instead of weakening the new faith, oppression only strengthened it, and in the 3rd century. Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire.


Before Rome, in 301, Christianity was adopted as the state religion by Armenia, then an independent kingdom. And soon the victorious march of the Christian faith across Roman lands began. From the very beginning, the Eastern Empire was built as a Christian state. Emperor Constantine, the founder of Constantinople, stopped the persecution of Christians and patronized them.Under Emperor Constantine I, starting with the edict of 313 on freedom of religion, Christianity began to acquire the status of a state religion in the Roman Empire, and on his deathbed in 337 he was baptized. He and his mother, Christian Elena, are revered by the Church as saints. Under Emperor Theodosius the Great at the end of the 4th century. Christianity in Byzantium established itself as the state religion. But only in the VI century. Justinian I, a zealous Christian, finally banned pagan rituals on the lands of the Byzantine Empire.


In 380, under Emperor Theodosius, Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of the empire. By that time, the Christian faith had come to Egypt, Persia and, possibly, to the southern regions of India.

Around 200 - church leaders began to select the most authoritative Christian scriptures, which later compiled the books of the New Testament, which were included in the Bible. This work continued until 382. The Christian Creed was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325, but as the church's influence expanded, disagreements regarding doctrine and organizational issues increased.

Beginning with cultural and linguistic differences, the confrontation between the Eastern Church (with its center in Constantinople) and the Western Roman Church gradually acquired a dogmatic character and led to a schism in the Christian Church in 1054. After the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, the division of churches was finally established.

Political, social and scientific revolutions of the 19th century. brought new challenges to Christian doctrine and weakened ties between church and state. Advances in scientific thought posed a challenge to biblical beliefs, especially the creation story, which had been challenged by Charles DARWIN's theory of evolution. However, it was a time of active missionary activity, especially from Protestant churches. The stimulus for it was the emerging social consciousness. Christian doctrine has often become important factor in the organization of many social movements: for the abolition of slavery, for the adoption of legislation to protect workers, for the introduction of an education and social security system.

In the 20th century, in most countries the church was almost completely separated from the state, and in some it was forcibly banned. IN Western Europe The number of believers is steadily declining, while in many developing countries, on the contrary, it continues to grow. Recognition of the need for church unity found expression in the creation of the World Council of Churches (1948).

Spread of Christianity in Rus'

The spread of Christianity in Rus' began around the 8th century, when the first communities were founded in Slavic territories. They were approved by Western preachers, and the influence of the latter was small. For the first time, the pagan prince Vladimir decided to truly convert Rus', who was looking for a reliable ideological bond for disunited tribes, whose native paganism did not satisfy his needs.


However, it is possible that he himself sincerely converted to the new faith. But there were no missionaries. He had to besiege Constantinople and ask the hand of a Greek princess to be baptized. Only after this were preachers sent to Russian cities, who baptized the population, built churches and translated books. For some time after this, there was pagan resistance, uprisings of the Magi, and so on. But after a couple of hundred years, Christianity, the spread of which had already covered all of Rus', won, and pagan traditions sank into oblivion.


Christian symbols

For Christians, the whole world, which is the creation of God, is full of beauty and meaning, filled with symbols. It is no coincidence that the holy fathers of the Church argued that the Lord created two books - the Bible, which glorifies the love of the Savior, and the world, which glorifies the wisdom of the Creator. All Christian art in general is deeply symbolic.

The symbol connects the two halves of the split world - the visible and the invisible, and reveals the meaning of complex concepts and phenomena. The most important symbol of Christianity is the cross.

The cross can be drawn in different ways - it depends on the directions of Christianity. Sometimes one glance at the image of a cross depicted on a church or cathedral is enough to tell which Christian movement the building belongs to. Crosses can be eight-pointed, four-pointed, or with two bars, and in general there are dozens of variants of crosses. A lot can be written about the existing variants of the image of the cross, but the image itself is not so important; the meaning of the cross itself plays a more important role.

Cross- This more symbol the sacrifice that Jesus made to atone for human sins. In connection with this event, the cross became sacred symbol and very dear to every Christian believer.

The symbolic image of a fish is a symbol Christian religion. Pisces, namely its Greek description, can be seen in the abbreviation Son of God the Savior Jesus Christ. The symbolism of Christianity includes a large number of Old Testament symbols: a dove and an olive branch from the chapters that were dedicated to the WorldFlood. Entire legends and parables were formed not only about the Holy Grail, entire troops were sent in search of it. The Holy Grail was the cup from which Jesus and his disciples drank at the Last Supper. The bowl had wonderful properties, but her traces were long lost. New Testament symbols include grape ash, which symbolizes Christ - the grape bunches and vines symbolize the bread and wine of the sacrament, the blood and body of Jesus.

Ancient Christians recognized each other by certain symbols, while other groups of Christians wore symbols with honor on their chests, and some were the cause of wars, and some symbols will be of interest even to those who are far from the Christian religion. The symbols of Christianity and their meanings can be described endlessly. Nowadays, information about symbols is open, so everyone can independently find information about the symbols of Christianity, read their history and become familiar with the reasons for their occurrence, but we decided to tell you about some of them.

Stork symbolizes prudence, vigilance, piety and chastity. The stork heralds the coming of spring, which is why it is called the Annunciation to Mary with the good news of the coming of Christ. There is a Northern European belief that a stork brings children to mothers. They began to say this because of the connection between the bird and the Annunciation.

The stork in Christianity symbolizes piety, purity and resurrection. But the Bible lists stilted birds as unclean, but the stork is seen as a symbol of happiness, largely due to the fact that it eats snakes. By this he points to Christ and his disciples who were engaged in the destruction of satanic creatures.

Angel with a fiery sword is a symbol of Divine justice and wrath.

Angel with trumpet symbolizes doomsday and resurrection.

Wand topped with a lily or sama White Lily considered symbols of innocence and purity. The constant and traditional attribute of Gabriel, who with a white lily, appeared in the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. The lily flower itself symbolizes the virgin purity of the Virgin Mary.

Butterfly is a symbol of new life. This is one of the most beautiful symbols of the resurrection, as well as eternal life. At the butterfly short life which can be divided into three stages.

  • The stage without beauty is the larva (caterpillar).
  • The stage of transformation into a cocoon (pupa). The larva begins to envelop itself, sealing itself in an envelope.
  • The stage of breaking the silk shell and coming out. Here a mature butterfly appears with a renewed and beautiful body with colored bright colors wings. Very quickly the wings get stronger and she takes off into the air.

Surprisingly, these three life stages of the butterfly are similar to life in humiliation, burial and death, and then the resurrection of Christ. He was born in a human body as a servant. The Lord was buried in the grave and on the third day, already in the Orthodox body, Jesus was resurrected and after forty days he ascended into heaven.

People who believe in Christ also experience these three stages. By nature, mortal and sinful beings live in humiliation. Then death comes, and lifeless bodies are buried. When Christ returns in glory, on the Last Day Christians will follow Him in renewed bodies that are created in the image of the Body of Christ.

Squirrel is a Christian symbol of greed and avarice. The squirrel is associated with the devil, embodied in an elusive, swift and reddish animal.

Crown made of thorny thorns. Christ suffered not only moral suffering, there was also physical torment that he experienced at trial. He was bullied several times: one of the servants hit him at Anna’s during his first interrogation; he was also beaten and spat on; whipped; he was crowned with a crown made of thorns. The governor's soldiers took Jesus to the praetorium, called the whole regiment, stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him; when they wove a crown from thorns, they put it on His head and gave him a reed in his hands; they knelt before Him and mocked Him, hitting Him on the head with a cane and spitting on Him.

Crow in Christianity it is a symbol of hermit life and solitude.

Bunch of grapes is a symbol of fertility promised land. Grapes were grown everywhere in the Holy Land, most often in the hills of Judea.

the Virgin Mary also has symbolic meaning. The Virgin Mary is the personification of the church.

Woodpecker is a symbol in Christianity of the devil and heresy, which destroy human nature and lead him to damnation.

Crane symbolizes fidelity, good life and asceticism.

Font is a symbol of the virgin's immaculate womb. It is from this that the initiate is born again.

Apple is a symbol of evil.

Traditionally Christian churches in the plan they have a cross - a symbol of the cross of Christ as the basis of eternal salvation, a circle (rotunda type of temple) - a symbol of eternity, a square (quadruple) - a symbol of the earth where peoples converge in a temple with four sides light, or an octagon (an octagon on a quadrangle) - a symbol of the guiding star of Bethlehem.
Each temple is dedicated to some Christian holiday or saint, whose memorial day is called a temple (throne) holiday. Sometimes several altars (chapels) are arranged in the temple. Then each of them is dedicated to its own saint or event.


According to tradition, the temple is usually built with the altar facing east. However, there are exceptions when the liturgical east may not correspond to the geographical one (for example, the Church of the Martyr Julian of Tarsus in Pushkin (the altar faces south), the Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God in the Tver region (village Nikolo-Rozhok) (the altar faces north)). Orthodox churches were not built with the altar facing west. In other cases, orientation to the cardinal points could be explained by territorial conditions.
The roof of the temple is crowned with a dome with a cross. According to widespread tradition, Orthodox churches can have:
* Chapter 1 - symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ;
* 2 chapters - the two natures of Christ (divine and human);
* 3 chapters - Holy Trinity;

* 4 chapters of the Four Gospels, four cardinal directions.
* 5 chapters - Christ and the four evangelists;
* 7 chapters - seven Ecumenical Councils, seven Christian sacraments,seven virtues;

* 9 chapters - nine ranks of angels;
* 13 chapters - Christ and 12 apostles.

The shape and color of the dome also have a symbolic meaning. The helmet shape symbolizes the spiritual warfare (struggle) that the Church wages against the forces of evil.

The shape of the onion symbolizes the candle flame.


The unusual shape and bright colors of the domes, such as that of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg, speaks of the beauty of heavenly Jerusalem - Paradise.

The domes of churches dedicated to Christ and the Twelve Feasts are gilded/

The blue domes with stars indicate that the temple is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Temples with green or silver domes are dedicated to the Holy Trinity.


In the Byzantine tradition, the dome was covered directly over the vault; in the Russian tradition, due to the “stretching” of the dome’s shape, a space arose between the vault and the dome.
An Orthodox church has three parts: porch, the main volume of the temple is catholicon(middle part) and altar.
In the narthex there used to be those who were preparing for baptism and penitents who were temporarily excommunicated from communion. The porches in monastery churches were also often used as refectory areas.


Main parts Orthodox church(schematic image).

Altar- the place of the mysterious residence of the Lord God, is the main part of the temple.
The most important place in the altar is throne in the shape of a quadrangular table, has two clothes: the lower one is made of white linen (srachitsa) and the upper one is brocade (inditiya). The symbolic meaning of the throne is as a place where the Lord invisibly dwells. On the throne is antimens- the main sacred object of the temple. This is a silk cloth consecrated by the bishop with the image of the position of Christ in the tomb and with a sewn-in particle of the relics of a saint. This is due to the fact that in the first centuries of Christianity, the service (liturgy) was performed at the tombs of the martyrs over their relics. Antimins is stored in a case (iliton).


Near the eastern wall in the altar there is “ high place" - an elevated seat intended for the bishop and a sintron - an arched bench for the clergy, adjacent from the inside to the eastern wall of the altar, symmetrically to its longitudinal axis. By the XIV-XV centuries. the stationary syntron disappears completely. Instead, during bishop's services, a portable chair without backs and arms is installed.

The altar part is separated from the catholicon by an altar barrier - iconostasis. In Rus', multi-tiered iconostases appeared in the beginning. XV century (Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir). IN classic version The iconostasis has 5 tiers (rows):

  • local(locally revered icons, royal doors and deacon’s doors are located in it);
  • festive(with small icons of the twelve holidays) and Deesis rank (the main row of the iconostasis, from which its formation began) - these two rows can change places;
  • prophetic(icons of Old Testament prophets with scrolls in their hands);
  • ancestral(icons of Old Testament saints).

However, in widespread use there may be 2 or more rows. The sixth tier may include icons with scenes of the passion or saints not included in the apostolic rank. The composition of the icons in the iconostasis can be different. The most traditionally established images:

  • On the double-leaf royal doors, located in the middle of the local row, they most often have 6 marks - an image of the Annunciation and the four evangelists.
  • To the left of the royal doors is an icon of the Mother of God, to the right is of Christ.
  • The second icon to the right of the Royal Doors corresponds to the throne (temple icon).
  • On the deacon's doors there are usually archangels or saints associated with law enforcement agencies.
  • Above the royal doors is the “Last Supper”, above (on the same vertical) is the “Savior in Power” or “Savior on the Throne” of the Deesis rank, to the right of Him is John the Baptist, to the left is the Mother of God. The peculiarity of the icons from the Deesis is that the figures are slightly turned, facing the central image of Christ.

The iconostasis ends with a cross with the figure of Christ (sometimes without it).
There are iconostases pavilion type (Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow), tyablovye(were common in the XV-XVII centuries) and frame(appear with the beginning of the construction of Baroque churches). The iconostasis is a symbol of the heavenly Church coming with the earthly one.
The curtain separating the throne from the royal gates is called catapetasma. The color of the catapetasma can be different - dark on tragic days, for festive services - gold, blue, scarlet.
The space between the catapetasma and the throne should not be crossed by anyone except the clergy.
Along the iconostasis from the side of the main space of the temple there is a small extended elevation - salty(outer throne). The general level of the floor of the altar and the solea coincide and are raised above the level of the temple, the number of steps is 1, 3 or 5. The symbolic meaning of the solea is the approach to God of all sacred rites taking place on it. It's arranged there pulpit(the protrusion of the solea in front of the royal doors), from which the priest pronounces the words of the Holy Scriptures and sermons. Its significance is great - in particular, the pulpit represents the mountain from which Christ preached. Cloud pulpit It is a raised platform in the middle of the church, on which the bishop’s ceremonial vestment takes place and he stands before entering the altar.
Places for singers during worship are called choirs and are located on the sole, in front of the flanks of the iconostasis.
The eastern pair of pillars of the katholikon may have royal place - at the southern wall for the ruler, at the northern - for the clergy.


Other structural parts of an Orthodox church are:

  • The main space of the temple ( catholicon ) - the area of ​​​​earthly residence of people, a place of communication with God.
  • Refectory (optional), as a second (warm) temple - a symbol of the room where the Easter Last Supper took place. The refectory was arranged along the width of the apse.
  • Narthex (pre-temple) - a symbol of the sinful land.
  • Extensions in the form of a gallery, additional temples dedicated to individual saints are a symbol of the city of heavenly Jerusalem.
  • Bell tower in front of the entrance to the temple symbolizes a candle to the Lord God.

It is necessary to distinguish the bell tower from belfries- structures for hanging bells that do not have a tower-like appearance.


Temple, church - the most common type of religious building in Orthodoxy and, unlike chapels has an altar with a throne. The bell tower can stand either close to the temple or separately from it. Often the bell tower “grows” out of the refectory. The second tier of the bell tower can accommodate small temple (» dungeon»).
In later times, when “warm” churches were built, a stove was installed in the basement to heat the entire building.
The area around the temple was necessarily landscaped, the area was fencing, trees were planted (including fruit trees), for example, a circular planting formed a kind of gazebo. Such a garden also had the symbolic meaning of the Garden of Eden.

In Rome, Christians, Muslims and Jews marched in a torchlight procession in support of persecuted Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. “Bolshoi” believes that such manifestations of mutual understanding between representatives of different religions are wonderful. Well, since the religious issue in itself is interesting and diverse, “Bolshoi” could not resist and looked into the directory to find out what the most unusual gods are worshiped by people in the world.

The African Dogon tribe living in southeastern Mali considers Sirius their supreme deity.

This is the most bright Star in the sky, which is in the constellation Canis Major. The Dogon believe that from one of the planets that revolve around Sirius, the progenitor of the Nom-Mo tribe - half-man, half-snake - arrived on a “flying ship”. Or, more simply put, a reptilian.

This would seem very funny if over time it did not become clear that long before the Europeans with their powerful telescopes, the Dogon knew about the white dwarf, the satellite star of Sirius, about its approximate mass (it consists of sagal - an incredibly heavy, dense metal), about the period of its orbit (50 years) and rotation around its axis (one year). Moreover, the Dogon were well aware of the third star that revolves around Sirius, and about its planets... So it’s time to wonder if we are descendants of reptilians?

In Canada, the ancient bloody cult of the cannibal god Baxbakualankswe is still alive.

Some Indian tribes continue to follow the traditions of their beliefs. Tradition preserves tales of human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism. But today the Indians have abandoned human flesh, although in a state of ecstasy during rituals they become enraged and can be unsafe.

In Russia, in the Volga region, in the 19th century, an Old Believer group of self-baptized Bespopovites - Hollers - was formed.

The Dyrniks believed that Patriarch Nikon was the last one who had the right to consecrate new icons, and therefore all remakes were from the evil one, and ancient images were desecrated by heretics. And, since it is no longer possible to pray at icons, you need to pray either in an open field, facing the East towards Jerusalem, or at an opening, a hole, in the wall. Some researchers claim that the holes are still preserved in Central Siberia.

The Papuan Jesus cult has existed in New Guinea for 80 years.

In general, the essence of this religion is as follows: followers believe that Jesus Christ was a Papuan. But the insidious whites crucified the dark-skinned leader sent from above to fairly govern the natives, and then tore out the first page from the book of Jesus in the Bible, where it is indicated that Jesus was a Papuan. At the same time, the followers, of whom there are actually quite a lot, unlike other Christians, are waiting for the Second Coming with a specific mercantile goal: Jesus will return and make all whites slaves, and the Papuans their masters. In general, it’s still a great prospect.

Today, over 5 million people in the world profess one of the oldest Indian religions - Jainism.

Jains are a combination of radical vegetarian and "green" in one bottle. The followers of this religion have only one rule - do not harm living beings. Hence the taboo on eating meat and weapons.

Within the Jains, the Shvetambaras stand out - clothed in light. These are wonderful s e people say that their clothes are light, and they wear what their mother gave birth to. Jains try to breathe through a gauze bandage, because they believe that their breath can harm some of God’s creatures, and they sweep the road in front of them with a special broom. Jains try to eat as ascetically as possible, and they see a worthy ending to their earthly journey in starving themselves to death. Moreover, Jains are known as ruthless moneylenders. In general, on the one hand, few people on the planet prove so convincingly that man does not fit into the cycle of substances in nature, and on the other hand, money has no smell!

In 1774, preacher Ann Lee arrived in the United States from England with seven followers. She argued that one can understand God only through dancing until one is exhausted.

The group preached actively and successfully, and by the 1840s the church included about 6,000 “shakers” in 18 villages from Maine to Kentucky. The Shakers believed in the equality of men and women, as well as all races and nationalities. They lived as a commune: property was shared. These people did not recognize the institution of marriage and did not enter into them. During their rituals, the “shakers” danced passionately, and when they felt God within themselves, they often began to copulate randomly. Children born from ritual relationships were considered saints within the church. Today there is only one association of "shakers", in Maine. It includes only seven people, of which two are women, the youngest of them is 49 years old. Some of the old Shaker villages have now been turned into museums of their culture.

Once upon a time, aliens with the help genetic engineering and DNA synthesis created life on Earth and people. These aliens were called Elohim.

The fashion for Star Wars in the United States in the 1970s played into the hands of the founders of a rather strange religion - Heaven's Gate.

Adherents believe that God and the devil are the captains of extraterrestrial spaceships who, in deep space, are waging an ongoing battle for the Earth. This is how you begin to study religious movements and understand where Warhammer 40,000 comes from. In general, having seen enough of the adventures of the young Padawan Skywalker and his friends in the vast expanses of space, a bunch of people flocked to the community. Most of Heaven's Gate's followers were ufologists, fans of comic books, science fiction films, and programmers. True, when the leadership of Heaven's Gate announced that only by committing suicide can one move to another dimension and begin the fight against Lucifer, the adherents from the community quickly fled.

Former members of Heaven's Gate - among the most stubborn - gathered again and discussed the state of affairs. Most agreed that the devil still won, after which he split the body of God into myriads of particles. And then - as if by order: in 2006, scientists completed the creation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which is believed to be able to reproduce these particles.

What has begun! Thousands of people across the planet believed that a giant charged particle accelerator could return the lost captain of God's starship to them. In general, the BAK is now worshiped as an idol and awaited. And the community was called “Bakists”.

During World War II, the American army settled on the islands of Oceania. Bases were built there and areas for airfields were leveled. Planes arrived at the airfields with cargo of food and equipment. Local aborigines, still living in the Stone Age, came to see this miracle. The Americans, either out of the kindness of their hearts or out of boredom, shared food and things with the natives. They liked the products more. Especially the stew. In English cargo - “cargo”. This is what the aborigines called their god.

Cargo is a religion of airplane worshipers and a cult of heavenly gifts.

The war ended, the Americans closed their bases and went home. And the natives still pray to cans of stew and wait for new delicacies to fall from the sky.

In the largest cargo cultures, adherents build exact replicas of airfields and airplanes from straw and palm leaves. Believers regularly conduct drills with branches instead of rifles and write “USA” on themselves. It’s scary to think what they would do if the Americans at least once fed them not just stew, but added it to pasta.

Whatever they say, football has long ceased to be just a sport and has turned into a religion. This can be confirmed by 60 thousand people from 60 countries. All of them are parishioners of the church of the legendary football player Diego Maradona.

Maradonaites consider Maradona a manifestation of God and best player throughout the history of football.

Each adherent changes his middle name to Diego, names his children that way, and also preaches about the miracles that the holy name of Maradona brings.

In 2005, Bobby Henderson published an open letter in which he was outraged by the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to teach the theory of intelligent design in schools instead of the theory of evolution. From this letter the world learned that Henderson was establishing the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Thus, the American parodied the entire concept of the theory of God's plan. Bobby announced that spaghetti and meatballs are the closest relatives of the Almighty Creator.

Today, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has an army of more than 7.5 million atheists.

In 1967, anthropologist Maurice Godelier discovered the mysterious Baruya tribe in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea and revealed to the world. The natives worshiped male seed - sperm: supposedly it is this that gives men both courage and strength. But women in the tribe were considered some kind of misunderstanding, suitable only for the reproduction of higher beings - men. Women can be exchanged for necessary goods and transferred from house to house.

Boys of the tribe from the age of 8 begin to consume the sperm of more mature tribesmen. It is believed that this helps them gain courage and move on to the next stage of growing up. But women who encroach on a man’s seed are driven out of the tribe in disgrace.

“Big” respects all beliefs. But he reminds that he always stands for peace, harmony and mutual respect. And one more thing - don’t forget to politely say hello to the package of pasta in the morning.

Even in ancient times, man, unable to explain natural phenomena and what was happening around him, gave it all magical properties. They worshiped animals, trees and plants, and believed in the existence of supernatural abilities of humans.

From the ancients religious beliefs Over time, three main religions were formed, but in our review are the most unusual religions and incredible objects of religious worship.

Adherents of this religious movement worship the spirits of Orishas, ​​personifying the forces of nature, existence and social activity.

The religion originated in the 16th century among black slaves during the period of active slave trade. Today there are about 2 million Candomblé supporters.

The main rituals are collective fiery dances, noisy music. Some fall into a trance, thus communicating with spirits.

The religious and philosophical movement emerged in China at the turn of the 5th-4th centuries BC, and for a long time remained the main religion of the Chinese Empire.

“The way of things,” as the teachings of Lao Tzu are also called, presupposes the existence of man in harmony with nature, and most importantly, non-resistance to what is happening.

According to Taoist beliefs, a person who has attained the last stage of wu wei gains immortality in life.

Jediism

During the US Census, some Americans wrote “Jediism” in the religious affiliation column. This movement combines both religious and non-religious schools of thought.

And in truth, Jediists can simply be mistaken for fans who worship the science-fiction epic “Star Wars”. But every religion is a kind of fanaticism. Although the Jedi have not developed any generally accepted rituals and do not have their own places of worship. That is why it is difficult for many to call this movement a religion.

The basis of Jediism is the idea of ​​George Lucas (who is the author of " Star Wars") about the existence of a dark and light principle in a person, about the constant struggle between Good and Evil.

In the early 90s of the last century, a new religious movement arose in China, which is based on traditional qigong gymnastics, but the spiritual basis combines elements of Buddhism, Confucianism interspersed with traditional Chinese beliefs.

The founder and main teacher of Falun Gong is Li Hongzhi. Over time, the belief spread beyond the borders of China and found adherents all over the world.

But in their homeland, the teaching is prohibited and its adherents are persecuted by law.

Followers of this movement intervened in the dispute about the origin of life on Earth, and believe that life on our planet was brought from space and is a grandiose scientific experiment.

The Raelites call this highly developed civilization Elohim, and only Jesus Christ and Buddha communicate with it, conveying their messages to the inhabitants of the earth.

The teaching originated in 1973 on the initiative of the Frenchman Claude Vorillon, and today has 55 thousand adherents around the world.

LaVey Satanism

Adherents of this unusual religion, which was named after its founder Anton LaVey, perceive Satan as a symbol of worldview, a symbol of freedom and self-development.

The teaching originated in the 60s of the last century, and today it has a million admirers around the world. They deny the existence of God and other spiritual forces.

One of the main principles of the current is the Law of Retribution, which suggests doing to others as they do to you.

Translated from Arabic, “Baha” is translated as “brilliance”, “splendor”, and the religion originated in the 19th century in Persia.

According to this teaching, there is a spiritual relationship between all people on the planet, and they recognize only one God. Experts note that Bahá'ís have merged previous movements, becoming a syncretic teaching.

At the end of the 20th century, the doctrine of the unity of God, the unity of humanity and the unity of religions found a response in more than 200 countries of the world.

Supporters of this religion reproduce the pre-Christian religious views of the ancient Germans. They even restored the pantheon of ancient Germanic deities, whom they worship.

It is noteworthy that among the supporters there are only representatives of the white race, for which the religious movement has more than once been accused of racism.

The pagan religion arose at the end of the twentieth century, and found reviews mainly in Western European countries.

The doctrine of the transmigration of souls and the knowledge of God within oneself was founded in 1965, and quickly found adherents in different parts of the world.

In essence, this is a kind of connection between Western religions and Eastern philosophies. Supporters hold long time in meditation, getting to know your spiritual world.

Another basis is the deciphering of dreams, since the Ekankars believe that during sleep the soul leaves the body and communicates with the supreme God.

Today Zoroastrianism has fallen into a number of unusual religions, but at the time of its founding in the 5th century BC, one of ancient religions was commonplace.

Adherents believe in a wise God as the creator of living and inanimate nature. They believe in Zarathustra as a divine prophet. This is a moral choice for everyone, which consists of good thoughts and good deeds.

Over time, Zoroastrianism in the East was supplanted by Islam, but today there are more than 2.5 million Zoroastrians in the world.

Builders of Adytum

This is a synthesis of astrology, psychology, elements of the occult and Kabbalah. The doctrine originated relatively recently in California, America.

What do the builders of Adytum believe? Firstly, that Kabbalah is the root of all religions and was the basis of Judaism and Christianity. And secondly, tolerance towards other religions, if their supporters are ready to delve deeper into mysticism and the occult.

The new religion is still small and has no more than 6 thousand adherents.

The name of this doctrine comes from the word "knowledge" and combines a mixture of Egyptian, Persian, Christian and Jewish beliefs.

The Gnostic religion recognizes the existence of one God and the dualistic structure of the world, where there is an eternal struggle between dark and light.

Its history goes back to the first millennium BC, but today there are about 60 thousand of its admirers, mainly in the countries of the Middle East.

Deity Sirius

The tribes inhabiting the African continent, due to the level social development exotic beliefs are typical. One of them is the belief that Sirius is the star on which the Deity lives.

The Dogon tribe, who believe in Sirius, worship the half-man, half-serpent Nom-mo. In their opinion, he, having once flown from Space, became the progenitor of their tribe.

An interesting fact, but the Dogon knew long before the Europeans that Sirius was a double star, carrying and transmitting this knowledge from time immemorial.

A strange and difficult to understand religion originated in the 70s of the twentieth century in America. According to it, God and Lucifer are in flying saucers and are fighting for the Earth.

You can survive in this eternal battle only by moving to another dimension, or by shortening your life by committing suicide.

It’s strange, but most admirers of the unusual teaching are IT technology specialists.

Today you can no longer find admirers of this religious movement, except for those who like to look through keyholes.

But in the 19th century, in the middle reaches of the Volga there were entire villages of hole-makers. As once in Byzantium, icons were considered sinful, and they refused to pray in front of them and honor them.

They made a hole in the wall and said a prayer while kneeling in front of this hole. It’s strange, but they didn’t have any other rituals.

Five million adherents of this movement living in India adhere to the main principle - in no case should they harm a living creature.

Naturally, they do not eat meat and never hunt. Jains walk on the earth very carefully and carefully watch that, God forbid, they do not step on the small inhabitants of the planet. They have panicles especially for this, and Jains breathe through gauze or rag bandages so as not to accidentally inhale small insects.

Perhaps one of the most exotic and strange religions existing in modern world. Adherents of “cargo” worship cargo and live on the islands of Oceania.

During World War II, relief supplies were dropped from airplanes, and people began to believe that deities flew in on large birds and helped them.

One of the revered objects is cans of stewed meat, and to make the Gods fly faster, the natives build airstrips.

In custody

As you can see, the unusual religions of the world are numerous, and the objects of worship are sometimes quite unusual objects, from philosophical teachings to airplanes or an ordinary can of stew.

It is clear that traditional world religions consider representatives of unusual religious movements to be heretics, and it is good that the times of the Inquisition are far in the past, otherwise the fires of the Inquisition would have burned throughout the earth.

In addition, in the framework of this article we did not touch upon parody religions, which are no less interesting to generally accepted religious movements. If you liked this article and want to continue, share it on social networks, leave comments and we will continue to write about interesting religious movements.

Do you know anything interesting about the religions of the world? Interesting information about the religions of the world for children and adults is collected in this article.

Interesting facts about world religions

In the Czech Republic, in the city of Sedlec, there is an interesting chapel, which is completely lined with human skulls and bones.

Judaism is a religious worldview that is inherent in the Jewish people. Judaism originated approximately 3,500 years ago in Palestine. The laws of Judaism are set out in the tenth commandments, which the Lord gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. These laws are spelled out in the Old Testament - the Bible, the main book of Christianity. The Torah is considered the sacred scripture of Judaism. Judaism is a religion that has influenced the development of other religions that have emerged over time. These include Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i faith.

Christianity is a world religion. Holy book Christians is the Bible, which includes Old Testament(which came from the Jews) and the New Testament, which includes a description of the life of Jesus and the basis of his creed.

Buddhism- one of the oldest world religions. It was founded by Sidhartha Gautama, an Indian prince.

Hinduism- this is a teaching that has its roots in ancient times and was formed in India. The religion is distinguished by a huge number of gods and goddesses. In accordance with this, Hinduism has many rituals and ceremonies.

Three ancient religions became widespread in China: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism. The founder of Taoism is Lao Tzu. Taoism preaches the doctrine of Tao. Confucianism was founded by the Chinese philosopher Confucius. He was a teacher and advisor to rulers. He preached justice and nobility, believed in family values, peace and truth.

Islam is a world religion founded in the 7th century by the Prophet Muhammad. The holy book of Muslims is the Koran.

Muslims believe that it was given to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Islam respects one god - Allah. And the word “Islam” itself means “peace and obedience to the Lord.”

One of the most exotic religions practiced in Africa in the Dogon tribes. They worship the star Sirius.

The highest bishops of the Roman Catholic Church are called primates. That is why, when Carl Linnaeus created the first classification of the animal world, it was anathema.

Instant soul salvation offered at the Norwegian Lutheran Church. In order to get rid of all sins and go to heaven, you just need twenty seconds to read a special prayer.

We hope that from this article you learned interesting information about world religions.

Recently, Jehovah's Witnesses approached me on the street and we had a very funny conversation with them about the Bible, which these sick people, as it turned out, read only in fragments. However, this did not stop them from carrying her Word to everyone around. After laughing at the incompetents, I became interested in how crazy little-known religious or semi-religious beliefs can be. It turned out that there is no limit to insanity and there are people who are ready to believe in any bullshit, no matter how mind-blowing it may be.

I should immediately note that there are really schizoid beliefs in the world, so this list is quite subjective and selected based on personal impressions. I wanted to talk about something that was both crazy and relatively unknown. Therefore, there are no Ynglings, all kinds of “whips”, Jedi, Spaghetti Monster and other things.

In addition, it may seem strange why this collection contains both fictional parody religions, such as Discordianism, and beliefs that are professed in all seriousness. Why not make different articles on different categories? In our difficult times of victorious postmodernism, religious archetypes, modern pop culture and schizophrenic insights are mixed as if in a Horadric cube. The boundaries of serious and frivolous have blurred: the Pope is trying to laugh and flirt with the public, and the followers of esoteric Yeltsinism are so carried away that they are naturally ready to punch the faces of those who do not share their faith in Ice-Haired.

Universe people

“Universe people” is a mystical teaching that combines ufology and Christianity, new age and science fiction in a grotesque form. It was founded in 1997 by a Czech “alien contactor” named Ivo A. Benda. It was they who said that other civilizations were watching the Earth and weeding out those who were ready to accept the transformations of the world. In fact, there are quite a few such pseudo-religions; remember Scientology. But the Universe People are distinguished by the unbridled schizophasia of their messages and beliefs. So, for example, they believe that the universe rests on three unique deities: space fleet commanders Ashtar Sheran and Ptaag, as well as their bosom friend Jesus Christ (obviously, also a space marine or something like that). In addition, the creator of “Universes of People” was clearly inspired by the works of the Czech science fiction writer Karl Capek, from whom he took the idea of ​​“lizards” - reptiles that are secretly preparing a revolution and takeover of the Earth.

Instead of a thousand words, look at this stream of grace:

Wave of Pan

Japan is a country of incredible opportunities in everything related to beliefs, cults and sects. There are literally tens of thousands of them here and most of them were created by local residents, and not brought in from outside. One of the most interesting groups- this is the so-called “Pan Wave Laboratory”. This movement combines the doctrines of Christianity, Buddhism and New Age. Besides the strange mixture of these ideas, its members are distinguished by their paranoid attitude towards electromagnetic waves. The society was founded by former teacher Yuko Ino and preaches that communists and devils are trying to destroy them using radiation. To prevent this, the Wave of Pan instructs its members to completely wrap themselves in white clothes, and also to cover everything around them - trees, houses and entire streets - with a white cloth.

The peak of this organization's fame was the episode involving an Arctic seal that swam into Japanese waters. This animal became known throughout the country, received the nickname “Tama-chan” and for some time turned into a national symbol of kawaiiness and cuteness. Members of the "Wave of Pan" saw him as a kind of horseman of the Apocalypse and a manifestation of hostile electromagnetic waves. They tried to catch him and send him back to the northern waters in order to restore world balance, but they did not succeed.

Discordianism

Discordianism is a parody religion that preaches the joy of merging with the primordial chaos. The symbol and at the same time the goddess of teaching is Eris, also known as Discordia, the ancient goddess of discord, confusion, vacillation, unclear motives and simply everything irrational. The main reason The reason why we should strive for chaos is the fact that order is a crappy, boring thing that is of no use. All the postulates of Discordianism are set out in the absurdist treatise Principia Discordia, which was created by certain Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst (aka Kerry Thornley) and Malaclypse the Younger (real name Gregory Hill) in 1963. Judging by what can be read in this delightfully obscure creation, it was made by very intelligent people who collected their knowledge in the field of religion and philosophy and decided to have fun from the heart.

The Patriarchs of Discordianism point out that order as such is not an achievement and good, but degradation and despondency. Behind the oppression of orderliness is a certain Gruad Serolity, a kind of reverse semblance of the Devil, who does not personify chaos, but, on the contrary, introduces boredom, cataloging, rationalization and creative castration into the world. Gruad is capable of casting a curse on respectable Discordians, making them diligent, successful, intelligent, and therefore, of course, unhappy.

HODGE-POJ, aka Sacred Chao.

The sacred symbol of Discordianism is HODJ-POJ (namely in caps), which looks like the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol, with an apple of discord and a pentagon attached to it. The saints of religion are the ideal trickster characters from its point of view: Don Quixote, Yossarian from the book Catch-22 and Bokonon from the novel Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut.

Abdulovera

“Abdulovera” is a quasi-cult phenomenon that embodies the era of memes, video blogging, image boards, pranks and other Internet humus. In a nutshell, Abdulovera is based on the idea of ​​the need to “punish” certain unwanted video bloggers who are proclaimed “sinners.” This strange, kitschy, mocking formation contains absurdist ideas that the actor Alexander Abdulov was so angry during his life that when he came to the other world, he destroyed both Heaven and Hell and God himself, replacing him with his evil essence.

The religious postulates of Abdulovera are written down from the Biboran scripture, which is a painful schizophasic delirium. In addition to cosmogony, this creation describes why unfaithful video bloggers should be punished with the sacred flame of true faith. The author of the manuscript and, incidentally, the spiritual teacher of the movement is identified as a certain mysterious Abdul, who has so far escaped de-anonymization, who, characteristically, is himself a video blogger.

This all sounds funny at first glance, but in reality it results in a sad attempt at bullying, pranking and trolling of some next Gamaz by a horde of schoolchildren who themselves are not far from him. You can recognize this kind of joker by the key phrase “Ansha Abdul”, as well as by speeches about punishment of infidels and other pseudo-esoteric nonsense.

Bazhovtsy

In 1992, a mystical movement of Bazhovites appeared in Yekaterinburg, so named because they seriously deify the fairy tales of Pavel Bazhov. The collection of Ural tales “The Malachite Box” is considered the new Gospel, and everything that is said in it is the literal truth. In addition, neo-paganism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism and the occult were combined in this strange religious movement. Bazhovites worship the mistress of the copper mountain, the conqueror of Siberia Ermak and the mystical Lenin, and also conduct rituals of telepathic communication using shamanism. As you can see, the Bazhovites managed to mix everything in the blender that replaces their brain, even a little Confucianism and worship of the Great Patriotic War, which they consider a sacred ritual of the fight against Lucifer.

Mahatma Lenin and Vedic socialism

Mahatma Lenin as imagined by Roerich. Looks straight from Shambhala.

Continuing the theme of the mystical Lenin, we can recall other freaks who believe that the leader of the world proletariat is a religious teacher and a great guru. When socialist trends reached India at the beginning of the 20th century, they not only found fertile ground, but also mixed with local Hindu beliefs. This is how Vedic socialism appeared, which combines the ideas of social justice and a planned economy with the doctrines of the Upanishads and Vedas.

Further - more and more interesting. Lenin's postulates, mixed with Hinduism, returned back to Russia to be mixed here with the ideas of Slavic neo-paganism. I won’t go into details, Vladimir Danilov and Inga Mochalova, the authors of the book “Vedic Rus' in the Past and Future (Gospel of the Aryans),” wrote everything very clearly and concisely. Just read the key phrase of the teaching: “Spiritual Vedic Socialism is a system of social and government structure described by the Lord in the Vedas." Indeed, you couldn't say it better.