{"id":106307,"date":"2022-11-15T23:20:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T05:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/stranger-things-stranger-religions\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T14:56:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T14:56:14","slug":"stranger-things-stranger-religions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/stranger-things-stranger-religions\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranger Things \u2014 Stranger Religions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-110275 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Star_Wars_Celebration_IV_-_Jedi_training_the_padawans_4878279721-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people in Star Wars costumes at a Jedi training academy.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Star_Wars_Celebration_IV_-_Jedi_training_the_padawans_4878279721-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Star_Wars_Celebration_IV_-_Jedi_training_the_padawans_4878279721-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Star_Wars_Celebration_IV_-_Jedi_training_the_padawans_4878279721.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Have you ever heard of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spaghettimonster.org\/\">Pastafarianism<\/a>? No, not Rastafarianism, the Jamaican religion that considers Ethiopia\u2019s former Emperor Haile Selassie the Messiah. I\u2019m talking about Pastafariansim. Also known as the \u201cChurch of the Flying Spaghetti Monster,\u201d it is legally recognized as a religion in New Zealand, Poland, and the Netherlands. What about the Church of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuow.org\/stories\/the-northwest-s-official-star-wars-church\">Jediism<\/a>? Founded in 2008, it has followers in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.templeofthejediorder.org\/\">temple in Texas<\/a>. Even Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s husband, Prince Philip (1921-2021), had a group of followers on the Vanuatuan island of Tanna. By all accounts, followers of the Prince Philip Movement (PPM) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-56713953\">believed Prince Philip was god and deeply mourned his passing<\/a>. There are probably a lot of religions, religious groups, and religious movements you\u2019ve never heard of. From a sociological perspective, all religions have certain features in common. Those commonalities will be the focus of our attention for the next few minutes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-110277 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-300x228.jpg\" alt=\"Two Qurans stacked atop each other.\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-1024x777.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-768x583.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-1536x1166.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/Qurans-2048x1554.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Christianity. Islam. Hinduism. Judaism. These are the big names in religion. <a href=\"https:\/\/worldpopulationreview.com\/country-rankings\/religion-by-country\">Even though their numbers of adherents vary tremendously<\/a>, they all have a level of name recognition around the world. While religions vary in their beliefs, they all divide their world into the realms of the <strong>sacred<\/strong>, <em>things set apart and requiring special religious treatment,<\/em> and the <strong>profane<\/strong>, <em>ordinary and familiar realm of everyday existence<\/em>. For example, the Bible, Koran, Vedas, and Torah are all sacred texts. As such, they are treated with the utmost respect by followers of their respective religions. In that same vein, followers of Jediism might find the Star Wars trilogy sacred and only handle the books with care. By comparison, a recipe book from a used bookstore can be handled in any way and, thus, is considered profane.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-110278 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"A judge's gavel.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/11\/pexels-ekaterina-bolovtsova-6077326-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Religions are typically categorized as either <strong>monotheistic<\/strong> because of their <em>belief or worship of a single god<\/em>\u00a0or <strong>polytheistic<\/strong> because of their<em> belief or worship of more than one god<\/em>. Sociologists who study religions don\u2019t just look at the gods that are worshiped. They also consider <strong>religiosity<\/strong>, <em>the beliefs and behaviors associated with transcendent or spiritual concerns<\/em>. Additionally, they may investigate how religion influences the secular world, as in the case of Islamic law or <strong>sharia<\/strong>, <em>the revealed word of God based on the Qur\u2019an serving as the body of Islamic law<\/em>. Regardless of religion, there are always some followers who practice <strong>fundamentalism<\/strong>, <em>a strict adherence to conservative religious ideology<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The interesting thing about religion isn\u2019t just in the beliefs or the ideas of what is sacred vs. profane. The interesting part is its role in creating <strong>social cohesion<\/strong>, <em>bonds between members that maintain stability in society<\/em>. These bonds create a sense of belonging. They offer a guiding philosophy for life. They give strength in the face of the unknown and unanswerable. They give followers a safe harbor to address their personal troubles or conspire about public issues. Whether you believe in a particular religion or see it as just silly, think like a sociologist and look beyond the obvious differences. Train your intellectual eyes to look for the how, what, when, and why that draw people to the religion in the first place.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>Thompson is a co-owner of\u00a0<\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/uitac.com\/\"><span class=\"s2\"><b><i>UITAC Publishing<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a><b><i>. UITAC\u2019s mission is to provide high-quality, affordable, and socially responsible online course materials.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"1 3 []\">Images used in this blog:<\/p>\n<ol class=\"ak-ol\" start=\"1\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Star_Wars_Celebration_IV_-_Jedi_training_the_padawans_(4878279721).jpg\">Star Wars Celebration IV &#8211; Jedi training the padawans<\/a>&#8221; by <a class=\"external text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/26728047@N05\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Conmunity &#8211; Pop Culture Geek<\/a> is licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/deed.en\">CC By 2.0<\/a>. This image has not been altered.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Qur%27ans.jpg\">Qur&#8217;ans<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/User:Knopik-som\">Dmitry Makeev<\/a> is licensed under <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/deed.en\">CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.\u00a0This image has not been altered.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/brown-wooden-gavel-on-brown-wooden-table-6077326\/\">Brown Wooden Gavel on Brown Wooden Table<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/@ekaterina-bolovtsova\/\">KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA<\/a> is licensed on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/license\/\">Pexels<\/a>. This image has not been altered.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever heard of Pastafarianism? No, not Rastafarianism, the Jamaican religion that considers Ethiopia\u2019s former Emperor Haile Selassie the Messiah. I\u2019m talking about Pastafariansim. Also known as the \u201cChurch of the Flying Spaghetti Monster,\u201d it is legally recognized as a religion in New Zealand, Poland, and the Netherlands. What about the Church of Jediism? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":110277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion-and-spiritual-beliefs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stranger Things \u2014 Stranger Religions - In The NEWS Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn more about unique religious movements like Pastafarianism and Jediism and explore the sociological aspects of belief.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uitac.com\/inthenewsblog\/stranger-things-stranger-religions\/\" 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