Most bizarre religion? (No offense intended)?

Question

What religion would you vote most "bizarre" (meaning their beliefs, traditions, ceremonies, holidays, whatever). The most off-beat and quirky religion wins! (As long as it's real and verifiable--I will do a search!) Don't bore me with too many details, but make sure to include at least two reasons why it should be considered the strangest. =) Thanks!

Answer 1

Humm real ones?
The Jainist are real weird, they ware masks to not breath in and possibly kill little living things, they use little brooms to move things out of thier way.
I think they are also possesed of the cutest(like kitten)followers I have ever seen.
Wierd.... but neat too.
I could think of more...but off to bed.

Answer 2

I would have to vote for Christianity. If someone who had never heard of the Christian religion were to ask how to know God, he would hear things like, "You've got to be slain in the spirit of the Lord", and, "You've got to be washed in the blood of the lamb", and that God killed his son as a sacrifice to us. If he walked into a Catholic church, he would see a greatly suffering man nailed to a cross. He would see people "eating the body" of Christ, and "drinking the blood" of Christ. If he read the history of Christianity, he would learn about the crusades and the Inquisition. He would see that Christians call the day that Christ was crucified "Good Friday", and celebrate his resurrection with fertility symbols, candy, and eating slaughtered animals. If he looked at the Christian "holy" book, he would find that it is filled with contradictions, outright plagiarism, and in some cases fabrication. The philosophy, he would be told, is that the Christian God created man imperfect, demanded perfection, allowed the murder of the only perfect man, and pardoned everyone else because of it. Then he would hear that he gets a free ride to heaven if he just believes every single word of it.

Answer 3

Mormonism is pretty bizarre. (1) Their founder claimed to have found ancient golden plates in a cave with hieroglyphic writing. An angel appeared and gave him spectacles that made the writing understandable to him . . . (2) The founder and subsequent leaders claim to have infallible visions from God. At least one of these was reversed by a later vision. (3) They are required to wear special underwear. I don't know the religious significance. (4) They believe that there is a repository of unborn souls, and the living are obligated to bring these to life by bearing children. (5) They believe that only Mormons can go to heaven and that people who lived before the advent of Mormonism are waiting in limbo. Currently living Mormons can be baptised in the name of their ancestors and thereby get them out of limbo and into heaven. Accordingly, for Mormons the study of their genealogy is very important.

If you research it, you will probably find more weirdness.

Answer 4

The No Name Church: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Conventions I worked with a woman who belonged to this religion and they were very secretive about their beliefs. She was a "worker" in the religion, meaning if you heard the gospel from her that you could be saved. (Doesn't happen through any other source including the scriptures.) She had the right to help other members make decisions in their lives. She once told me that religion was a contract of man because no cermony was given in the scriptures, so it was ok for two people to live together. Yet, women don't wear dresses, make-up, cut their hair, etc. It was a true cult.

Answer 5

I would vote for holiness Pentacostals. Practices such as handling poisonous snakes, drinking strychnine and arsenic, believing that the King James bible, written in 1611, is the only true and literal word of God, speaking in tounges as an unknown mystical language, faith healing and strict dress codes in my opinion have to put these people at the cutting edge of weird.

Answer 6

To all those with a closed mind in the main stream of society Thelemic Rituals and beliefs would seem highly bizzarre the entire doctrine of Thelema is written and hidden in complex symbollogy to scare away those ignorant people among us , the practices incorporate aspects of alchemy , occult philosophy , kabbalah , Enochian magick , and tantric sexual magick as well as divination , ecvocations and mediatations

Answer 7

Claiming reality starts and stops according to the beliefs of a particular people, such as the christians attempting to impose linear time upon a cyclical universe, is relatively absurd; as is the practice of slaughtering or oppressing people who don't buy into your mythology. Indeed, the christians get my vote.

Answer 8

I believe that the Faithists with their Ohaspe (Sp?) Bible which shows above the margin what is going on in heaven and below the margin the repercussions on earth is very bizarre.

Answer 9

Christianity.

1) Christians equate their God with 'love', goodness, and morality, despite the fact that the Bible states that he created evil, drowned, sickened, and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people and repeatedly commands his followers to kidnap, torture, enslave, rape, abort, and kill people.
2) Christians praise their God for requiring a virgin sacrifice (and purposefully sending his own kid to be beaten and executed) so to save them from a place that HE created, so to appease HIMSELF.
3) Christians do that creepy symbolic vampire/cannibal "drink my blood, eat my body, " thing.
4) Christmas (plus decorating evergreens, singing, feasting, gathering with family, sharing good will, and gift-giving) was originally a PAGAN holiday. 'Jesus' could not have been born in December. The Bible forbids "Christmas trees".
5) Easter was originally a Pagan celebration of the Vernal Equinox, honoring Eostre, the goddess of dawn and fertility.

Answer 10

I have some family members In this cult called the Nation of Yahweh. They are not allowed to have any form of birth control. They can't perm,press or curl their hair, they can't even wear bangs. They can't paint their nails or wear make up. The men aren't allowed to shave or cut their hair. The man in the group teaches that he is God and he created the universe. Which is crazy because he was put in jail for 7 years. If you're God then why can't you get yourself out of jail? He was charged for killing people who disagreed with his beliefs.