The world’s newest religion: Astronism
If you were asked what the newest religion in the world is, what would you say in response? Scientology perhaps? Maybe Mormonism, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses? Whatever response you give, you’ll likely not be correct because there was a religion, still relatively unheard of, that was founded just ten years ago in 2013 in the city of Preston in Lancashire, England. The name of this newest religion is Astronism.
What constitutes being a new religion?
In attempting to understand what the newest religion is, it may be important to mention that what constitutes a religion can make this question sometimes difficult to answer. For example, some people would suggest that a movement only becomes a religion if it is able to survive after the death of its founder. Others may say that a movement only becomes a religion after a certain number of years, after it has acquired a certain number of members, or after it has received a certain degree of recognition from state and society.
There is an ongoing debate among religious scholarship as to what the starting period should be for when religions can be classified ‘new religious movements’ and what is meant by the word ‘new’ in this phrase. Some scholars have the Second World War as the defining point between religion and new religion while others go back much further, to 1830 with the founding of the Latter Day Saint movement. The point of the matter is to distinguish religions, denominations or whole belief systems of more recent origin than those with vast histories stretching back thousands of years (e.g. Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism etc.).
Whatever the case, having been founded in 2013, Astronism certainly is the newest formally established religion of the world. The fact of the matter is that new religions are being founded all the time. There has to be some criteria, though, for how which religions are to be given recognition as fully founded and which may be less serious. A religion must present a distinct and coherent belief system (a system of concepts and beliefs regarding theology, philosophy, cosmology, soteriology and eschatology). The sophistication of a religion’s system of beliefs is the essential criteria for me.
The number of members of a religion, the length of time it has existed, the identity of its founder, the place of its founding; all of these characteristics forget the content and substance of a religion itself, namely what beliefs and practices does that religion profess. This should be the primary factor of scholarly consideration. Is the belief system on which a religion has been founded fit together coherently? The depth to which the founder has gone to form their belief system will demonstrate their dedication and thus, the likelihood of the belief system seeing longevity and growth as a religion.
I am the founder of Astronism. I am Cometan. It is my view that all movements begin as belief systems — systems of ideas and concepts. These systems, if they are coherent, organised correctly, and worthwhile, transform into either a religion or philosophy when they begin to resonate with people as part of a marketplace of beliefs. The task of the religious founder is to ensure their religion has substance enough to withstand this tough marketplace where other religions and philosophies, new and old, indifferent and hostile, are ready and willing to rip apart the system you have codified.
Astronism is going to be 10 years old on 1st July 2013 and over the last decade, I have spent a considerable amount of my youth formulating the basic philosophical foundations of Astronism’s belief system. These formulations have sprouted, particularly in the last couple of years, a vibrant soteriology and eschatology that set out a definitive series of aims and ideals for the religion along with galvanising a purpose for Astronism’s followers called Astronists. This time spent formulating Astronism into the complex and sophisticated system of beliefs and concepts it has become justifies my proclamation that “Astronism is the world’s newest religion”, in the sense that it is the world’s newest, serious religion. The considerable time spent creating Astronism without profit or prestige, but in fact debt and disparagement is a reflection of my genuine dedication to the art of philosophising and my authentic wish to found a religion whose existence will extend far into the future, beyond my own mortal life. There is a glaring hope deep within myself that Astronism, in some way, in some time and in some place, will make a difference to humankind. Perhaps it is this, the potential for a belief system to make an impact on humanity, that justifies tracing its transformation into a true religion.
Finally, another incredibly important part of seriously founding a belief system and making it worthy of recognition as a fully formed religion or philosophy is to establish a distinct identity for the community of followers of your beliefs. This involves the creation of a distinct terminology, of which Astronism has a vast selection of coined terms (see The Institutional Dictionary of Astronism, published March 2021). For myself, this process involving understanding who an Astronist is, what values they hold dearly, and how they might act and react to situations in the world. Indeed, part of this formation of a distinct religious identity often involves the emulation of the personal characteristics and behaviour of the religious founder or another leading figure of the religion. By extension, this formation of a distinct identity also creates a culture surrounding the belief system which further aims to establish identity, distinguishing all the time your beliefs, your community, your practices from those of other groups. This may, on the surface, seem divisive but it is absolutely necessary in the formation of identity. We form identity both in what values with share with others and in what values and behaviours and beliefs we hold distinct to ourselves.
Defining the newest religion Astronism
The first principle of Astronism is that all The Cosmos and everything in it is limited. This intrinsic limitedness is considered among Astronists to be the source of all evil, suffering, and death, but is a condition from which humanity, as a sapient species endowed with the conferment of scope, could escape. The Astronist religion therefore tasks itself with guiding the human species along the path where from it can escape the miseries of limited existence. Due to the cosmocentric worldview of the religion, outer space (often more reverentially referred to as the astronomical world among Astronists) is regarded the medium through which this process of escaping limitation must necessarily take place. The process referred to here is transcension, the end result of which is believed to be the salvation of the species, a species that has saved itself from inevitable extinction in the cosmic reality.
Transcension is therefore the central endeavour of the Astronist religion and it is by our connection to the astronomical world as individual human beings and the collective humanity that we will elevate our limited state here on Earth into a gradually less limited and more scopic (potentialised) condition. This process of transcension is not just a process to take place in the mortal life for in some dimensions of Astronism, there is a belief that transcension effectuates the states of the deceased as well. Astronist philosophy and theory attempts to understand every aspect of the transcensional endeavour and interprets all history through the paradigm of transcension, giving transcension all-importance in matters of faith, morals, values, ideals and ethics. Even God is believed to be acting in effort of progressing the transcension of species which is the basic belief of the Astronist theology. All in all, the Astronist religion is one of hope, independence and escape. Astronists have hope that humanity will see the benefits of transcension and will soar to the stars in search of salvation. Astronists have the security in knowing that human beings have all the tools we need already instilled by God within us to complete the transcensional process. And finally, Astronists implore that limitation and its consequences are not something humanity can change and that God would ever change for us, but that our best chance at understanding how and why we exist is to follow the transcension path and escape limitations bounding our bodies and minds.
In essence, Astronism calls for a sort of social, cultural and religious transformation, a transition from limited state to less limited state until the species fully rids itself of its limitations both physically and metaphysically. Astronism places all its hopes and desires on the process of transcension to lead the transition and transformation of the human species and sees the astronomical world as the intermediary between limited species such as our own and infinite, divinity itself and so it is by proximating ourselves to and immersing ourselves into the astronomical world that we will locate the opportunities to escape limitation through a process of gradually “unlimiting” ourselves both individually and collectively. The social transformation of which Astronism speaks is both total and intrinsic meaning it pervades all aspects of the human person and our lives as well as drills down to the very core components of who we are as individuals. Ultimately, Astronism challenges humanity to the wager that if we are to remain earthbound and ignore the opportunity of transcension, then firstly how long will we survive on this planet and secondly, how then will we uncover, once and for all, the mysteries of our existence.
More recently, the Major Astronist Mechanism 4, the latest of the Major Astronist Mechanism diagrams, was created by Cometan and published by the Astronist Institution. It traces the journey of human beings individually and collectively along the path of transcension in this mortal life, in the post-corporeal existence among the stars, and on the condition of transcension’s completion, the release of all the species into unlimited existence at the Ultimation, then finally having escaped the cosmic problem of limitation.
Please check out the Major Astronist Mechanism 4 as an image below. Please note, to zoom into the mechanism for a close look, you will need to click the link here to see the PDF version of the mechanism — https://www.astronism.com/_files/ugd/86ca95_32db45023dba4c90b83262588a2b8b8f.pdf?index=true
Cometan runs a series called A Conversation with Cometan on YouTube and other video platforms in which he discusses Astronism with fellow philosophers as well as gives lectures on various aspects of the Astronist religion. In the latest season of the show, Season 3, Cometan dedicated an episode to exploring the differences between his religion Astronism and the 19th century philosophy of Russian origin called cosmism.
To learn even more about Astronism, visit the following official websites:
