Religion Generator
Enter a number from 1 to 10 and get that many real religions, denominations or movements drawn at random from a list of about 145.More Country, City & Place Generators
The Religion Generator picks real religions at random. Enter a number from 1 to 10, press the button, and you get that many names on cards, drawn from a list of about 145 faiths, denominations, sects and religious movements: the major world religions, their main branches, medieval heresies, Japanese Buddhist schools, Afro-Caribbean traditions, new religious movements and a few parody religions.
It does not invent fictional religions. If you searched for a fantasy religion generator, what this page gives you is a real-world starting point: a tradition to read about and borrow structure from, rather than a made-up name like "The Celestial Pantheon." For a lot of worldbuilders that turns out to be more useful, because real religions come with history, schisms and practices you can adapt.
How it works
The list is shuffled and the first 1 to 10 entries are shown, so you never get the same religion twice in one draw. There are no filters by region, era or family (Abrahamic, Dharmic and so on). The cards show the name only; there is no description, founding date or adherent count.
What's in the list
We cleaned the list in 2026. It had drifted to include Japanese martial arts (Aikido, Kyudo, Bushido), Greek philosophical schools (Stoicism, Epicureanism) and a state ideology (Juche), plus a dozen entries that were the same religion under two spellings. Those are gone, and Ch'an is now written Chan Buddhism. What remains breaks down roughly like this:
| Group | Examples in the list |
|---|---|
| Major world religions and their branches | Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Jainism; Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Ibadi Islam, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Protestantism, Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Smartism |
| Protestant denominations and Anabaptist groups | Lutheranism, Calvinism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Baptists, Presbyterianism, Pentecostalism, Adventism, Quakerism, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonitism, Bruderhof, Moravian Church, Plymouth Brethren |
| Medieval and early modern Christian movements | Waldensians, Lollardy, Hussitism, Taborites, Beguines and Beghards, Fraticelli, Dulcinians, Adamites, Brethren of the Free Spirit, Polish Brethren |
| East Asian traditions | Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Neoconfucianism, Zen Buddhism, Chan Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Jodo Shinshu, Nichiren, Tendai, Shingon, Shugendo, Soka Gakkai, Won Buddhism, Cheondoism, Caodaism, Hoa Hao |
| Middle Eastern and Iranian religions | Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Mandaeism, Yazidism, Druze, Alawites, Alevism, Yarsanism, Bábism, Bahá'í Faith, Zurvanism, Mazdakism, Khurramism |
| Ancient, indigenous and diaspora religions | Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Norse religion, Tengrism, Animism, Vodou, Santería, Candomblé, Umbanda, Rastafari, Druidry, Asatru, Wicca |
| New religious movements and esoteric orders | Scientology, Raelism, Eckankar, Unification Church, Falun Gong, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Thelema, Ordo Templi Orientis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Church of Satan, Temple of Set, Pastafarianism |
Ways people use it
- Worldbuilding by analogy. Draw three religions and give your fictional culture the structure of one, the aesthetics of another and the schism history of the third. Pair it with the Random Ethnicity Generator and Random Country Generator to sketch a whole people.
- Comparative religion study. Students can draw a tradition a week to research. Most of the medieval entries are obscure enough that the reading is genuinely new.
- Character backgrounds. A detective raised Mennonite reads differently from one raised in Soka Gakkai. Random draws break the habit of defaulting to the faiths you already know.
- Quiz writing. Generate ten and ask which century, country or parent religion each belongs to.
Religions, denominations and movements
The list deliberately mixes levels. Christianity and Calvinism both appear, even though one contains the other, because both are things a person might identify with. The same goes for Buddhism and Jodo Shinshu, or Islam and Ahmadiyya. A few entries are contested: Falun Gong, Scientology and Rastafari are counted as religions by some scholars and governments and as movements by others, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a parody with legal recognition in a handful of countries. They are included because they turn up in real discussions about religion, not as an endorsement of any classification.
For places to set all this, the Random City Generator, Random Town Generator and Random Capital City Generator supply the geography, and all country, city & place generators lists the rest.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it make up fictional religions?
No. Every entry is a real religion, denomination, sect or religious movement, past or present. Use the results as models for a fictional faith rather than as finished names.
- How many religions are in the list?
About 145 after the 2026 cleanup, which removed martial arts, philosophical schools and duplicate spellings that had crept in.
- Can I get only Christian denominations or only Eastern religions?
No. There are no filters. Generate ten at a time and pick the ones that fit.
- Does it explain what each religion believes?
No. The cards show names only. The obscure ones (Mazdakism, Dulcinians, Yarsanism) are worth looking up; that is part of the point.
- Why are Christianity and Calvinism both in the list?
Because the list mixes whole religions with their branches and movements. Both are things people identify with, so both can be drawn.