Fastest Spread of a Religion?

What's the fastest a religion could plausibly grow in a 19th to early 20th century style of world? My goal is to make it the dominant religion (though probably only a plurality) of a USA like nation that goes through some difficult times. How quick could this happen and what would cause it to grow more quickly?
 
What's the fastest a religion could plausibly grow in a 19th to early 20th century style of world? My goal is to make it the dominant religion (though probably only a plurality) of a USA like nation that goes through some difficult times. How quick could this happen and what would cause it to grow more quickly?

It depends. If the religion isn't too different from the current one I'd look at something like the Second Great Awakening that swept through America and involved millions of people. If the religion is radically different than the current one I think Mormonism would be a better example. Either way the answer is pretty fast, especially if they keep up momentum and don't face a lot of persecution.
 
It depends. If the religion isn't too different from the current one I'd look at something like the Second Great Awakening that swept through America and involved millions of people. If the religion is radically different than the current one I think Mormonism would be a better example. Either way the answer is pretty fast, especially if they keep up momentum and don't face a lot of persecution.

I was thinking semi-akin to Mormonism.
 
You probably need something that is very close to traditional Christianity, closer than Mormonism is. Close enough that converting t it, isn't a major change in doctrine for most people. Maybe something like Pentecostalism or maybe Jehova's Witnesses.
 
What's the fastest a religion could plausibly grow in a 19th to early 20th century style of world? My goal is to make it the dominant religion (though probably only a plurality) of a USA like nation that goes through some difficult times. How quick could this happen and what would cause it to grow more quickly?

If the religious folks are highly persecuted, it might strengthen their resolve but prevent large scale conversion. If on the other hand within society converting from one persecuted religion to another similar but tolerated religion, it might lead to it being popular. A good example would be a state church that broke off from the main and persecute loyalists. As long as theology and practices remain largely the same save for the state (in whichever form) being in control instead of the original authorities, many might see this as a minor point.

Another, less nefarious means, would be a positive image of the religion. If society at large has problem with gender/class/race discrimination but everyone within the church is considered, as an article of faith, to be equal, you would gain converts from the excluded class but also from the well meaning privilege one. with enough members, and maintaining its image, joining could be seen as a good move politically or socially.

One thing as mentioned though is how different the original religion of the convert is to the new one. Turning an orthodox jew into an hindu would probably be a lot more difficult then just one flavour of Judaism to another.
 
For a fast mass conversion you need at least one of three conditions:

1) Compulsion to convert
2) Massive financial benefits, especially tax benefits, offered to convert
3) Perceived inadequacy of previous religion

You're not going to get 1 or 2 in a country that has a separation of church and state, and in fact neither 1 or 2 will usually be effective on their own. The compulsion has to be severe for 1 to be the only catalyst: even in the Soviet Union where being religious ensured you weren't going to get a good education or hold a good job, the church was never completely abandoned. 2 works for those who are not especially devout, or who find their old faith not devout enough for them. 3 is more reliable.
 
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The easiest thing might be a religion that breaks with recent precedents in not being exclusive, so its backwards compatible.

Maybe Americanism could be more formally a religion than it is, in which case it might fit the bill.
 
The easiest thing might be a religion that breaks with recent precedents in not being exclusive, so its backwards compatible.

Maybe Americanism could be more formally a religion than it is, in which case it might fit the bill.

imagine if you mixed manifest destiny with the idea of the whole of the Americas being the promise land.
 

katchen

Banned
How about Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism? From very small beginnings in postwar Japan, the Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai became huge all over the world.
 

SunDeep

Banned
For a fast mass conversion you need at least one of three conditions:

1) Compulsion to convert
2) Massive financial benefits, especially tax benefits, offered to convert
3) Perceived inadequacy of previous religion

You're not going to get 1 or 2 in a country that has a separation of church and state, and in fact neither 1 or 2 will usually be effective on their own. The compulsion has to be severe for 1 to be the only catalyst: even in the Soviet Union where being religious ensured you weren't going to get a good education or hold a good job, the church was never completely abandoned. 2 works for those who are not especially devout, or who find their old faith not devout enough for them. 3 is more reliable.

Agree with numbers 1) and 3)- especially given that many nations were more than happy to unleash genocide in order to compel non-believers to convert- but for 2), it's pretty hard to find any examples to back this up IOTL, in the time period we're talking about. Instead, this should probably be substituted for the broader criterion, benefits to converts' quality of life.
 

SunDeep

Banned
Just a suggestion, and one of the only examples I can think of which would be in keeping with Beedok's goal without being unashamedly ASB (although it would be a bit of a challenge to bring it about without a teensy bit of ASB assistance), would be Sikhism- which actually already comes pretty close to meeting a few of these parameters IOTL. At the dawn of the 19th century, the establishment of a unified Sikh identity, that of the Khalsa, by the last living leader of the Sikh faith, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, had barely taken place a century earlier, so it can certainly be counted as a new religion; and after Guru Gobind Singh's assassination, the Sikhs only managed to survive the Mughals' prolonged campaign of dedicated genocide by taking refuge in difficult terrain and conducting guerilla warfare, only brought to an end by Nadir Shah's Sack of Delhi in 1739. Ranjit Singh's efforts to unify the Misls (commonwealth states) of the Sikh Confederacy were already well under way, with the unification of the Empire under his rule due to take place in 1801.

At this time, most reliable sources estimate that only around 5% of the Khalsa Raj's population was Sikh. Now, IOTL, the Khalsa Raj only endured for around fifty years before being dissolved by the British, but this was long enough for the Sikhs' share of their Empire's religious demographic to skyrocket from 5% to 17%, overtaking the size of the Hindu community under their authority in this short period of time. In an ATL where the Sikh Empire endures in some shape or form (and we can more or less guarantee it'll go through some difficult times along the way, even if it manages to pull off a successful Meiji), taking into account the egalitarian policies of the religion, and the social services offered freely at all Sikh places of worship, such as the Langar community kitchens, it'd be more than feasible to imagine the Sikhs claiming a plurality within their OTL borders before the 19th century draws to a close, and becoming the majority some time in the early 20th century. As for those beyond the extent of the Sikh Empire reached IOTL, who knows? You could easily have a 'Manifest Destiny' scenario unfolding on the Indian sub-continent- Let the Singh's roar be heard, from the Persian Gulf to the Bay of Bengal... ;)
 
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