Good morning!

I’m back with my world-building series!

Five years ago (holy, has it been that long?), I made a post with a religion cheat sheet; a guide to help writer’s organize but also prompt ideas on their world’s religion. Since then, I have made quite a few updates to this sheet, as my own needs have changed and as my own knowledge base has increased. My original one has always been a very popular download on my blog. Thus, it seemed rather unfair to leave those, who liked the original with an old version of the sheet.

Naturally, if the old one works better for you, keep using it! I’m proud that that worksheet was so well-received that even five years later, I’m still getting people downloading it and viewing the original post!

Like I’ve always stated previously, these sheets are not meant to be filled out in their entirety, but instead to suit the needs of the world and story, you are creating. Of course, if the whole sheet proves to be necessary information, then go ahead and fill out the sheet! I’m sure the poor thing would love to be filled out entirely for once in its existence.

Here’s the sheet for you all:

As I did before, I will cover each section below, in order to give you a good grasp on how the sheet is used by me, but just like everything else I say, if you find using the sheet differently works for you, then that is the right way to use it for you. Some of these categories are the same and my notes below will match the original post.

Type:

This refers to the type of theism of the religion. The major types are monotheism, polytheism, and non-theism, but there are many others. Wikipedia’s article on Theism has a good list under General conceptions along the side.

Nature of the Divine:

Are your divine beings spirits (animist religions generally follow this route), sprites, dragons, gods, demons, angels, so on. I’ll often go into a general overview of the gods. That is, if I have gods of every little thing in the world, I’ll include that here. If I want the gods to be based off the language, I’ll include that in here. If the religion is based off ancestor worship, that goes here.

Founder:

The Founder isn’t necessarily the actual founder, but whomever the religion believes founded the religion. Think Abraham for Judaism, Mohammed for Islam, and Jesus for Christianity.

Origins:

This is a category, I don’t always use. If the religion has an origin story, such as Jesus’ tale in Christianity or Mohammed’s in Islam, I include that here. This can be more myth than history or it can be a real historical event. You can also choose to put the origin myth – that is how the world began – in this slot.

Passed Down:

This is how your religion keeps itself alive and propagates. Is there a gospel, everyone refers to; is everything word of mouth; is it divine revelations; do priests go out and tell everyone what they should know. You can even include here how consistently the messages and knowledge of the religion is passed around and passed down.

Focus:

This is why are the people worshiping the deities or following the religion. This can range from avoiding divine punishment to achieving a good afterlife. Sometimes there are many reasons a religion is being worshiped. You can either write them all down or pick the major focus.

Gods or Major Divine/God-like Figures:

This category has changed from two categories (major and minor) to much more detailed subcategories within the larger topic of worshipped figures. The next six categories are the details I thought of as most important to this topic:

List of Figures: Major gods, minor gods, spirits, angels/messengers, supernatural forces. I have listed these groups individually as many religions will have figures across these groups (though not always every group here), however, you may find you need to expand these categories, eliminate some, or alter some, depending on your needs. These, however, will give you places to start.

Relationship with Good and Evil: This is often a topic in religions: the concept of evil or an explanation of evil. Some religions will have god-figures, who are evil and others, who are good. Some will have a mix of evil and good; and sometimes the topic won’t be broached at all. This is the category, where you can, if it is broached, explain how the gods relate to goodness, ethics, and evil. This category may to fit your needs, require altering, such as relationship with fate, for example, if your the major figures of your religion have a major relationship outside of the concept of good and evil

Limits of the Gods/god-like figures: Are your figures all powerful? Can they make mistakes? Are there things they can’t do? Won’t do? How much do they control the world and what happens in it?

How do they interact with the world: This category may only be useful to you if the gods are real; however, this can be used even if they aren’t by answering this question in terms of the myths about them (ie. greek gods challenging mortals to competitions; greek gods aren’t real [hopefully, given Zeus’ reputation], but all the same, we know how the greeks viewed their interactions].

Hierarchy: This may not be useful if you only have one figure, but think of this question, with these two examples: Greek gods had a king, then the Olympians, and then some other major gods, and then minor gods and in the corner above everything but separate were the fates [very loose explanation of their hierarchy, that’s not strictly accurate but gets the point across]. On the other side, in monotheistic Christianity, you have the Holy Trinity, then the seraphim, cherubim, then the middle orders, then the lower orders that include the archangels and the regular angels (was anyone else surprised to know the archangels are actually lower order angels?). The greek order is more loosey goosey than the Christain one, so a hierarchy in your world might be the same.

Important Relationships between figures: This is for example: Angels are the messengers of the Christain god; the devil and God are opposing figures; Loki messes with absolutely everyone. Hades married Persephone, causing the Spring, Summer/Fall, Winter dichotomy and also Persephone’s mother now hates him, ect. This category may cross over a bit with the later category of major myths.

Major Beliefs:

This is another grouping of topics and it is a big one. Like, on the original sheet, you’re likely to have a lot of beliefs for this religion. These categories are for the big beliefs, such as divine right to rule or the cast system, or the concept of sins. Things that majorly influence the religion and the worshippers.

General Beliefs: Large concepts that don’t fit as well among other categories or are the core of the religion (such as sin in Christanity or enlightenment in Buddhism)

Ethics and Morals: Once again, major concepts, such as the ten commandments (sorry for a lot of Christianity examples over other religions; it’s the examples that come to mind first). I like putting values, virtues, sins (for lack of a better word: frowned upon values/vices/ect), and tenets here, but things like Victorian-style etiquette, if religious in nature can also belong here. (I generally put this one down below under customs, but if it’s a moral obligation then it should be listed here)

What happens to those who break the ethics and morals: Are they excommunicated, imprisoned, stoned to death, guided back to the correct path, ect.

Explanation for Good and Evil: This can tie into the earlier category regarding the major figures relationship to it, such as evil spirits influencing people or possessing them, or it can be personal failings. Most religions have an explanation for this, but its not a requirement.

What happens to evil people, if anything: Again, not something every religion talks about, but one most do. Are they punished for being evil? Are they purified upon death? Ect.

How strictly must a worshipper follow the practices and ethics/morals: This one feels fairly self-explanatory, but the basic thought here is: if someone breaks a practice are they punished, are they viewed as bad or are the practices/ethics/morals more of guidelines you should do, but don’t necessarily have to.

Views of Non-believers/other species

Views on the Supernatural

Views on Magic

Superstitions: Step on crack and break you mama’s back; walk under a ladder; find a penny head side up. Ect.

Taboos: Things you really, really should not do.

Myths and Legends

I’ve listed a few common ones, but this will, should you need myths and legends, require expanding as my list is definitely not complete. My list is: Origins of the world; origins of man; afterlife beliefs; miracles of importance

The Sacred

Again, I’ve listed a few common general ideas here, but you may need additional or different categories. My categories are: Colors, emblems/symbols, locations, saints/people, holy days.

Practices:

This is a large group category now, which I have broken down into the below 5 categories.

Place of Worship:

No this category wasn’t removed, only moved, as its original placement was rather silly. I generally use this as where the religious ceremonies take place: temples, churches, gardens, everywhere, family shrines.

How is worship done?

This is a category change from the originals: prayers. Worshipping is far more than prayers and this was a category that was originally far too narrow for usage. I have relisted my original posts prayers category below as it’s a common type of worship, but this category includes far more than prayers, such as sacrifices, offerings, who they chose to worship, religious naming, ect. Rituals has been broken down later, but arguably could have been put here too.

Prayers: Not every religion is going to have prayers. You may build a religion that has exactly one prayer. You may have a religion, where what you say doesn’t matter, just as long as you do pray. You may have a religion that has thousands of prayers. This is the category where you make a decision on if you’ll have prayer and how it will work. I’ve put this in a separate category, instead of under practices, since often prayer needs more information than you might put under practices. You can also use this category to write out one or more prayers you want to feature in your stories.

Customs:

Things like don’t eat red meat on sunday. This category can also be used for things like: how do people greet each other and other forms of etiquette.

Ceremonies and Religious events:

This includes large events like lent, Ramadan, or other practices, some with set (for lack of a better word) rules around worshipping, others may be more like large parties or celebrations. This also will include recurring events, like sunday church.

Rituals:

I have broken this category down again, into common ones: Birth Rituals, Adulthood Rituals, Marriage Rituals, Death Rituals. I generally use this category for life milestones, but it can be used for more than that, depending on your needs.

Clergy:

Again, this topic is now a group heading which has now been broken down into the following 4 subcategories.

Titles and Roles: Who are the clergy? Are they called priests and priestess or something else? Male only? Female only? Are they the only interpreters of the holy text? Are they the people who write or rewrite religious texts? This is where you give a basic run down of who the clergy are and the basics of what they do in the religion.

Hierarchy:

This is your clergy’s hierarchy. Are there high priests above everyone else? Is there a pope? How is your religion organized?

Lifestyle of the Clergy:

How do the clergy live? Do they live humbly and modestly or in opulent castles? Are they restricted from certain acts or required to do certain things? Do they live differently in different parts of the world? For example does a priest living in the city live a different life than a priest living in a rural town? Maybe priests only live in cities. These are the details that should be ironed out here.

Impact of Philosophers and Theologians

Think Socrates here or Martin Luther.

Real World Impacts

This is an entirely new category (which should have really been on the original). I have grouped common topics that may be impacted by a religion in the below 9 categories.

Relationship between Religion and Magic

Relationship between Religion and Science/Technology

Major Historical Events/Impacts

Percentage of Believers Worldwide

Is there an extremist movement/extreme views and what is the impact on the world?

How dominate is this religion in everyday life

Relationship with other religions?

Impact on public and private life.

Differences between Sects

This is its own separate topic, which I have not broken down as the differences could be minor or major and you may need to make an entire new religion sheet for a sect if the differences are too significant. Thus, this category should really be used for sect differences that are fairly minor, but in general the overall religion is virtually the same.

And that’s it! This sheet is very detailed now and should be used as prompts to think on things. It’s three pages and that number of topics is very much likely to be too much information, so pick and choose the categories you need and ignore the rest. Jump around the sheet too! Building a god might make you realize a really good value for the religion. Don’t feel constrained by a linear path through this sheet. It’s prompts, not a rule book.

Have fun building and I hope the updated sheet is just as helpful as the original!