Most religions are pretty serious business. When you’re discussing the big questions, there’s not much room for jokes. But one religion, the Church of the Reformed Druid, got its start as a joke. Back...

Most religions are pretty serious business. When you’re discussing the big questions, there’s not much room for jokes. But one religion, the Church of the Reformed Druid, got its start as a joke. Back in 1963, at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, all students were required to attend Lutheran religious services—unless they belonged to another church. Isaac Bonewitz and his friends didn’t belong to any church, so they invented one, the Church of the Reformed Druid, with the most bizarre beliefs and rituals that they could think of, and held regular, crazy meetings. It worked— the requirement to attend religious services was repealed.

Then something remarkable happened. Members didn’t want to disband. They had found spiritual meaning in the invented beliefs and practices. The church still exists today (Adler, 1997).