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In my secondary world, one of the main religions is a vague medieval Christianity. Of course, there are differences made for it to fit in with the lore, as well as a few other major religions. After trying to write it down, and thinking about life on other planets and world's, it got me thinking about the forming of religions. In history, there are many coincidental similarities from separate cultures, like the pyramids of the Aztecs and Egyptians.

Theoretically, how likely is it for a religion in a different world, or planet for scifi, created by a otherwordly or alien society, to be almost exact or coicindetaly very similar to a religion here? Notes to add:

  • There are similar biomes
  • Geography is similar
  • The planet has the same qualifications as Earth
  • The environments follows the 7 rules for a planet to maintain life.
  • Aside from fictional monsters and entities, the rest of the wildlife is normal.
  • While deities do exist, they do not control or exactly create the universe, as some of the religious lore is either exagerrated or misinterpreted
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  • $\begingroup$ It can be as likely or as unlikely as you want it to be. Remember that you get to decide how things develop on your worlds. If you want for comedic reasons for every planet to develop the exact same religion then that's how it will be. If you feel that there's some fundamental religiosity that will lead to similar religions on distant planets then that's how it will be in your world. If you feel that religions aren't fundamental for societal development then you could have worlds that don't have any religion. It's all up to you. $\endgroup$
    – sphennings
    Jun 4 at 1:25
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    $\begingroup$ If gods are real in your world then I would say it is very likely. $\endgroup$
    – SoronelHaetir
    Jun 4 at 1:26
  • $\begingroup$ It rather depends on what purpose the religion serves, how it originated, with what social pressures - what need it serves. Even with significantly more background info on your world and it's creatures, there's nothing to suggest this could come out as other than opinion-based. $\endgroup$
    – Jiminy Cricket.
    Jun 4 at 1:26
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    $\begingroup$ Your edit won't do.. Christianity is not the problem. You're talking religious convictions. Any answer is perceived as ok when it finds roots in the religion (any religion) of the reader. There are religions that claim to be valid in the whole universe and there are religions that don't put that claim, and there are readers without any religion. There is no best answer to this question. vtkc $\endgroup$
    – Goodies
    Jun 6 at 13:11
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    $\begingroup$ If it helps, pyramidal structures are prevalent because if you want to build a massive / tall building, for whatever reason, the pyramid is the easiest to make the tallest monolithic structure. So, physics being one of the things your two worlds would have in common. $\endgroup$
    – Gillgamesh
    Jun 6 at 14:30

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Look at it from the other side: to be recognized as a religion in the eyes of the explorers, it has to be similar in some way. Those similarities will recall that it might be a religion.

For example bowing in front of an elevated structure might look like a devotion/submission act. But scratching one's belly in front of a mat full of dirt would hardly recall any religious meaning.

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