Editing Religion in Futurama (section)

== Fictional religions ==

=== Robotology ===
The episode "[[Hell Is Other Robots]]" centers around [[Bender (Futurama)|Bender]]'s becoming addicted to high-voltage electricity, then discovering the religion of '''Robotology''' to help him break the habit. Sermons are conducted at the Temple of Robotology by the [[Reverend Lionel Preacherbot|Reverend Preacherbot]], a character whose mannerisms draw heavily on [[black church]] preacher stereotypes.<ref name="gospel02" />  ''Robotology'' is a play on the name [[Scientology]],<ref name="gospel01">{{cite book |last=Pinsky |first=Mark |title=The Gospel According to the Simpsons |year=2001 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=0-664-22419-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt00mark/page/158 158–159] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt00mark/page/158 }}</ref> and series creator [[Matt Groening]] has said that he received a call from the Church of Scientology concerned about the use of a similar name.<ref>{{cite video| people=Groening, Matt|year=2003|title=Futurama season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Hell Is Other Robots"| medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox |quote=I did get a call from a Scientologist who had somehow gotten hold of the script.}}</ref>

[[File:Resistor symbol America.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|The symbol of Robotology is based on the [[electronic symbol]] for a [[resistor]] used in electrical [[circuit diagram]]s.<ref name="cohen01">{{cite video| people=Cohen, David X. |year=2003|title=Futurama season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Hell Is Other Robots"| medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox |quote=Their symbol is a resistor, also, for anyone who knows electronics.}} which is shown here.</ref>]]
Robotology has a [[holy text]], ''The Good Book 3.0'' which is stored on a 3.5" [[floppy disk]]. Two symbols of the religion are shown in the episode.  The first is a zig-zag line with a circle at either end, based on the [[electronic symbol]] used for [[resistor]]s on [[circuit diagram]]s.<ref name="cohen01" /> <!-- So… what’s the other symbol? -->

Robots who accept Robotology are expected to abstain from behavior such as [[Tobacco smoking|smoking]], [[pornography]], [[theft|stealing]], abusing electricity, and drinking [[Alcoholic beverage|alcohol]]. Consuming alcohol is usually necessary to power a robot's fuel cells, but this episode establishes that [[mineral oil]] is an acceptable substitute.  Sinners are punished by condemnation to '''Robot Hell''', located under an abandoned amusement park in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey]].  The punishments in Robot Hell are similar to the levels and rationale portrayed in [[Dante Alighieri|Dante's]] ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', specifically the [[Inferno (Dante)|''Inferno'']].<ref name="gospel02" />

Robot Hell is controlled by the [[Robot Devil]]. He is bound by the Fairness in Hell Act of 2275, allowing anyone to win their freedom by defeating him in a [[fiddle]] contest with a solid gold fiddle, a reference to the song "[[The Devil Went Down to Georgia]]".<ref name="gospel02" /> Should the individual lose the fiddle contest, they will only receive a smaller, silver fiddle and the Robot Devil may kill them at his discretion.

In "[[Ghost in the Machines]]", Bender's ghost is sent to an equivalent robot Heaven monitored by a Robot God whose streamlined design is reminiscent of EVE in the [[Pixar]] animated film ''[[WALL-E]]''. This God appears to be distinct from the more ambiguous, universal 'God' character that appeared in "[[Godfellas]]" and "[[Bender's Big Score]]", who may or may not have been representative of the Gods of all religions, and/or a machine. Notably, the Robot God does not deny being God and treats Bender's ghost as his subject.

=== Robot Judaism ===
The episode "[[Future Stock]]" introduces Robot Judaism in a scene where [[Philip J. Fry|Fry]] and [[Dr. Zoidberg]], seeking free food, sneak into a "Bot Mitzvah" celebration (a spoof of the [[Bar and Bat Mitzvah]]).  As a joke about [[Kashrut|Jewish dietary laws]]' proscriptions against shellfish, Zoidberg was not allowed in (despite having Jewish stereotype qualities), as he was an anthropomorphic lobster.  At the Bot Mitzvah, Fry asks a Jewish robot if they don't believe in Robot Jesus, to which the robot replies, "We believe he was built, and that he was a very well-programmed robot, but he wasn't our Messiah".  A banner written in [[Hebrew]] reads "Today you are a robot" (with two misspellings),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040823143014/http://dvdverdict.com/reviews/futuramavol3.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 August 2004 |title=Futurama: Volume Three |author=Ryan, David |access-date=28 October 2007 }}</ref> referencing the traditional Jewish belief that a boy becomes a man at age 13, which is celebrated on his Bar Mitzvah. In the episode "[[The Bots and the Bees]]" Bender's son, Ben, has a Bot Mitzvah celebration of his own where he becomes a man after being born only a few days prior. This scene reinforces the quick rate at which robots mature in the ''Futurama'' world as well as alludes to the practice of robot circumcision.

References to a holiday called 'Robanukah' appear in several episodes, as well, though it is heavily implied that Bender makes up this holiday to avoid work. In the ''Futurama Holiday Spectacular'', the Robanukah story involves a pair of fembots who must wrestle in petroleum oil for six and a half weeks. When the oil, which was predicted to last only four and a half weeks, lasts for 500 million years, Bender declares it a Robanukah miracle.

=== The First Amalgamated Church ===
[[Image:Futurama - First Amalgamated Church.jpg|thumb|right|The logo of the First Amalgamated Church, featuring the symbols of the contemporary religions [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], [[Islam]], and [[Buddhism]].]]
The First Amalgamated Church is a [[syncretism|syncretic]] denomination of several mainstream religions extant in the 21st century, and is referenced in several episodes. The church and one of its priests, [[Father Changstein el-Gamal]], are introduced in the episode "[[Godfellas]]". Father Changstein el-Gamal reappears in "[[The Sting (Futurama)|The Sting]]" at Fry's funeral service, and in ''[[Bender's Big Score]]'' at Lars and Leela's wedding.  The religion appears to be a mix of [[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Judaism]], [[Hinduism]], [[Islam]] and even [[agnosticism]].

===Other religions===
Other religions are depicted or mentioned in passing in other episodes. In the episode "[[Hell Is Other Robots]]", [[Hubert J. Farnsworth|Professor Farnsworth]] complains about Bender's devotion to Robotology, saying, "If only he had joined a mainstream religion, like [[Oprah Winfrey|Oprahism]] or [[Louisiana Voodoo|Voodoo]]".

In the season 2 episode "[[I Second That Emotion (Futurama)|I Second That Emotion]]", Fry, Leela, and Bender are shown around the sewer mutants' village. Fry notices a large gold-plated [[ICBM]] on the altar of the cathedral and exclaims "Wow! You guys worship an unexploded nuclear bomb?" to which one of the mutants responds "Yeah, but nobody is that observant. It's mostly a Christmas and Easter thing." The altar and the bomb are a reference to the film ''[[Beneath the Planet of the Apes]]'',  in which the subterranean mutants worship a nuclear bomb.

The season 4 episode "[[Where No Fan Has Gone Before]]", presents the situation of a television show becoming elevated to the status of a religion in the form of the "Church of Trek", where devotees of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' worship the characters and attend services dressed as officers and aliens from the show (in 23rd or 24th century).

In the second ''Futurama'' direct-to-video film, ''[[The Beast with a Billion Backs]]'', Fry becomes the pope of a new religion which worships the interdimensional planet-sized tentacle monster named Yivo (pronouns: shkle/shkler/shklim), who brainwashed the inhabitants of Earth by attaching shkler<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theinfosphere.org/Yivo|title=Yivo - The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki|website=theinfosphere.org|access-date=2018-12-16}}</ref> tentacles to their brains, before taking them onto shklim, which resembled [[heaven]].

In the third film ''[[Bender's Game]]'', Professor Farnsworth invokes the name of "the all-powerful Atheismo".

In the season 7 episode "[[Free Will Hunting]]", when Bender walks throughout Chapek 9 looking to discover his never-programmed free-will unit, he happens upon a religious monastery led by a monk named Ab-bot; the abbot takes him in and converts him into his religion called "Order of the Binary Singularity" believing in the promise "Creatrix" or Mom will give them free-will units.