While the majority of furries do not consider themselves to be religious (blue bars above), the fandom is far more diverse with regard to spiritual beliefs; furries are as likely to be spiritual as they are to be non-spiritual (orange bars above). When asked about their religious beliefs, nearly one-third of furries identified as either atheist or agnostic (see figure below). About 25% of furries are Christian, though many indicated that they did not regularly practice their faith or attend church. 11% identified as pagan, shaman, or Wiccan. Finally, the most populated category, “other,” comprised of participants who had their own belief systems, were undecided, refused to answer, or had uncommon belief systems. Taken together, the data suggest that the furry fandom contains a diversity of religious and spiritual beliefs, and it’s worth noting that despite this, religion is seldom a point of conflict for furries.1
When compared to members of other fandoms (see figure below), furries are comparably religious.2
humans are in essance furries because of evolution – not religion
Humans are “in essence” Furries because we love animals, and anthropomorphic animals at that, and want to make our own versions of them to express and love ourselves, and each other, and if it where because of evolution then why are canines, dragons, and reptiles etc the most popular/loved; well because they are cool and cute, versions of ourselves and the animals we love. Not evolution.
as a christian furry i want all to know that my christianity comes first and i regularly attend church and practice my faith, for any other christian furries out there i encourage you to do the same! thanks!
Dear Kylethefox,
Do you pray inside your fursuit?
-a curious cub
you dont need to have a fursuit to be a furry Furries are individuals who are especially interested in anthropomorphic or cartoon animals. They often identities of themselves as those anthropomorphic animals.
I am christian as well thank you for the encouragement i am doing as best i can hope to see you in heaven! *hug*
Is it ok that I like anthropomorphic animals as characters…I am very strong in my faith but I love drawing animals and I feel convicted!
Amen brother!
I agree
Wohoo! Same here 🙂
I’m Wiccan but I’m glad to see how diverse the furry fandom is with religion and spirituality. 🙂
Christian furry here :3
Seriously though, Christ should be top priority in any Christian fur’s life. (And any Christian’s life obviously) and remember, Christ commands us to love all people, no matter what. But love does not mean supporting sin. And guess what? Even Christians are sinners. All of them. That’s why we need a Savior.
I have my own problems, I must admit.
That’s great to hear! I too am a furry and a Christian, and I do concur with your points. I do wish there were more Christians who were furries though.
Yeah I am a Christian Furry too, and I became one because I asked God to only want what I will get, and to be where I am happy, and the next day I became a Furry.
And I wish more Christians were accepting of furries and actually took the time to understand what we really do.
I am a devout Anglican in worship and Reformed and Confessional in beliefs, I am also a furry since 2006.
I think the number of those who disagree, who are most likely are in the Millennial and younger demographic, that reflect a gowning trend of religiously unaffiliated, the Nones. The data seems to me reflect how trends in our society are brought into the fandom.
I’m a polytheistic furry,its good to see that there is just 11% of pagans in the fandom
Hey there, Muslim and a fan of anthropomorphic animals here!
Assalam o alaykum!
I’m a Jewish fan of anthros! Shalom Aleichem! I chose a spotted hyaena as my fursona, because people have a very stigmatised view on them, and as a Jewish person I sympathise with these animals, contrary to popular belief, lions are actually more “evil” than hyaenas, they’ve been known to steal kills from hyenas and wild dogs, and aren’t actually that smart compared to hyaenas, hyaenas are actually quite smart, almost as smart as primates, Smithsonian proved this a few years ago. Hyaenas were also once believed to be hermaphrodites, but since the 1900s, science has proved otherwise, this is because the females have very high testosterone, causing their anatomy to be quite confusing.
Oh, that’s an interesting choice, and an interesting reason behind it!
I didn’t know that lions were like that, especially in comparison to hyenas.
If I may ask, does being a furry affect or influence being Jewish, or vice versa?
Your response to my greeting was nice, thanks for that!
When I mentioned I was a furry in Jewish groups on facebook, people got really upset because they believe all the misinformation from antifurries. One of them even called me perverted when all I did was upload a normal picture, it wasn’t even yiff. The moderators actually stepped in to defend me.
Hats of to the Mods on that site! Yes, misinformation is rampant, but we’ve made a dent, and we continue to be the source of evidence-based scientific information about the furry fandom. A great starting point for your friends and/or family, etc., who have a good-faith misunderstanding of the furry fandom is Dr Roberts’ article in The Conversation “What are ‘furries?’ Debunking myths about kids identifying as animals, and litter boxes in schools” or the PolitiFact article which similarly debunks more politically motivated false narratives.
Alêḵem shālôm!
I’m a buddhist furry
My fursona is a White Toe Tarantula
Honestly, irl I have no idea what to believe when it comes to religion. But I’m more in the “spiritual but not religious” camp than the agnostic one. There could be something and someone could have gotten it right. I just don’t know who or what it is. As for my OC/fursona, he recognizes the pagan religion of his race and swears by its gods and the underworld in a vulgar/blasphemous way, but doesn’t engage in active worship. Has anybody else come up with religions for your worldbuilding? Does that count?
Would be interesting to see how many furrys were hurt by religion in their sexual orientation or even in their hobby. I for example had difficulties accepting to be a furry because of my catholic roots even though I already identified as agnostic.
Religious affiliation of Furries:
26.2% Other what does that mean!? Come on you would think they would show who that was? Hindu, Eastern philosophy, New Age whatever?!
The basic answer to your question is probably “yes” to all of your examples. The broader question, generally, but also with respect to this case, specifically, “Other” is a category inviting participants to “fill-in-the-blank.” As we’ve discovered from years of studying the wonderfully creative furries in the fandom, if you ask thousands of furries to do a survey, and you leave a category blank to accept any answer offered, you get some pretty creative responses, from silly to serious with everything in between, but not with enough frequency to justify their own category.
What’s interesting about the data is that the “Other” category is the largest category of religious affiliation (as compared to the genral population)…from the longer write-up:
Thanks for your question, and I hope that helps 🙂