In Kurt Vonnegut 's Cat 's Cradle, Vonnegut creates his own religion to satirize all other religions. His imaginary religion, Bokononism, is based on foma, also known as harmless untruths, or lies. Those that believe in Bokononism think that successful societies can only be created by having a clear and even balance between good and evil. They also do not believe that there is such a thing as complete evil. The religion costs the people who believe in it not only their sanity, but their lives.
Vonnegut uses The Books of Bokonon as religious writings to satirize other religious scriptures. The Books of Bokonon are the religious texts of Bokononism. They were written by two men who washed up on the poverty-stricken island of San Lorenzo. The native islanders longed for riches and joy, so they allowed the men rule over their island. But of course the power gets to them, and one becomes a tyrant. The islanders begin to consider a rebellion. One of the men creates the religion of Bokonon to calm the people down. To help the religion become popular, they ban the religion to make it more interesting to people. The idea works and the religion spreads to nearly every person in San Lorenzo. The people of San Lorenzo take back their rebellion and are at peace. The reason the Books of Bokonon satirically mock other religious texts is because other religions have some form of holy text. What were the reasons forthese other religious scriptures being written? The Books of Bokonon were