Does the DC Comics pantheon count?

so… Marilyn Monroe?

I think you should define "new" better. I think it is completely unintuitive to assume that a "new" god is created without any influences and I don't think this is what you are aiming at. At what point does a god become "new" and not just a "new interpretation of x old gods"? And you should maybe specify a geographic region or cultural region as well.

@James They aren't 'worshiped by a cultural elite,' so no.

Angel Moroni emerged in the 19th century.

Darn it, I was about to post an answer about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and then I got to the very last line of the question....

@AlexP I don't believe that the Mormon church considers him a god in his own right, just as Christians and Muslims don't consider Gabriel to be a god.

Angel Moroni, just like archangel Gabriel in Christianism and Islam, is an immortal being with personal agency, that is, a god. It doesn't matter that Christian theological terminology distinguishes between God and angels and devils; supernatural immortal beings with personal agency are gods. Otherwise, one could say that in the Greek mythology only Chaos is a true god, the other divinities being directly or indirectly derived from Chaos.

Oh and PS: This might be a bit opinion-based. I am of the opinion that now is the best time for this as evidenced by Steve Jobs dying because he believed in some esoteric garbage about cancer. He's certainly the elite. Imo the step from dying for no reason to worshiping some kind of new deity, a good mix out of many religions, is relatively small. This, however, of course is just an opinion. "What is a good answer?" It is an issue of "how to sell it in a story". This is certainly answerable: "How do I create a new deity for the elite today". I'd know how I'd do it anyhow

"By a new god, I mean a god that was not borrowed or renamed from some other, older rite." - there were no new gods after animism then.

Now would be a great time for new gods to arise. Look at the alien abductee cults, the growing flat earthers, Slenderman, the number of people that believe in fairies, big foot and nessie. With the ever increasing media, and especially now with new media, you can get people who want to believe in something mysterious and bigger than themselves together as a group creating new myths and legends with every message and Youtube video.

@AlexP Zeus and Athena and Demeter all had temples and priests. Gabriel does not. A god is made by its worshipers, Terry Pratchett style; immortality and agency have nothing to do with it.

@DanClarke An argument that deity creation is in progress would be a valid answer. But remember, a deity must be worshiped; just being mystical and immortal doesn't make you a god in this context.

The church of diesel engines, It's priests Blackfingers caring for the holy angels of steel, their people, faithful servants of keeping hem running.

I am going to take this sidewasy by asking is "The free market/capitalism" a god. Certainly the "the almighty dollar" is worshipped by the cultural elite, has structures and and organized group of specially educated people to maintain the system and is part of the culture. Outside the spirit of the question but I want to point out that to get a "New God" you need a culture that will accept it and right now there is so much access to information that the need to create a new good rather than recycle and old on is limited

@kingledion , with respect is your question more the history of religion, rather than worldbuilding. If you want an actual example from an actual history you might be better off asking your question elsewhere. I do not think the current culture driving towards what we thing of a religion but that could change. I also think that answer would be several generations like was true for religions previously.

There is one "Primarily opinion based" vote, and it's not from me, but I can relate. Since the days when first pra-religion was formed, each new one took parts from older ones and improved on them. Even your own examples: Serapis is a fusion of two belief systems, Mithraism - level of continuity is debated, not the continuity itself, and Buddha is not even a god, and if it were, it wouldn't really count due to "A new god of an existing 'type' doesn't count" rule - each being, human or celestial, can be Buddha and your example is just one of them.Your examples don't meet your own criteria.

Is this a "real God," or is this a reference to a social construct which gets assumed to have superhuman status? I mean, Zeus is crotchety. He'll be born whenever he wants to be born, and there's nothing you can do about it!

Amusingly related: How Would Facebook Sysadmins Prevent the Summoning of Cthulhu

I have it on good authority that Kronos, the god of time was born tomorrow. Is that recent enough?

@CortAmmon Purposefully left ambiguous! Which you are the first person to notice, apparently, congratulations!

Scientology dates from the 1950s. Then there was that cult in Southern California a few years back, who killed themselves so they could join the gods/aliens on their comet/spaceship...

Can you have people worshiping a god that hasn't been born yet? Perhaps people will one day believe that we will create a new god in the form of an artificial super intelligence.

@Samuel An argument that there are likely to be future gods that meet the question's god criteria (never historically a real person, worshiped a cultural elite, etc) would be valid. An AI is kind of a special case of 'historically real person,' though.

Would Jedi count?

@John Religions are not gods. Who are the Jedi gods?

Yoda?, it really depends on whether it goes worship creates gods or gods create worship routes. movies should have spawned half a dozen gods by now.

Could you fleshout your exclusion of Pastafarianism? There are non-digital parts to it now too. If you really mean just not spawned on the internet that gives a pretty good last possible time.

@notstoreboughtdirt First off, we are talking gods not religions, so we are talking about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, not Pastafarianism in general. FSM does not meet the 'worshiped by a cultural elite' criteria. I particular, FSM is used as a tool of parody with an atheist bent, so nobody actually believes in him. I can't believe that you are making a good faith argument here that FSM should be considered a god by any criteria. But I will do you the respect of answering you seriously, even though you are probably trolling me.

@John A theist religion has a god, but a deist religion does not.

Mandatory reading: Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

@notstoreboughtdirt, Pastafarianism isn't the worship of a new god, but the anti-worship of a fictional creation as a symbol of modern skeptisim concerning societal decisions based on ancient religions. I very much doubt you'll find any of the upper practitioners actually claiming the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists as anything other than a symbol.

Three words: Flying Spaghetti Monster.

@Noldor130884 Four words, 'Read The Full Post.' Look at the comment directly above yours, even...

"not just a small cult" The only difference between a small cult and a religion is whether the cult grows and persists. Every religion was once a small cult.

@kingledion I did (x2), so what? :)