Name: Zuism.

Appearance: A big Z on a map of Iceland.

Age: Well, it’s either the oldest religion in the world or the newest, depending on how you look at it.

How should I look at it? Like a giant tax-avoidance scheme.

Boo! No, wait, hear me out. In Iceland, everyone is required to register their religion with the state. They must also pay an annual levy to support the religion they belong to – even if they don’t belong to one.

Hang on. Is that fair? Of course not. That’s why Zuism has taken off. It was registered as an official (though tiny) religion in Iceland in 2013, and has been taken over by new converts promising to refund all its members’ god taxes (minus other taxes and admin costs). About 1% of the population of Iceland – 3,100 people – have converted to Zuism in the past fortnight.

Wow! Do they, you know, believe stuff? Of course! They believe in the ancient religion of Sumer, a civilisation that flourished in the south of what is now Iraq from about 5000BC until 2000BC. Sumerian cuneiform is considered to have been the most important early writing system.

Do Zuists have a god then? They have loads. The four main ones are An, Ki, Enlil and Enki, the gods of heaven, earth, sky and water respectively. There are also many sub-gods. “We believe that the universe is controlled by a group of living beings who have human form but are immortal and live the supernatural forces,” says the Zuists’ website, when badly translated.

Are there Zuist rituals? Not ancient ones, no, but they have held a service with a reading of ancient Sumerian poetry. They also say they plan to build a ziggurat or temple.

Seriously? No. The new leadership have invited designs on Facebook, specifying “a large auditorium and smaller worship and sacrifice rooms ... large ornamental lion park ... alligator moat ... dragon”. Basically, they just want the tax and the religious register abolished, then they say they will disband.

How can they call it a real religion if people hardly do anything and only half-heartedly believe? Sounds just like a real religion to me.

Do say: “How can a government get away with forcibly collecting money from everyone in order to spend it on promoting other people’s religion?”

Don’t say: “Erm ... faith schools?”