Humanity & Religion: Do We Standardize The Unwhitelisted?

[Guest]

Scientology is literally a brainwashing cult founded by a mediocre science fiction writer so he could scam rich people out of money.

Also, while Christianity, Catholicism and Judaism may survive and adapt, I highly doubt Islam would, especially since half of them are actively trying to kill the other half.

No one takes Scientology seriously anyway, but they can be a brainwashed cult that somehow remained a tiny brainwashed xenophilic/xenophobic cult that has a violent agenda. You never know.

As for Islam, it is approximately 400 years behind christianity in terms of religious reform. Mass scale translation of the latin Bible, and subsequent plebification of it, coincided with the invention printing press in ~1500. Same thing happened with Qur'an but only in late 1800s, me thinks. So, since it took around that long for Christians to learn to tolerate each other, then we can vaguely assume that it would take another 200 for most of islamic world to fully liberalize. It dying out is unlikely, however, unless you want the lore team to put a kebab mass extinction event to counter their birth rates.

[Guest]

I think we need to start agreeing on what would be a decent Standardized religion for humanity rather than going off on tangents in regards to whether there is a punchline to a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Sunni and a Shii'te walking into a bar.

And I think it should be added: Secular societies are bad. I don't mind if the government entities themselves are free of religious establishment influence, but we cannot seriously all be atheist.

[Lucychan42]

I don't think anyone's currently bringing up that everyone has to be atheist. This entire discussion is going in circles with people bringing up points and ignoring other ones. It's an interesting discussion but now it's just become echos of "there's no way everyone will be united" and "we can't have no religion that's crazy". That's been well established.

I'm not sure what will get this argument back on track, but a good place to start is bringing up points that aren't repeats of previous statements that few disagree with. Or at least adding on to the points with a new perspective. I still believe in my own ideal of a new or more progressive religion spouting up that ties in with a previous point of Christianity opening up that aliens are also of God's handiwork. If a religion can appeal to two races minimum, it's going to be a fairly concrete religion due to transracial coverage likely sparking even greater interest.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Guest

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Well this thread went where expected but it's not even that bad. Yes, I and the lore team are aware that there are irreconcilable differences between the faiths. I'm not going to assume the hubris of mending schisms that actual hard working individuals have tried to mend since antiquity.

If I have a/some major churches form, their whole point would be to replace the abrahamic and non-abrahamic religions. The orthodox, catholics, jews, muslims, buddhists, hindus, honkians, would all be encroached on by this Church, leading to their followers to seek religious freedom among the stars even when followed by missionaries. I mean, I try to have any faction I create be a shitter in some ways even if it's an arguable Good Guy.

Any major global church of Terra would, in my mind, best be served offering a new message than that of the old ways. Something to give everyone in the 2100's a reason to join and feel deep personal convictions that this is the right thing to do.

What sort of global church would we want to overtake humanity? What does the future bring in our aurora universe that would appeal to a broad majority of mankind? What sort of beliefs, rites, and rituals would make it appeal to characters on the Aurora and make it an enjoyable part of a round with an active chaplain and adherents?

[Mofo1995]

I have one suggestion.

Jokes aside, sounds to me like you would prefer we devise a new upstart religion, which could be painfully hard to do given the exceptional requirements needed to make this religion dominant over established older faiths. It would have to offer blackjack and hookers to gain this kind of traction, nothing short of a miracle man performing miracles in front of a camera and claiming the be a religious prophet.

Nonetheless, this would take some serious brainstorming to try and draw up a new faith that meets these requirements in a believable manner.

[Guest]

I'm against any sort of global church, or any new big dog religions. At best, you can stuff most of Christianity, or Abrahamic religions under a single council that works out the canon between themselves, keeping their respective rules and customs separate. It would be extremely hard to remove centuries of tradition and dogma under no pretense at all other than "let's be friends again". Just look at the current christian system. Most large churches are pretty nice to each other, staying out of others ways and flocks. To implement Islam into that system of tolerance it needs serious reforms.

[Guest]

To implement Islam into that system of tolerance it needs serious reforms.

 

no one said it had to include islam

[Rusty Shackleford]

I still maintain that with technology that allows for FTL travel and terraforming of hostile worlds, that you'd essentially be tearing he mask off nature to stare at the face of God, as it were. Couple that with alien civilizations coming into contact (whoch would likely be the biggest factor no matter what), and you have a lot of people experiencing crises of faith all at once, and a lot of people would essentially lose their religion.

Thinking about it, I doubt everyone would be atheist, but the grand majority would be, either that or they'd be agnostic. Christianity seems to lend itself best to reform in the face of alien first contact, Catholicism less so, but still somewhat reformable. Call me Western-centric or whatever, but I don't think Sharia Law lends itself well to space travel and planetary colonization.

Aside from all that, a good alternative would be a Unitology-type religion, a la Dead Space. Maybe Bluespace worship, that our wacky Nar'Sie cults spring off from.

[Conservatron]

i just don't see how, in the future, a new church becomes dominant among humanity

people are getting less religious, not more. And many practicing followers do so because it is their cultural heritage. Very few are joining for societal benefits (really, only scientology)

I just can't imagine a unity church. If anything, Sol would officially be secular and would allow its members to practice any faith they wanted.

[CampinKiller]

i just don't see how, in the future, a new church becomes dominant among humanity

people are getting less religious, not more. And many practicing followers do so because it is their cultural heritage. Very few are joining for societal benefits (really, only scientology)

I just can't imagine a unity church. If anything, Sol would officially be secular and would allow its members to practice any faith they wanted.

 

To be fair, there could also end up being another Great Awakening.

[Guest]

Aside from all that, a good alternative would be a Unitology-type religion, a la Dead Space. Maybe Bluespace worship, that our wacky Nar'Sie cults spring off from.

That's not a bad idea, although, something that gloomy and substantial can hardly be fitted into the current narrative. Besides as you mentioned, we already have the cult of Nar'sie.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The Guardian Church from Consortium is a good argument of mine as something that can develop very quickly.

Early on in our explorations of this dimension, we came to realize that the Guardian Church is a faction of great power and influence. In a very short frame of time, they have grown to be far more dominant than any other religion on Earth, with close to three billion followers worldwide – and counting..

The Guardian Church, on the other hand, had grown exponentially since we last saw them in 2028. Sitting at close to 4 billion followers, the Church and their rhetoric had become as common-place as talk of sports or movies. They had become a staple of modern society, a sign of things present and still to come.

http://corporate.interdimensionalgames.com/consortium/backstory/

Something like that. I don't know what it would worship as divine - maybe something vague and space-y to give humanity another push into going into the greater galaxy.

 

Thinking about it, I doubt everyone would be atheist, but the grand majority would be, either that or they'd be agnostic.

 

That's the kind of presumptuous talk that I wanted to avoid making policy. Faith doesn't just go away in the majority of people because you're having a difficult life, and Christianity (along with lots of other religions) have survived worse crisis' than discovering that aliens exist.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Maybe make the majority of humans more speciesist, which sparked an era of spess manifest destiny. Get rid of all this peace and love and understanding for the plight of the poor aliens crap. Huehuehue.

[rrrrrr]

Faith does not go away for the vast majority of people going through hard times. It is strengthened by times of hardship, if anything.

[Vittorio Giurifiglio]

As an evolution of Christianity I was thinking of a Christian Xenophobic offshoot that believe Humans are the chosen people of God, and quote Genesis' quote giving Humans stewardship over all the beasts of Land, sea and air

[Mofo1995]

As an evolution of Christianity I was thinking of a Christian Xenophobic offshoot that believe Humans are the chosen people of God, and quote Genesis' quote giving Humans stewardship over all the beasts of Land, sea and air

This is what I was referring to earlier. It would be a clear progression of Orthodoxy, at the very least, since apparently Catholicism has a backup plan for xenos to let them in.

[Vittorio Giurifiglio]

As an evolution of Christianity I was thinking of a Christian Xenophobic offshoot that believe Humans are the chosen people of God, and quote Genesis' quote giving Humans stewardship over all the beasts of Land, sea and air

This is what I was referring to earlier. It would be a clear progression of Orthodoxy, at the very least, since apparently Catholicism has a backup plan for xenos to let them in.

Not so much let them in, More for their existence

[Guest]

Faith does not go away for the vast majority of people going through hard times. It is strengthened by times of hardship, if anything.

Maybe make the majority of humans more speciesist, which sparked an era of spess manifest destiny. Get rid of all this peace and love and understanding for the plight of the poor aliens crap. Huehuehue.

Except the times aren't that hard.

Except they are not speciest.

The change in the perspective of majority needs to follow up on the Aurora. There is enough dissonance between the lore and Aurora as it is. Unless players really, really, want to commit to turning their characters into snowflakes, then changing them to fit the majority, I am against any further major changes in the lore, other than the narrative-tied ones.