Humanity Religion Feedback Proposal 1 - The Movement of Ideolism

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello! This friday, 4/15/2458, we will be holding a full community vote to see what our collective preference is for humanity and what, if any, religion/movement will be it's "vanilla". I decided to let loremins submit their ideas to lore questions to get feedback from the community before we present our final versions up to vote! And that way we're involved before the vote actually happens and it's not just dropped on everyone by surprise.

I challenged the lore team to describe any religion they make without going over 5 paragraphs in the formal pitch, for multiple reasons, including the fact I don't want anyone to write 6 pages of OC for something that might be chucked out if it loses the nomination.

 

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The Ideolist / Idealist Movement

Humanity suffered many hardships during the 2020's. Global tension and the depletion of resources had created an unstable world order in which the very fate of mankind seemed to perch on a cliffs edge. At any moment, it seemed like the world would collapse into conflict, violence, or regress into the stone age as ruthlessly exploited resources began to slowly run out and the oil runs dry. With this grim reality bombarding pop culture and the media, the civilizations of the world began to embrace the great pessimism that was creeping its way through society. Humanity, it seemed, was not a force for good.

In 203X, Honolulu University Professor Kamalani Makaio published several articles collectively called "The Idealist Arguments". In them, Professor Makaio, a native Hawaiian, argued against the rise of cynicism over humanity's nature and role, and argued that there is hope for humanity and that it needs to regain its fight to reach the 'ideal'. Professor Maikaio's papers laid the foundation for the rise of the Idealist Movement, which originally remained an underground counter-culture that grew slowly amongst youths and humanitarians until 205X, when the discovery of the first habitable planet in the Trimurti system was announced by NASA, made possible by advances in detection technology. The news caused an explosion of optimism across the world - even in the face of everything going wrong, there was hope that outer space wasn't as universally hostile and barren as we thought!

Ideolism grew immensely during the 2060's. It is a result of and a cause of the growing exploration and development of space programs, with Ideolist philosophers and activists helping forge the climate in which the United Nations would rebrand itself the Sol Alliance and claim the common flag of humanity in 2140. The "Idealist Movement" was actually a term placed on the philosophy and its followers - a term they adopted in 206X after years of the media criticizing them as being "high minded idealists". In the 2100's, when warp travel was discovered and mass-colonization of the growing list of potential colonies began, it was the Idealists who were the most eager in taking up the call. More than a counter-culture, Idealism became the bedrock of humanity's expansion into interstellar space. The other religions and philosophies of the world, however, began to chafe under the Idealist Movement, and themselves began to seek out other worlds to escape this growing faith...

Ideologically, the Ideolist Movement's core tenant is that utopia is possible and that humanity is an ideal, in the abstract. The greatest state of humanity is in which it is progressively better than it was before in every way possible. Aggressive self-improvement is necessary to ensure we are reaching our ideal. On the individual level, this means dedicating yourself to the health and improvement of your self, your community, and your species. Idealists tend to be industrialists, supporting the growth of mega-corporations, but have the ideals of ecologists, in that they feel the natural world is something to strive to protect, but should be exploited if it's for the Greater Good, which is used to justify otherwise immoral behavior. If you have good intentions and it's going to improve humanity, it can be part of the Greater Good. The end goal of an ideolist world would be a post-scarcity society in which every human being has reached their potential, and the state of the environment is a secondary concern below the ultimate goal of bringing society to utopia. But something to keep in mind is that even if humanity reaches utopia, Ideolists will never be satisfied, and would continue to find ways to make things better.

The Idealist Movement also rejects the dogmas of other religions and philosophies. Idealists argue that the tenants of organized churches create arbitrary barriers to greatness, and that embracing a utopian after-life allows humans to neglect the possible utopia in the mortal life, which is a gross irresponsibility. Even athiests can be viewed as holding back humanity if they reject the mystical "utopian" view of humanity. This is one of the criticisms of the Idealist Movement - it argues fiercely for secularism and the separation of Church from daily and political life, but itself manipulates policy makers and politicians! With Idealism having become the primary philosophy of most of the core worlds, many Pre-Idealist faiths like Christianity and Islam find their practitioners looked down upon, seen at best as old-fashioned and at worst as ignorants holding humanity back. The dominance of Idealists in the Sol Alliance government has also allowed capitalism to run nearly unchecked, allowing the dominance of mega-corporations. It also views the alien races as either tools to advance humanity or curiosities to be studied and worked with, but only given enough ground to not threaten the continued march towards the Ideal.

 

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And that's my pitch! The one you may see in the vote friday, in a spoiler, alongside the other options. And now the questions I have that I feel most concerned about with this movement as I wrote it:

 

1) Is it possible to strive towards and boast about humanity reaching the "Ideal" without obvious overtones of "Übermensch"? Is the movement's ideology being the betterment of all humans without care of creed enough to let that be overlooked?

2) How would all of this translate to player enagement, which is the most important question? How do you think characters that may possibly follow this faith (usually Sol Alliance citizens) act on a round to round basis? What possibilities do you see?

3) As I do with every faction I make, do the drawbacks balance with the benefits? This is a very humanitarian faith - every single human has the potential to reach perfection, and the human species is capable of reaching utopia. But the strive for The Greater Good has lead to the rise of things like ATLAS, poor treatment of xeno races, and the dominance of mega-corporations - 'Nanotrasen is powerful, but its profits and benefits are for the Greater Good.' Is this a reasonable movement to have explained many good and bad aspects of our Aurora universe?

4) Would any of your characters follow this, why or why not? Do you find it hard to find ways to engage with?

WARNING. IDEOLISM HAS GENERALLY ENTERED SOL ALLIANCE HUMAN CULTURE AND PURE IDEOLOGISTS ARE NOT TOO COMMON IN TAU CETI. This is to explain why barely anyone on the station can follow it - tau ceti is a bastion of other religions/lack thereof. And if they did become the majority that could be run with IC as a change in demographics.

REMEMBER: LITERALLY NOTHING ABOUT THIS DISPUTES/PROVES THE EXISTENCE OF GOD/GODS.

PLEASE NOTE NONE OF THIS IS CANON AND MAY NOT BE IF IT LOSES THE VOTE FRIDAY

[ChevalierMalFet]

Is the Ideolist/Idealist switch throughout relevant?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Is the Ideolist/Idealist switch throughout relevant?

 

It's interchangable. In formal fancy terms the movement is called the Ideologist Movement, and if you follow it you are an Ideolist. But it's common nomenclature to just say the Idealist Movement and Idealists following it. Tt's explained as embracing the name "Idealists" when it was criticized as being too idealist when it was in its infancy.

I also couldn't decide on the name.

[Nikov]

If Mars was an early hotbed of Puritan / Pilgrim refugees from the gilded jackboot of Idealist state-sponsored philosophy, yes. I find a humanist world-religion of utopian striving for a communist utopia very goininnawoods-worthy. I recall when my cousin read Brave New World and saw a reference to "Baptist snipers in Tennessee", then said, "Yep!".

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

If Mars was an early hotbed of Puritan / Pilgrim refugees from the gilded jackboot of Idealist state-sponsored philosophy, yes. I find a humanist world-religion of utopian striving for a communist utopia very goininnawoods-worthy. I recall when my cousin read Brave New World and saw a reference to "Baptist snipers in Tennessee", then said, "Yep!".

 

what

[Nikov]

Where does this "humanist" philosophy sit with xenocide? Namely, how do we square a human supremacist philosophy not glassing every one-world species encountered?

Or, have we been glassing planets quietly without informing our Skrell buddies?

[Guest]

Alright, well, I got rid of my headache that has been plaguing me for the past couple days so I think I have a bit of time.

First things I want to cover, having played many games and having read a lot of wonderful material in regards to religion as well as a bit of research into theology. The brass tacks are as follows: The religion needs to have a reason to exist and to have such popularity to start with. Ranting below.

 

Christianity is an excellent example and perhaps one of the most dated examples. Christianity rose in the Levant during the mid 1st century AD. The faith became widespread during a time of impoverishment in a grueling, unforgiving atmosphere. When all else fails, humanity has always had faith to guide them through the worst of it, whether they were just blind to reality or not. When a person chooses something to hold onto, they will do whatever they can to preserve it and themselves. Given the values that the teachings of Christ has taught many a good, god-fearing household, it comes to no real surprise to anyone that those households feel the necessity to preserve the teachings that have been passed down from generation to generation, and do their part in ensuring their children and their children's children know the word of the Father, the Spirit and the Son. If humanity were to abandon God, so too would God forever abandon humanity.

Having been raised by both a Catholic and a Protestant, it was emphasized throughout my lifetime when I was a kid that religion was important. It was never said why, I felt that asking such a question was not only stupid but also heretical. In my mind, it was morally wrong to doubt the lessons my family and those I went to church with, that were taught to me. And to be honest, "Love thy enemy as you would thy neighbor" didn't sound all that bad to me, it made logical sense. Holding grudges is just wrong and petty. I had no reason to question such doctrines, as they are reflected by the law of many civilized societies and countries today as they were hundreds of years ago. Going against it was not only detrimental to your life on God's green Earth, but it was assumed metaphysically that your soul would receive its own tarnishment when you passed on. Oh, you went against the teachings and doctrines of God, and you've lived your life as an unapologetic, sinful criminal? Enjoy your stay in hell, until you actually feel sorry and atone for what you did.

Of course, there is always the issue in regards to the more controversial church opinions such as against homosexuals or non-believers of the word of God. I personally blame the Old Testament/New Testament dichtomy that has split up the Christian faith into multiple sects of belief. Jesus has always taught me to love and appreciate everyone, no exceptions. However, he did condemn giving into sexual carnal desire and fornicating out of wedlock, this also including homosexuals. Old Testament scripture was much less lax about the tolerance of homosexuality in society. Back then, it was unheard of to wed a man and a man, it was always a man and his wife. Adulterers and those that committed sodomy were treated one and the same. Death by stoning. Whether it is right or wrong is not relevant, every religion has its more extreme viewpoints. Such as how Shi'a Islam has specific scriptures on how exactly to aim the scimitar and at what degree of angle to amputate either an apostle, kafir or political opponent. Sunnis will claim to not have ever upheld or practiced specifics of the hudud.

 

To run down the three paragraphs I just posted:

1.) Discussing the origins of a religion and their justification for their creation, what circumstances led to its widespread

2.) Instrinisic values, morals and characterisitic traits encouraged/enforced/taught by the religious authority at large as well as the hereditary teachings that pass down per generation

3.) Dichotomy between existing sister (or not) religions, discussion of the existing sects of a specific faith and why they exist, specific doctrines that define one sect from another

These three points are what make or break a faith, and potentially make it infinitely more complex and much more interesting than it initially intended to be.

Having read the OP, the major issues I have with it is that there's little that's complex or interesting to it. The reasoning for its inception is simply sappy, corny and otherwise too impractically lighthearted to have a real existence anywhere. There's nothing alluring or particularly interesting to it, it's simply generic. The players will legitimately not take interest in it, it just feels forced and rushed. It isn't natural, it doesn't have a specific character to it. If anything, it is characteristic of how apparently the entire galaxy is 90% atheist only because the existing religions aren't worth the time or investment of anybody.

Optimists will call the glass half full. Pessimists will call it half empty. Christians will say the glass is a symbol for tranquility, balance and peace, Hebrews will mention that the glass is filled with purity and only those who can drink from the glass are chosen to be God's people (though to what point is not clarified). Muslims will attempt to rationalize whether the glass was filled to certain measurements lest the filler of the glass be charged for infidelity, while continuously moving goalposts in order to be given an excuse to punish the man filling the glass for forsaking the teachings of Islam. Pagans will meditate on the image of water and imagine themselves in the glass. Atheists will refuse to believe there is anything existential regarding the glass, and may even dispute if the glass actually exists. And so on.

Anyway, that's enough of that. Maybe this week if I have time I'll provide a concept to be tossed around by the lore team before you're required to vote on it or something.

[Guest]

It's good, but I still stand that we don't really need any big, important 'religion' of this scale. Plus, the things you describe hardly explain why the entire human space seemed to have went into the technological and idiological shitter instead of allowing it to achive the utopia it imagined. And what, if the backstory passes through I have to rework my entire mars lore from a nation-colonized, to space-puritans and space-hippies? The sharp 180 turn doesn't really explain anything we currently have in lore, in fact, it produces even more questions than it answers.

Honestly, I'm all for it being a 'big' thing, just don't give it any crucial historical segnificance.

[MagnificentMelkior]

I don't see this movement as influencing muslims, christians, poo in loos, or atheists to join it. It is a political philosophy more than anything, and I don't see it having any purchase with religious people (because how does this philosophy extend down to religious rites? And how does it answer any big questions aside from what is our purpose?), and it wouldn't do any better with atheists than Humanism does today.