Religion

"Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals."

– Martin Luther King, Jr

Dracula: I was called here by, huuuuumans, who wish to pay me tribute!

Richter Belmont: Tribute?! You steal men's souls! And make them your slaves!

Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.

--An excerpt from the infamous exchange that also gave us "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, particularly ones that are high-profile or relevant to /tg/, we have a religion article. Let's try and keep it focused on the directly-related-to-/tg/ stuff and not descend into the pure skub that can arise in discussions of real-life religions, okay?

Definition of Religion

Almost since the inception of the term, scholars have failed to agree on a definition of religion. While there are some belief systems that always count as religions, some have applied the term to various things such as political ideologies, or groups when they reach a certain point. There are however two general definition systems: the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.

The two most widely accepted are:

• "a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say things set apart and forbidden - beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church, all those who adhere to them."
• "a comprehensive worldview or 'metaphysical moral vision' that is accepted as binding because it is held to be in itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either fully confirmed or refuted".

As stated before, one common element that every religion which fits the criteria has is humanity's relation to supernatural forces, as all of them have at least one god and/or an afterlife even where there are exceptions; Buddhism doesn't have any gods but has afterlives, and Taoism doesn't have an afterlife but does have a pantheistic concept of a god as a supernatural force.

Like other terms for heavily debated subjects, religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially from the 20th century and onwards) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with. This snarl creates a caricature of the group to smear them by association with the worst excesses/negative stereotypes of real-world religious people (like being too preachy, judgmental, irrational, hypocritical, or pressuring everyone to convert).

Religion vs. Mythology

While mythologies aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. While mythologies are merely the accounts of supernatural events, religions also have several criteria such as how life should be lived, what happens to a person after death and humanity's relation to the supernatural. Whatever the source, the mythology almost always predates the religion. As a result, especially since the Fantasy genre deals in supernatural beings and forces, most if not all fantasy settings have religions. Science fiction does to a lesser degree, mostly because during the Golden Age of sci-fi empiricists and secular humanists were attracted to the genre and their views often seeped into their stories. Despite this, given that most real-life societies have had religions playing a role in or since their founding, religions are still found in sci-fi.

Religions involves belief systems and practices, where an adherent can call upon the power/being the religion is focused on to give them aid in various ways, depending at the very least on the religion and the task in question. Given that religions are about people's place in the world, how it was made, ideas on how life should be lived and what happens after death, they have major implications for societies. Given that people can become dangerously single-minded about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that some are more benevolent than others and in numerous cases even if it involves going against the religion's teachings; in conjunction with the above this means religious conflicts can become widespread, long-lasting, cause carnage and also involve other elements such as politics.

Role in Society

A person's belief (for or against) any or all religions is a major factor in their worldview, and as such often serves as the undercurrent for all others. This is because this belief shapes people's views on the big things such as the purpose of life, how life should be lived in relation to oneself and others and what happens to people after they die. On the upside, this often leads to teachings with the goal of unity, peace, charity and co-operation as per the teachings of most religions, some of which are adapted by or also found among non-religious systems. On the downside, this can lead to clashes over how the people involved do the will of whichever beings or forces they follow, which religion should be followed or whether or not people should follow a god or religion at all. This can involve arguments and factionalizing, or in some cases worse things like pogroms and wars. Since they are an overarching and fairly common element in cultures, they often appear or are referenced in fiction.

The most common religious belief systems are the Abrahamic family of religions (primarily Judaism, Christianity and Islam) which are Monotheistic (belief in a singular God) and share many common elements and root, with - at the time this was written - Christianity being the most followed religion globally.

Within the last few centuries, particularly due to events such as the French Revolution, there has also been a significant amount of anti-religious sentiment, with those who hold this view considering religion at best redundant and at worst destructive (beyond historical grievances with specific groups within religions, reasons for this view and whether or not those arguments have any merit, shall not be discussed here). Interestingly, numerous tyrannical regimes have tried to restrict or stamp out religions, as most religions teach at least some benevolence, and tyrants don't like being answerable to anyone. Some nations have just tried to block specific religions. Several nations have tried to get rid of religion altogether, albeit with horrifying results each time; even at best they sidegrade from one set of problems to another.

How this impacts /tg/

A few major ways. Here, have a list:

• There are three major "modes" of /tg/ settings and related fictions:
  1. The purely functional. Compared to the two types of writers found below, these writers are usually just attempting to model their work after real-world Mythology and are frequently attempting to keep their views of Religion separate from their work. Frequently comes in one of two subspecies:
     • The Standard Fantasy Setting default: The world is ruled by an ordinary polytheistic pantheon, usually close to some admixture of Norse and Greek mythologies. Some of them also have a Top God - one more powerful than all the others and maybe the in-universe creator of everything - who is mostly hands-off in cosmic affairs. The gods of these religions tend to focus on specific areas (gods of Justice and Nature are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
     • The kind of setting they wanted to make dictated the nature of the divine. For example, in Exalted just about all the figures anybody would call a "God" (besides the Exalted) are Useless, because the Exalted (which includes the Player Characters) are supposed to be the Most Important People in the world, to go with the main theme of the setting for the PCs: "You can do almost anything, except avoid the consequences of being the one who did that anything".
  2. There are several writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad". This is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy because the focus on science appeals to the naturalist, empiricist and/or humanist worldview of writers who have it, with the supernatural being seen as an obstacle to that; personal issues of the author such as grievance or prejudice can also play a role, but that's case-by-case and a major can of worms. As a result, those writers model their fictional religions on the - occasionally exaggerated - worst excesses of real world religious people and lift imagery from those religions. Popular targets are Christianity, Islam, the Aztec and Scientology (to be honest, for the Religion Is Bad brigade it’s usually the first one). This comes in flavors of either "The Gods Don't Exist", "The Gods are Incompetent" (more on that below) or "The Gods are all Evil".
  3. There are also quite a few sincerely religious Science Fiction and Fantasy writers (usually Christian, but not always). These authors usually put more thought into their fictional religion plus its central figure (although they have a tendency to go all "Crystal Dragon Jesus"), and try and have it be at least a somewhat good influence, although religious institutions and leaders are usually hit-and-miss affairs.

• If a work has multiple writers, (as frequently happens with RPG and Wargame settings, and quite a few popular SciFi/Fantasy ones as well) there's a tendency for the writers to try and pull the setting into one of the other two "modes" depending on their views. This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses (such as the spate of retcons to the cosmology of the Warcraft universe), or swinging back and forth between them.

• A somewhat special case is the "Religion of Evil"; in many settings, there is a religion that is explicitly capital E Evil and seeks one of the usual "Card Carrying Villain" goals of Control, Conquest, Corruption, or Destruction. Frequently has some admixture of the worst aspects of Roman Paganism, Norse practices, the Aztec, Scientology, H.P. Lovecraft, the various Abrahamic religions. If this cult directly worships an individual Evil God, expect whatever makes sense for that deity--e.g., the cult of the God of Murder demands human sacrifice on a regular basis, with a certain portion of that explicitly being not-careful-enough cultists. Regardless, Religions of Evil can show up in all three above modes, and usually has a special purpose in all three:
  1. Functionalists (and, for that matter, all three) need bad guys. In particular, a group who by definition is Evil is always good for some no-need-to-worry-about-the-ethics-or-morality killing fodder.
  2. Religion is Bad types tend to use them to, effectively, admit "while they're all Bad, some are worse then others", or alternately "Religion can be used to justify anything".
  3. The sincerely religious tend to use them as analogies with fanaticism and/or Real World cults.
  • As a side note, a lot of fantasy has moved slightly away from pure Religions of Evil, for much the same reason as Always Chaotic Evil races; while there are still plenty of them, they usually add some nuance that makes them at least morally neutral under their own lights--frequently, taking vengeance for some perceived wrong or injustice(although how real that injustice is factors into how Evil they are).

• Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing (the similar but different "The Gods are Insane", "The Gods Are Assholes" and "The Gods Don't Actually Do Anything" routes also falls under this umbrella) can go into any of the three modes; in a sincere monotheist's (such as Christian) work, it can be a "Take That" to polytheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" atheist's, it can be one to religion in general; in a Buddhist-influenced work, it can be a part of the whole "even the Gods are tied up in the Wheel of Karma" concept; and, even if the author is not pushing any religious message in any way, there's a neutral, plot-structural reason to go "Incompetent Gods": it can make the adventurers the Most Competent People Available.

• Urban Fantasy writers are a special case, since almost all Urban Fantasy is set in something that might be called "the real world with a twist", with all the usual political trouble that implies. Usually, they take one of two routes:
  • The first is "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible (Faith being the power that repels Vampires rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one).
  • The second (which is rarer outside of Cosmic Horror) is straight up atheistic/"Religion is Bad" propaganda, and in practice the writer often has an axe to grind against a specific religion (almost always the popular targets listed above).
  • Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors, which are typically barely veiled proselytizing or just straight up terrible, though there are some good ones.
  • Speaking of Cosmic Horror, that can also fall under the Urban Fantasy umbrella, and it blends the "Gods Don't Exist" or "Gods are Evil" route into "The Gods are actually Incomprehensible and Destructive Aliens". This also has the side effect of making it a popular choice for atheistic tracts (even Lovecraft himself was an anti-religious materialist).

Further, note the "Religion is Bad" and "Religion is Good" brigades will be involved in arguments over the relative morality or "goodness" of various factions in the story and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents.

Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions

• The Imperial Truth was originally the Emperor's plan on beliefs, which he and his servants propagated throughout the galaxy during the Great Crusade. Attempting to ween mankind away from Chaos, and the general flubdubbery that religion often brings: the Emperor proclaims that there are no gods, and religion is to be abolished, with science on reason being used as a primary means of explaining the universe instead. This all worked well and good, until people started looking up to the Emperor as a god himself, which caused it's own set of problems. After the Horus Heresy, the Imperial Truth has largely fallen on the wayside and given birth to:
  • The Imperial Cult is the present-day religion of the Imperium of Man, and is a mix of several Abrahamic Religions (really there's too many to count) with copious amounts of warmongering, fanaticism, and xenophobia. Derived from the Lectitio Divinatus penned by Lorgar pre-HH, the Cult decrees that because the Emperor is capable of all these miracles and power: he must be a god, and why you should worship and pledge loyalty to him. Its a complete 180 from the Emperor's original teachings, and has simultaneously been responsible for damning and saving the Imperium past the clusterfuck of the Horus Heresy. Its unknown if the Emperor still abhorred towards the idea of being a god and would abolish it the moment he could, or he's resigned himself to becoming the very thing he fought against, in order for mankind to persevere in these trying times. He didn't want to be a god, but now he has no choice but to become one.
  • The Cult Mechanicus is the religion of the Adeptus Mechanicus, placing a heavy emphasis on machines, viewing them as gifts from the Machine God. It also has a high emphasis on the collection of knowledge, and one of the Admech's roles in the galaxy is to explore remote and uncharted regions of space to find and search for knowledge that has been lost throughout the millennia. The last of these, is guidelines on machines and knowledge. Officially, heretic(tek) and xeno works are to be abhorred and disposed of, viewing them as perversions of the holy Machine Gods' works. Unofficially however, more liberally-minded and higher-ranked Magos would happily hoard heretek/xeno works, seeing their potential over the more restricted and constrained works of the Mechanicus.

• Chaos is a violent and complicated mono/polytheistic religion with dozens, if not hundreds of interpretations that even within established cults venerating the Big 4 in a major warband, there's even more sub-cults that worship their particular god in a specific way, either minutely or vastly different from everyone else. And this doesn't even get into the realm of Chaos Undivided (which worships the concept of Chaos itself, instead of the individual gods) and Malal. Chaos has very little established guidelines regarding worship, apart from their patron god's/gods' general likes/dislikes, so any religious practices or rituals are largely left up to the imagination of the cult.

• All Greenskins worship Gork and Mork (jury's out on whether the Gretchin Revolutionary Committee do), but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, though they do make effigies of Gork and Mork and call on them. Religion doesn't play a significant role in Ork society compared to the other races, as Orks are typically too busy "disagreeing" on who the best god is.

• The T'au creed "The Greater Good" is a philosophy that allows religiosity as long as it doesn't clash with the Greater Good, but if there's a clash The Greater Good is always given priority over a religion. While the Greater Good allows various faiths, it itself isn't a religion. Its not given worship or sacrifice, rather its a practice that every sept world Tau participates in, similar to Confucianism, but with more 1984 vibes.

• The Eldar Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach, Isha, and Khaine, via the Harlequins and Aspect Warriors. Apart form these three, with most of their gods out of commission, most Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent. The new faith around Ynnead, the Ynnari, have yet to establish teachings or rituals. As for the rest of the Eldar race, the Corsairs are all over the place, the Dark Eldar are irreligious for the most part (the popular exception are the Incubi who hold Khaine in high regard) and there's rumors of Chaos Eldar.

• While the Necrontyr had religions before certain star entities roboticizied them, those aren't fleshed out or detailed. Its also heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion beforehand, with the change to Necrons taking the higher though processes of most of them. Any Necrons with any comprehension of faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.

• The Tyranids themselves are irreligious, being spehss bugs and all, but do have an idea of the advantages of religion. Genestealers establish cults on targeted worlds, forming a religion around the "Children of the Stars", perverting the Imperial Cult to suit their views, or something to those effects. While the hybrids and human cultists eat all of this up: the purestrains know this is all an act and do not actually buy into any of this god nonsense. They will readily slaughter their human/half-human followers in the blink of an eye, the moment the Hive Mind requires their biomass for harvesting (this is usually the fate of genestealer cults who successfully overthrew a planet).

• Among Dungeons and Dragons settings, Planescape, Eberron, and Pathfinder are notable for having some coherent things that could be called "Religions", rather then the usual generic Pantheism.
  • Most of Planescape's Factions effectively count as religions, to the point they can produce Clerics (Atheist ones at that). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps especially the Athar.)
  • Half of Eberron's religions aren't worship of deities. The Blood of Vol seeks to unlock the divinity within one's self and rejects the gods (if they even exist) and the Path of Inspiration seeks to improve their next reincarnation. The Undying Court worships not gods but their undead ancestors that make up their government. The Path of Light, Becoming God and Reforged all seek to create a deity. Even some interpretations of the Sovereign Host, like the one most common among dragons, don't worship them as deities. Due to the way divine casting works in Eberron, all of these can produce divine casters.
  • There's a handful of religions on Golarion that aren't merely worship of pantheons. The most prominent (read: Actually has mechanical support) is the Prophecies of Kalistrade, which is basically fantasy Ferengi.

• D20 Modern's Urban Arcana, unusually for urban fantasy, has D&D deities bleed into reality alongside the monsters. You are still able to play a cleric "acolyte" of any real world deity despite this.

• Star Wars is inconsistent on if the The Force is a religion. The Jedi and the Sith could both be considered religions as they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith) and Lucas himself has axed at least one prototyped book for portraying them too much as a religion. It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including disagreements over the teachings of that creed. Aside from that, religion is nearly always a non-human tradition, something noted in a culture's historical background and never seen implying its extinction, or a scam. The religiously linked "damn" and "hell" are the two real world swear words that exist in-universe, purely because Han Solo used them in the films, and some concept of an "angel" exists because a young Anakin told Padme about them in the prequel trilogy films.
  • There are rare exceptions where a religion is fleshed out and explored, and the writing goes various directions for better or worse. A notable example is the aggressive polytheistic religion of the antagonistic Yuuzhan Vong from the EU (which the story gradually revealed was long ago perverted from benevolent roots, and this perverted form takes a few cues from Islam and Aztec mythology).

• Very large books could be written about religion and World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness. We'll just cover a few highlights:
  • From Vampire: The Requiem, there's the the Lancea et Sanctum, which might be best described as "Christianity for Vampires", and the Circle of the Crone, which is "Pagan Vampires". Both have Vampire miracles on tap (pun intended).
  • Hunter: The Vigil has various religious organizations among the Compacts and Conspiracies.
  • Mage: The Ascension has various religious Traditions, portrayed in that highly-stereotypical and highly-depending-on-the-author way typical of old WoD.

See also

• Mythology