I'm currently re-reading the Safehold series, and I got to wondering what sort of religions would develop after the truth about the Writ and the Church of God Awaiting is revealed. So far, I've thought up four basic ideas:
1) Some people are going to refuse to accept the truth and continue to hold to the CoGA - probably both in its Temple Loyalist and Reformist forms.
2) Some people are probably going to embrace atheism or agnosticism - we've seen people in the series thinking about this, and to some extend doing it (Dr. Mahklyn, for instance).
3) I expect Maikel Staynair, if he's still alive, or the Brethren of Saint Zherenau more generally, to form their own religion. They've already done so to some extent, after all - they are clearly religious people, but also clearly don't believe in the CoGA. Given Staynair's enormous moral authority and lovedness, a lot of people would probably accept whatever he preaches.
4) This one is the most speculative, but it seems to me that people could both accept the veracity of the Big Reveal while still believing in the CoGA. It works like this: The Holy Writ really is God's word, even though the people who created it thought they were fabricating a false religion. All of history before the "Day of Creation" served to set the scene for the establishment of Safehold and the Church, and the "Day of Creation" is a spiritual creation, not a physical one.
I'm interested in hearing what you all think about my ideas, and if you have any ideas of your own.
