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Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)

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Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by InvisibleBison   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 2:55 pm

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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.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by Dilandu   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 3:21 pm

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Generally speaking, the most possible outcome of revelation in near future would be the almost-total civilization and cultural collapse. The Safehold society is MUCH more monoreligious than any Earth society; there is simply no other religions or cultoral models. So, the impact would be... tremendous. And this is the reason to make some "transition stage" for a century or more, during which the other religious models (taken from the Owl archieves) could be transplanted into the society.
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by gcomeau   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:11 pm

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In a rational world there would me a massive outbreak of atheism.


In a human world, I expect that so long a the reveal is eventually accepted as the truth people will immediately latch onto whatever they can find out about the religions of Earth, put them on a pedestal as the beliefs of the advanced ancient humans who came before them who knew so much more than they did, and start piecing together a thousand different versions of what they think the "right" way to do implement those various religions is.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by BobG   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 4:25 pm

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InvisibleBison wrote: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.

I really don't think Maikel will create a new religion. That really doesn't suit him or the situation. Going from the CoGA religion to Maikel's religion isn't really a good idea. And that is totally against his focus on one's personal relationship with G-d.

That said, he might adopt one of the pre-Safehold religions that is comfortable to him. But I don't know if he will do that personally, or change the focus of the CoC.

Given that there is a mild relationship between religion and genetic heritage, I wouldn't be surprised if a number of people figured out the religion of their ancestors and chose that.

Alternatively, there might be a lot of literature made available on the different original religions, and people might be able to choose the religion that suited them. I suspect that, again, the genetic heritage might help select the religion.

Of course, that in itself will cause problems, as people in a town or village chose a religion other than the mainstream for that village, more problems will occur. The example of the war between the CoGA and the CoC might reduce the impact of that, but it still won't eliminate it.

-- Bob G
SF & Fantasy: The only things better than Chocolate.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by Marty   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 9:51 pm

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All Safeholdians convert to KillGbabaism
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by n7axw   » Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:22 pm

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I would expect religion as a whole to have a rough go for a while after the great reveal, possibly with an upsurge in atheism. Wave Thunder, for example, wonders whether or not that since one religion has been counterfeited, all of them might be. That sort of disillusionment is the sort of thing Safehold will see a lot of for the short to intermediate term future.

The long term future sort of disappears into the mists for me. I don't know how it will turn out as a whole. I would expect, though, that there will always be a significant percentage of folk who do believe in God. There is something in the human spirit that will always reach for the transcendant. I would expect that to be as true on Safehold as it is on Earth.

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by fallsfromtrees   » Wed Feb 04, 2015 12:43 am

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gcomeau wrote:In a rational world there would me a massive outbreak of atheism.


In a human world, I expect that so long a the reveal is eventually accepted as the truth people will immediately latch onto whatever they can find out about the religions of Earth, put them on a pedestal as the beliefs of the advanced ancient humans who came before them who knew so much more than they did, and start piecing together a thousand different versions of what they think the "right" way to do implement those various religions is.

And shortly thereafter start killing anyone who disagrees with them - oh wait, they are already doing that.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by Dilandu   » Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:59 am

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BobG wrote:
InvisibleBison wrote:I suspect that, again, the genetic heritage might help select the religion.


How? There is no "protestan" genes or "catholic" genes.
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by n7axw   » Wed Feb 04, 2015 3:12 am

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Dilandu wrote:
How? There is no "protestan" genes or "catholic" genes.


Genetic? No. Cultural? Yes. Sometimes that can be bred so bone deep you'd swear it was genetic though...

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: Religion After the Big Reveal (Speculation)
Post by Dilandu   » Wed Feb 04, 2015 3:28 am

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n7axw wrote:
Genetic? No. Cultural? Yes. Sometimes that can be bred so bone deep you'd swear it was genetic though...

Don


But there is no other cultures on Safehold.
------------------------------

Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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