Questions tagged [religion]
For questions regarding the impact of religion in a given scenario or the creation of a religion for use in a fictional world.
3
votes
9answers
202 views
Can a religious order keep the peace between nations with sacrificial games? [duplicate]
This world takes place in a continent with advanced 20th century technology. The one key difference from our reality is that war does not exist in the way we would think of it. Disputes between states ...
27
votes
17answers
8k views
How can I frame human sacrifice as an honor without marketing it to the disadvantaged?
All living things possess a form of spiritual energy called reishi. This energy is used by humans to fuel their magical spells, but is also necessary for life to continue. There is a ritual that ...
14
votes
7answers
1k views
How can I prevent the Christian schism of 1054 in order to create a more unified church?
Schism of 1054, also called East-West Schism, event that precipitated the final
separation between the Eastern Christian churches, led by the patriarch of Constantinople, and the Western church. ...
0
votes
1answer
107 views
Why would greek gods allow other religions to take over? [closed]
I am planning to write a story where greek gods exist. But I can't figure out a reason why they would allow other religions to take over and people to stop worshiping them. And I need this for my ...
2
votes
3answers
68 views
How can an pantheist council serve as an umbrella for various religious institutions?
Pantheism is the belief that all-things in reality compose an all-encompassing, immanent god. It characterizes a broad range of doctrines differing in forms of relationships between reality and ...
6
votes
3answers
140 views
How can the church secure its authority over the papal states up to the 20th century?
The Papal States were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the Pope, from the 8th century until 1870. At their zenith, the Papal States covered most of ...
5
votes
5answers
98 views
How can the church stop the Mass media from spreading throughout medieval Europe?
The Protestant Reformation in the 15th century was devastating for the catholic church because it broke its exclusive hold over Christendom and ended up leading to the diverse branches of today. Due ...
1
vote
2answers
110 views
How would a matriarchy rationalize infanticide? [closed]
The Beic people worship a pantheistic religion that revolves around a feminine manifestation of divinity. The creator is a mother goddess that is imbued in all of creation, but resides in the ...
1
vote
2answers
189 views
How to establish a fantasy religion for races other than humans? [closed]
The world of Holo was given life by Sky, god of light and life. When the world was new he breathed life into the Elder races in the continent of Itheria. Elves were born from the Great forest, Dwarfs ...
1
vote
1answer
115 views
How might the absence of faith-based miracles in a magical world affect people's respect for religion? [closed]
The magic of the world I'm thinking of has a wide range of effects, has existed since before humanity, and can be learned by basically anyone. This means that 'miracles', which are commonly used by ...
0
votes
3answers
83 views
Why would a religious person extract the hemoglobin of those who failed to survive his spiritual healing ritual? [closed]
This is for a crime/mystery novel with a religious antagonist. He’s trying to cure people of their psychological issues, by creating a “nightmare world” inside their mind and hoping that their ego is ...
0
votes
3answers
184 views
A Theocratic Megacorporation? [closed]
Imagine if a televangelist somehow managed to amass a devoted global following and used the funds from the offerings he gained from them to turn his cult into an N.G.O. superpower. How exactly would ...
3
votes
2answers
300 views
How can the priesthood gain control of the military? [closed]
I need to design a country in which the military is owned by the priesthood of the land. Soldiers are ultimately more loyal to the faith and those who administer it than the state. Governship is ...
36
votes
19answers
7k views
Can there be a theocracy that also practices religious tolerance?
My main character is one of 5 deities that make up the "Terram faith" The country she resides in is a theocracy of that faith; with a king and queen appointed by high priests and priestesses.
The ...
1
vote
4answers
84 views
Would it be weird or impractical for a princess who has a High Priestess title to have a family? [closed]
My character is the King's only daughter in a patriarchal succession system. She's raised to become a High Priestess (the most important woman in the whole land), because only women of a male ruler's ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
how can a society maintain its population if it considers maternal death rates a sign of weakness?
This human society is similar to the Drow in that their world is broken down into matriarchal houses. Each house has branch clans that support their own lineages, but pay homage to the main house. ...
3
votes
5answers
131 views
Why would genocide not hasten the apocalypse? [closed]
This is a follow up question to this link:
Why would a deity not be made weaker as more souls are being born?
When human beings die, their spirits go to the soul forge. This forge is at the center ...
1
vote
7answers
324 views
Why would a deity not be made weaker as more souls are being born?
This setting follows a religion in which god, originally a perfect entity and the seat of human consciousness, split himself into two separate beings and reincarnated into two mortal forms. These two ...
0
votes
4answers
269 views
The Greeks were right [closed]
So somehow, the world's scientists find solid evidence that the Hellenic Gods are the true gods. It's them and them alone. Think Zeus, Hera, Hestia, etc. This evidence is unquestionable.
How would ...
4
votes
5answers
207 views
why would a priesthood only accept young children into its ranks?
This is a follow up to this question:
Why would a priesthood of a world religion worship a different god from their followers?
This organization is the only official religious order in this setting. ...
0
votes
3answers
130 views
Why would any diety need to reincarnate into mortal forms to gather data on its own creation? [closed]
This setting follows a religion in which a god, originally a unisex entity and the seat of human consciousness, split himself into two separate beings and reincarnate into mortal forms. These two ...
5
votes
2answers
359 views
How can I make this religion believing in “creating time traveling gods through science” believable?
I want to popularize the following or a similar belief.
In many thousand years people will travel back in time to give us an afterlife, if we make it possible, by going the steps, that will lead to ...
0
votes
1answer
86 views
Capture a city of wild spirits by humans without an arms battle? They can be attracted to a vessel they will attach/feel drawn to and stop resisting [closed]
I need to attack a city under the control of evil spirits to take back control. Since the enemy are spirits, physical or arms warfare will not help. Since spirits are shown to exist, magic is ...
18
votes
13answers
4k views
How to make religious sacrifices to their dark god sympathetic?
So, on the planet Dalia, there exists a civilization of intelligent creatures called the Dalians. The Dalians are extremely primitive (compared to most others) and have an extremely tribal, clan-...
22
votes
21answers
6k views
Why would god conduct multiple raptures if he depends on human beings for worship?
A being known as Dea is the creator of all things in the mortal world. He created human beings as living batteries in order to fuel him and give him power. Dea feeds off of human worship, which it ...
22
votes
9answers
7k views
How can I legally reduce religion in my world?
Religious rights are protected, and freedom to religion is secured, how can we reduce religion in a country without breaking religious rights laws.
Here are some examples:
Ban religious schools (...
35
votes
18answers
5k views
How can I use my dominance of the software industry to get my customers to worship an eldritch abomination that they don't believe in?
The world is going to hell. Global warming, overpopulation, economic crises and other such issues plague humanity. The only logical solution is to summon Hastur, The King in Yellow, an elder god from ...
0
votes
2answers
155 views
Gods are dogs, but why? [closed]
It’s obvious, really: “God” and “dog” are just two sides of the same coin. Literally any pantheon, deity, or divine force that’s ever existed - yep, they’re all dogs somewhere.
But why? What reason ...
6
votes
3answers
180 views
All hail the sun disk! How to maximize ancient Egypt's acceptance of Ahkenaten's religion?
Premise
Ahkenaten was a bit of a heretical pharaoh in ancient Egypt. While it was customary at the time for the pharaoh to choose a god to be associated with, Ahkenaten went further and proclaimed ...
35
votes
14answers
11k views
How can prostitution be made acceptable in a religiously conservative society?
The dominant faith in this world is religiously conservative and believes that the only legitimate form of sexual intimacy is between husband and wife, and that homosexuality and extra marital affairs ...
8
votes
6answers
1k views
Preventing the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire
In this alternative reality Constantine the Great never embraces the Christianity and the Roman Empire remains polytheistic.
So I would like to know what realistic change(s) could have prevented the ...
13
votes
9answers
2k views
How to make a death-worshipping race seem less evil? [closed]
How does one make a race that worships a personification of Death less evil? This race believes that dead souls go back to the River of Life to be reincarnated into a new form, so their beliefs aren't ...
5
votes
4answers
951 views
Who administers soul exchanges? [closed]
Mythology is replete with examples of people selling their soul to the devil. Except... how does that actually work, mechanically?
Let's say you sign a contract agreeing that the devil may take your ...
0
votes
4answers
127 views
Why Would People Follow an Anti-Christ or a Similar Figure? [duplicate]
Why would people follow the Anti-Christ, or a similar figure? I can imagine some would follow him out of fear, some out of a desire to hurt others, and others out of greed, but what other reasons ...
-6
votes
1answer
211 views
Why might people mistake a nuclear warhead explosion for Lucifer rising? [closed]
So, the cult of Uranius in Kansas City have just detonated a 50 megaton nuclear warhead, and the entirety of KC is now a deep, deep radioactive crater. A few people saw the bomb explode from about 40 ...
11
votes
16answers
2k views
The plausibility of peaceful coexistence between religions where they view the other religions as heretical
So this is for the same story as my "Boats for tall people" question earlier, but not about boats. In this world there is one religion that almost every race has a different interpretation of.
For ...
6
votes
4answers
363 views
How can a single clergy rule over a religion that has different interpretations of its deity?
The multiverse is made up of different realms, each with their own human population. These realms are planet sized, and have their own cultures and traditions. Realm gates exist in each of those ...
11
votes
8answers
428 views
What might cause body-modest human planetary colonists to need to practise nudism
The Context
A few years from now, perhaps around ten years or so, after first contact with star-travelling aliens, humans have acquired FTL and other technology making a new diaspora of humanity to ...
8
votes
6answers
488 views
How would the existence of multiple mythological and religious pantheons be justified?
It's common trend for many stories within the Urban Fantasy genre to feature various mythological pantheons co-existing with one another. For example, High School DxD has a universe where Judeo-...
88
votes
13answers
16k views
A mosque on Mars?
Premise
Mars has been terraformed and has seen its first few stages of large-scale colonization. The colonists are middle to upper class Earthlings. Earth is not a dystopian planet per se, but Mars ...
17
votes
3answers
456 views
Reality check: Buddhist Aztecs
Idea
Is the following alternate history setup conceivable:
Central Mexico has been converted to Buddhism by missionaries arriving from East Asia or South-East Asia hundreds of years before European ...
-1
votes
1answer
74 views
Why might the king want to break off from Seattle? [closed]
In the holy lands of Seattle, where the great Kodiak is said to have meet his mortal martyrdom, the holy figure and leader of the Kodiakist religion resides. His name is Prophet Ground-Zero, and he is ...
30
votes
9answers
4k views
Would a weaponized priesthood violate separation of church and state?
The Situation
For reasons unimportant to the question all divine/infernal beings ceased contact with humanity in the dark ages. For reasons equally obscure they are now back and busier than ever. Law ...
43
votes
5answers
5k views
Would a demon be afforded civil rights?
Synopsis
For reasons unimportant to the question all divine/infernal beings and deities took a hiatus from interacting with the earth in the dark ages. For reasons equally obscure they are back and ...
0
votes
3answers
151 views
How could the religious leaders explain why their leader died? [closed]
So, out in the holy lands of Seattle, the mutant Kodiak started a religion that worships the great glowing god “ICBM”. Kodiak told that he was the son of ICBM, and that mutants were a blessed people, ...
15
votes
4answers
2k views
Could Catholicism have survived as the dominant religion in England if it had allowed aristocratic polygamy?
The proximate cause of the Anglican Church's split from the Roman Catholic Church, which retained more vestiges of Roman Catholicism than other major early Protestant Church denominations, was the ...
2
votes
2answers
83 views
Is there a race practicing a religion integrating both transcendence and ancestor worship?
For example, think of our species. We have members that embrace trans-humanism and tribes that appease their great-grands with offerings. The two are different and very unlikely to be related, thus ...
11
votes
10answers
3k views
A patriarchal society worshipping a Mother-goddess
So I'm currently writing a story set in an Arabian-influenced medieval world. This society worships a mother goddess, and I was wondering if a matriarchal religion is culturally consistent for a ...
0
votes
3answers
156 views
Why might a computer want to play God [closed]
In my story their is a primitive culture out near the Tijuana ruins that worships a ZX-15 CyboTek Super computer inside a factory. They ask it for good harvest, give It offerings of fish and beef, and ...
10
votes
6answers
541 views
How can a superpowered being avoid religions being created around itself?
From dimension Omicron, came a being that could split planets (not that it will do it, but you get the idea). Open your favorite superhero power encyclopedia, it got All the cool superpowers, most of ...
