Editing Religion

Because it's important to several settings and RPG systems, 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 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|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 [[SJW|debated]] [[communism|subjects]], religion and religious have also been used as insults or Snarl Words in social and political discussions (especially in recent history) to ridicule groups openly promoting something the user disagrees with.

==Religion vs. Mythology==
While [[Mythology|mythologies]] aren't religions in and of themselves, every religion has a mythology. These involve several criteria such as how life should be lived, what happens to a person after death and relation to the supernatural.  [[Skub|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 [[cleric|various]] [[Paladin|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 [[Exarch|dangerously single-minded]] about a cause, people can be become extremists about their religion, regardless of the fact that [[Heironeous|some]] are more benevolent than [[Asmodeus|others]] and in numerous cases even [[Heresy|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.

==How this impacts /tg/==
A few major ways:

* A lot of Fantasy settings are ordinary politheistic, 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 [[Paladin|Justice]] and [[Druid|Nature]] are common, for subtly obvious reasons) and frequently want their followers to propagate or promote these things.
* There are quite a few writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy that are of the opinion "Religion Is Bad", albeit this is more common in Sci-Fi than fantasy.  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, Scientology or the Aztec.  This also comes in flavors of either "The Gods Don't Exist" or "The Gods are all Evil".
* 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 writer to try and pull the setting into one of the other two depending on their views.  This leads to the theme changing from one side to the other as the story progresses (such as [[World of Warcraft|Warcraft's Light vs Void conflict]]), or swinging back and forth between them.
** Doing the "The Gods are Incompetent" thing can go into any of the three; in a sincere Christian work, it can be a "Take That" to pantheistic religions; in a "Religion is Bad" athiests, 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 either go for "there are many possible explanations" and vague things up as much as possible (Faith being the power that repels [[Vampire]]s rather than than a cross having any actual connection to a deity is a popular one), or (more rarely outside straight up Cosmic Horror) are atheistic and/or [[Imperial Truth|"Religion is Bad" propaganda]].  Some Urban Fantasy works with a clear correct religion exist thanks to the above mentioned sincerely religious authors exist.  Typically these are [[Chick Tracts|barely veiled proselytizing]] or [[Twilight|just straight up terrible]], though [[Monster Hunter International|there are some good ones]].

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 and the accuracy of any messages a writer presents.

==Examples of /tg/ connected fictional religions==
* The [[Imperial Truth]]/[[Imperial Cult|Cult]] in [[Warhammer 40,000]] manages to mix features of atheism, Catholicism, and generic fanaticism and xenophobia.
** What's notable is that religion is mostly explored with humans; all Greenskins worship Gork and Mork but are too disorganized to have anything like a formal religion, the T'au creed "The Greater Good" is more a philosophy that allows religiosity as long as it doesn't clash with the Greater Good, the Eldar Pantheon's religious practices aren't fleshed out save for those of Cegorach and Khaine (with most of their gods out of commission, most Eldar religious worship is of a deistic bent and the Ynnari have yet to establish teachings or rituals), the majority of Dark Eldar are selfishly irreligious and its heavily implied the C'tan co-opted the Necrontyr religion before turning them into Necrons so Necrons with any comprehension of faith and religiosity either worship the C'tan or have become irreligious.
* 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 [[Cleric]]s ([[Planescape: Torment#Fall-From-Grace|Atheist ones at that]]). Yes, even the Athar. (Perhaps ''especially'' the Athar.)
* [[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 <s>cleric</s> "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 are both considered religions as in they are considered monastic, but mix in several other traits such as being meritocratic (Jedi) and kraterocratic (Sith).  It's also notable that the Sith were former Jedi who left the Jedi path for several reasons including [[Heresy|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, as does some concept of an "angel" since 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; while they start off as the cliche [[Covenant|religiously motivated sci-fi villain faction]] (or [[TVTropes|"Scary Dogmatic Aliens", as Tropers say]]), as the story goes on its revealed their gods are either non-existent or real but very misrepresented.

==See also==
* [[Mythology]]

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