forum Creating Realistic Religions

Started September 12, 2018 by @garbage-owo

tune

I'm working with a high fantasy DnD-esque world with multiple religions. The thing is, each race is very secluded (it's relevant to the plot) but the government has very strong influences over each race/religion. The government was created by a person who was worshiped as a deity, and because of that, other races/religions have also worshiped that person as a deity. Would it be realistic for some religions to be vastly different but have a common deity? It's kind of like if Christianity had strong influences over every religion, and every real-world religion still existed but every religion would have Jesus. It's not all religions that are like this, but there are a lot of them that are.

Yes, it'd definitely be realistic, if done a certain way. For example, as you probably know, Christianity does have many branches beneath it, but there are three different religions that share very many characteristics: Islam, Christianity, Judaism. Now, I can't say much much about it because my knowledge is limited to what I learned in a college class, so you might have to fact check me, but they share, for example, the concept of Hell (Hell, Gehennom, Jahannam, respectively.) They also all have one god (God, Jaweh, and Allah), and an End of Days, among other things. They are all Abrahamic religions and it's said they descended from ancient Judaism, so this is why they share so many similarities. Regardless, they're clearly very distinct religions (to the point we've fought wars and continue to have tensions over them) and aren't categorized as branches of each other.

Now, I don't think it'd be plausible for vastly different religions to have the exact same God, because religions usually separate due to differences of belief and interpretation. Additionally, if you have sects that have been secluded from each other, they're inevitably going to deviate drastically. Kind of like how certain species can evolve to be so different from each other if isolated, despite coming from the same base. An example:

Say you have one sect isolated in the mountains. Their problems will be vastly different from a sect isolated in the savannah. One will be unable to farm their land because of rock, maybe snow, maybe a lack of fertile land. So they would pray to their God for this. But a god who doesn't exist can't help them, so nothing happens, and they begin believing their God is a harsh one, one intent on challenging His people. The savannah people, however, have issues of drought and they ask for rain. They pray and offer sacrifices, eventually they get rain. So they think their God is one pleased by blood. Or something like that

Also, secluded peoples will form differences in language, and this can affect religion as well (hence, God, Jaweh, Allah.) So that could be used to differentiate between them. But also, it's your story, and it's in a fantasy setting, so I think you could really get away with a lot.

^Excellent point about environmental pressures! Religion also evolves to answer enduring questions (What constitutes a "good person"? What happens when we die?). So I guess the question is, what questions are people in each culture asking? "Why do floods happen?" "My siblings are quarreling and I can't decide which one to support. Who is in the right?" "I have no children. Who gets my stuff when I die?" (since this is a fantasy setting) "Why do I have magic and my neighbor doesn't?" Good luck!

I feel like races worshipping the same God could work, but they might realistically have different views on that God. Back in the days before the Crusades but after the fall of Rome proper, Christians had no clear idea what to believe. The Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) was a contentious topic because there were many people that had their own views on who or what Jesus was. They had to call a council because Justinian was sick of hearing everyone argue, but those didn't go according to plan. The Council of Nicea basically boiled down to a bunch of old guys in fancy hats yelling at each other, but there was only one really cool event. Saint Nicholas – FREAKING SANTA CLAUS– punched a man named Arias in the face because he deemed his views disagreeable! Deck the halls? More like deck the heretic!

Thanks for the advice, you guys (but seriously I’m cackling at that last one)