Religion, pertaining to Freelancer

[Praetyre]

I find it mystifying that it is acceptable to roleplay protagonist characters with political leanings similar or nigh-identical to that of among the bloodiest ideologies in human history, and yet it appears Edvard Munch imitations spring up with any Disco-religious discussion.

Ok.. here's my view:

I think Liberty is predominantly Protestant, but has elements of nearly all religions in it. Assuming Exodus-era America has roughly similar religious diversity to present-day America, it wouldn't surprise me to find everything from Scientologists to pagans to Jews to Hindus.

Britain, along with western Europe in general (save, possibly, Spain) is getting more secular. Given the monarchist structure of Bretonia, I imagine Bretonia would still retain the Church of England, but most of it's people would be "Easter and Christmas" sorts. And I imagine there's a variety of other religions in the mix, from both Britain's native population and it's colonies. Probably a minority of Hindus from more Alliance-sympathetic parts of India.

On Kusari, I'll quote two things I wrote for these purposes:

Yes, they do. The Furya cult is just one of over 150 religions and cults which practices the removal and preservation of organs for spiritual purposes and occasionally as part of larger rituals.

Well, Kusari has 500,000 cults and religions known via census as of last count. Look at Earth. They had less, and look at their wars, like the Long War.

Rheinland's is generally the best known, and it's damn near certain it's illegal to believe anything else there, so I'll leave it at that.

For Outcasts and Corsairs, I imagine a largely Catholic derivation for both. The most common objection to this hypothesis is A. Brutality (especially in the Corsairs case) and B. The supposed xenotheism of the Outcasts.

In response to which..

A. There have, historically, been religious crime lords, in the West, in the last century. And they were not merely paying lip service, either. Bugsy Siegel severely detested Al Capone for Capone's establishment of prostitution in the Stockade, Siegel being a regular churchgoer. While reading a Cosa Nostra-related encyclopedia, I recall a case of a church statue or other piece of property being stolen, which enraged the devout local crimelord, who threatened violence on the thief and managed to intimidate the local fences enough to make the item a hot potato, so to speak. And for a non-real life example, well, look at the Godfather.

Also, given the desperate economic situation of the Corsairs, I'd find it hard to believe they wouldn't turn to the religion of their heritage (whatever it may be). Of course, if they are predominantly Greek, that would orient them more towards the Orthodox Church, unless a merge occured in FL's timeline.

B. There is no evidence the xenotheism (which is actually more akin to misattribution of ancestral spirits, a belief held even in heavily Catholic countries like Mexico to the activities of extraterrestrial folk) is universal among the Outcasts. What's more, besides the aforementioned Mexico, there are many cases when Catholicism and Christianity in general has integrated aspects of native religions (such as the "Son of the Great Spirit" in America) to aid in absorption of the faith.

Intercession with the saints (the Outcasts seem to revere their deceased warriors) and the angels is also a common Catholic belief, along with intercession of the dead. Not quite analogous to ghosts, but it provides a baseline.

Lastly, out of the remaining houses, the Phantoms religious affiliation is obvious while the SK have been described in lore as a largely secular society. Only the Coalition provides an interesting exception to Marxist atheism, given the presence of at least one Egyptian (Egypt, at present, is partly Coptic and partly Sunni). If the Middle East and Persian Gulf (and possibly Pakistan) is among the Coalition's survivors/membership, this provides an interesting quandary as to the fate of Islam.

My own theory, though solely my own and not in any way endorsed by the Coalition, is that as Marxist-Leninist-Stalinism is the predominant philosophy among the CCCP Coalition members and Maoism is predominant among the PRC Coalition members, a philosophy akin to the secular socialism of Edward Said is predominant among the ME/PG/Pakistan members of the Coalition.

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