Do real-world religions apply in your nation?

[The Nation of Ceneria]

PLEASE read the full question before you reply! This is a much more complex question than it may seem.

Greetings, fellow nations of the world! To you I pose a less-than-simple question: Do real-world religions (I.e. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) apply within you IC canon?

Let me elaborate. Let us say that you are, hypothetically, a MT nation with Islam as a predominant religion. You reside in a region full of other Islamic nations, as well as a smattering of predominantly Christian nations. Your concept of time is completely different from that of the real world. Rome never existed. The continent Gondwana never split. Did Muhammad ever receive revalations from the Angel Gabiel? Was Jesus ever nailed to a cross? If so, where and when did these religious figures do their storied deeds? How do you reconcile religions so deeply entwined with Earth's past with your own?

I have not been able to figure out a reliable system for transferring religions into my history. This thread is posted partially in order to help me figure out what place religions have in Ceneria's past. That said, I hope that it can help others reconcile religion with their pasts as well.

Happy Easter! I look forward to seeing what you choose to write!

Edit: If this thread belongs in the Gameplay sub-forum instead of F&NI, I would be much obliged if you would request it be moved. Thank you!

[The Northern Kingdoms]

Bolded are real religions.

50% of Northern Kingdomers are Christians (60% Protestant, 38% Catholic, 2% Orthodox).
18% worship the Order (although it is reported that only 10% of them hate mamonos.)
10.5% are atheist.
7.325% worship the occult/demons (99.66% Sabbath, 0.102% Satanism, 0.102% Wicca, 0.068% Luciferianism, 0.068% Goetia)
6.2% are Buddhists (the 6% Zipanguans).
3% are Shinto (99% of which Zipanguans)
1.4% are Jews.
1% are Rastafarians.
0.8% worship the Nordic gods.
0.5% worship the Cthulhu pantheon.
Another 0.5% are Muslims.
0.3% are Hindus.
The other 0.475% are of other religions (most prominent of these other religions are Tengriism and Zoroastrianism).

[United Russian Soviet States]

Real world religions do exist in our nation. They are usually persecuted though. We are mostly atheist and agnostic.

[Fauzjhia]

We Fauzjhians don't like to talk about imaginary friends.

[Leonische]

I parallel real event with my nation cannon. Leonische is pretty much German Empire with authoritarian constitutional monarchy and is the Third Reich. The First Reich being Ustrina, my equivalent of Roman Empire and the Second Reich being Sonne, equivalent of Holy Roman Empire. In my cannon, the Protestant Reformation sparked the apocalypse of decaying Sonne Empire with religion and civil wars, fractured it with dozens of small states. Arose form the ash of fallen empire was the secular Leonische who spent 2 centuries unifying the fallen empire back together.

[Soled]

-Disregard this post, it was outdated-

[Zarea]

There aren't any RL religions in Zarea. I've made them all up.

[Kesshite]

I have real world religions. I assume Kesshite exists in a near-future version of the real world, so I don't need to have an elaborate reconstruction of history.

[Victorious Decepticons]

It doesn't make sense for war robots from outer space to have much concern for the beliefs of a bunch of "primitive beta creatures" who are seen as too lowly even for the slave positions they have been given. Like the imperialists of old on steroids, the Decepticons would instead want to wipe out the "superstitions" that were resulting in a higher rate of insurgency. Therefore, I didn't have to worry about fitting IRL religions into my nation's canon. Instead, I had to figure out how to have my nation - the victorious invaders of Earth - wipe out these competing beliefs that would put followers at odds with the Decepticon vision.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The real-world religions of Earth were summarily stamped out after the Decepticon Invasion about 200 years ago. Since it was a planet-wide invasion that gave us full control over the population, we were able to accomplish what nations like the USSR had spectacularly failed to do. The stamping-out was done because Earth's religions promoted ideals in opposition to our own, and that was leading a surprising amount of believers to think that insurgency against us was some sort of holy act. We quickly decided that we had to weed these beliefs out of the conquered population and replace them with our own.

This was done by completely separating all "new humans" (babies) from the elder generations of humans, so the older ones couldn't pass on any knowledge of their religions - or anything else, for that matter. All human education, both formal and informal, is passed on by specialized Decepticon nannies who work in the Education Centers. Young humans are never allowed contact with older ones so that our desired educational results cannot be fouled up.

We didn't and still don't teach the growing new humans about the old religions, and in fact, we've never even mentioned them. The new humans have therefore never even learned that Earth has had religions, let alone the details of those old beliefs. As far as they're concerned, there is only one philosophy, and that is the version of the Decepticon Way that is to be practiced by those in their position.

[Blakullar]

As Mechanocratic Russia is positioned in what could be called "the real world", we are unfortunately plagued with "real world" religions. These religions have mostly been suppressed and some have been eradicated outright, but occasionally some of the drivel that they espouse seeps in, most of it coming from Nexus "missionaries" sent to introduce their stench to the wasteland settlements. Events like this are where Thought Reassignment, a branch of the NKVB given a blank cheque to purge unwanted ideas from the Mechanocracy, earns their keep.

As Bulganin writes the above, several International Reorganisation apparatchiks can be seen scribbling notes on how the Decepticons handled the problem of religion in their multiversal pocket...

[Chinese Peoples]

China, being based on the China in the "real world", has a number of "real world" religions.

All major religious groups are accurately depicted in China, since I haven't bothered with coming up with my own religions; fundamentalists (of both the Muslim and Christian variety) and extremists are, however, not as prevalent in this universe as it is in the "real world", because I don't like their beliefs or actions and the fluctuations in their teachings. Something one moment may be doctrine and another moment heresy in those groups.

Religious groups in China are usually in harmony with each other, seeking out what is in common instead of expounding on the differences. Whatever that is truly incompatible is kept silent and personal.

The mainstream global Muslim organization, the Society of the Umma, has prayed for peace in the world and especially for the rapid enlightenment of extremists such as ISIS, which the Society regards as a violent, irreligious group. The Archbishop of China of the Anglican Church has also instructed all churches to pray "for the rapid conversion to Christianity of the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, that peace and love in the world may increase, and wayward people guided back to the Way". Furthermore, the Archbishop has said, "[the Westboro Baptist Church] does not spread the Gospel, and instead elects to make particular emphasis of one single verse in the Old Testament, yet ignores everything in the rest of the Bible."

[Beaverriver]

Although Beaverriver is in an alternate universe, some real life events including all world religions does exists. Christanity is the major religion of Beaverriver along with Buddhism. Pre-Unification, the kings would impose Christianity to his subordinates and oppressing those who are of other religions. However, Post-Unification resulted in the rise of other religions, particularly Buddhism, because of the right of free worship was guaranteed by the government.

[Delkora]

Our canon is essentially parallel to the real world, just with different nations and people. (For example, the Cold War happened, but with the NS equivalent of the capitalist and communist blocs rather than the Soviet Union and other real world nations.) Thus, we have all the real world religions, although their stories use different locations and people.

[Communist Volkstrad]

Volkstrad doesn't have any real world religions in it that aren't extremely minor. Volkstrad's most followed religion is a form of paganism strongly based on Norse mythology.

[Unilateral rhodesia]

in terms of real world religions Rhodesia is predominately a Christian nation mostly of Anglican and Presbyterian stock with a small Jewish minority of western European Reform alongside a small trickle of Muslims from Pakistan who have learned to assimilate with the native Black and White population however according to current immigration policy Muslim immigration is to be limited to just 600 every 32 years. Ian Douglas Smith p.m. of Rhodesia in Salisbury

[Galmarch]

Galmarch is IC:ly located where Switzerland is in Europe.
Christianity is the main religion with catholicism being the largest denomination. Other earth religions exist here aswell.

[Yeungwai]

Yeungwai is set in a slightly alternate version of the real world, and it's not big or influential enough to have had any major effects on world religions, so they all apply.

[New Vudnia]

Our country was founded by people who were being persecuted by religion, Christianity in particular. As a result, all religions are banned from Vudnia. They cause nothing but trouble.

[Melvonia]

A most interesting question.

Melvonia is an incomprehensible mess of real-world elements, having an organisation (or disorganisation) like a pre-Napoleonic decadent Italian city-state, geography like Switzerland, and a climate like a small south-Carribbean island. Naturally, this has made our interactions with Real World religions somewhat unusual, and to most people, including most of the hierarchy of the Holy Apostolic Melvonian Church, also an incomprehensible mess. An unholy mess, if you will.

The early 5th Century founders of the nation were pagans, following a religion which is difficult to reconstruct, but seems to have contained elements of ancestor-worship and shamanic practices. From about 550 they were evangelised by Christians from mainland Europe, led by Abbot Ortho of Quark, who founded the first monastery in the nation, became our first Archbishop, and is recognised as our national patron saint, Saint Ortho the Snitty. Some versions of his sermons, though copied down much later in the 8th Century and therefore of dubious authenticity, survive. In them, he focuses not so much on conventional Christian theology, but on remarking how Catholic clerics have frankly much cooler clothes, nicer buildings, better music and wine, while shamans are all crusty and gross. This passive-agressive preening struck a profound chord within the Melvonian psyche even then, and converts flocked to his (admittedly really well laid-out) monastery to receive the light of the Holy Spirit. And wine.

Being geographically remote, politically insignificant and, let's face it, an unremitting pain in the backside to work with, the Church in Melvonia was allowed to develop on its own path with little interference from the Papacy. During the Monastic Reforms of the 11th and 12th Centuries, when the Catholic Church began to focus on rooting out abuses of power and immorality within the clergy, we were honoured with our first visit from a Papal Legate. The serving Archbishop, The Very Reverend Limax Flavus, put on a full 14-course Melvonian banquet over which he explained in detail how Melvonian Catholic priests were already pillars of morality, sharing their 50,0000-groat stipends with the poor, remaining scrupulously faithful to their wives or husbands, and serving Mass at least twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, whether the congregation turned up or not. Unfortunately the Legate suffered a fatal apoplexy less than halfway through the meal, and the See of St Peter never got to find out how superlatively well-behaved the Melvonian clergy were.

During the Reformation, many ordinary people throughout Christendom demanded a new kind of Christianity, based on pure living, hard work, strict morality, and simpler forms of worship focused more on sermons encouraging good behaviour than opulence and ritual. The Reformation never really caught on in Melvonia, for obvious reasons.

Religious minorities have always been welcome on our shores, and have always found us a safe haven in times of persecution. We're both far too open-minded and far too lazy to persecute anybody on the grounds of religion (as opposed to really important stuff, like having unattractive shoes, or pronouncing something on a wine-list wrong). For that reason we have a large number of small populations of different religions and sects - though those who try to live a strictly religious or traditional lifestyle very often find themselves shipping quickly back out again, muttering darkly about us being "doomed to perdition", "a sink of iniquity", "Satan's playground on Earth", and other such compliments.

[Theopanias]

In the early days of Theopanias' existence, Protestant Christianity was dominant, with Deism and Atheism following behind, with all others making up a small minority.

In present day Theopanias, Deism has grown considerably and become the dominant worldview in Theopanias, followed by Atheism, then followed by Christianity.

[Luepola]

PLEASE read the full question before you reply! This is a much more complex question than it may seem.

Greetings, fellow nations of the world! To you I pose a less-than-simple question: Do real-world religions (I.e. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) apply within you IC canon?

Let me elaborate. Let us say that you are, hypothetically, a MT nation with Islam as a predominant religion. You reside in a region full of other Islamic nations, as well as a smattering of predominantly Christian nations. Your concept of time is completely different from that of the real world. Rome never existed. The continent Gondwana never split. Did Muhammad ever receive revalations from the Angel Gabiel? Was Jesus ever nailed to a cross? If so, where and when did these religious figures do their storied deeds? How do you reconcile religions so deeply entwined with Earth's past with your own?

I have not been able to figure out a reliable system for transferring religions into my history. This thread is posted partially in order to help me figure out what place religions have in Ceneria's past. That said, I hope that it can help others reconcile religion with their pasts as well.

Happy Easter! I look forward to seeing what you choose to write!

Edit: If this thread belongs in the Gameplay sub-forum instead of F&NI, I would be much obliged if you would request it be moved. Thank you!

luepola is real though

[Greater Mackonia]

Yes.

[Arvenia]

Yes they does in Arvenia, but it's main religion is Megandelanism.

[Vandario]

in the world Vandario resides in the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) never came to be, so on Austnara (the name of the planet) most countries have either unique religions, or the old polytheistic ones Earth had, such as the gods Rome and Greece had or that of Northern Europe, even Shinto and so on, in Vandario the main religion is Asatru, or if your not familiar with that term the old beliefs of the Norse and so on.
(OOC: I might develop a type of Abrahamic religion but not sure yet, all of it is still sort of in the works)

[Imperia Babylonia]

They somewhat do.
Before 1920, most of Imperia Babylonia was plagued with Muslims and Pagans, but thanks to the almighty prophets, Keionism is the dominant religion (89.17% of the nation). In some annexed regions, Buddhism and Sikhism are dominant, same with colonial provinces.