Breathing life into a fantasy religion

[Arthur_Connelly]

How do you create a religion that has character and doesn’t feel like a real-world religion with the name changed? I'm trying to avoid the Crystal Dragon Jesus situation as much as possible but it's not really working.

I've come up with holy days, prayers, festivals, blasphemies, and minced oaths, but there's something lacking that I can't quite describe. The weird thing is that I have two faiths born from the same root and existing at the same time. The older one has depth, which is strange since I made it a sort of regionally organized affair that lacks a powerful central figure and defined leadership.

The newer one is the one I'm having trouble with. I wanted a more organized faith which shows the shifting in ideology between the founding of the first faith and the founding of the second faith. It has far more structure, but in the end it feels as if it's nothing more than Catholicism with polytheism and an all female clergy substituted for their real-world analogues. I could take elements from other real-world faiths, but throwing them in is just cultural appropriation and feels a bit hollow honestly.

On the one hand it won't really affect the story if I just leave things as they are, but on the other hand I'd consider it poor world-building. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I found it easiest to start with the god of the religion. Mine is the universe, my people believe that they are inside god and form part of his body. Out of that came the magic/miracles and observances. Also things like the creation story can give it huge character. Mine has the creation story, a fall of sorts and a flood style story (God changing his people). Also locate your version of the 'golden rule.'

However, most of the worlds religions have an awful lot in common. I weaved bits from each of them into the observances. I have something approaching the five Ks (Sikh), prayer is meditation: more pagan style than Buddhist, they have compline and the other Catholicism style monastic life, asian fighting styles bring in elements. If you note the things all the religions we have, have in common and keep them deviating is easier.

Your worlds religion if it has humanity will have similarity to religions we have on Earth.

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

Yeah. I noticed a lot of similarities between religions myself. Prayer beads for example are found in quite a few real-world faiths and I incorporated those without it feeling like cultural appropriation. Also the idea of people of great courage, wisdom, and virtue attaining some higher level of existence in the form of Christian saints, Einherjar, Daoist immortals, or Greco-Roman heroes.

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

On the one hand it won't really affect the story if I just leave things as they are, but on the other hand I'd consider it poor world-building. Any ideas would be appreciated.

If the details don't effect the story, then the details don't really matter. Unless you're doing a treatise on this particular religion, don't bother with the exact details. For example, unless there's some story relevant impact to the holy days, then they're irrelevant.

Boil the faith down to one or two lines, not creeds or statements of faith, but what they actually believe, not what they say they believe. There's often a huge difference between real belief and stated belief, especially in western religions. Once you know this, you should be able to make it breathe.

Also, no matter how honest, noble, pure of heart, righteous, or forthright the faith may be, there are still corrupt bastards that find their way in, and find their way up to positions of power.

Adherents--of western religions mostly--often see their own faith as a shining beacon of Truth while other religions are laughably quaint if not outright blasphemous and dangerous. Eastern religions more often than not simply don't care what other people are doing, religiously that is--at least not enough to engage in proselytizing.

 

[hopewrites]

How are the leaders of your organized branch chosen? That could be an area to develop the individuality your looking for, and pull it away from the other branch as well. I know Mormonism had a branch divide from it when its founder died, some wanting the next leader to be his son, others wanting the next leader to be chosen of God. According to those who chose to follow him at the time of the divide, the second prophet took on the voice and appearance of his dead predecessor momentarily while admonishing the congregation to follow God's plan.
So a miracle or heavenly decree of some sort on how leadership is doled out, along with some practices for choosing underlings, would give it the grounding and definition from others you are looking for without complicating the story line.

 

[Gumboot]

I wouldn't be concerned about your fictional religion resembling real-world religions; all real-world religions are fundamentally the same anyway.

The key, I think, is that you have to get your head around the fact that real-world religions derive from a fundamental world view. It's hard even for religious people in the modern western world to appreciate the role of religion in historic society, let alone for non-religious types.

Religion was very much the foundation of every aspect of daily life in historic cultures, and creating a fictional religion with that depth and scope can be pretty difficult.

 

[j d worthington]

This may sound odd, but... is the religion you are having trouble with an organic one? That is, would such a belief system naturally emerge from a people such as you envision, or is it something you are imposing on them for convenience sake or to make a point?

If the latter, then I'd suggest dropping it and find another way to address whatever you're going for. Religions are like organisms; they evolve over time, incrementally, depending on the historical exp[eriences and needs of whatever people believe them. This is why such things as Catholicism adapted so many preexisting festivals and celebrations into their own traditions, refashioning them just enough in most cases to avoid the "heretical" beliefs they were originally connected with. Religions which attempt to revise things too heavily simply don't survive (e.g.. Akhenaten and his attempt to turn Egypt from polytheism to monotheism). So you may want to "get in touch with" your peoples' inner feelings, and see what such would really believe. Otherwise it isn't going to feel "real" or genuine, and can seriously weaken the world you are attempting to build.

As for avoiding too much similarity to real world religions... if such feels appropriate to the world you've created, to hell with that. Many a fine writer before you has incorporated such things into the religions of their world to their benefit... but it must feel as if it belongs, rather than being something consciously imposed on the world to make a point (as in satire, etc.); at least, as long as you aren't intending your book to be a satire about such things, rather than a straightforward fantasy/sf piece....

 

[Alex The G and T]

Read Joseph Campbell. "Hero of a Thousand Faces."

 

[Brian G Turner]

Christianity is in itself a hybrid of different belief systems: Greek mythology, Jewish mystery, Pagan festivals - and encapsulates universal agricultural symbols which have always been important in the ancient world. So personally I wouldn't worry too much about being a little close - especially as to get that mediaeval feeling you need to cover something of it.

However, what most people fail to realise is how much the Protestant faith changed the mediaeval landscape - before then it was almost pagan by way of synthesis of feast days and saints, something Martin Luther pushed aside.

So you can be authentically mediaeval while still presenting something that looks very different for the modern audience.

 

[Jake Reynolds]

I actually went the other way, and made mine as close to the Catholic church/ Christianity as possible. However, as a non-believer I specifically wanted to do that so I could provide commentary on religion and draw parallels with ourselves. Now, in my books the religion as important as one of my characters is the Messiah. For the most part, unless the religion is specifically relevant, readers don't generally care.

For example, in Ice and Fire it is relevant at times, but not for the majority of the perspective characters. Though it plays a part in the plot etc, it isn't necessary to outline all the ins and outs. In truth, if I was asked I'd say- well, some believe in a pantheon, then there's this fire chick, and later on a sea god dude, but that's about it.

Religion is appearing less and less in fantasy nowadays (which I hope indicates that a younger generation of writers also sees it as irrelevant, but that is just my opinion). It might be more effective not to have religion at all. I think much of it comes from our inability to disconnect medieval fantasy from religion because of our own european medieval history, of which the church was a driving force at all levels of society. However, on the worlds we create, why have a religion at all?

 

[HareBrain]

It might be more effective not to have religion at all. I think much of it comes from our inability to disconnect medieval fantasy from religion because of our own european medieval history, of which the church was a driving force at all levels of society. However, on the worlds we create, why have a religion at all?

I don't think it has anything to do with being euro-centric. In what pre-modern society was religious belief of some kind not a major part of people's lives? (And in many modern ones, perhaps even most, it still is to some extent.) If you want an exclusion of religion to be realistic then there ought to be a good reason, like modern science. Personally, I think it's one of the most fascinating aspects of human psychology. Obviously not everyone thinks so, and I would avoid bringing it too much into the story where it doesn't affect the plot, but a world in which people didn't grope for the meaning of their existence would strike me as being trite.

As to the relevance, swords are largely irrelevant to our lives today too, but I don't see them being excluded from fantasy.

Edit: to the OP, I would suggest reading James Frazer's The Golden Bough. Though outdated as an anthropology text, I think it's still relevant in exploring the process by which the priest caste and religion arose from more primitive magical thinking, taboos etc. I found it very useful (though I confess I skimmed large sections even of the abridged version).

 

[Toby Frost]

Actually writing a species with no concept of religion at all - and no real capacity for it - is a surprisingly difficult exercise. Depending on your level of cynicism about such things an awful lot of human activities require new reasons to happen. Who do you write choral music about? Who do you massacre? I fudged and settled for a generic afterlife, like a sort of Valhalla, but without entry requirements.

That said I have written stories in a semi-Renaissance world. Having the church as both a major world power and an integral part of people's lives is very interesting, especially considering that people in the past were so completely different. I think a fantasy version of Martin Luther would be very interesting, although it would be difficult not to seem to take sides.

 

[James Coote]

Religions are like organisms; they evolve over time, incrementally, depending on the historical experiences and needs of whatever people believe them.

This

Also successful religions are flexible. The practical believer gets a set of (common sense) rules to live life by. The celebratory believer can sing glorious praises of God. The quiet, introverted believer can take solace in prayer and contemplation/meditation

Your newer religion needs some motivation. What is the underlying issue that is driving it from the old religion. It could be a messiah, a vision from heaven, a miracle or disaster.

More likely there is something more subtle going on. When Arab traders sailed to Indonesia, they brought a religion that had none of the caste constraints of prevailing Hinduism.

Religions are never found in isolation. They either have replaced something that came before, as others have pointed out, or have direct rivals

 

[James Coote]

Adherents--of western religions mostly--often see their own faith as a shining beacon of Truth while other religions are laughably quaint if not outright blasphemous and dangerous. Eastern religions more often than not simply don't care what other people are doing, religiously that is--at least not enough to engage in proselytizing.

I disagree. "Eastern religions" proselytize as much/little as western ones (Judaism doesn't, Buddhism does to name two counter-examples). It would also be unfair to characterise them as 'ego-centric' / not caring about what other people are doing. Whilst some of them may appear on the surface to be more inward-looking or have introverted focus, they certainly do consider inter-human and societal stuff. Equally, many western religions have strong spiritual and mystical threads

The only dangerous part of religion is when people can't agree to disagree

 

[Nerds_feather]

in some ways, what the adherents believe in is not that important. what matters is how they internalize those beliefs, how they relate what they see in the world to those beliefs (and to their underlying metaphysical and moral assumptions) and how the religion guides day-to-day life, both in terms of decision-making and rituals.

for example, my characters could believe in the 7 snake gods of tesh, or the living volcano and they could both be either interesting or uninteresting depending on how i develop these beliefs.

as far as using real-world religions as a basis, i think you need to look at the things major real-world religions have in common: a metaphysical belief system, a moral code that can sometimes seem contradictory or difficult to interpret, a power structure and a set of rituals organizing everyday life.

 

[j d worthington]

This

Also successful religions are flexible. The practical believer gets a set of (common sense) rules to live life by. The celebratory believer can sing glorious praises of God. The quiet, introverted believer can take solace in prayer and contemplation/meditation

Your newer religion needs some motivation. What is the underlying issue that is driving it from the old religion. It could be a messiah, a vision from heaven, a miracle or disaster.

More likely there is something more subtle going on. When Arab traders sailed to Indonesia, they brought a religion that had none of the caste constraints of prevailing Hinduism.

Religions are never found in isolation. They either have replaced something that came before, as others have pointed out, or have direct rivals

Agreed. Good post!

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

My story takes place in a time period that's equivalent to our Age of Revolutions. There has been colonization of other lands and the dominant faiths have taken the local gods of the various people that have been conquered and adopted some as patron saints and others as aspects of their gods. To put it in real world terms Thor and Indra would be aspects of Zeus since all three are associated with thunder.

The world is in flux. The Faith/Church has lost the political power that it once had. There aren't any more holy wars although there were holy wars fought in the recent past between the two dominant faiths. No one - at least in the country where the story takes place - believes in the divine right of kings. Wealth is starting to mean more than noble birth. I'd say that the people aren't quite as serious about religion as they used to be since no one's been be put on trial for heresy for over a hundred years.

I guess the more that I think about it, the more that it does make sense for there to have been a split in the original faith. The evolution of the faith from the sort of thing practiced in barns to the sort of thing practiced in huge cathedrals is logical. The world has evolved.

I'm just missing the little elements that give a faith depth - the Friday fish fry kind of things that enter into my characters' every day conversation. I'm thinking of looking into the Eastern Orthodox Church and borrowing a few things. Maybe if I find a few things that are common to other faiths I won't feel so bad about lifting them for my story.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Hey Arthur,

I don't know how deep your knowledge of religion is, so apologies if it's pretty solid, but I found the book 'Sacred Origins of Profound Knowledge' by Charles Panati to be hugely engrossing and fascinating.

He's actually a physicist but he explores the origins of hundreds of religious rituals, customs and practices in many faiths, the reasons for religious holidays and sacred symbols, and the meanings of vestments, sacraments, devotions and prayers. It's not judgemental at all on religions, just historical explanation.

It may possibly spark ideas for your fictional religion suggesting different origins and practices.

 

[Nerds_feather]

that sounds cool, arthur!

i think its more important to have your characters internalize it all than to pick specifically perfect rituals.