Replacing Religions

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by windupmerchant

Yes, he can do whatever he wants with his own game. However, I resent the fact that he describes other religions as"wrong".

Can you come up with an explanation of how it could be possible for all seven of the religions in Civ 4 to be right, given the extent to which they contradict each other? If not, then how can a rational person who believes that his religion is right possibly not believe that other religions that contradict his are wrong?

Edit: Also, how is it that you condemn me for believing that religions other than mine are wrong, but you don't condemn atheists who believe that all religions are wrong? Isn't that a serious double standard?

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by nbarclay


Can you come up with an explanation of how it could be possible for all seven of the religions in Civ 4 to be right, given the extent to which they contradict each other? If not, then how can a rational person who believes that his religion is right possibly not believe that other religions that contradict his are wrong?

Many believe that the various religions of the world are just different facets of the same one true thing, whatever that one true thing may be.

*sigh*

this is completely OT.

[Senethro]

Its a game! ITS JUST A GAME! Its pixels on your monitor, YOU'RE NOT REALLY SPREADING RELIGIONS!

Just play the game.

[Lorizael]

Perhaps he enjoys the game for different reasons than you do.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Lorizael


Many believe that the various religions of the world are just different facets of the same one true thing, whatever that one true thing may be.

That doesn't solve the problem because the "all religions are facets of the same one true thing" religion directly contradicts religions that do not regard all religions as different facets of the same one true thing.

[Lorizael]

It's a matter of perception. People believe that each of the religions that exists has interpreted whatever's up there in their own way, and that this interpretation isn't necessarily correct. But we're all looking at/feeling/believing the same thing, depite our perception of that thing.

I don't believe this, btw, just playing devil's advodate.

But... this isn't appropriate for the Civ 4 forum.

[CrazyCanuck]

What about the Church of the Flying Spagetti Monster?

http://www.venganza.org/

"May you be touched by his noodley appendage"

[sabrewolf]

you're forgetting the most successful religion that indirectly even improves the lives of those who do not agree with it: capitalism

[windupmerchant]

Hmm...there may be a slight misunderstanding here. From the tone of his post i got the feeling he was saying they were morally wrong, not incorrect.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by dearmad

At first I thought your idea was cute and your reasoning sound, but then reading the above I thought- this is sort of creepy idolatry. Isn't that a tenet of your faith?

My ideas for Firaxianism, Apolytonism, and so forth are based on a somewhat peculiar way of looking at the game. The Civilization game and the worlds within the game are created by human beings, not by a divine force. Therefore, from the perspective of the fictional residents of the game, the human beings who created, play, and plan strategies for the game are the sources of god-like wisdom, authority, and power. That's the perspective I was looking from when I first wrote "High Firaxians" into stories.

I can see how people who don't look at the issue from that particular angle can view it as idolatry, but from the angle I'm looking from, it seems to work just fine. The whole approach hinges on treating religion in the game as religion in a game rather than as real-world religion.

Why not just stick to xtian religions:
Orthadox, Catholic, Lutheran, Ecuminical, Baptist, "Christian" the sort of general feel-goody people, and Anglican. 7 little xtains all in a row.

That approach still gets into real-world religious conflicts more than I prefer. Ultimately, I believe that the ideal is for Christians to try to follow the Bible, not a creed (whether written or unwritten) developed by men. I don't like how divided Christianity is today, and that division is not really something I want to play out in a game.

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by windupmerchant
Hmm...there may be a slight misunderstanding here. From the tone of his post i got the feeling he was saying they were morally wrong, not incorrect.

I certainly don't take the view that only Christiians can follow high standards of morality.

[Lorizael]

What is your goal in the game? Would you rather promote Christianity in the game?

[Jon Miller]

he would like to not harm christianity

and I can see his position... although I don't think I really agree with it (I think it is abstract enough to be ok.. but if I had to do something like having one of my govenors kill Jesus (if I was from an oposing religion/civ), I would probably mod it)

Jon Miller

[nbarclay]

Originally posted by Lorizael
What is your goal in the game? Would you rather promote Christianity in the game?

The approach I like best personally is to deal with religion on an abstract level where I don't feel like what I'm doing has anything at all to do with particular real-world religions. (For example, while there were some gameplay issues that I didn't like regarding clerics in Call to Power, they didn't rub my religious sensibilities the wrong way.) If I have to promote a particular real-world religion in a game, I'd rather it be Christianity than something else, but making a game out of promoting Christianity would itself feel a bit odd.

I'm not trying to portray myself as some kind of super-Christian, because I'm not. But there are certain things that rub me the wrong way.

[Lorizael]

Well that's not really a perspective I can particularly agree with but *shrug* it doesn't really affect me at all.