=Mech= Religion in Writing


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12/26/2009 15:51:31

Alixander Fey
Member

What part does religion play in your writing?

By that, I mean:

1. Your personal religion
2. The religion of your characters
3. The religion of your characters' enemies

Some people avoid it like the plague, but in my opinion the religion a person believes will color his writing. And I've been reading Asimov and Herbert, both of whom use religion as a plot device alot. In Foundation, Asimov creates a religious order that dominates by giving them high-tech gizmos and claiming they are gifts from God. Herbert deals with religion a lot--his main character is seen as Messiah and his son is the God Emperor! The Bene Gesserit have a special division that creates religions just so they can control people. Some of their enemies follow religions--"The Great Belief." It's really, really thought-provoking. I just finished a novel-length story and if I write a sequel it will have religious overtones, because the main character will be seen as Lord Messiah for his work to create clones. So I've been thinking about it alot.

Don't fight, silly! This isn't about agruing whose religion is best! I'm a Christian and my favorite author draws mostly from Islam for his religions--and it's okay. We're talking about an art form here.

Also, do comment whether it's fantasy, science fiction, or gothic romance. Anything goes.

And if you /don't/ use religion, mention that too!

Got any awesome religions or systems of religion that you created? Share! Discuss! Pass the chocolate!

Post #: 1

12/26/2009 16:03:04

alexmacf
Member

My favourite author right now is Tamora Pierce, who's a fantasy author. She uses religion to add some flavour to her world - a world of atheists is unrealistic. She doesn't seem to me (though I don't study religious practices much) to base hers around any modern-day relgions, but more a Parthenon. Also, the gods do play major and minor roles in her books. Alanna had a few encounters with the Goddess, and her daughter and husband with the trickster god (forgetting his name).

Personally, I'm using religion as a background. It's not very well-developed yet, but in my head it's a bit like the Catholic religion.

Post #: 2

12/27/2009 5:05:43

Xirminator
Member

This is a rather risky subject; some people may not like it.

I don't want to disclose my religion here, no offense, and I try to keep my own beliefs away from my writing. Rather, I let the characters' religions affect it, if they have any. Since I write mostly fantasy, I usually "create" (with limited success) these religions, so there's no point telling you what they are.

Edit: Wow, these seems like a grouchy post.

< Message edited by Xirminator -- 12/27/2009 5:06:17 >

Post #: 3

12/28/2009 9:34:39

Goldstein
Member

I usually don't have religion unless it is playing a critical role in the plot. In the novel I'm working on now, the religion is assumed to be Catholic, since it is set in the 2nd-3rd century (it's never said). People go to Sunday Mass, the holy man is called "Father", he is an elderly man, and he wears a black cassock. So while I never delve into the specifications, the reader, I hope, will assume that it is Catholic.

Post #: 4

12/28/2009 9:55:51

Crimzon5
Member

1. Your personal religion
To avoid the risk of blasphemy, I seldom include any (especially my) religion in fiction works. In my fictional works, I make the characters have their own god/s, and I only include it if it plays a mjaor role in the plot.

2. The religion of your characters
3. The religion of your characters' enemies
Well, in Myrmidon, there's only one diety. So yeah... both the good guys and the villains have only one guy to believe in... and his existance is proven because a huge % of the population consists of demigods. Though... 2 of the main villains (ther are many villains with groups/armies that are not allied to one another) have a reason for hating the diety (and the reason has something to do with the hatred for demigods).

Post #: 5

12/28/2009 10:44:08

Eukara Vox
Legendary AdventureGuide!

1. Your personal religion
My religion plays somewhat a part in my writing and stories, mostly though, in reference to dedication and faith. I find that my characters usually take on some form or part of my own faith strengths. I have one book that I am working on in private that is fantasy, yet contains a great deal of my own religious beliefs and history.

2. The religion of your characters I find that all my books, stories, excerpts contain religion. It is just a natural part of my writing. Sometimes it is a monotheistic philosophy and sometimes a polytheistic. Some writings are very obviously polytheistic, as in Dionysus' Challenge and its future sister works, as they are based on Greek mythology. Gate into Darkness doesn't have any obvious religious over- or under-tones, but there is something there, especially in the planned sequels.

But my characters, for whatever reason, always turn out with some kind of religion or belief system. Most likely, that is because of religion's role in my own life. I can't escape it, even if I wanted to. And really, I have no desire to. I think religion creates a very unique characterization within a story and enhances the plot, giving it a life that flavors everything.

3. The religion of your characters' enemies I would have to say that what was said above applies here. Sometimes, their beliefs are a convoluted truth apart from the rest of the "world's". Sometimes, there is a deity specifically followed by the enemy(s).

I am actually having to create an entire mythos for the current book in works. I have posted the beginnings of the mythos on here, mostly because I find the development of a mythos from the beginning fascinating. As someone who has read and studied ancient cultures and religions, creating this has taken everything I have learned and taught to others to create. Eventually, the myths will be referenced in the book, later sequels and the two prequels that have spawned from writing what I have already.

AQW

Epic

Post #: 6

12/29/2009 12:52:05

Fleur Du Mal
Member

2. The religion of your characters
3. The religion of your characters' enemies
As a rule, I don't make a distinction between the religions of my protagonists and antagonists. Both may have the same religion or any of the religions that included in the spectrum of beliefs in the world they live in. If I use the 'real' world as a background, then the characters' beliefs will represent the beliefs present of this society. That is, there may be secular Christians, atheists, agnostics, devout believers in any religion, etc, you name it. If a character's persona is such that their religious beliefs happen to dictate how they treat other people, then it might be used as a distinct background for that character, or as a plot device. However, this is not to display the fictional/real religion as good or bad itself but to display how the character may or may not use their beliefs as a justification or reason to their behaviour.

As I am a product of society where religion is pretty much present everywhere, even if only in secular forms, it is pretty hard for me to write all religion out of a story. I can be pretty evasive, though, if needed.

quote:

Got any awesome religions or systems of religion that you created?

I do not think this is an awesome system per se, but I find the state of affairs interesting enough to play around with:

In a slowly moving personal (not on the forums due to several reasons) project of mine I conjured up a world where there are two separate churches of monotheistic belief, both of which agree that they are worshipping the same god. Their views on the persona of that god and of what they are convinced (s)he wants just differ distinctively. One church believes a lot stricter rule and hierarchy of things than the other, leaving the first one in charge of things and the other one more faded in the background, away from the halls of kings and merchants.

The story is in fantasy setting. In this world, a bitter renegade hunter appears. Foolish enough, and tired of playing the victim, he decides to challenge this one god. to become god himself. Both of the churches start a hunt of him, of course, the first more actively , the other more passively. However, the interesting part of this would be that after winning the race against the churches to a certain holy artifact, he finds out it was in vain, that everyone was wrong and that there is no god in that world. As the churches pretty much rule over everything in that world, this knowledge gives the hunter immense power over the whole society, and his decision on what he will do with this knowledge would be another interesting starting/continuing point of a story.

Post #: 7

12/29/2009 15:19:48

Alixander Fey
Member

Interesting, Fabula! I like it.

It's strange to me that I'm majoring in theology and when I write I want desperately to attack religion. =P It's because I draw a huge distinction between "religion," and personal faith in God, or whatever you choose to believe.

In the story I'm writing (off the forums too... sorry I don't post things much any more!), God doesn't exist to the world. He's been gone for a long time. When the Emperor is asked about God, he says "He outlived his usefullness... and was killed." But the main character, Jace, believes in God, and even finds the Gospel of John in an ancient library. This... more midly important to this story, because the Emperor basically beleives he is god by the end of the story. "My word is God's law in the world," he says.

BUT, in the next story, if I ever write it (which I think I will), religion will be the theme. In Haven, I introduce an entirely new race to the galaxy: Parahumans. They are called clones, in that they are grown in a vat, but they are not copies of people that already existed. They have been genetically altered to be different from humans--so vastly different, in fact, that they are asexual.

Jace played a huge role in their creation. And in Haven I plant the seeds of "jihad," as I call it. Not to offend Islam, but because I don't believe there's a word that captures what I'm trying to portray as vividly as their word. One of the clones even calls Jace "Holy Creator." In Womb, they will see him as the "Lord Messiah," come to save them from apocolyptic destruction. The scientist who created them, called "His Holy Agent," will drive them into a religious frenzy, in which they try to make Jace a diety.

I'll have two attacking points in the story--one, to attack the idea of one man speaking in the place of God. But second, I'll be writing from Jace's perspective as he's trying to deal with the people who think he is God. How do you convince a man that you're not God? You laugh--but is it a simple question? If a man is determined that you are God, that everything you do is righteousness, how can you convince him otherwise?

I'm going to enjoy the story, however I don't really know the end of where it will go. How /can/ Jace defeat the clones?

I'm brainstorming for another religiously-themed story, but I can't decide if I'm going to write it yet.

< Message edited by Alixander Fey -- 12/29/2009 15:20:15 >

Post #: 8

1/1/2010 11:20:09

YukiKitty
Member

1. Your personal religion

I think that I use my worldview in my writing, not my religion. (Yes, there is a difference!) I find it hard to avoid giving the work at least some of my perspective on how I view the world around me. My poetry is the easiest example because unless I'm writing from the perspective of one of my characters, I am giving my opinion on a certain subject in an often-in-your-face manner. (This somehow ends up being poetic though, what.) Even when I'm writing in prose form, I find that somehow my worldview filters into how I narrate the piece. I'm a big fan of the phrase "What you believe determines how you act," and I've found it to be true, especially for my writing.

2. The religion of your characters

Do you see the little phrase I quoted? I think that applies here too. While you guys don't get to see my prose for both content reasons and the fact that I'm too busy to keep up with the approval process for AA, I do write it, and I find that what a character believes affects how (s)he acts in the story. While I may not make a big fuss over what a specific character believes in the process of writing the story (unless the belief is a vital plot point), I do make a big fuss when fleshing out the character before writing the story. I feel that NOT letting a character--even minor characters--is just an insult to the character. A character is a person too, so I believe that (s)he needs to think like a person, having his/her own personal system of beliefs. I take a character's beliefs very personally, because they're people without their own set, even if I don't necessarily agree with what that character may believe. Maybe that's why I'm so possessive on when someone tries to write a spin-off story directly involving the person making assumptions about one of my character's beliefs...

3. The religion of your characters' enemies

Please see above. My characters' enemies are people too. :P

--------------------------------------------------

In short, I see the concept of a worldview as being vital to my narration and to a character's characterization. It's near impossible to avoid some elements of a worldview, even if the worldview isn't discussed in detail. Not giving a character a set worldview seems just so...wrong with me.

Narrowing down to religions, I see them as potential plot points, if done in a respectful manner ESPECIALLY when referencing or modeling a real-world religion. Since I sometimes find it hard to avoid personal bias and give the religion the respect it deserves, I tend to stray away from modeling after a real-world religion for it deserves so much more than my lousy interpretation of its practices. Instead, I may make up a religion when using religion as a plot point. Occasionally, a good old struggle against an oppressive religion system, the struggle between two opposing religions, or even help from a god or goddess is what gets me in the mood to read and write. People have already referenced some of my favorite examples of this, so I won't copy and paste what they've already said.

Post #: 9

1/6/2010 23:12:26

Ganden
Member

1. Your personal religion

My personal religion influences just about everything I write... And I think that's true of all people. Just by the fact of, what you believe effects what points you want to make, which effects what you write. You could, theoretically, write something making a point different than what you believed, but I can't imagine you'd be happy about it.

2. The religion of your characters

My characters' religion tends to follow mine, because that's what I know. I'm aware of basics of other religions, but not enough to write full characters about them. And writing about something you don't know... Usually doesn't work out well. I do have some atheistic characters, but I'm fairly familiar with the arguments, and know personally several atheists, so I'm more comfortable portraying them.

3. The religion of your characters' enemies

I find that I don't write strict enemies... In my main story, the "antagonist" is more of a way of thought than a particular person. Though the way of thought does have some religious background, the backing itself isn't really the antagonist.

... So I'm not sure. XD I guess it goes back to me writing what I know. I deal pretty much with Christianity and atheism. I don't know anything else well enough to effectively deal with.

_____________________________

We have enough people who tell it like it is;
we need more people who tell it like it should be.
--My motto for life.

MQ	Post #: 10

1/16/2010 0:28:46

Firefly
Lore-ian

Hmm, I wouldn't say that I necessarily have "religion" in my works, because Gods are either explicitly present or only implied. My worlds generally come in two types:
1. Gods/Deities/Immortal Beings/whathaveyou are explicitly present, so being an "atheist" wouldn't really be possible.
2. Gods are not mentioned explicitly, and no one really allows this to dictate their actions. However, I imply that there is a higher force, which the characters sometimes see as "Fate." Sometimes, I even hint at things like an afterlife, or reincarnation, ect. but whether they actually exist or if they are only created by the characters is up to debate.

For the first, the Gods generally do not interfere with the world. To give an example, in one of my worlds, the creator does not interfere at all with the world and believes people should choose their own path. The devil-figure in the story does end up interfering, because he's been a God for so long that he cannot understand humans anymore and thus sees them as unworthy to live. The lesser Gods kinda influence the world, but the creator gets very, very angry when they do too much. In short, Gods do not interfere with human (or dragon/elf/whatever) wars to any great extent, though everyone knows they exist (and some groups worship certain Gods, though it's purely symbolic and the Gods themselves do not support or fight against anyone).

For the second type of world, characters believe some obscure God or "Fate" manipulates them, but because they cause most of their own problems, they don't really zone in on a single being. Aspects of religion come into play, as I mentioned above, but whether they actually exist or not is up to debate. For example, one character could not bring himself to kill a friend who turned out to be an enemy, so he kills himself. As he dies, he tells his friend that he will keep waiting until they meet again, no matter how many times they need to be reborn for that to happen. Whether reincarnation actually exists in the world, and whether they'll ever have a chance to be true friends--that's never stated.

Of course, all the above applies to my fantasy/secondary worlds. In my earth stories (what few there are), religion usually doesn't play a big role, mainly because few of my characters walked into my head and voiced their religion very vocally. (Plus, my plots and characters are already convoluted enough without adding religion to it...) There's also the fact that I like exploring how people would treat morality if they had no punishment to fear, if their only leash to goodness was their own belief in it.

AQ	Post #: 11

1/16/2010 12:42:24

Sir Nicholas
Member

I actually am quite proud of my religious beliefs. I'm of the Eastern Orthodox faith myself, and I've been a devout follower of the Orthodox Church's doctrines since I was old enough to walk. As I have worked on numerous stories, I've happened to make much mention of the Judeo-Christian God as an acting force behind my plot, both directly and indirectly.

My main character- Sir Nicholas, (Named for yours truly) is a reflection of myself, in all the ways that I wish I could be. He's a deeply religious man as well, and I believe the epitome of a Paladin. He was a deadly threat to his enemies and a pillar of strength and faith to his allies. With but his sword, The Ten Commandments and faith alone, Nicholas would walk into entire legions of Undead/Demons/Vampires, (Whatever evil he happened to be fighting) and with holy fire, burn them into ruin.

His enemies (Safiria, the Vampire Queen most prominent among them) would also acknowledge God's existence, but would revile His servants, His Holiness, everything that had to do with the Light. Since the Undead are the walking dead and Demons are born from the Chaotic Abyss, it only makes sense to have a Holy Warrior fight them with their antithesis.

My new main character, Sir William, is a young Paladin Knight, who is inexperienced but pure of heart. I intend for him to replace all of my heroes who are either dead, old, super-villains or are missing.

His master, Sir Andrew has trained him since he literally was an infant. Sir William has the potential to be one of the greatest Paladins to ever live. He is up there in the top tier; extremely powerful, constantly pushing his limits.

I've got some very interesting plans for the future, and as soon as I can get approved, I'll put some of them to work immediately.

_____________________________

Jesse, Elda, Marcus, Jolana, Vegalok, Kinshra, Damien, Eliac - I remember you all, and I love you all. Wherever you are, I hope you are all safe.

And Falerin, I hope you have found peace.

AQ	Post #: 12

4/5/2010 15:45:47

UrufuHiken
Creative!

Most people would like to avoid discussion or implementation or religion in subjects like these because they think others would find it offensive. So before I make my reply let me just state my thanks to you for actually bringing this subject up. Quite frankly, everyone takes offense to something, so for someone to make a complaint about another persons beliefs or what they have included in their works is utter hypocrisy.

My story was written by me so the reader can love it or hate it as they will, and I'll continue writing about what I desire to write about. Thankfully this community has many wise individuals who, even don't venture into such philosophies themselves, don't take close-minded offense over trivial matters.

1: Personal Religion

I am a Christian by faith and have studied a little into other religions as well. It is my belief that if I do not seek answers to my doubts then I wouldn't be able to claim such a title. I don't belong to any specific denomination but have been to several different kinds of churches. I'm still young and thus have much to learn.

2: Religion in my characters and my characters enemies

Though I generally write in fantasy, I try to create religions that would be conceptually and spiritually similar to Christianity; normally basing the plot around a Creator and the fall and rise of man's grace. Having said this, I also try to keep the theme of - Light can be just as blinding as the dark - where I have certain characters who, through proclaiming the greater good, do unimaginable evils.

In my story Crescent War - or what used to be Crescent War before I removed it for personal reasons - my main characters Faolan and Ravin, being creatures of the dark but seeking the light; and Luca being a Paladin of the Light at first blinded by his hate of the dark; and thus blinded to his own faith. Eventually all parties unite to put down the true evil.

In my story Mortuus Surrexit, which is involved more in our universe, I make a few references to God and the danger when man tries to mess with creation and challenge Him. The story is rather new, but I do have characters planned out being of Religious and Atheist beliefs. Overall, the theme of the story isn't to try and prove God's existence - or if so blame Him for everything wrong in the world - but to imply the reasoning that mankind is responsible for its own actions, and neither complaining and cursing the fates will help in any way. That only doing the best you can, as individuals of a whole, can effect humanity in the whole.

Post #: 13

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