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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mlund" data-source="post: 6692471" data-attributes="member: 50304">"Settings can be different," is a tautology. A setting might not have elves or monks, but we still can (and do) generalize about those races and classes because they exist by default in the Core setting. Customization is a moot point.It's not a question of advanced theology. It's merely a question of, "Does Melora  / Tyr / Bane exist and are assertions to the contrary reasonable?" Arguing the nature of these so-called "gods" is a completely different kettle of fish from the absolutist assertion that they simply don't exist.As with most things, people accept the greater body of testimony of those who've gained verification themselves - unless they have another rational cause to call that into question. In the question of the existence of, say, Melora and Asmodeus, no one has a rational basis to contradict the clerics' assertion that they exist. There exist (and have existed for thousands of years) third parties with the power to fact-check the existence of gods and the disposition of souls. Despite the means, no one's built the case for the contrary position.That's a separate debate over the nature of these so-called "gods" that do exist. People can call it "pragmatic atheism," (to act under the assumption of atheism in practice) but asserting that's "a kind of atheism" is just a semantic game. Furthermore the "no one can know and it wouldn't be worth knowing," agnostic premise from apatheism simply doesn't hold up in the setting. There's a huge distinction between "I don't care about the existence of Tempus" / "Tempus exists but is unworthy" and the position that "Tempus doesn't / may not exist." Irreligion ("I care not of the gods") and atheism ("Gods don't exist") are not the same.It's perfectly tenable (if perhaps impractical due to afterlife concerns) to take an irreligious position in the Forgotten Realms. It's pretty much insane for anyone but the most ignorant to assert proper atheism, or even agnosticism.The point you've missed is that these competing clerics don't deny the existence of their rivals in the pantheon. The question of "which god is best" or "are any of these gods worth worshiping" is completely beside the point of "do these gods even exist?" I've noted, exhaustively now, that rejecting the qualifications of these "gods" (irreligion) is a vastly more reasonable position for an inhabitant of Oerth or Faerun than the bald assertion that such beings are simply make-believe (pure atheism) and all the clerics and wizards are just in on the conspiracy (delusional psychosis).</blockquote>

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