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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6765625" data-attributes="member: 2067">It was a while ago. Here's a referesher[sblock]To that old nugget, I might add <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat" target="_blank">Ma'at is a legal principle, so you didn't have to believe in or worship Osiris/Anubis/Re/Horus/Amun/Whatever to be judged positively by that feather</a> (and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atenism" target="_blank">attempts to enforce an orthodoxy were not always met well</a>), that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah" target="_blank">staight vegetarians who happen to not be Jewish but who might be, say, Christian, Islamic, or even certain flavors of Hindu are gonna be pretty OK in Jewish eschatology (such as it is)</a>, that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium" target="_blank">certain flavors of Greco-Roman paradise cared if you were "good" but didn't give a frig about if you thought Jupiter was a great guy or not</a>, that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jannah#Non-Muslims_in_Jannah" target="_blank">there's about as many Christians and Jews in Janna as there are Muslims according to the Hadith, and probably MANY MORE pre-Islamic people</a>, and that <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/23/heaven-for-atheists-pope-sparks-debate/" target="_blank">the current pope expects to see athiests in heaven with him.</a>Those all, to varying degrees, are DEFINITELY toleration of faithlessness. In fact, it's more typical to have a place for "virtuous pagans" than to exclude them. All unbelievers being punished for eternity is not a concept that has been common throughout history. Why would the Realms be different?[/sblock]In FR specifically, the gods are little more than magical people - no different than powerful archwizards or mighty dragons. You've got elves that are older than some of the gods floating around the setting, and Elminster has survived the death of DOZENS of them. Sometimes, they're literally magical people - human beings who underwent apotheosis. In a world such as that, there's no more reason to worship Azuth "because he's a god" than there is to worship your local beholder "because he's a frickin' beholder" (there might be MORE reason to worship the latter, if he's nearby!). All being a god in FR means is that you control some aspect of the world as a whole. That means you need to be dealt with, but it doesn't mean you deserve to be honored and respected and worshiped. Giving lip service to the gods or not really giving a frig about 'em or even going all "Rage at the Heavens" are all reasonable responses to these powerful entities, just as they are reasonable responses to, I dunno, Lord Neverember. What's so bad about not worshiping the gods that makes it different from not worshiping a pantheon made up of the Lord's Alliance? The Dragonborn are even canonically "What's so great about gods?" kinds of people. There's no real satisfying answer to the question they pose, unfortunately.</blockquote>

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