I need help brainstorming a vanilla, mainstream futuristic religion

[Balesir]

For the OP - have you seen '101 Religions' by BITS here? IIRC it has many mainstream religions for Traveller, as well as many, um, not-so-mainstream ones...

 

[El Mahdi]

Personally, I think that the most generic, vanilla, future religion - one that could easily incoroporate elements of any and all religions - would be one with more of a Deist philosophy. Seems quite in line with a more futuristic and scientific world view.

 

[Guest 85555]

Personally, I think that the most generic, vanilla, future religion - one that could easily incoroporate elements of any and all religions - would be one with more of a Deist philosophy. Seems quite in line with a more futuristic and scientific world view.

Some variation on that is probably doable. I've always felt this is where things were heading.

You could also take a Joseph Campbel approach to religion and make it an all inclusive faith (that embraces the full breadth of human religious experience). I believe hinduism tends to incorporate other faiths into its belief system (I could be wrong but I am pretty sure Jesus exists in hinduism somewhere). You could use a religion like Hinduism as a starting point. Might yield some interesting results if you project it into the future.

However, I think it is equally plausible that people will still want more traditional religions in the future, so I can see how going the other way would work as well.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure Jesus exists in hinduism somewhere

I don't know how common it is, but I have seen statuary of Jesus amongst statues of Hindu gods in private shrines.

 

[WayneLigon]

First Church of Mary, Scientist.

Mary Whitehorn was a real person, a thousand years or so ago, but the real facts of her life have been so totally corrupted by time and legend that nobody now knows the truth of the matter. Mary was a researcher working on her doctorate on solar emissions when she discovered that stars are alive. As in, conscious and aware living things made of pure energy. Their radio emissions, gravity, solar wind and all other things radiating from them were a constant song to every other star in the universe, telling them they were not alone.

I am here, is the central 'catchphase' of the faith. You see it on t-shirts, the sides of busses, spray-painted on underpasses, etc.

New Reformed Maryists tiptoe around the idea of actually sentient stars these days but the religion has gained a lot of traction in many places. It speaks to the idea that everything affects everything else, that the actions of one man have far-reaching implications, etc. Chaos theory and 'spooky action at a distance' comes into it a lot. Maryists tend to have large families, write lots of email, have tons of friends on Starbook, whatever.

Many go into the sciences, in order to hear the song of the universe first hand. They give to charity and volunteer a lot of their time. They form help organizations with names like 'The Starry Wisdom Brotherhood of Builders'.

The Right and Correct Orthodox Maryist sect wiped itself out in 3409 when it tried to land on neutron star GH-18-A, after what it's leaders called 'extensive negotiations'.


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I also like one of the Vargr religions they mention in a Digest Group publication. They think that every thought you have is put there by God and is a communication from him. If you think about food, God wants you to eat. If you think about how nice a day it is, God wants you out walking in the park. If you think about how much you hate your boss, that means God wants him dead.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I think that Babylon 5 is a rich mine in terms of the major racial religions portrayed there:

1) Centauri - polytheistic, with little idols and an emphasis on fun ceremonies (from an RPG point of view!)

2) Minbari - abstract and more austere, with a generic 'faith manages' approach, and where 'spirituality' is highly regarded.

3) Narn - where the writings of particular prophets (G'Quon, G'Kar) become holy books and develop cults around them of people who want to follow the writings of their prophets.

 

[Castellanox7]

I know this'll sound basic compared to the more in-depth answers everyone else has given, but check out the religions in the Dune Universe.

List of Dune religions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There is a big stickler against using computers to "think"... but you could get some very basic ideas from it....

Good luck!

 

[NN]

You need a plausible , vanilla, mainstream futuristic "religion"?

Atheism

 

[frankthedm]

That said, a space religion that had echoes of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism or even Scientology, would be very fitting, since this should seem believable and be part of the background against which all the wildness happens.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Unitology - The Dead Space Wiki - Dead Space, Dead Space: Extraction, Dead Space 2, and more

Unitology is a religion in the Dead Space universe, officially founded on the discoveries of Michael Altman.[5]


Unitologists adamantly believe that the human race was created by the intelligent design of a divine alien agency, and will be reunified after death in Heaven through the power of a sacred artifact known as the Marker.[6]
The promise of the Church of Unitology is one of "transformation and rebirth".[7] This scripturalized message is poetic, elusive and unscientific despite their claimed origins in a secret research project, and embodies the abandonment of reason for the profession of unwavering faith in the promise of the Marker.[8] Much of the detail about the Church's inner workings remains undisclosed to outsiders and most adherents.[9]

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

This is kind of a weird request: I want a religion that ISN'T for Travellers, space pirates, heroic fighter jockeys or anything wild and crazy.

I'm looking for a religion for everyone else -- the people who want to get up in the morning, go to work, come home, rinse and repeat. It shouldn't be sinister or oppressive (although, like most religions, it could certainly be used by oppressors or to make people feel better about their oppression), but it should give comfort and help the (mostly human, but it should embrace other species, too, to some degree) adherents make sense of life in the Third Imperium.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_REMwVDXbdeE/SK8Nu8O70RI/AAAAAAAAAEg/3o4d76wD_SQ/s1600-h/oprah300.jpg