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Message: <blockquote data-quote="atom crash" data-source="post: 3878388" data-attributes="member: 22162">Springboarding from this idea, back to the OP, is an approach I've seen used in video games: there is a good and benevolent deity that created and nurtured life, then for whatever reason has been absent from the mortal realm for some time. So the Church remains as a powerful construct, but people may have many different ideas about the intent and nature of that deity because they are interpreting the past in different ways. Within this same faith, there can be many sects. There are those who believe the deity has left people alone because his/her job is done, there are those who believe the deity was locked away by an evil force and must be freed by good deeds or by following Church dogma, and there may be those who believe that at some predetermined time in the future the deity will return to reward his/her faithful followers.Also, one deity can encompass many different domains by having various monbsatic orders etc, as another poster has suggested. For instance, there is a group that chooses to venerate one aspect of this deity (let's say birth and creation), and another group venerates a different aspect (like strength and reason), and a third that venerates still another aspect (like healing and compassion). While these three groups worship the same deity, they may look like 3 completely separate faiths.This is an excellent approach.</blockquote>