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Religion in the Sixth World

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Fedifensor

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« on: <09-17-13/0140:14> »
Can anyone point me to source material that talks about religion in Shadowrun?  I'm working on a street preacher character, and searching the SR5 PDF came up with a single mention of the word "religion"...and that was in a short story.

All4BigGuns

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« Reply #1 on: <09-17-13/0155:21> »
As far as I'm aware, all the religions existing in modern day exist in the SR setting, so any research you can do on the internet should help you out.
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Elektrycerze3

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« Reply #2 on: <09-17-13/0227:08> »
Can anyone point me to source material that talks about religion in Shadowrun?  I'm working on a street preacher character, and searching the SR5 PDF came up with a single mention of the word "religion"...and that was in a short story.

You'd want to check "Sixth World Almanac" as it briefly covers some pivotal changes in religions, like Vatican "legalizing" Magic.
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Fedifensor

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« Reply #3 on: <09-17-13/1005:15> »
As far as I'm aware, all the religions existing in modern day exist in the SR setting, so any research you can do on the internet should help you out.
That helps with roleplaying the character, but I also need to know how common religious belief is in the 2070s.  By its omission, religion seems to be less of a concern to the typical wageslave. How secular has the world become.

Belker

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« Reply #4 on: <09-17-13/1053:20> »
I suspect the degree of secularization or religiosity  varies from place to place, just as it does today. I don't recall any in-depth discussions going across the world, but some commentary about regional situations has come up. For example, the Tír na nÓg sourcebook covers the widespread disaffection with Catholicism in former Ireland, largely driven by the conflict between the Catholic Church's rejection of dwarves and elves versus the incredibly high proportion of elven children born in Ireland, and their parent's rejection of a church that declared their children evil.

FWIW, game writers have almost always been very hesitant to tackle questions of religion here in the US since it can be such a polarizing issue here.
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TheDarkMessiah

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« Reply #5 on: <09-17-13/1101:09> »
I think the main difference is there so many more religions. Pagan religions resurfaced and new ones formed with the awakening. From fluff and posts on JackPoint, it looks like a lot of people believe in something or other, even if it is only vaguely defined (I recall quite a few posts saying stuff like "Spirits!" as an exclamation like we'd say "God!")

Also, the Street Magic and a couple other SR4 books do have a small bit more info on religion, like the New Islamic Jihad and such.
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Icy

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« Reply #6 on: <09-17-13/1116:24> »
It says in several books that the religions which always incorporated magic got a big boost. That means shamanic traditions like Native American Shamanism and neopagan religions like Wicca, Asatru or celtic Drudism. These religions now have a big following in the western world. The eastern religions like Taoism, Buddhism or Hinduism are also on the winning side of the Awakening and are in good shape. Shinto is of course going strong in Japan. After all, this is a cyberpunk setting ;) On a more serious note: Shinto fared well and this makes sense, since it's a shamanic religion focused on spirits.

For the Abrahamitic religions:
Islam still dominates the arab world and most (but not all) muslim schools declared magic a dangerous art. There is also the Islamic Renaissance Movement, which aims to reform Islam just like Luther did with Christianity. The Movement is pretty strong and could even become a new major school of Islam.

Catholicism lost many followers because it didn't adapt well to the sixth world (it banned magic and metahumans were seen as lost causes). After a while, a new pope (the old one died under suspicious circumstances) accepted magic as a gift from god and allowed it's use as long as it is used for good. He also classified metahumans as equal to humans. The church has since consolidated, but is still not as strong as before the awakening.

Protestant churches are very varied (as always), but most adapted pretty well. Many of them were more magic friendly than the catholic church.

Don't remember how Judaism and the orthodox christian churches developed exactly, but both are still around.

Atheism is also strong. While nobody can deny magic and spirits in Shadowrun, you can still deny that these beings have any moral superiority and deserve veneration. Many see magic as just another, although as of yet unexplained, part of the universe which can be understood by science. The scientific hermetic mages subscribe to this belief.

Bonus: It is VERY strongly implied that Scientology evolved into the Universal Brotherhood. This group evolved into a big insect spirit cabal and was utterly destroyed after this was discovered.

Belker

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« Reply #7 on: <09-17-13/1159:05> »
The Catholic Church did undergo a major shift in it's attitude about magic for sure. There is new religious order, the Order of St. Sylvester, fully supported by the Vatican, which has collected many of the Awakened within the church hierarchy. It also houses a number of non-Awakened academic magic scholars within the church.
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Sengir

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« Reply #8 on: <09-17-13/1246:53> »
Many see magic as just another, although as of yet unexplained, part of the universe which can be understood by science. The scientific hermetic mages subscribe to this belief.
That is also pretty much the stance held by (roman) Catholicism, and according to the magic books most other Christian denominations follow suit: Magic is a force of nature, and therefore neither a sign of divine miracle nor deals with the guy downstairs.

JackVII

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« Reply #9 on: <09-17-13/1313:05> »
Wasn't there a BIG DEAL going on in Iran related to Islam around the SURGE period? Like a return of the Prophet or something to that effect?

I may be confusing my dystopian future timelines though...

Edit: I was thinking of a) Tehran being destroyed for declaring Jihad on metahumans (which happened much earlier in the timeline)  and b) the shedim possessing the leader of the New Islamic Jihad. So, not really a lot on how normal followers of Islam behave.
« Last Edit: <09-17-13/1319:45> by JackVII »
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grid_roamer

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« Reply #10 on: <09-17-13/1825:11> »


Most RPG's keep a loose definition of religion. I guess it's asking a bit much to define an empire and a state religion...

Plenty of cults to pick from though...  :o



Silence

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« Reply #11 on: <09-17-13/1909:38> »
Also, Wicca and various other pagan religions are going strong.  Of course, good Wiccans don't lob fireballs at angry mobs, but the Druids and Asatru have no such compunction.  Zoroastrianism has had a major resurgence, and the Jews find themselves a lot less persecuted now that they can send in the golems.  See conservative Islam's reaction to magic.
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grid_roamer

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« Reply #12 on: <09-17-13/1930:14> »
Also, Wicca and various other pagan religions are going strong.  Of course, good Wiccans don't lob fireballs at angry mobs, but the Druids and Asatru have no such compunction.  Zoroastrianism has had a major resurgence, and the Jews find themselves a lot less persecuted now that they can send in the golems.  See conservative Islam's reaction to magic.

They dont define their roles at all though.

In SR4 there were the various traditions but it was impossibe to tell one from another just by reading the descriptions....


Silence

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« Reply #13 on: <09-17-13/1946:38> »
Also, Wicca and various other pagan religions are going strong.  Of course, good Wiccans don't lob fireballs at angry mobs, but the Druids and Asatru have no such compunction.  Zoroastrianism has had a major resurgence, and the Jews find themselves a lot less persecuted now that they can send in the golems.  See conservative Islam's reaction to magic.

They dont define their roles at all though.

In SR4 there were the various traditions but it was impossibe to tell one from another just by reading the descriptions....



If you say so.  Unless you are referring to geopolitics and how they affect it, I have no real idea what you mean.
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Fedifensor

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« Reply #14 on: <09-17-13/2015:04> »
Thanks for the replies!  It gives me a much better handle on options for a religious character.