Editing Religion

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[[Religion]] is a social-cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that relates humanity to supernatural, transcendental, or spiritual elements.
* They almost always include a well developed cosmology, a dogma, and a doctrine.
* Some religions involve the worship of a deity or deities, while others do not.
* Many secular belief systems acquire religious characteristics and are included in most catalogues of belief systems. The distinction between a religion and a secular ideology is the expectation that a tenet of the belief system be taken on faith, part of a trust-based world view.
* However, there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.

=== Library Data Referral Tree ===
{{:Referral-Tree-Culture-Art-Practices}}
{{:Referral-Tree-Cultural-More}}
 
== Description ([[Specifications]]) ==
It includes designated behaviors and practices, world views, worship practices, philosophical texts, sacred places, ethics, morals, or organizations, that relate [[sophont]]s to the supernatural or transcendental often as a cosmic "order of existence."

=== Characteristics of Religion ===
* Macro Beliefs (phenomenological/philosophical)
* Mythology (phenomenological/philosophical)
* Worldview (combined theoretical foundation)
* Practices, rituals, etc. (sociological/functional)
* Social Organization (sociological/functional)

=== Representative Religions === 
# ''Brotherhood of the Sphere'' - Around since Imperial year 900 its followers believe the universe is an infinite, selfaware sphere, and that other universes revolve around it.  Their holy symbol is a spherical crystal (usually lapis lazuli) worn about the neck. 
# ''Church of Divine Truth'' - Dating back to the [[First Imperium]] this religion is very popular with membership well into the billions.  It believes that there is a Supreme Being that has at least one semidivine minion on each planet.  Their holy symbol is a small, four-pointed star tattooed on the back of the right hand.
# ''The Children Trancendant'' - They are an outlaw religion whose followers believe the achievement of such psionic is another step on the road to a higher plane of being. To that end, each and every member is required to try to achieve maximum psionic potential sometime during his or her active career.  Members identify each other by telepathy, or, alternately, by a special hand signal.
# ''The Followers of the Suns'' - The followers of this religion hold that each star is powerful sentient being who should be worshiped by those in their respective system.  Due to their beliefs they will aggressively help colonize new worlds to provide the star deity with worshipers.
# ''The Three'' - "A religion surmised by Imperial scholars to have begun in [[Zhodani space]] long ago. It holds that there are three deities, each of equal power but with different outlooks. One deity is good, one is evil, and the third acts as a mediator between the two and between the gods and the Zhodani. A popular holy symbol is a group of three small, identical objects, preferably gems or crystals, which are worn about the head, neck, wrist, or waist (depending on the degree of devotion)." 
# ''The Vekkur'' - This religion is similar to the Order of the Unicorn on Terra but take their belief to the next level being total pacifists and will not take life under any circumstances.
# ''The Mediators''- This group is dedicated to the precepts of law and order; as such, members act as lawyers and minor law-enforcement personnel. The doctrines of this religion hold that there is a Supreme Being who set down a Universal Law and gave it to intelligent beings to use as they saw fit. A member's fate in the afterlife is based on how well the law is understood and utilized during life."

''Terran religions'' - among the large number of religions on {{WorldS|Terra (SR 1827)|Solomani Rim|1827}}  there are some newcomers.
# ''The Disciples of Terran Purity''.  The  Disciples mistrust and do not use technology believing it to have corrupted Terra and rendering her peoples' spirits impure.  They exist at {{TL|1}} or even {{TL|0}}.
# ''Order of the Unicorn'' - "a following of doctors and other healers who strive to preserve life and health in all sentient beings. The Order takes its name from a mythical Terra animal supposedly able to cure disease and poisonings."

== History & Background ([[Dossier]]) ==
Religion is part of many [[sophont]]s' lives, including many human [[culture]]s. by the year [[1105]] [[TI]], many ancient Terran, Vilani, and Zhodani religious belief systems survived. Other species such as [[Aslan]] with their [[Violent Monoculturism]] and the [[K'kree]] with their [[Communal Anti-Carnivorism]] philosophies, have less religious diversity. Noone is quite sure what the [[Hiver]]s really believe, but some of it may be religious. [[Hiver]]s certainly seem to believe in forms of altruism commonly called [[Hiver Altruism]]. 

=== Expected Religion Development Sequence ===
MACRO LEVEL:
* [[Cosmology]] → [[Mysticism]] → [[Spiritualism]] → [[Polytheism]] → [[Monotheism]] → [[Scientism]] → [[Omnism]] → [[Transtheism]] → [[Eschatology]] → [[Technological Singularity]]

== [[World]]s & [[Sector]]s ([[Astrography]]) ==
Significant faith communities can be found in the following areas: 
* [[Charted Space]]
* [[Uncharted Space]]
* [[Wilds]]

=== Articles About Religions ===
This is a selection of religions found within [[Charted Space]]:
{{Religions}}

== References & Contributors ([[Sources]]) ==
{{Metadata}}
{{Wikipedia|Religion}}
{{Wikipedia|Evolutionary_origin_of_religions}}
{{Intermediate}}
{{Detail}}
{{Sources
|S1= [[Michael Brown]]. "The Stellar Diocese"  ''Dragon #101'' (Sept 1985): 83.
|S2= {{Ludography ref|name= Grand Census |page= TBD}}
|S3= {{Ludography ref|name= Pocket Empires |page= TBD}}
|S4= {{Ludography ref|name= 101 Religions |page= TBD}}
|S5= {{Ludography ref|name= Powers and Principalities |page= TBD}}
|S6= [[Traveller Wiki Editorial Team]]
|S7= Author & Contributor: [[Bruce Grubb]]
|S8= Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology [[Maksim-Smelchak]] of the [[Ministry of Science]]
}}


[[Category: Religion]]
{{LEN|Culture|Philosophy}}