[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Religions in freeciv?

["Daniel Speyer" <Daniel_Speyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

djensen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
>I do have to disagree here with this thought, but only in part.   First
>if we
>separate Government from Religion (which in the earlier years would be
>very
>difficult) then what is really needed is just a split that differeniates
>the
>two.
In the very early years there was no difference between the two (maybe
natioanalism should be the initial religion?).  They started seperating
out pretty early in some places.  Antigone certainly expresses it (Greece
~400 B.C.E.).  It was clear in the Babalonian Captivity (Babalon/Israel
~500 B.C.E.) and seems to go back into prehistory in India.  I'm not sure
if Freeciv should ignore this or try to deal with it (maybe Despotism
requires Nationalism?).  Good point in any case,

>  Religion in its most barest essence (free of specific entities) is
>simply
>a "system of belief" and this can cover many aspects including
>Pschoanalysis.
>Now generally a country can not have more than one Government which means
>any
>(system of belief) that could co-exist with a Government would be
>considered a
>Religion. 
I like your definition!

> We should also note that some Governments do not allow alternate
>Systems of Belief and thus would not allow religions.  Most Governments
>adopted
>a national Religion and depending on the Religion and the Government
>tolerated
>or didn't tolerate other Religions.

This gets into a design question in Freeciv that, so far as I know, has
never really been resolved: do you control a nation or its government? 
One might expect the latter, but you keep control during anarchy and
government changeovers, and you can control the individual placement of
workers.  Some government/religion combinations may be incompatible (e.g.
Communism/Christianity) and could be set up that way, but whether or not
you can control a nation's religion depends on who 'you' are.  Does
anybody know?

--Daniel Speyer
"May the /src be with you, always"