[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Religions in freeciv?

[dnh <dnh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 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.  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.  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.

No, a religion is NOT a set of beliefs lol. That was my point. In every
dictionary I have looked at, and how I was taught it in the first place,
religion is more than a set of beliefs. It is the "Belief in a higher
being which brings hope.. etc", The egyption gods were believed to be
gods, and in turn were also believed to provide people with things, this
IS a religion. Confucism is a set a values.. like chivalry.. set about by
one man (maybe..) to improve the quality of life. This is NOT a religion,
the difference is quite specific. My only concern was that you don't use
the word 'Religion' when you really mean 'Belief'.

dnh