Exploring Religion in Europeia

Calvin Coolidge

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What is the sound of one hand clapping? If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? What are you wearing? These are all timeless philosophical questions that nobody knows the right answer to. However, there are many questions that we can answer, so I'd like to ask one of those instead, and write an article on that. My question: what's a religion in Europeia? We all know that these religions exist, whether due to recent legislation in the Citizens' Assembly, the odd debate that breaks out in the Cultural Hub, or the constantly present lifeless bodies of the religious crusaders that always seem to litter the lawn of the Goldenblock. However, have we ever stopped and asked why our religions are what they are, or what purpose they serve? Heck, are they even real religions? We'll answer those questions and more on tonight's edition of "Pawn Stars". Because if there's one thing I've learned after twenty-one years, you never know what is gonna come through that door.

First, let's define the term we are working with. What is religion? This is, of course, a very complicated, and controversial question, but we need a standard to compare our Euro-centric religions to, so I will settle on one answer. Personally, I am fond of Emile Durkheim's definition, which states that religion is a "unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things". Furthermore, he defines sacred as "set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them". Now, although he uses the word "Church" there, do not think of this as only the traditional Christian church, because the term is used here as a catch-all to define the moral community, and not a building, per se. Now that we have our definition, how can we apply it as a sort of checklist, to see whether Europeia's religions pass the test? Well, by pulling out the key parts of the definition, we can make a list like the one below.

A Religion Has:
  • Unified system of beliefs and practices
  • One single moral community (leaving room for denominational differences)
  • People who adhere to the practices
Of course, this definition does not encompass all religions, and may easily have large gaps, but it will suit our purposes for this article.

The next order of business is to determine what a religion is in Europeia. Since this is the first piece dealing with the nature of religion in our region (as far as I know), there is no standard definition, and it is likely something that will have to be researched more in-depth by Europeian scholars. What we can do, however, is look at the religions that Europeia has, and reverse engineer a definition from there. In this portion of the article, I am likely going to offend a small number of citizens in the region who are moderators over subforums in "Religions Row". For the purposes of this article, I will ignore almost all of those subforums for the simple reason that very few (if any) citizens identify themselves as a follower of those religions. So, my apologies to those who don't agree with this next sentence. The two religions in Europeia are Nethelism and Swiftism. One could make a case for the (now defunct) religion of Baconism, as well as the (relatively new) religion Krakenism, but I think it will become clear once I present my Europeian religion checklist why I did not include these possible contenders.

To define religion in Europeia, one must remember that we are an internet community, and are bound by different societal rules than the population at large, also, we must remember that our world begins and ends at this forum. We, of course, have peripheral ties to the Regional Message Board, and other websites scattered around the web, but our community chiefly exists at s6.zetaboards.com/Europeia. So, that is our first rule, although it is rather obvious. Second, since the religion stalls are privately run in Religions Row in a manner akin to private media outlets, they have an expiration date if they become inactive. Although enforcement of this rule has fallen to the wayside as of late, religions have been archived after months of no posting, or lack of membership. So, this rule must also be considered.

The last rule that I will add is one that I am pulling from Durkheim's definition about a single moral community, because I think that also rings true in Europeia. If you are a true follower of a religion, you will not join another religion, because you feel that it goes against your beliefs. We see this rule typically in Europeia's political parties (a subject that would require a whole other article to truly define), that members cannot join more than one party, and it makes sense. If you truly want to see one party's platform enacted, you won't support anybody else's. Likewise in religion. The only real place that we see this happen, however, is in regards to Nethelism and Swiftism. Many citizens are a member of multiple groups calling themselves "religions" in Europeia, but no citizen is a member of both Nethelism and Swiftism, despite neither explicitly having a rule against multiple religious membership. Why? Because they know that the other religion does not fall into their belief system, and joining it would be counter intuitive to their ultimate goal of honoring their beliefs, and that is huge for any religion. Therefore, I have created the following checklist for Europeian religions, which I have posted below.

A Europeian Religion Has
  • A following on the Europeian forums
  • An active member base who adhere to the religion's set of beliefs and practices
  • One single moral community
Of course, this definition and checklist are up for debate, as this is a mostly philosophical topic, but I believe I have made a strong case for the previous conditions to met in order for us to truly call something a religion in Europeia. If you remember the Durkheim checklist, there's actually a lot of parallels. Both include something about a single moral community, a dedicated following, and members who adhere to the beliefs and practices set up by the religion. In the real world, there are many religions that fit into this description, but in Europeia, there are two.

Now that we have settled on what religions Europeia has, and determined that they are, in fact, actual religions, we must ask ourselves, what's the point? There must be some reason that citizens of Europeia consistently come to verbal blows over which religion is superior, their merits, and why their deity is the most powerful, or else why would we still be talking about them nearly two years after both of these religions' respective foundations? Again, the answer to this question will likely be controversial and will probably not apply to all followers of Europeia's religions, but I see people joining one of Europeia's religions like joining a social club. As people, we all want to be with people who are similar to us, and reject those who are different. Perhaps not consciously, but humans do have that desire buried within them, which is why racism exists in the world, as well as high school Chess Club. Religions in Europeia are just another social club for people to join, like our NationStates families, or certain political parties. We saw the stories of Nethel and found something we liked, so we stuck around, or we saw that there were people who played NationStates who were Swifties just like we were, so we stuck around, we became set in our beliefs one way or the other (either seriously, or for roleplay), and our religions were born.

That brings to a close my formal exploration into the world of Europeian religions. As I stated throughout this piece, while I tried to be as inclusive as possible in my analysis, I likely left a lot out, and I may have even left out large swaths of what defines religion in our forum's world. I'd say there is probably room for follow-up reports into this area, and I may very well return to the discussion to put out more musings on the subject that I've found myself a part of for so long. This article was also a bit of a love letter to the religious culture that has been cultivated over the past two years, since the founding of The Nethelian Temple (July 30th, 2014) and The Shrine of Swift (December 9th, 2014). Truly, it has been a marvel to behold, and I'm so glad that I get to be a part of it. That's all I have for now, I hope that those who follow a religion in Europeia take part in this discussion of what defines us, and those who have observed the religious community in Europeia with bemusement find something here they can appreciate enough to comment on. Until next time, this is Calvin Coolidge, seeking some R.E.M. sleep.
 
:gentleman: Praise Be Unto Nethel
 
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