thread: 2011-07-11 : Hooray for Religion
On 2011-09-02, Dennis K wrote:
Oh man. Religion is basically one of my FAVORITE PARTS of roleplaying! All those little details that get swept under the rug in most games form the central core of a lot of my characters: What does it *mean* to be someone who honestly and fervently believes in a value system oriented towards knowledge, say, rather than good and evil? What does it *mean* to worship a god of strength? Of fertility? Of secrets? How does that secret-worshipping person introduce themselves in casual conversation, what do they wear, what are their taboos?
Jews and elevators on the Sabbath remind me of the Amish folks. I think that while some Jews would agree with your friend who says "we should do what G-d literally tells us to as close as humanly possible," others, like the Amish, might say:
hey, we should think REALLY HARD about every new technology we come across before just incorporating it willy-nilly into our everyday lives. In fact, let's just hold off on most of it and only use what our oldest, most experienced, most responsible folks think is really necessary.
For some Jews, observing the Sabbath might be less about following a set of rules handed down by an authority and more about reminding themselves to stay connected to the simplest things in life- eating, breathing, walking, worshipping, and being with people you love. Sure you could probably do all these things and still take the elevator, but walking up the stairs is good practice for when you might have to make harder decisions in life. It's like working out, but instead of your muscles you're bulking up your soul.
I think Vincent is on to something about religious belief not historically playing a big part in religious practice. That's much more of a recent thing. As my favorite professor Dr. Rein would say, "Nowadays people hold beliefs. Before the twentieth century, people were held by them." For most of human history, religious practices and beliefs informed most of our ideas and actions- the concept of openly admitting to not believing in the same stuff as other people? That was the working definition of madness. Still kinda is, it's just that the beliefs that currently pass for sane are less well articulated, rarely self-identified, and far more contradictory.
Whether in modern times, post-apocalyptic future dreams, or imagined past eras, I find religious stuff to be great drama, great roleplay fodder, and always worth bringing up in game.
Also, am a committed, practicing Christian. For what it's worth.
