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Many, many years ago, Kawheek was in an RP scene on Kaerwyn, and the subject of religion came up. He mentioned his own faith in Faenya, the patron goddess of his race. Another character who was in play at the time, who did not know Kawheek very well, realized that Kawheek was not Christian from this. Which makes sense, as on Kawheek's world, Christianity is not a religion. And then that other character attempted to proselytize to Kawheek, to save his soul by converting him to Christianity.
Kawheek was deeply insulted by this, as he had made no effort to convert the other character. And while Kawheek is actually on board with several ideals of the Christian religion, the idea that he was not allowed a choice, especially considering Faenya provably exists on Oerth, and the Abrahamic deity is at best an open question on Oerth, was offensive. Had I been a better RPer, Kawheek might have reacted more appropriately, but he instead politely excused himself and left.
But the idea stuck with me. I've considered a piece like this for years, where Thenyr, who is a priest of Faenya, gets called out by various religious fundamentalists for being pagan or not believing in the 'right' god. I've been avoiding it for some time because of ideological sensitivity reasons...but not really worried about those anymore. Mahatma Gandhi put it very well when he said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
And honestly, the whole "You must only acknowledge one single deity" thing that is common in our world strikes Kawheek and Thenyr as a bit odd, because both would readily tell you that while they are Faenyans, that there are many gods for the races of Oerth. Not all of them are good, but when the various gods allow their faithful to do magic and miracles, it's hard to deny they exist. And that's before you get into the Problem of Evil when your deity is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving.
Maybe later I'll commission Thenyr reading the Book of Sun's Blessing, (or, more jokingly, the "Sky-ble").
Art by Heather Bruton, thanks for agreeing to help me with this somewhat delicate piece!
Posted using PostyBirb
Kawheek was deeply insulted by this, as he had made no effort to convert the other character. And while Kawheek is actually on board with several ideals of the Christian religion, the idea that he was not allowed a choice, especially considering Faenya provably exists on Oerth, and the Abrahamic deity is at best an open question on Oerth, was offensive. Had I been a better RPer, Kawheek might have reacted more appropriately, but he instead politely excused himself and left.
But the idea stuck with me. I've considered a piece like this for years, where Thenyr, who is a priest of Faenya, gets called out by various religious fundamentalists for being pagan or not believing in the 'right' god. I've been avoiding it for some time because of ideological sensitivity reasons...but not really worried about those anymore. Mahatma Gandhi put it very well when he said "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
And honestly, the whole "You must only acknowledge one single deity" thing that is common in our world strikes Kawheek and Thenyr as a bit odd, because both would readily tell you that while they are Faenyans, that there are many gods for the races of Oerth. Not all of them are good, but when the various gods allow their faithful to do magic and miracles, it's hard to deny they exist. And that's before you get into the Problem of Evil when your deity is all powerful, all knowing, and all loving.
Maybe later I'll commission Thenyr reading the Book of Sun's Blessing, (or, more jokingly, the "Sky-ble").
Art by Heather Bruton, thanks for agreeing to help me with this somewhat delicate piece!
Posted using PostyBirb
Category Artwork (Traditional) / General Furry Art
Species Eagle
Size 2450 x 3269px
File Size 4.93 MB
Listed in Folders
Honestly, the concept of calling someone a heretic for worshipping a deity that is literally right there, you can see them with your eyes, my friend had tea with them the other day, is kind of strange to me. Regardless of whatever the case may be in real life, in a fictional universe the rules are very much different and potentially well-defined to the characters living in it.
Faenya isn't quite THAT active, but yes, as a priest of hers, Thenyr can call upon her power to heal or perform other feats beyond normal mundane limits, which is why it was so funny of an idea to me. A common problem I've seen is people declaring their faith in the real world to be the one "True" faith (and we'll not get into all the schisms involved in just the three main Abrahamic religions), but to Thenyr, them saying Faenya was not a goddess, while practicing a religion with a divine being that is...absent...would be very confusing to him. He can do literal orisons and feats with Faenya's power that cannot be explained otherwise! What are you talking about that she's not real?
It's also insulting, because he does not deny their gods existence; while he devotes himself to one, the other gods of Oerth are as provably real as Faenya, so while he may not align with them, he's generally hesitant to decry anyone else's faith on "that god doesn't exist". So the whole "You can only have one AT ALL" comes off very...flat earth to him.
It may be relevant that Thenyr was on a mostly mundane earth at the time this idea came to me.
It's also insulting, because he does not deny their gods existence; while he devotes himself to one, the other gods of Oerth are as provably real as Faenya, so while he may not align with them, he's generally hesitant to decry anyone else's faith on "that god doesn't exist". So the whole "You can only have one AT ALL" comes off very...flat earth to him.
It may be relevant that Thenyr was on a mostly mundane earth at the time this idea came to me.
The Koukthroi and Elves also believe a similar thing. If anything they think the El-I mean Yahweh is kind of... possessive. There's good stuff in the abrahamic texts and the ten commandments, but they'd probably think some things are a little too vague. It's the whole "No other gods before me" and demanding a lot of personal things to be done. (And that's not going into the whole "Cure for leprosy" or "How to get rid of mold in your house". :P Pretty sure Thorsari and Koukthroi will have something to say about that...)
They might actually see the Old Testament as showing YHVH as more, well, like many of the gods they know. He makes mistakes, he gets angry, he shows hubris, he apparently doesn't see everything, he acts overly protective....
They might actually see the Old Testament as showing YHVH as more, well, like many of the gods they know. He makes mistakes, he gets angry, he shows hubris, he apparently doesn't see everything, he acts overly protective....
Thenyr and Andrew had many things in common and for a while ran a small intramural religious group on K, along with Rosario. It's somewhat faded off over time, but a lot of the dictates share; Thenyr has, in fact, explicitly quoted the Bible IC at times, for lessons that felt appropriate resonant with him.
*Merv stares at you in Hellenic /Myacean Gryphon.*
Wait... so I'm supposed to have faith in what again?
You silly humans know, I've met Olympians right?
Doesn't meeting one of the entities responsible for creating your species discount 'faith' since you well... met them?
Theology is weird, I'll stick to making portals and snuggling sphinxes.
Wait... so I'm supposed to have faith in what again?
You silly humans know, I've met Olympians right?
Doesn't meeting one of the entities responsible for creating your species discount 'faith' since you well... met them?
Theology is weird, I'll stick to making portals and snuggling sphinxes.
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