> To say that in the 56th-57th century that a religious revival would not
> take place somewhere and that by then we would have long since put away
> those traditions and shelved our faith as something that only primitive
> peoples hang on to flies in the face of everything we know about the
> long history of humanity--faith and organized religion don't go away,
> they evolve, and every so often someone introduces a new idea about them
> into the mix.
I do not actually disagree with this. However, there is a huge distance between a religious revival and a theocracy. I still think a theocracy, in any century where people are recognizably people (which is an integral assumption of Traveller), is almost guaranteed to suck, and suck hard. That is pretty much dictated by human nature more than anything else. If the setting had used the religious revival as something that influenced an otherwise independent government to take more action, then it would be different. In this case, the religious revival took over/replaced the government, and that is a theocracy.
And, again, I want to stress that I like the setting and idea, and I think it was well done and worthwhile. I can just see why Martin was hesitant to use it as the foundation of the Terran Confederation he was trying to develop.
Also, I haven't read CoE in a while, so I can't remember how tightly linked it is to being developed on Terra. If it isn't that tightly bound to Terra itself (despite the name of the setting), I think transferring it to Home would allow an opportunity for coexistence. If that would work, I would love to see such a write-up as an alternative CoE setting. (Even if just an outline.)
Mike West
> take place somewhere and that by then we would have long since put away
> those traditions and shelved our faith as something that only primitive
> peoples hang on to flies in the face of everything we know about the
> long history of humanity--faith and organized religion don't go away,
> they evolve, and every so often someone introduces a new idea about them
> into the mix.
I do not actually disagree with this. However, there is a huge distance between a religious revival and a theocracy. I still think a theocracy, in any century where people are recognizably people (which is an integral assumption of Traveller), is almost guaranteed to suck, and suck hard. That is pretty much dictated by human nature more than anything else. If the setting had used the religious revival as something that influenced an otherwise independent government to take more action, then it would be different. In this case, the religious revival took over/replaced the government, and that is a theocracy.
And, again, I want to stress that I like the setting and idea, and I think it was well done and worthwhile. I can just see why Martin was hesitant to use it as the foundation of the Terran Confederation he was trying to develop.
Also, I haven't read CoE in a while, so I can't remember how tightly linked it is to being developed on Terra. If it isn't that tightly bound to Terra itself (despite the name of the setting), I think transferring it to Home would allow an opportunity for coexistence. If that would work, I would love to see such a write-up as an alternative CoE setting. (Even if just an outline.)
Mike West