RELIGION AND CULTURE
Apr. 19th, 2012 07:29 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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konstantoocThis is likely to be a work in progress, even more than some of the other posts - particularly the culture part!
The main difference in religion is in Christianity. If people have ideas they'd like to introduce for other faiths though please feel free to comment and we can discuss!
The history of early Christianity is much as it was in our world. In 1054, there was the Great Schism, separating the Church into the Eastern Church and the Western Church. But things are a bit different after that. It would be tempting for me to write a huge back history for all this, but I think that might be overwhelming and not necessarily very useful. So what I shall say is: the Byzantine Empire, not declining as it did in our world, ensures that the Eastern Church remains a major power. When the Byzantines lost control of what was then called Konstantinopoulis in 1453, the seat of the Eastern Pope moved to Alexandria. The current Pope in the East is Pope Cyril IX. The Church in the East is one institution, unlike the Eastern Orthodox churches today though its doctrines are similar (with the major exception of marriage).
In the West, the Western Schism went on for much longer than in our world - for nearly a hundred years. The infighting and factionalism that resulted weakened the Church substantially, and the failure of the Crusades and the subsequent rise of both the Ottoman Empire and Byzantine Empire meant that the cultural and political influence of the Western Church was diminished. But this also means that there was never a Protestant Reformation. With the rise of the British Empire - the British have always been staunchly Western Christian - the Church has regained much authority. The papacy has moved to New York to represent Britain's stamping of its authority on the New World, and the current pope is Pope Adrian VII. Its doctrines remain much like Catholic doctrine of our world, again with the exception of issues of marriage/sexuality.
In Kostantiniyee, the religious freedoms of Abrahamic religions are protected in law. Other religions are not recognised. Officially, atheism (a fairly newly-coined term) and paganism (in the sense of non-Abrahamic and particularly indigenous polytheistic religions) are illegal. Anyone found guilty by the religious courts of heresy (which is used to mean, complicatedly, either lack of belief OR non-compliance with orthodox belief) can be imprisoned or forced into indentured work. This can be avoided by conversion or a return to orthodoxy.
Kostantiniyye, because it's such a melting pot of cultures, can be more sympathetic to cultural and religious differences and is usually quite a tolerant place compared to much of the world. However, its melting pot status also means the pot can sometimes bubble over, and tension between different religious and racial groups can sometimes break out into violence, or be demonstrated in daily terms by discrimination. Some parts of the city have a much more cosmopolitan, tolerant atmosphere than other parts, like any big city.
The largest populations in Kostantiniyye are Eastern Christian (300,000) and Muslim (400,000), followed by Western Christian (250,000), and then there is a smaller Jewish population (50,000). There are of course people from other cultures but they are not officially recorded in census information.
The main difference in religion is in Christianity. If people have ideas they'd like to introduce for other faiths though please feel free to comment and we can discuss!
The history of early Christianity is much as it was in our world. In 1054, there was the Great Schism, separating the Church into the Eastern Church and the Western Church. But things are a bit different after that. It would be tempting for me to write a huge back history for all this, but I think that might be overwhelming and not necessarily very useful. So what I shall say is: the Byzantine Empire, not declining as it did in our world, ensures that the Eastern Church remains a major power. When the Byzantines lost control of what was then called Konstantinopoulis in 1453, the seat of the Eastern Pope moved to Alexandria. The current Pope in the East is Pope Cyril IX. The Church in the East is one institution, unlike the Eastern Orthodox churches today though its doctrines are similar (with the major exception of marriage).
In the West, the Western Schism went on for much longer than in our world - for nearly a hundred years. The infighting and factionalism that resulted weakened the Church substantially, and the failure of the Crusades and the subsequent rise of both the Ottoman Empire and Byzantine Empire meant that the cultural and political influence of the Western Church was diminished. But this also means that there was never a Protestant Reformation. With the rise of the British Empire - the British have always been staunchly Western Christian - the Church has regained much authority. The papacy has moved to New York to represent Britain's stamping of its authority on the New World, and the current pope is Pope Adrian VII. Its doctrines remain much like Catholic doctrine of our world, again with the exception of issues of marriage/sexuality.
In Kostantiniyee, the religious freedoms of Abrahamic religions are protected in law. Other religions are not recognised. Officially, atheism (a fairly newly-coined term) and paganism (in the sense of non-Abrahamic and particularly indigenous polytheistic religions) are illegal. Anyone found guilty by the religious courts of heresy (which is used to mean, complicatedly, either lack of belief OR non-compliance with orthodox belief) can be imprisoned or forced into indentured work. This can be avoided by conversion or a return to orthodoxy.
Kostantiniyye, because it's such a melting pot of cultures, can be more sympathetic to cultural and religious differences and is usually quite a tolerant place compared to much of the world. However, its melting pot status also means the pot can sometimes bubble over, and tension between different religious and racial groups can sometimes break out into violence, or be demonstrated in daily terms by discrimination. Some parts of the city have a much more cosmopolitan, tolerant atmosphere than other parts, like any big city.
The largest populations in Kostantiniyye are Eastern Christian (300,000) and Muslim (400,000), followed by Western Christian (250,000), and then there is a smaller Jewish population (50,000). There are of course people from other cultures but they are not officially recorded in census information.
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Date: 2012-04-30 06:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-30 07:57 pm (UTC)