Between Polytheism and Monotheism ...

[Ozymandias]

In my playing and modding, it always seems that Monotheism and its benefits follow Polytheism too quickly. So I dug away at vague recollections and secondary and primary sources (clergy) and came up with the intermediate step:

MONOLATRISM

"Monolatry" is the belief in one god being supreme over others, and actually represents Judaism (so I am told) historically through the writing of the Book of Deuteronomy ("Thou shalt have no other God before me"; etc.).

Beyond using it as a place-holder tech between Polytheism and Monotheism, I stick the "Great Temple" (doubling the effect of Temples) in that slot. It seems to work quite nicely.

... And if anyone actually uses this in a mod, I expect a footnote.

Your Not So Humble Researcher,

Oz

 

[mrtn]

Or just replace the Monotheism tech altogether. Many peoples did advance from the ancient era without going Monotheistic. India is just an example. Just call the tech Religious Fervor or Organised Religion or I'mgonnabeatthesnotoutofyouyouheretic.
Or something like that.

 

[Xen]

I agree- montheism isnt nessciarrily better then polytheism- in fact, with history being what it is, one would have to say its a step back, personally, I would replace both, but I dont knwo what to put in place of Polytheism (monotheism was taken out a while ago)

 

[Ozymandias]

@Xen -- I think Polytheism is inevitable -- after all, it seems ubiquitous in early human cultures ... ?

@mrtn -- I agree with you entirely. I definitely think Monolatrism and Monotheism will both be optional advances, perhaps modified by flavor. And I definitely want to hear more about the Church Of I'mgonnabeatthesnotoutofyouyouheretic

-Oz

 

[Mithadan]

I believe "Henotheism" is another word for this "monolatry" thing. I believe the former term is more current in religious studies than the latter, too.

 

[billesarius]

Personally, I always felt that Firaxis had it backwards. Logically the concept of "God" must have occurred before the thought " gee, there must be lots of gods". Some historical examples... to paraphrase Robert Drews " when the Greeks entered their present country they had a one word religion... 'Zeus'". A word related to theos, dios or Latin deus.... just "god". Also recall that as the Romans expanded outward they tended to expand their pantheon. There was no worship of Mithras, Serapis or Cybele before the eastern conquests. I think it would have been so with a lot of peoples that as they became acquainted with other peoples' concepts of god the tendency was to adopt new divinities and not to reduce the number that they already had.
Firaxis notion of advancements though is driven by the historical occurance of new units, buildings and wonders and in that sense monotheism is an "advance". In real life, I think that finding the truth is to advance and so would agree that "monotheism" is not necessarily an advance. Depends on whether God is defining himself or we humans are defining him.
From a game perspective monolatry is a good intermediate "tech". A historical progression in my view would be monotheism > polytheism > monolatry > trinitism > theolatry (to probably coin a word) (> neo-polytheism?). In game terms the government model would be a good model for religion as well. Clearly not everyone has progressed... ceremonial burial > polytheism (> monolatry) monotheism. A more accurate model would be to have alternative paths as with gov't.

 

[Kinboat]

I personally think the whole religion tech chain should start with something like Spiritualism, or maybe Animalism... To represent early belief in spirits residing in everything... Then that would be a preresiquite of both Poly and Mono Theism, and you could throw in MonoLatrism as well... but Monotheism should not have Polytheism as a requirement (and vice/versa). I don't even think any of them should be required for advancement to the next era, but instead just offer the usual buildings and benefits.

 

[Primordial Moon]

Actually, in case that's what you thought, India isn't polytheistic. They are actually, if you study more about them, closer to believing in monotheism. You see, Hinduism (India's religion) is pantheistic. They believe that god is everywhere and in everything. Basically, when you look outward, you see the world. When you look inward, you see that the world is not separate from you because both you and the world are a part of god. Although it appears as if they have many different gods, Hindus actually believe that each of these "gods" is a manifestation of god in a different form. Perhaps the creator of this thread (or anyone else who is interested) would like to create a new tech and/or other things in-game that reflect the existence of Pantheism.

 

[Xen]

remember though, pantheism isnt exclusivlly hindu- infact, pantheism- the concept of God/the gods and nature being one whole (well in a sense, my own school is a diviation fo that though in the gods being a manifestation/personaifaction fo nature/alog those lines, and thats the simple version of it, and i dont liek going in details as ti takes to much time)insted of god/gods being a huge controlling force is a tentant of many schools of western polyteism

 

[Ozymandias]

I think, from a game POV, that the problem ultimately becomes the improvements etc. available for each tech.

Personally, I dislike the whole Monotheism=Cathedral thing -- yet some happiness improvement along those lines is clearly required about the point in the (original) game when Monotheism arrives. I've substituted Ukas' Ziggurat for Cathedrals and plan to make them available at some equivalent point with the same effect as Cathedrals, yet not at all tied to Monotheism.

The questions of "what's the 'right' religious tech progression" and "how best to serve game play" are interesting when taken together. I thought that my original solution of Monolatrism was/is interesting, but now you all have me wondering -- which is a good thing!

-Oz

 

[vsaiyan]

"Monolatry" is the belief in one god being supreme over others, and actually represents Judaism (so I am told) historically through the writing of the Book of Deuteronomy ("Thou shalt have no other God before me"; etc.).

Actually that exact scripture was referring to the idols that were worshipped at the time. It was saying God should be their only God...

 

[Mithadan]

BTW Kinboat, it's "Animism" not "Animalism"!