How do you have an animistic religion in a space opera setting

Easy access to science and information exists today, m8. So does religion.

Basically nothing will change, other than the names of lands conquered in the name of [insert god here]

Maybe certain events and people, maybe even robots, would be canonized. Curiosity and other probes, for example, would be sacred for any Mars colonizer and their final resting places would be holy sites.

>>51977976
The spirits are in the machine, the gost is in the shell.
Easy access to information means easy access to misinformation as well. Science can't do much against entrenched beliefs (see: flat earther threads on /x/, or the moon moon folks).

>>51977976
Now I feel like making a game out of battling crabs.

>>51977976
>everyone has access to science and information because Kami spread information faster than light
>Spaceships fly on a spiritual power of Kami enshrined inside
>Priests advise people on using technology in a way that doesn't interfere with nature and spirituality

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>>51978947
Why not amphipods instead?

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OH GEE I FUCKING WONDER.

>>51977976
Just make the religion actually, verifiably true.
It's space opera, fuck realism.

>>51977976
>How do you have an animistic religion in a space opera setting where everyone has easy access to science and information?
I think the real world answers your question desu.

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>>51977976
Isn't Shintoism pretty animistic?
Isn't Japan one of the most advanced countries on the planet?
Something like that, I imagine.
Especially the part where they value orthopraxy over orthodoxy, which is an element of Shintoism we often gloss over from our own Western, Judeo-Christian, orthodox perspective.

did that thread on space shinto get archived? I can't find it.

>>51981844
The fuck is orthopraxy

>>51983152
Emphasis on correct behavior and conduct, as opposed to the correct faith and mindset of orthodoxy. Learn2theology

>>51983152
performing correct actions, regardless of belief. Seen a lot more in Europe prior to the Reformation.

>>51983176
That may be true but in Asian countries 'correct behavior' is a doctrine and religion all its own

>>51977976
Basically Hinduism, in space.

>>51983152
The other anons explained it, but to illustrate it: in Christianity (an orthodox or belief-centric religion) you can be a Christian even if you never go to church as long as you acknowledge Jesus as your Lord and Savior. In Shintoism (an orthoprax or practice-centric religion) you can be a Shinto even if you renounce the existence of Kami as long as you go to the temple on special days, participate in certain festivals and do other rites associated with the beliefs.

Of course these two are the extremes and in both traditions there's a whole spectrum in between (like the Catholic Church only accepting you after baptism, and the fact that baptized Catholics keep identifying as such even if they don't believe in God).

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>>51981844
Kanna is the cutest.

>>51983387
Stuff like this is why I still enjoy learning about religion as an atheist. So many interesting perspectives.

>>51977976
How about a spacer religion? Praying for safety in the cold void?

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>>51983502
I have spacers making little shrines to major Tom in my settings. It started out as a joke, and most of them would say it still is, but they're plenty sincere when they thank the unofficial patron of lost spacers

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>>51977976
>mudcrab
>not most aggressive

>>51977976

So the more delicious a crab is the more passive it is? Interesting...

>>51977976
let me put it to you this way: could science, regardless of how advanced it is, ever disprove the existence of god or the spirit?
If I say that there is an essential and ethereal part of my being that exists after my death, what could disprove that?

>>51983779
The fact that we cannot detect it, there has never been any genuine reproducible phenomena, and I'm gonna skip the next paragraph to skip to the conclusion.

You are a wet sack of chemicals and meat. Existence has no purpose. You will die and cease to exist, because your measurable brain electricity stops - that is your soul. Your all. Brain electricity. You die it gone. The end.

>>51978986
Yeah, animism and science are kind of at odds with each other so one would have to give way, so to speak.

Does rain come from measurable meteorological phenomena interacting or is it a rain/cloud/water/storm spirit having fun?

Perhaps you could still use some science to measure, like "the barometer does a thing when storm spirits are nearby" but ultimately one has to be "true" I think.

So in turn, technology would advance totally differently. If we could coax fire spirits to burn hotter and regular we could have superior steel without blast furnaces. If we can ask a health spirit to help cure people, why bother with germ theory? Sure there would still be weirdos who dissect people to see how they work and experiment with big furnaces, but depending on how prevalent spirit-talkers are, it'd be hobby stuff rather than need.

So you need to decide first: Which is true? and How common/easy is it to interact with the spirits?

>>51978038
I'd love to see a setting where androids were treated identically to humans from a religious standpoint.

Just thinking about the Geth now. "Does this unit have a soul?"

>>51977976
>an·i·mism n.
>1. the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.
>2. the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

Given how spacers anthropomorphize their ships...I don't see the issue. Spiritual practice doesn't necessarily have to be more than a group of superstitions, however the question becomes if the people pray do the spirits listen?

>>51984243
If so, why bother trying to convince someone of same? There's no point.

>>51977976
>How do you have an animistic religion in a space opera setting where everyone has easy access to science and information? What kind of elements would the religion have?

I'm pretty sure people would just worship planets, systems, stars, etc.. maybe out of sentimentality, but a few generations of material would be enough to start a full-blown-religion in my books.

And why wouldn't you? You know? Space is scary, cold, hot, empty, expect when it isn't and then it's full of meteorites, black holes, space whales, etc.. All of which don't even WANT to kill you, but accidentally do so without a second thought.

At any rate, I don't think it'd be outlandish for spacers to have all manner of animistic rituals, trinkets, etc:
-Jars of Dirt, Sand, or Water from their homeworld seem like the easiest.

-Maybe they compulsively grow and tend to dozens or hundreds of potted plants all scattered across their ship?

-You might have some people who insist on bringing some sort of good-luck pet from their homeworld: fish, lizard, dog, cat, maybe a bird or something else alien.... Maybe they don't have it alive and it's a taxedermy or just a claw/hide?

-Not necessarily "animal" animism, but I bet you anything people would definitely name their ships (can't have a nameless vessel), maybe even going so far as to paint on them: sexy people, animal faces, abstract designs, etc..

Just some food for thought.

>>51979053
Randal. Let's go, motherfuckers.