Religion in the 23rd Century
Religion continues to be an incredibly important part of peoples lives around the solar system. While many of the states that have emerged, like the The People's Democratic Republic of Mars and the Gas Giant Coalition are purely secular, many of the inhabitants of these supernations are religious.
Around 35% of the population is broadly irreligious, either agnostic or atheistic. After this, around 20% are broadly christian, and close to 16% are broadly muslim, but both of these are sometimes thought to be overreported. Approximatly 11% are Hindu, along with 6% buddhist, and traditional religions of various kinds make up another 5-6%. The last 6% is split between thousands of smaller religions, the largest being Judaism at 0.5%, Sikhism at 0.2%, and the LDS 0.2%. While a few religions have grown up in space, they combined have memberships less than 0.1% of the population.
Spacers tend to be slightly less religious on average. This is believed to be due to their incredibly necessity of self reliance. Many asteroid communities were founded specifically for and by religious communities, mostly niche Abrahamic sects.
Nearly all of the major sects of religious denominations have okayed spaceflight and colonization. However, Islam had to modify a few rules, mostly based around what counts as kneeling, and basing Ramadan fasting around either the ship clock (6-6), or the sunsets and sunrises in Mecca, as well as the Earth Calendar.
The PDRM staunchly maintains a separation of church and state, something written into it's constitution by the founders. Religious based teaching is fundamentally disallowed, but freedom of religious expression is widely practiced, though sometimes incenses are not allowed for air quality and fire reasons. Thousands of various churches, mosques, temples and synagogues dot the red planet, and humanity is likely to take religion to the stars.
However, the religious landscape has continued to fracture. New sects of most religions are emerging nearly all the time, especially amongst the more organized religions. While often times these are peaceful disagreements, there have been a few violent acts committed in the name of almost every religious group.
A few interstellar colonies were sent on religious grounds, escaping "prosecution" (refusing forcing all people to obey). Currently, there are only 2 of these, but there are many smaller ventures, going to dark parts of the outer solar system for the same reasoning.
Around 35% of the population is broadly irreligious, either agnostic or atheistic. After this, around 20% are broadly christian, and close to 16% are broadly muslim, but both of these are sometimes thought to be overreported. Approximatly 11% are Hindu, along with 6% buddhist, and traditional religions of various kinds make up another 5-6%. The last 6% is split between thousands of smaller religions, the largest being Judaism at 0.5%, Sikhism at 0.2%, and the LDS 0.2%. While a few religions have grown up in space, they combined have memberships less than 0.1% of the population.
Spacers tend to be slightly less religious on average. This is believed to be due to their incredibly necessity of self reliance. Many asteroid communities were founded specifically for and by religious communities, mostly niche Abrahamic sects.
Nearly all of the major sects of religious denominations have okayed spaceflight and colonization. However, Islam had to modify a few rules, mostly based around what counts as kneeling, and basing Ramadan fasting around either the ship clock (6-6), or the sunsets and sunrises in Mecca, as well as the Earth Calendar.
The PDRM staunchly maintains a separation of church and state, something written into it's constitution by the founders. Religious based teaching is fundamentally disallowed, but freedom of religious expression is widely practiced, though sometimes incenses are not allowed for air quality and fire reasons. Thousands of various churches, mosques, temples and synagogues dot the red planet, and humanity is likely to take religion to the stars.
However, the religious landscape has continued to fracture. New sects of most religions are emerging nearly all the time, especially amongst the more organized religions. While often times these are peaceful disagreements, there have been a few violent acts committed in the name of almost every religious group.
A few interstellar colonies were sent on religious grounds, escaping "prosecution" (refusing forcing all people to obey). Currently, there are only 2 of these, but there are many smaller ventures, going to dark parts of the outer solar system for the same reasoning.
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