The Faith

The Faith is the name for the predominant religion of Western civilization. Currently about half of Westerners count themselves as believers in the Faith, while twenty percent are skeptical or agnostic, and thirty percent are Non-believers.

A revealed religion, The Faith is based on ancient books written by men and women called The Prophets, dating between about 500 and 2,000 years before the common era (about 1,600 to 3,100 years ago).

Descendants of the race of the Prophets are required by God according to the Faith to follow more religious laws than other people, including strict dietary laws, and they have been subject to persecution in most places they live and hold on strongly to their ancient culture. They are known as the Konen.

Different sects disagree on which books are canonical, although there is a Popular Bible that about thirty percent of believers accept as the inerrant Word of God. There is no equivalent of a "Catholic Church", however, and rather are many different churches with different leaders and organizations.

Many believers of the Faith believe that the last prophet, Sam, was the incarnation of Ace (God). They are known as Samites and they make up the majority of believers in Merritt and the Auld Countries.

Although tenets of the Faith vary by sect and believer, there are some things that most believers agree on. One is that God is human, to be specific a Pragmatic man, and has a human body. God is said to be omniscient, perfectly benevolent, and perfectly moral and just, as well as perfectly beautiful physically.

Believers of the Faith are actually materialists rather than dualists; they do not believe in souls, believing even God Himself to be physical, but rather believe that at the End of Time God will come down to the World and revive the dead to life. There is no belief in Heaven and Hell, but rather it is believed that the World will become a perfectly just place, and will be made physically larger to accommodate every person that ever lived. People's position in the perfected world of God will be based on their character and conduct in life, with the righteous living in luxury and honor and the wicked in drudgery and shame.

Believers of the Faith believe that sins can be atoned through punishment or misfortune, and that those who are rewarded for good deeds in the mortal world will receive fewer rewards than those whose good deeds go unacknowledged in their lives. Humility is thus highly valued in Western culture, as is earthly justice.

It is generally believed that the poor will be seen as more righteous than the rich in the eternal life, although the secular Western culture does glorify wealth.