Religion in Fenspace
“ | When I talk about belief, why do you always assume I'm talking about God? | ” |
—Shepherd Book, Serenity |
Like the Fen themselves, the religions of Fenspace are many and varied. The only religious opinion that most Fen hold in common is that religious extremism is frowned upon.
Religions
Christianity
Christianity in Fenspace is represented primarily by the Church of Fenspace, more commonly known as the Fenchurch.
The Pennsylvania Mennonites, also known as the Amish, can be found in surprising numbers in the greater Solar System. The Amish can be found primarily on Mars, though the Venus Terraforming Project has already made it clear that there will be land available for them on Venus. The Amish in Fenspace are, unsurprisingly, quite liberal compared to their Earthbound kin, but still prefer to use handicrafts and manpower where some Fen would use antigrav and grapples. An Amish hand-woven spacesuit will shock the wearer on their first donning, as it’s lighter, more flexible, and works better than the run-of-the-mill pressure suit. The modern Amish buggy is horse-drawn (unless it’s a spaceworthy shuttle for a Dyson Tree ship), but the horses are significantly smaller, wear their own pressure setups, and the buggy itself is air-tight and uses a variant on the Hephaestian zipper-lock.
Some fundamentalist groups are believed to have settled in the Main Belt, though the success of those colonies is unknown. At least one fringe group is known to have ties to the Turnerites.
Judaism
The old persecution of the Judaic peoples hasn’t escaped from the gravity well yet, leading some of the more verbally pugilistic of this community to debate upon the specific gravity of hatred…
A split community, part of the Jewish presence in Fenspace believes that the Fenchurch and its sacraments (such as they are) are Kosher, while the other half appears to think that that Fenchurch thing is a fine, fine idea, but they still need to be holding their own sanctified observances. As of yet, this “conflict” has led to well-reasoned debates and quite a lot of profit for coffee and bagel sales.
Islam
The Muslim population in Fenspace is divided between two major groups; American and European expatriates who came up with the rest of the Fen Diapora, and Indonesian Muslims living in the Ganymede and Callisto colonies.
Buddhism
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Shinto
Shinto has a large presence in the greater Solar System thanks to the large numbers of Japanese Fen on Venus and the Village Hidden in Asteroids.
Miscellaneous
The Church of Sub-Genius moved out into space, searching for new sources of slack and to build the X-ist Invasion Fleet. Subgenii are everywhere, but tend to congregate around the Stark Fist of Removal. See main article: Subgenii
Places of Faith
- St. Liebowitz's Cathedral - the best-known place of worship off-Earth.
- Hades Station - where religion (like everything else) is studied scientifically.
Related Pages
And, of course, any mention of religion in Fenspace would not be complete without mention of the Principia Universalis