Loss of Religion

[Darkfantasy]

I'm not a very experienced writer and am struggling with this aspect of my novel. People in my world were religious, they may have followed different religions that were more intense than others but everyone had a particular God they gave worship too. The Gods didn't just give them hope and interact with them but were also a source of protection and guidance. Religion was good rather than negative and they kept the world leaning toward Utopian - bad behaviour resulted in punishment from the Gods and they were the most powerful entity in this world and kept evil to a minimum until eventually they lost their strength.

The Gods were destroyed and everything they represented went with them. This made the races in my world defenceless against more powerful entities than themselves. But outside of that what do you think would be the impact of people losing their religion? You can't worship a God that no longer exists.
I'm trying to think of ways people might handle this mentally and emotionally and being a non-religious person it's hard for me to think about this topic. Could anyone offer me any help and steer me in the right direction please?

 

[WooHooMan]

A lot of things could happen as a result, I guess.

I had this happen in my setting and the result was that a community-based atheist religion (think Buddhism) developed out of it. Generally, I think if people were to lose some important aspect of their lives, it makes sense that they would try to find some kind of substitute.
If the gods were the initial source of punishment for the amoral, then I'd imagine some kind of government would need to be developed to take its place.

This is all stuff on a societal level because I couldn't really tell you how individuals would react. Since God's work isn't as apparent/direct in our reality, you can't compare a real person's loss of faith to a character in your setting.

 

[Gurkhal]

I think that cults of personality would rise in many different places. Your old god can't protect you from the bandits, but this warrior can, or, your old god can't heal save you from this infection but this healer can. Thus you could have various cults of personality to different men and women of skill and talent who can provide something for the normal people and are hailed almost, or just as, gods for it.

And to that you can add, if you so wish, that power corrupts and many of these celebrated persons will become corrupt by the power.

 

[NerdyCavegirl]

Well are the people aware their gods were destroyed? If not, I imagine they'd still stubbornly follow the old ways until circumstances become so dire that individuals either seek a substitute, become bitter and hopeless, or any variety of other reactions. Being a non-religious but highly spiritual person who worships nature and physics itself as God, I can't really say either, but I know a lot of people become depressed, angry, or fearful when their beliefs are in doubt. My older brother can't decide if he's an atheist, born-again Christian, or....Long Island Medium devotee, and he's a lot more emotionally unstable than anyone I've met who's firm in any belief with good intent.

 

[KC Trae Becker]

Individual reactions would be displayed in wide variety depending on personalities of different people and groups. The more devoted types might commit suicide or go crazy depending on how their devotion affected their lives previously. Independent types might not bat an eye.

It would be like grieving. Some are inconsolable, some are untouched. Most are somewhere in between. A loss is a loss. A huge loss like this could make a huge impact on some people.

Many average people would take great advantage of the lack of punishment being doled out and riot or develop gangs prone to theft and violence.

 

[skip.knox]

One way people deal with loss is to invent new myths; specifically, that the gods were in fact not killed but have gone into hiding. One day there will be a rebirth and the gods will return to deliver justice to the world.

That's just one myth. You could come up with others.

Who did the destroying? If these are real entities, then these would become the New Gods (pace Jack Kirby), who could themselves become objects of worship.

I could also see a complete rejection of divine beings. If the gods could be destroyed, then they weren't gods at all and the world is better off without them. Or some such.

 

[evolution_rex]

Am I right to assume that in this universe, they know that the gods were real, and that it wasn't ambiguous at all? And that they knew for a fact that they disappeared? If so, then there would be a tremendous amount of people who would refuse to believe that they were destroyed, and new religions would arise. There would be a lot of religious wars and people would implement new types of governments. It'd be like the Medieval times, really. A lot of chaos until the religions finds their niche, calm down, and become less extreme. Then it would be much like today, where people tend to generally agree but there are still a lot of fighting over who is right.

 

[ThinkerX]

A lot of the more extreme followers will not accept the demise of their God. Dogma trumps reality. They may even try to rewrite history to bolster this view.

That said, having deities as enforcers of morality is an iffy proposition. Some people might need the 'supreme club,' but others do not. Also, there is never any shortage of prophets, mystics, and would be cult leaders.

 

[Devor]

In history whenever there were points of religious instability we see neighbors getting paranoid and turning on each other. The witch hunts, for instance, became popular during the Reformation not because of doctrine but because of that uncertainty. "I don't know what anybody believes anymore. It wouldn't surprise me nowadays if they were all satanists."

So if it were me, I would focus on that loss of community and the aspect of distrust that rises when it disappears. "We used to all be Odin-ists. We used to have that together. Now what do they believe? Some new trench coat philosopher could be telling them anything."

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My question would be how do they know the gods were destroyed? Did they witness it somehow? Or is this just the teaching of some other new sage / church? And even before that how did they know that the gods were real? Because everything comes back to those two questions. You have to know something is real before you can accept it being destroyed, and then you have to know that it was destroyed before you can grieve. Even though the gods were destroyed in your world, many people may well still believe they live an act accordingly.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

A few quick ideas...some would still hold on to their beliefs, thinking the gods will somehow return. Others will think the gods are gone for good, but will continue to live the same way. Some will only feel despair and take their on life and some may turn to their vices and crimes since they feel their is no more heaven or hell. Those who feel the need to worship something/someone will turn to new entities and begin to follow the desires of those beings. Hope this sparks a few ideas.

 

[Queshire]

I feel that a good number of people would still worship their old gods even if they're dead because that's what they know and that's what they're comfortable with. They might decide that they'll need to take the punishment that used to be handled by the gods in their own hands. This would likely lead to conflict with those who think that with the death of the gods this is crazy.

 

[Darkfantasy]

Thanks for giving me some things to think about guys.
As I said in my question above, these people did interact with their Gods so knew they were real and yes some witnessed their downfall.
I did think about the starting of a new religion that began to prophecy something that gave hope to people but maybe the priest is just greedy and power hungry and that his prophecy is not real. But I wanted to avoid the prophecy cliche and the special child/person cliche but the again it just work into the story.

 

[Britannicus]

At most times in human history people have accepted that their own community's god(s) might not be shared by others. Followers of different religions might not like each other - usually for cultural, social, economic or political reasons, not because of the beliefs - but the enthusiasm to exterminate non-believers has only featured in (some phases of) Christianity and Islam (and fortunately never been shared by all Christians or Muslims).
And at all times there were individuals with a distaste for religion. They should feature in fantasy civilizations too!