So, I'm very, very hesitant to dip my toe into your fan project because it involves your actual religious beliefs and that's an unbelievably huge kettle of worms.

However, taking the concept in hand, I do want to say I disagree with this concept from a Christian perspective;

'Religion of the populace is heavily regulated as allowing outside beliefs often leads to a weakening of the faith for the entire community.'

My objection is based on two points;
1) Regulating religion is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 13:24-30)
2) I don't really believe that allowing outside beliefs leads to a weakening of faith. It leads to a broadening of knowledge and understanding of others, but if that consequently leads to a lack of faith then the problem lies with that person. 

The passage about POW's I think could be expanded on or maybe rephrased, as it looks now that POW's are given the choice to convert, leave or die, which is certainly contrary to Jesus' teachings. Conversion under duress is not faith and there is a responsibility towards compassion.

Jesus' second greatest law is, after all; "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," not "You shall love your neighbor as yourself...but only if he believes the same as you."

4 hours ago, AutumnEffect said:

So, I'm very, very hesitant to dip my toe into your fan project because it involves your actual religious beliefs and that's an unbelievably huge kettle of worms.

However, taking the concept in hand, I do want to say I disagree with this concept from a Christian perspective;

'Religion of the populace is heavily regulated as allowing outside beliefs often leads to a weakening of the faith for the entire community.'

 

My objection is based on two points;
1) Regulating religion is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 13:24-30)
2) I don't really believe that allowing outside beliefs leads to a weakening of faith. It leads to a broadening of knowledge and understanding of others, but if that consequently leads to a lack of faith then the problem lies with that person. 

The passage about POW's I think could be expanded on or maybe rephrased, as it looks now that POW's are given the choice to convert, leave or die, which is certainly contrary to Jesus' teachings. Conversion under duress is not faith and there is a responsibility towards compassion.

Jesus' second greatest law is, after all; "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," not "You shall love your neighbor as yourself...but only if he believes the same as you."

Thank you so very much for your input! I understand your hesitation & I’m very grateful for your input as it does give me a number of things to ruminate on.

Part of the reason for the way this has been made is to try to fit in with the grimdark themes of 40K, where even the good guys are still somewhat villainous & good deeds often lead to terrible consequences. It’s a bit difficult for me to write as my attention span is difficult to maintain & I’m a very traditional “good always triumphs” type person (I also can’t always put things into the correct/understandable wording).

Part of the reason for the regulation of religion has to do with the dangers of Genestealer cults (who I honestly need to do more research on) whose sole purpose is to infiltrate worlds & corrupt the populace. I haven’t written it yet, but I have also been formulating the idea of a library where tomes of other religions are kept & are open to the public, that they may read about other religious beliefs to better prepare themselves against ideals that are contradictory to the Word of God.

You are right about the POW section as I should have written more about it rather than give it a sentence in passing. The idea of executing POWs who refuse to convert is less about “convert or die” & is more supposed to be for those who won’t convert, but may not be able to return to their former lives as being held prisoner by my faction may be treated the same as exposure to warp corruption. Their faith in their own faction’s ideology is too strong for them to simply throw it away, but returning home will most likely result in some form of twisted punishment (dreadnoughts, arco-flagellants & servitors to name a few), so the idea is more that my faction offers them the choice to be executed with honor rather than suffer whatever horrible consequences their own faction may inflict upon them. My faction views it as merciful, but it is also a choice that only the prisoners can make for themselves.

Once again, I’d like to thank you so very much for your input. Criticism such as this really does help me to think more critically about this & better helps me to be a better storyteller & Christian. It’s also comforting to know that I’m not the only Christian in this hobby (or on this site). God bless you!