Infodump #9: Religion - Author and Offspring
In the book, I do my best to only incorporate concrete religious aspects regarding Apollon. This is because it's meant to symbolize the same sort of oppressive hold that some christian pastors and communities have on people as a whole.
I found quite a bit, growing up and now as an adult, of religious leaders allowing their own biases and upbringing to inform their sermons/messaging. I recall a specific example where the man just randomly, in the middle of the proceeding, just said, and I quote... "I've got something to say, and I'm not afraid to say it. Homosexuality is a sin. It's not the way God intended things..." and blah blah blah adam and eve not adam and steve you get the picture.
Now, even in my (at the time) little homophobic mind (the wonders of religious upbringing), this struck me as an odd thing to bring up. How was this relevant to the parables? To the overall life lessons? Why did we single out random peoples' personal relationships and not, y'know, adultery, murder, thievery, etc. I didn't like church before but after that? That was the nail in the coffin for me. I didn't take that bitch seriously ever again.
And compared to the stories I've heard, that's a tame example! So I don't feel bad dogging on a religion that historically tries to wipe other people off the map and decimate their entire way of life. People want to act like forgive and forget is a virtue they live by, but it only applies when it's protecting the way they want to live.
I largely identify as an omnist, or in my words, a believes-in-everything-ist. The only reason I believed in god was because I was told to and grew up learning about him, so if the same is true of other religions, who's to say they aren't equally as right? I prayed quite a bit to 'god' as a child and teenager and never got a response, which my father was confused about. Apparently, he can hear him, no such luck for me.
I have beef with capital "G" god, but Jesus? Jesus is chill. We love a nonbinary anarchist, I know like 10 of them. The same religious zealots that condemn their children fail to see their offspring is upholding the virtues of the 'most holy'.
Moving on to the religon seen in the book. I quite enjoy greek mythology, so I tried to take from that and make gods based on natural phenomena, i.e., sun, moon, and stars. They gradually grew more significance and hold in the world as I developed them, all with their own distinct personalities and quirks.
But where did they come from? You may ask. Well, I'll be happy to tell you! Sort of. Right now, my idea (which is prone to change, as is anything), is that they're us! More specifically, souls who were here on earth, or at the very least, observed earth. They were promoted to godhood after living fulfilling lives (to each their own interpretation) and given their own earth/civilization to bring to fruition. They learned what they didn't want from their old lives and things they wanted to adjust. For example, people on Leonidas live around 200-220 years instead of the max 120 here. They made the trees so big that it was implausible to cut them down, and huge flowers so that bees never miss out on any pollen they need. There's lots of other adjustments they've made, but I might save that for another time. For the most part, they're just people with unimaginable power who are doing their best to guide people who are where they were through life.
I think that's a lot cooler than some weirdo telling you to shank your kid on an altar in some cosmic game of chicken.
