Here's another ideology I got bored and devised. It's based on what I think a Biblical literalist theocracy would look like, and it isn't a pleasant state (and one that would offend many Christians from every side of the political spectrum).

Salvationism

Salvationism is a Christian theocratic ideology that believes the purpose of the government is to lead people to Jesus Christ through establishing Biblical principles as the law of society. It arose out of a certain evangelical revival movement that encourages its followers to prepare the world for Jesus's return. Its members gradually subverted the government before taking over in a somewhat violent revolution.

Salvationism is a Protestant movement led by a nameless denomination []--this denomination is by far the most prominent. However, practical matters forced the government to institute limited ecumenicalism--churches which have signed a statement of doctrine are permitted to be state churches of the "Salvationist Fellowship". In practice, these are all similar evangelical and fundamentalist churches, with permitted deviations in doctrine primarily for worship style (i.e. forbidding instruments in church music) or matters of church governance. Other Christian churches are subject to varying degrees or harassment--Catholicism and Orthodox churches are banned, as are newer Christian movements such as the LDS Church, Christian Science, and Jehovahs Witnesses, but liberal or mainline Protestants, as well as fundamentalists who do not agree with the Salvationist doctrine, are generally allowed to continue worshipping provided their pastors do not preach doctrine contrary to the state.

There is no freedom of religion. Banned churches and non-Christian religions are not permitted to assemble for worship. Religious clothing such as the hijab or Sikh turban are strictly outlawed. Atheism, agnosticism, and irreligion are deemed blasphemous and practicioners imprisoned. The worst punishment is reserved for idol worshippers such as Hindus, Buddhists, and neopagans--they are executed by stoning. A controversy arose after a leading Catholic archbishop was stoned to death for "worshipping an idol of Mary"--the Salvationists decreed Catholic and Orthodox worship not idolatry (but still outlawed), yet extrajudicial punishment of Catholics is still common. Any proselytism of non permitted religions is strictly illegal. Religious literature of these faiths is banned. Judaism is banned for being adversarial to Jesus, but Jews who convert to Salvationism are permitted and encouraged to organise as Messianic Jews.

The government is centered around local churches, which themselves are grouped into regional churches, and then into the national church. Most all regional or national politicians are ordained deacons and ministers. A council of 7 men termed "Regional Church Elders" governs all regions, while the nation is ruled by 7 men termed "National Church Elders". By statute, the nameless denomination fills 2/3 of all open government posts, including 5 out of 7 posts on all regional and national councils. Government is partially elected, partially not--all local positions are elected, as are elections to the Council of Elders at the regional and national level, but nearly all other offices are indirectly elected or appointed. Only the "man of the household" may vote, and he must be an active member of a Salvationist church who can only vote in elections pertaining to his denomination (i.e. a Baptist may not vote in an election involving the nameless denomination). There is no women's suffrage at all, while adult men still living with their parents or elderly men being cared for by their adult children may only vote if the man of the household transfers his status to them.

Most controversially, Salvationism believes everyone is to hold property in common as the early church in Acts did. For practical matters, this means all property is church property and therefore the Salvationist Fellowship controls the economy, allocating resources as necessary. Business occurs only at the behest of the state. The economy can roughly be said to be state capitalist. Economic discrimination is rampant against perceived enemies of the state, and the government frequently intervenes in private business to ensure the atmosphere of the business is Christian, as is its means of doing business. Tithing is a major source of government income--to not tithe at least 10% of your income (or even more if one is deemed as being "especially blessed") without a valid reason is grounds for losing church membership, which is effectively the suspension of one's civil rights.

The government takes an active role in culture. Practically all secular culture is outlawed or restricted as being immoral. Alcohol remains legal, but highly taxed and restricted--bars are illegal, and drunkenness even in private can result in losing church membership. All other drug use is criminalised (although medical marijuana is legal, but strictly regulated). Secular music, films, etc. are permitted to exist, but must pass a stringent board of censors. Artists and directors who fail to pass the censors too many times are generally blacklisted, and some genres are defacto forbidden out of similarity to immoral sorts of music. Morality is strictly enforced in public--unmarried men and women are kept separate (most places are gender segregated or have separate seating areas for men and women), modest clothing is required at all times, public displays of affection are not tolerated. While the government does not officially sponsor them, private morality police exist in all jurisdictions and are usually deputised by local police departments to reduce their workload. Religious culture is generally permitted as long as it is doctrinally correct--Salvationist notoriously raided art museums to confiscate and destroy many Renaissance paintings for portraying the Bible in "too Catholic" a manner or otherwise "glorifying paganism".

There are numerous limitations on civil rights. There is no freedom of speech, and even public profanity may result in fines for un-Christian behavior. Anything LGBT+ related is banned, and those known to have partaken in homosexual sex are executed. Abortion is strictly illegal, and those receiving or performing an abortion are also stoned due to the government equating it with sacrifices to Moloch. Fornication and adultery are also capital crimes, where both parties to the act may also be executed. Most crimes are executed by stoning--the "stoning machines" installed in execution squares are infamous symbols of the Salvationist regime. Crimes may be punished by flogging, amputation, imprisonment, or forced restitution. The latter can sometimes result in the criminal being forced to serve as an indentured servant, losing their civil rights in the process. Both Old Testament and New Testament law are referred to for how society is governed. Prisons double as indoctrination camps. Those who are sentenced to prison for crimes are forced to listen to hours and hours of sermons by "prison ministers" and memorise Bible verses related to their crime; physical torture is common, and state ideology freely melds with Biblical doctrine in these sessions.

Notably, the government believes in the equality of all races and ethnic groups. Racism is deemed as contrary to the goals of bringing the world the Gospel of Jesus, and strict laws against hate speech are applied. However, these laws are also extended to those who fight against alleged structural inequalities between races and ethnic groups should they argue too forcefully. Antisemitism is distinguished between racial and religious--the former is illegal, the latter is government policy.

Salvationists actively promote creation science as the core of their policy on science. Any indication that evolution is true or that the world and universe are billions of years old is punished, and there was even a case where a biologist was stoned to death for asserting mankind evolved. This has impeded research in many fields and made advancing science difficult at best, although it is widely known that scientists often write in code and frequently read otherwise forbidden scientific journals. However, in other fields the Salvationists are still highly advanced and active in developing new methods to assure their dominion over the world.

Salvationist foreign policy is centered around world domination for the sake of saving souls. Branches of the Salvationist Fellowship operate in numerous countries, and the government actively propogates mission work. Their embassies function as churches and centers for coordinating mission work, which in some countries has resulted in their expulsion. Nearly all diplomatic staff are ordained ministers who have served as missionaries in the past. The International Salvationist Fellowship is a global council of churches that fancies itself the world government, but unlike the United Nations or Comintern is known for playing an active hand in member states. It is hoped that one day, there will be no borders and the International Salvationist Fellowship will be the sole government on the planet until the return of Jesus.

As a result, Salvationist foreign policy lacks pragmatism. Their chief international ally is Israel due to their belief that Israel is necessary for the end times, but there is great distrust between the Israel and the Salvationists due to the religious antisemitism of the latter and the increasing prominence of religious Zionism in the former. The Shin Bet closely monitor the Salvationist Fellowship branch of Messianic Jews in Israel due to suspecting them of plotting a coup. Besides Israel, most nations ally with Salvationists do so out of fear and economic opportunity, hoping Salvationist investment and imports will aid them in their own national goals.

The Salvationist military fancies itself as warriors for Christ. Only members of churches in the Salvationist Fellowship may join, and indoctrination occurs at all levels thanks to the very large Chaplain Corps, which in addition to their typical role, also function akin to commissars in communist regimes. The military is known for their involvement in public policing and has occasionally committed war crimes on the basis of Old Testament law, but to their credit, the Salvationists have tried to eliminate that tendency in the military in the name of Jesus's message of redemption. However, it is still expected that foreign prisoners of war will be denied the right to practice their religion and may suffer execution for idolatry.

[1] - This practice is akin to some denominations who use the name "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ", but I'd rather avoid the confusion.

This one seems very hard to get instituted in any country given Protestant countries are also the ones where fundamentalist Christians are very much against the idea of abolishing private property. I think you'd need a 19th century POD where some segment of the labour movement fuses with the early fundamentalist movement and spreads itself through religious revivals.
Unfortunately this ideology already exists in OTL and it's called Theonomy (and/or Dominionism in context of American Protestantism).
 
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rndbabylon

Banned
Here's another ideology I got bored and devised. It's based on what I think a Biblical literalist theocracy would look like, and it isn't a pleasant state (and one that would offend many Christians from every side of the political spectrum).

Salvationism

Salvationism is a Christian theocratic ideology that believes the purpose of the government is to lead people to Jesus Christ through establishing Biblical principles as the law of society. It arose out of a certain evangelical revival movement that encourages its followers to prepare the world for Jesus's return. Its members gradually subverted the government before taking over in a somewhat violent revolution.

Salvationism is a Protestant movement led by a nameless denomination []--this denomination is by far the most prominent. However, practical matters forced the government to institute limited ecumenicalism--churches which have signed a statement of doctrine are permitted to be state churches of the "Salvationist Fellowship". In practice, these are all similar evangelical and fundamentalist churches, with permitted deviations in doctrine primarily for worship style (i.e. forbidding instruments in church music) or matters of church governance. Other Christian churches are subject to varying degrees or harassment--Catholicism and Orthodox churches are banned, as are newer Christian movements such as the LDS Church, Christian Science, and Jehovahs Witnesses, but liberal or mainline Protestants, as well as fundamentalists who do not agree with the Salvationist doctrine, are generally allowed to continue worshipping provided their pastors do not preach doctrine contrary to the state.

There is no freedom of religion. Banned churches and non-Christian religions are not permitted to assemble for worship. Religious clothing such as the hijab or Sikh turban are strictly outlawed. Atheism, agnosticism, and irreligion are deemed blasphemous and practicioners imprisoned. The worst punishment is reserved for idol worshippers such as Hindus, Buddhists, and neopagans--they are executed by stoning. A controversy arose after a leading Catholic archbishop was stoned to death for "worshipping an idol of Mary"--the Salvationists decreed Catholic and Orthodox worship not idolatry (but still outlawed), yet extrajudicial punishment of Catholics is still common. Any proselytism of non permitted religions is strictly illegal. Religious literature of these faiths is banned. Judaism is banned for being adversarial to Jesus, but Jews who convert to Salvationism are permitted and encouraged to organise as Messianic Jews.

The government is centered around local churches, which themselves are grouped into regional churches, and then into the national church. Most all regional or national politicians are ordained deacons and ministers. A council of 7 men termed "Regional Church Elders" governs all regions, while the nation is ruled by 7 men termed "National Church Elders". By statute, the nameless denomination fills 2/3 of all open government posts, including 5 out of 7 posts on all regional and national councils. Government is partially elected, partially not--all local positions are elected, as are elections to the Council of Elders at the regional and national level, but nearly all other offices are indirectly elected or appointed. Only the "man of the household" may vote, and he must be an active member of a Salvationist church who can only vote in elections pertaining to his denomination (i.e. a Baptist may not vote in an election involving the nameless denomination). There is no women's suffrage at all, while adult men still living with their parents or elderly men being cared for by their adult children may only vote if the man of the household transfers his status to them.

Most controversially, Salvationism believes everyone is to hold property in common as the early church in Acts did. For practical matters, this means all property is church property and therefore the Salvationist Fellowship controls the economy, allocating resources as necessary. Business occurs only at the behest of the state. The economy can roughly be said to be state capitalist. Economic discrimination is rampant against perceived enemies of the state, and the government frequently intervenes in private business to ensure the atmosphere of the business is Christian, as is its means of doing business. Tithing is a major source of government income--to not tithe at least 10% of your income (or even more if one is deemed as being "especially blessed") without a valid reason is grounds for losing church membership, which is effectively the suspension of one's civil rights.

The government takes an active role in culture. Practically all secular culture is outlawed or restricted as being immoral. Alcohol remains legal, but highly taxed and restricted--bars are illegal, and drunkenness even in private can result in losing church membership. All other drug use is criminalised (although medical marijuana is legal, but strictly regulated). Secular music, films, etc. are permitted to exist, but must pass a stringent board of censors. Artists and directors who fail to pass the censors too many times are generally blacklisted, and some genres are defacto forbidden out of similarity to immoral sorts of music. Morality is strictly enforced in public--unmarried men and women are kept separate (most places are gender segregated or have separate seating areas for men and women), modest clothing is required at all times, public displays of affection are not tolerated. While the government does not officially sponsor them, private morality police exist in all jurisdictions and are usually deputised by local police departments to reduce their workload. Religious culture is generally permitted as long as it is doctrinally correct--Salvationist notoriously raided art museums to confiscate and destroy many Renaissance paintings for portraying the Bible in "too Catholic" a manner or otherwise "glorifying paganism".

There are numerous limitations on civil rights. There is no freedom of speech, and even public profanity may result in fines for un-Christian behavior. Anything LGBT+ related is banned, and those known to have partaken in homosexual sex are executed. Abortion is strictly illegal, and those receiving or performing an abortion are also stoned due to the government equating it with sacrifices to Moloch. Fornication and adultery are also capital crimes, where both parties to the act may also be executed. Most crimes are executed by stoning--the "stoning machines" installed in execution squares are infamous symbols of the Salvationist regime. Crimes may be punished by flogging, amputation, imprisonment, or forced restitution. The latter can sometimes result in the criminal being forced to serve as an indentured servant, losing their civil rights in the process. Both Old Testament and New Testament law are referred to for how society is governed. Prisons double as indoctrination camps. Those who are sentenced to prison for crimes are forced to listen to hours and hours of sermons by "prison ministers" and memorise Bible verses related to their crime; physical torture is common, and state ideology freely melds with Biblical doctrine in these sessions.

Notably, the government believes in the equality of all races and ethnic groups. Racism is deemed as contrary to the goals of bringing the world the Gospel of Jesus, and strict laws against hate speech are applied. However, these laws are also extended to those who fight against alleged structural inequalities between races and ethnic groups should they argue too forcefully. Antisemitism is distinguished between racial and religious--the former is illegal, the latter is government policy.

Salvationists actively promote creation science as the core of their policy on science. Any indication that evolution is true or that the world and universe are billions of years old is punished, and there was even a case where a biologist was stoned to death for asserting mankind evolved. This has impeded research in many fields and made advancing science difficult at best, although it is widely known that scientists often write in code and frequently read otherwise forbidden scientific journals. However, in other fields the Salvationists are still highly advanced and active in developing new methods to assure their dominion over the world.

Salvationist foreign policy is centered around world domination for the sake of saving souls. Branches of the Salvationist Fellowship operate in numerous countries, and the government actively propogates mission work. Their embassies function as churches and centers for coordinating mission work, which in some countries has resulted in their expulsion. Nearly all diplomatic staff are ordained ministers who have served as missionaries in the past. The International Salvationist Fellowship is a global council of churches that fancies itself the world government, but unlike the United Nations or Comintern is known for playing an active hand in member states. It is hoped that one day, there will be no borders and the International Salvationist Fellowship will be the sole government on the planet until the return of Jesus.

As a result, Salvationist foreign policy lacks pragmatism. Their chief international ally is Israel due to their belief that Israel is necessary for the end times, but there is great distrust between the Israel and the Salvationists due to the religious antisemitism of the latter and the increasing prominence of religious Zionism in the former. The Shin Bet closely monitor the Salvationist Fellowship branch of Messianic Jews in Israel due to suspecting them of plotting a coup. Besides Israel, most nations ally with Salvationists do so out of fear and economic opportunity, hoping Salvationist investment and imports will aid them in their own national goals.

The Salvationist military fancies itself as warriors for Christ. Only members of churches in the Salvationist Fellowship may join, and indoctrination occurs at all levels thanks to the very large Chaplain Corps, which in addition to their typical role, also function akin to commissars in communist regimes. The military is known for their involvement in public policing and has occasionally committed war crimes on the basis of Old Testament law, but to their credit, the Salvationists have tried to eliminate that tendency in the military in the name of Jesus's message of redemption. However, it is still expected that foreign prisoners of war will be denied the right to practice their religion and may suffer execution for idolatry.

[1] - This practice is akin to some denominations who use the name "Christian Church" or "Church of Christ", but I'd rather avoid the confusion.

This one seems very hard to get instituted in any country given Protestant countries are also the ones where fundamentalist Christians are very much against the idea of abolishing private property. I think you'd need a 19th century POD where some segment of the labour movement fuses with the early fundamentalist movement and spreads itself through religious revivals.
I imagined the society in Escape from LA looking quite like this (the movie is very vague on fine details, just that America is now a religious police state); a totalitarian theocracy that's still fundamentally American. Very well written sir.
 

Beatriz

Gone Fishin'
A TL where people are divided into discrete castes, and people in certain occupations are required to be celibate for the sake of the job, e.g certain forms of researchers, with possible sterilization would be interesting.
 
A TL where people are divided into discrete castes, and people in certain occupations are required to be celibate for the sake of the job, e.g certain forms of researchers, with possible sterilization would be interesting.
Kinda like the role of eunuchs in chinese courts?
 
A TL where people are divided into discrete castes, and people in certain occupations are required to be celibate for the sake of the job, e.g certain forms of researchers, with possible sterilization would be interesting.
I guess those would be the urban castes supplied and replenished by the rural population, no?
 
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A TL where people are divided into discrete castes, and people in certain occupations are required to be celibate for the sake of the job, e.g certain forms of researchers, with possible sterilization would be interesting.
In a eugenic caste system (Eusocial Darwinism 🤔) I could see the celibacy angle (to improve focus on the state/ruler over personal lineage) paired with sperm/egg extraction and surrogacy to breed better scientists and bureaucrats and raise them in creches.
 
In a eugenic caste system (Eusocial Darwinism 🤔) I could see the celibacy angle (to improve focus on the state/ruler over personal lineage) paired with sperm/egg extraction and surrogacy to breed better scientists and bureaucrats and raise them in creches.
Perhaps — instead of the scientific angle — it could be derived from clerical celibacy and tonsure, as a way to justify the expectation of not giving land inheritance to non-firstborn children.
 
Concretism

Crazy Boris

Banned
Concretism

Concretism is just that, concrete. It believes that cold, hard facts are the only thing that should play a role in political decisions, and that any kind of subjective view of the world is ridiculous at best and outright dangerous at worst. There are no elections and parties are specifically outlawed for being manipulative, divisive, and detached from reality, no one in government is allowed to align with any ideology, and the average person is uninvolved and disinterested in government goings on. Decisions are carried out by people selected by a technocratic/meritocratic system, where someone’s experience, training, and knowledge are the prime factors that make them qualified to lead, with the expectation being that as long as they are sticking to pure truth and are otherwise apolitical, they’ll naturally make the best choices drawing on the evidence. Any claims made in the political arena are expected to have a mountain of irrefutable evidence to back it up that will be mercilessly scrutinized for any flaws, any arguments based on emotion or ideology will be dismissed, and any claims that are unprovable but also unfalsifiable will also be ignored with no clear answer. Spreading misinformation or political propaganda is a serious offense, and conspiracy theorists and the like can expect either a hefty stay in jail or voluntary deportation if they don’t back down. It’s not forbidden to talk about things that are untrue or forbidden by concretism, so long as no one is outright promoting it, since knowledge of the existence of these things and what they are is considered important information to help stop the public from getting caught up in it. The goal is a politically neutral government that will reject any ideas that don’t strictly line up with the objective reality of the world, and make a more prosperous, stable, and peaceful society by it.
 
Gnostocracy

With the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library following WW1, the West, and Germany in particular, went through a phase of Gnostomania, proposing a Christianity 'purified' of its Jewish roots and fully awakened to the occult truths of the world. But this was only part of the puzzle. The Hygienicists, with their advocation of strenous physical exercise, healthy living, and eugenic 'racial hygiene', and the noocracy of the technocratic movement, formed additional components to the mixture. The Germanic Volk would be returned to their ancient superhumanity via the purging of undesirables and the adoption of a strict caste system, which the scientist-priests known as the Pneumatics would rule benevolently over, keeping true gnosis to themselves.
 
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Church of Yahweh

DocBen

Banned
Three competing ideologies from a timeline that I'm working on, diverging from OTL in deep antiquity.

The current year is unknown, as apparently Jesus Christ never appeared on the world stage, the AD calendar was never implemented, and different cultures use different calendars in this timeline. The technological level of this world is Late Medieval or Renaissance or Early Industrial Revolution, but gunpowder being strangely absent, although some mechanized industries are seen here and there. Machine-pressed, very elaborate plate armor is in style among the military. More advanced construction techniques enabled huge towering castles and temples, similar in scale to modern skyscrapers.

The Old World is divided into three major blocks, an Abrahamic theocracy, a Caste-System police state, and a loose coalition of all other countries who are opposing these two superpowers. Apparently the New World is unknown.

Church of Yahweh

The Church of Yahweh is a totalitarian Abrahamic theocracy that descended from Old Testament Judaism. After the Collapse of Alexander the Great's Empire, Palestine found itself under the rule of the Seleucid Dynasty. The Seleucids ultimately triumphed over their rivals, conquering first Egypt, and then Anatolia, and even Greece and Macedonia itself. After attempted rebellions in Palestine, Egypt, and Iran, and an attempted general's coup, the Empire had become rather unstable. A new Emperor decided to use the unruly Judaism religion as a kind of glue to better hold the Empire together. The Church of Yahweh was a creation of the Seleucid Dynasty, using the abilities of Jewish Rabbis loyal to the regime together with Egyptian Priests and Hellenistic Philosophers. A special council created a new religion that was implemented as the de facto state religion throughout the Empire. 200 years later, the Church of Yahweh successfully couped the Imperial government, and became the totalitarian theocracy it is today.

The Church of Yahweh is the sole government called the Holy Land, AKA the Promised Land (AKA the Land of the Evil God by it's detractors). It is an Empire whose territories roughly correspond to the OTL Roman Empire and OTL Abbasid Caliphate, but holding only the southern half of OTL France, and splitting Iran right down the middle with the Aryan Empire, and also controlling large parts of Northern Africa. As the state religion, all other religions are illegal. The official language is descended from a mutated form of Ahramaic, with lots of loan words from Greek and Egyptian. Being a theocracy, the Church of Yahweh is both the only political force of the country, and a source of national identity. Nationalism does not exist here, all forms of national and regional identity wiped out a long time ago, and replaced with an identity of "Son/Daughter of Yahweh", loyalty to the Church, similar to the overarching Muslim identity or Christian identity as a kind of nationalism/patriotism in OTL. To be a patriot means to be a believer of the Church. And non-believers are treated as barbarians, apostates, or heretics. The Church does not tolerate any other beliefs. Although the Church of Yahweh is descended from Old Testament Judaism, there are no Jews, Hebrews, or Israelites as a separate nation any more. All peoples of the Empire, including Palestinians, Greeks, Egyptians, Berbers, Arabs, Kurds, etc, have been assimilated into a single Yahwehian identity, the culture which is based on Cannanite but fusion with Greek, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian, which is supported as the Church aesthetic.

It is of course a monotheistic theocracy, based around the worship of Yahweh. It is a more "pagan" version of Old Testament Judaism, in the sense that they worship Yahweh like a pagan god, similar to Zeus. In fact, it is thought that the Church of Yahweh absorbed Ancient Greek pagan religion (namely Zeus worship), both obliterating the Ancient Greek religion, and also transforming itself and making itself more palatable to the masses, those who are not descended from the original Jews. The temples are large and beautiful, richly adorned with golden artifacts like Ancient Egyptian temples. Their architecture for the most part looks like an Ancient Greek temple standing on a Babylonian Ziggurat. A stepped pyramid, on top of which is a building with columns holding up a gable roof. It is built with concrete that hardens into stone, just like Ancient Roman concrete. The Ziggurat is hollow inside, containing chambers used by the Temple Priests for various purposes. The stepped pyramid layers of the Ziggurat have floor to ceiling windows in them, making them resemble some OTL Brutalist architecture, but more fancy. The Greek temple on top of the Ziggurat has a single room containing a huge statue of the God Yahweh sitting on a throne, like the Lincoln Memorial. Unlike OTL Abrahamic religions, the Church of Yahweh absolutely makes graven images of their God. He looks like an old man with a big beard, resembling Gandalf or Saruman from LOTR, wearing long clothing, and a big golden crown on his head and jewelry all over, and holding a sword or a mace, an axe, or scepter, with local temples having different variations of such details. Directly in front of the statue of Yahweh is a raised platform for sacrifices (typically farm animals). That is how the newly constructed temples look. But temples from all other religions such as Ancient Greek or Ancient Egyptian have been simply remodeled and converted into Temples of Yahweh, complete with a marble statue of the God.

The Church of Yahweh combines the political power, wealth, inquisition, colonialism, elaborate architecture and clothing, centralized Papal seat, selling indulgences, and Crusader spirit of the OTL Catholic Church, the strictness, dress codes, religious police, fusion of religion with nationalism and traditional culture, religious tourism, fanaticism, and Jihadism of OTL Wahhabism and Islamic Iran or Taliban, the dietary restrictions, doctrinal inflexibility, traditional Old Testament Judaism, despision of pagans, usury, and secret societies of OTL Zionism, and the Methods of OTL Stalinism. It has truly the worst elements of Abrahamic religions. The religious book that they use is different from the Bible in that there is no New Testament, and the Old Testament has been expanded to a total of several hundred books. The original books of the Old Testament have also been edited, depicting Abraham and Moses as Crusaders and military conquerors, heroes, spreading the Word of Yahweh by the sword, and that is depicted as a good thing. Other details of the Old Testament books are different from OTL. The zealous, jealous, and authoritarian nature of Yahweh is much more overt here. Yahweh is depicted as a fearsome "pagan" God, quite similar to Zeus, who may strike people with lightning for disobeying his will. There are references to Yahweh specifically saying that His Church is the only valid Church, and that He is the only valid God, and that all other deities/religions/cultures are apostates, heretics, and barbarians.

The Church of Yahweh has pounded and shaped all of society into it's image. It is the government, it is the state. It is impossible to live without being integrated into the system in the Promised Land, the territories under rule of the Church from Spain to Iraq, to Ethiopia. Everyone is expected to participate in the Church's mandatory religious rituals once a week every Sabbath, which double as brainwashing and loyalty checking points. Simply living there, and not attending would first invite gossip and hushed whispers, and later a visit from the religious police. The Church keeps a file on literally everyone. To be a citizen is to be a church goer. Of course in order to attend the Sabbath, one has to check in and check out, that's how the Church knows that the people are attending. Lots of resources are wasted for maintaining this apparatus, which replicates the functionality of a surveillance state using low tech. Of course, statues and icons of Yahweh are ubiquitous in the cities, and citizens/believers are required to maintain a little statue of Yahweh in their own home, compliance being enforced by the religious police. And of course the only place where one can buy specially blessed statues of the God would be from the Church itself, which makes a sizeable profit from selling these statues. In addition the Church demands tithes, a tenth of your income, rather involuntary voluntary contributions. It is your choice if you want to make a contribution or not, but the religious police will help to set you on the right path.

All marriages are ordained, and consequently monitored by the Church, as well as any sale/purchase of land, and major business transactions. All courts are through the Church, the educational system is part of the Church as well. The military is yet another branch of the Church. The Church functions as the court, bank, real estate broker, university, military, and construction company, and of course it is the biggest employer. The only way of social advancement is through the Church or any of it's facilities. The Church goes to great lengths micromanaging it's population. Everyone eats a "Kosher" diet, and the Church regulates all restraunts/street food joints to make sure that they don't serve any food outside of the diet. The Church also regulates the dress codes, everyone wears robes, togas, or hijabs in a white color. The Church is a lifestyle.

There are no such things as Atheism, Agnosticism, Secularism, Liberalism, Communism, LGBT, etc, in this timeline. However if they were, the Church would treat them with utmost severity. Currently, in addition to being in a state of war with the Aryan Empire, the Church of Yahweh is also at war with the Shamanist/Buddhist block, and with various "paganists" (remnants of the old religions), shamans, and John the Baptist/Jesus Christ esque mystics within it's borders. The heretics are treated to the worst of OTL Medieval tortures. In addition there are several containment facilities in the desert, resembling OTL gulags, for various undesireables.

The Church teaches that Yahweh is the Supreme God, of course, and that all other teachings and religions should be removed via fire and sword. There is no Hell or Devil in this Church. Believers of Yahweh go to Heaven, while unbelievers get thrown into the Abyss, a bottomless void. In essence, believers go onto the Afterlife, and unbelievers just die. The belief of Reincarnation is punishable by death. Just being a believer and a church goer is not enough to guarantee a place in Heaven, however. One also has to purchase real estate in Heaven, or you get kicked out into the Abyss. Of course the only place where you can buy real estate in Heaven, to guarantee a place for your soul in Heaven, is from the Church, and you get a special certificate for that. If the certificate burns, then you lose your place in Heaven, sorry.

It is unclear whether the people genuinely believe the teachings of the Church, serve the Church because of personal benefits, or merely obey from fear of punishment. The Church is very superficial though, and as long as you go through the motions, and say all your prayers (and I mean all of them), that's enough for them. All things considered, a poor person has a chance of social advancement by rising through the ranks of the Church. The common person has a better life than for example in the Aryan Empire, where social advancement is impossible. And that's the next entry in this list.

(continued in the next post)
 
Aryanism

DocBen

Banned
Aryanism

If the Church of Yahweh can be described as a religion that has forced it's way into politics, and has morphed into a political system, then Aryanism is just a political system that's masquerading as a religion.

The original Aryans were Sanskrit speaking nomadic tribes that originally lived in Southern Russia on the banks of the Azov Sea. It is known that Sanskrit is very close to the Slavic languages, thus giving credibility to the theory that the Slavs and the Aryans were originally one people, parts of them stayed, and parts of them migrated to South Asia, for reasons unknown. Also this theory is supported by the prevalence of the uniquely Aryan R1A Haplogroup in Iran, Northern India, Russia, and Ukraine. The Persians were more or less descended from Aryans wholesale, as the bulk of the Aryan migration went to the Iranian plateu. Other Aryan tribes settled in various places, such as the Tadjiks of OTL Afghanistan, and the Kalashi or OTL Pakistan. But the ideology of Aryanism arose from the Aryan tribes that migrated into the Indian Subcontinent.

The Indian Subcontinent was a land of numerous ancient cultures, already predating the Aryans. Whereas the Persians could establish their own monarchy, and the Tadjiks and Kalashi could live as isolated tribes in the mountains, the Aryans who arrived in India had to use much harsher measures, in order to maintain their power and not dissolve among the local population in a few generations, because there were few of them compared to the many of locals. Hence after conquering most of India, they devised a system that proved effective at preserving their power for generations. It's called Aryanism.

Aryanism is a Caste System police state, an extremely stratified and regimented society. It can be described as a hereditary class system. The Aryan tribes who conquered India formed the upper castes, the warrior caste Kshatriyas, and the priest caste Brahmanas. The conquered local peoples were relegated into the lower castes of workers, laborers, and everyone else who existed only to serve the upper castes. Hence emerged a two-tiered feudal society, the priveledged two upper castes who had all the wealth and power, and everyone else the lower castes. Also the lower castes were subdivided among themselves, to keep them from uniting against the upper castes. The artisans, blacksmiths, farmers, laborers, porters, etc, were all segregated based on profession. They could not eat together or be friends, or intermarry. All societal transactions were based on either business, or a master-slave/employer-employee relationship. The system was set up in such a way that all jobs/professions were hereditary. The sons would learn from their fathers. If a person was born into one of the lower castes, such as those who cleaned the sewers, then they were stuck in that position for life. The Caste System did not allow any forms of upward social mobility.

In order for scamming the population into compliance in such a caste system, the upper castes invented a whole entire religion, to preserve their social position, to keep the lower castes dumbed down and compliant. Supposedly this entire system was spiritual will, divine destiny, that's simply how the world worked, there was no other way. They took the ancient teaching of reincarnation, and distorted it to their own benefit. According to this teaching, more pure souls are born into the higher castes, more unpure souls are born into the middle castes, even more unpure souls are born into the lower castes, and the most unpure souls are born into animals. Doing one's societal duty and suffering were seen as ways to purify one's soul, and hence be born into a higher level in your next life. So the lower castes had only an option to keep working as serfs for life, and if they were obedient, then they had a chance of being reborn into Kshatriyas in the next life. This assumption also meant that the upper castes were practically saints, and could do nothing wrong. Hence this was a religion that was created to perpetuate the political establishment.

In time, the upper castes began to see their position as divinely ordained, as maybe not a master "race" per say, but a master caste, that's destined to rule over all other nations. Their thinking became similar to the Domination of the Draka. Of course the upper castes were genetically descended from those Aryan tribes that conquered India, and the local tribes who married into the upper castes before the caste system had crystalized. They thought that they were destined to rule the world, and everyone else should be their slaves. There is no sense of Nationalism in the Empire. All local tribal or cultural identities are banned. The only identity is the one that the Caste System gives to the conquered peoples. The upper castes have no common ties with the lower castes, and treat them with contempt. In this timeline, no Hinduism or Hindu Nationalism or even an Indian common culture ever emerged. Aryanism emerged instead. There is nothing holding the entire system together other than the sword. Their "religion" is a thinly veiled scam.

From their base of power in North India, the Aryan Empire conquered the Southern Himalayas, the entire Indian Subcontinent, OTL Burma, Shri Lanka, parts of OTL Malaysia and Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, large parts of Central Asia, and seized the Eastern half of Iran from the Church of Yahweh. We can really say that Persian as a nation is dead in this timeline. Persian people exist, but the once great Persian nation is no more. The Western part was conquered by the Church of Yahweh and assimilated into their monotheistic monoculture. The Eastern part was conquered by the Aryan Empire, and the Persians were turned into the lower castes. The Aryan upper castes had no qualms about enslaving their former brothers who were also descended from the ancient Aryan tribes, such as the Tadjiks, Kalashi, or Persians. As far as Aryanism was concerned, only descendants of the original conquerors of North India were considered as the upper castes. Once the Caste System had crystalized, and began expanding outwards, any conquered peoples were automatically made into the lower castes, regardless of race, ethnicity, or tribal descent. Although the Central Asian nomads are still conducting a guerilla war against the Aryan Empire, who is using facilities resembling OTL Xinjiang reeducation camps to subdue the unrulies. As for the peoples of Afghanistan, their will had been broken a long time ago. The Aryan Empire is currently reeling from successful Buddhist rebellions in Shri Lanka, Indonesia, and Burma, not having enough resources to reconquer their territories.

The Aryan Empire is in perpetual war with the Church of Yahweh, and also with the loose coalition of Pagan/Shaman/Buddhist states who are united to oppose both superpowers. The mountainous borders in Iran and the Himalayas are the most fortified ones in the world, with rows of walls, castles, watch towers, trenches, booby traps, barbed wire, and regular fences on both sides.

(continued in the next post)
 
Traditionalism

DocBen

Banned
The main trend of this timeline is a union, or even fusion of church and state. In Yahwehism the church is the state. In Aryanism the state is the church. These two superpowers have taken over large chunks of the planet. The third faction, Traditionalism, is the synthesis or symbiosis of church and state together, yet keeping both as separate entities.

Traditionalism

This ideology is traditional in the sense that it rejects the novelties of the Church of Yahweh and the Aryan Empire. Rejects totalitarian monotheism and caste systemism, and instead promotes "old school" tribal, traditional religions. It is a wide umbrella encompassing a wide range of religions. The unifying common factor in them is that they are pagan/spiritual in some way, and that they are against the two global juggernauts.

Traditional religions can be considered as tribal ones, such as various strains of paganism, shamanism, spiritualism, animism, folk religions, ancestor worship, worship of the celestial lights, astrology, fortune telling, and other religious superstitions. Most of the people who live in the areas unclaimed by the Church of Yahweh or the Aryan Empire follow such religious practices from old times. Their origins have been forgotten, most likely they were practiced by people even since the stone age. In modern times, many people practice such traditional religions as a sign of homage to the ancestors, as a way of keeping their tribal/village/national/ethnic identity alive in the face of Imperialist destruction of the local cultures. Some are genuinely superstitious.

Traditionalism encompasses such religions as for example Celtic, Slavic, Uralic, and Viking paganism, Siberian Shamanism, Tengrism, Japanese Shintoism, Tibetan Bon Religion, Chinese and Korean folk religions, Sub-Yahwehian African paganism, and various syncretic religions similar to OTL New Age movements. Unifying beliefs include the belief in the duality of the physical world and the spiritual world. It is thought that the spiritual world is where people go to when they dream, where dead ancestors reside, and also where live various non-human entities such as ghosts, ghouls, yokai, wendigo, domovoi, and so on. Practices of exploring the spiritual world, such as lucid dreaming, astral projection, DMT trips, shamanic trances, and various forms of meditation are widespread, with mixed results depending on the skill of the practitioner. So there are lots of various mages, shamans, wizards, witch doctors, medicine men, sages, and various mystics. They also possess metaphysical abilities such as fortune telling, remote viewing, trance, hypnosis, finding lost items, energy healing, qigong, air bending, fire breathing, even walking on water, again depending on the skill of the practitioner. And they also have knowledge of the human organism, knowledge of herbal remedies, and can act as doctors and therapists for the people. Typically such people either live in villages, or in huts in the woods, or as traveling hermits entirely. But there is no priesthood per say.

Most of these societies are tribal or clan-based. Most of the people live in villages. The villagers are typically descended from a several founding families, so most are related to each other either by blood or by marriage. They are typically ruled by a single chief, or a council of elders, however they choose. Most often the chief is the oldest, wisest, or most strategic member of the tribe, hence having some semi-democratic or meritocratic qualities. Multiple villages or tribes unite together in pan-tribal unions, appointing a Head Chief, who may be managing territories as big as the state of Kentucky for example. This is the tribal or clan-based system of government. For more complex systems of government in Traditionalist societies, there are Kingdoms. Usually hereditary, elected, or meritocratic monarchies that are ruling over large territories, having multiple Head Chiefs answering to them. Traditionalist societies are distributed, with the King ruling the territory, but not having as much political power, the local affairs are run by the Head Chiefs and village chiefs.

There is a synthesis or symbiosis of church and state in Traditionalist societies. The "state" is represented by Chiefs clan authorities, and elders. The "church" is represented by the various mages, shamans, and mystics. Quite often they are the same people, the Chief is the shaman himself. In other cases, they are friends, relatives, or close associates. Usually the chief of king has spiritual advisors. The chiefdom is the way of life, and the mysticism is a way of life, it's tradition.

A special case has to be for the role of Buddhism in Traditionalist societies. Buddhism emerged as a rebellion against the Aryanist doctrine of reincarnation, but were later driven out of India, and took haven in Tibet, China, Southeast Asia, and Shri Lanka. Buddhism is easily syncretic with traditional folk religions. Examples are how Buddhism coexists along side with Shintoism in Japan, with many Japanese peoples being adherents of both religions. This example is repeated in Korea, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Siberia, Rus, and even Celts. In China the philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism emerged, also becoming syncretic with religious beliefs, and also spreading to neighboring countries such as Rus. Greek philosophy such as Stoicism, driven out of Greece itself by the Church of Yahweh, has found a new haven in the Slavs, Celts, and Vikings. All of these have come into the Traditionalist melting pot. Especially philosophies being flexible and non-dogmatic.

Prominent Kingdoms in the Traditionalist block are Tsang China (which is more of an Empire), the Kingdom of Tibet, the Kingdom of Rus, Armenia, Goguryo, Japan, Vietnam, Siam, and Yoruba. The other nations such as Celts, Vikings, Mongols, Indonesians, and especially Sub-Yahwehian Africans are Chiefdoms or Tribal Unions. Most are rural agrarian countries, only China, Goguryo, Japan, Vietnam, and Rus are industrialized, in an OTL Renaissance Ming/Song dynasty kind of way. All the Traditionalist countries from the Celts in Northern France/Germany/British Isles, Vikings, Slavs, Central Asians, Chinese, Southeast Asians, and Africans are united into a loose alliance, and have been fighting a non-stop world war for over a hundred years against the Land of Yahweh and the Aryan Empire (and these two empires have also been fighting against each other). Although they are having logistics issues, Africa being separated from the Eurasians by these two belligerent countries, the only connections are by sea either from Celtic lands to West Africa, or from Southeast Asia to East Africa, risking capture by enemy ships.

Whereas before the emergence of the Land of Yahweh and the Aryan Empire, the disparate countries and tribes used to fight between each other, now they united to face the common threats, emphasizing their similarities, and deemphasizing their differences. So the ideology of Traditionalism was invented and codified to unite all these different peoples. The Traditional block is mainly headed by Tsang China, who is pushing above it's weight in the war. They have built a second Great Wall along the entire Himalayas, Hindu Kush, and Tien Shan mountains against the Aryan Empire. They are also the primary industrialized country, and are supplying their allies with technology and advisors, in exchange for resources. Hence much of Eurasia and Africa too is influenced by China. Even though China is a de-facto Imperial system, it is still mostly agrarian country, and most of the people live in tribal villages, in a distributed system of government.
 
How about an ideology where appeals to facts are forbidden? The rationale is that objective reality is unknowable, and only an arrogant fool would claim to have knowledge about the way things really are. In this society, you are only allowed to talk about your own feelings. People enact policies based on the vibes of the moment, but then immediately claim ignorance about what the law is, since reality is unknowable.

I can't think of a good name for it, so feel free to suggest one.
 
How about an ideology where appeals to facts are forbidden? The rationale is that objective reality is unknowable, and only an arrogant fool would claim to have knowledge about the way things really are. In this society, you are only allowed to talk about your own feelings. People enact policies based on the vibes of the moment, but then immediately claim ignorance about what the law is, since reality is unknowable.

I can't think of a good name for it, so feel free to suggest one.
Umm, rhymes with Umpism....
 
How about an ideology where appeals to facts are forbidden? The rationale is that objective reality is unknowable, and only an arrogant fool would claim to have knowledge about the way things really are. In this society, you are only allowed to talk about your own feelings. People enact policies based on the vibes of the moment, but then immediately claim ignorance about what the law is, since reality is unknowable.

I can't think of a good name for it, so feel free to suggest one.
Internally I think they would find any name pointless since it's true name is unknowable.

Everyone else might just call it chaos.
 
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