Revision as of 17:19, 31 October 2005

Danaanism was once the official religion of the Resurgent Dream and still maintains some followers in that nation. The Danaan Church has branches in the Confederation of Sovereign States, Excalbia, Menelmacar, the C'tan, Lavenrunz, Akaton, and Knootoss.

The holy book of Danaanism is The Holy Scriptures, which tell a history of the world as the Danaans see it. Things began with Dana, the Creator of all things. She not only created the world but gave birth to the Tuatha de Danaan who ruled the world in her name and helped to govern all things. Under their reign, the two great races known to the Danaans prior to their entrance into the NS multiverse came into being. Humans were created by Dana and Fae were born directly of the Tuatha.

Danaan ethics are detailed, disputable, and subject to a great deal of debate even within the church. In general, Danaan religious ethicists follow one of five prominent theologians.

Lady Loraaga ni Ailil, one of the very few Redcaps to bear a title before the Reign of Agwene, was the first of the great Danaan theologians. Her writings consist of a codification of all commandments specifically stated in scripture and an expansion of this code based on tradition and the idea of disallowing any temptation or possibility of breaking the law. According to Loraaga, Danaan scripture is the exclusive and only truth and a rejection of the faith represents a rejection of one's Creator and of morality and of binding moral law. Loraagaists are often called fundamentalists and are generally marginalized in the modern church. Only a tiny minority of Danaans, associated with the Purist Party, take Loraaga seriously in the modern world.

Xangeon Serpenthelm, a Mannikin, was the next great theologian. Often called the Danaan Thomas Aquinas, Serpenthelm reconciled Danaan religion with the philosophy of Aristotle. He stressed the value of virtue as a thing blessed by Dana and said that the purpose of religion was to inculcate virtue into oneself, virtue which Dana would then reward. Serpenthelm held that such virtue was universal and could be found in members of all faiths. Most of his modern followers teach that it can be found in members of all faiths and none. About half of the modern church follows Serpenthelm and his interpretation is almost universal among religious conservatives.

Duke Deslecetremerust ap Beaumayn followed after Serpenthelm, though he went back further for his philosophical material. It was Deslecetremerust who introduced Plato to Danaan theology. He taught that the Tuatha dwelt in a realm of perfect forms and that the form of the forms themselves was Dana, the light of goodness. Because all things are increasingly less exact and thus less perfect expressions of Dana, all things are attached to Her at core. There is no evil in the world but merely different degrees of good. The unjust person merely has a very small degree of good.

Velfrey Von Absinthe, another Redcap, was the most avowedly polytheistic theologian in centuries. Von Absinthe taught that all of the Tuatha were beings of the same sort as Dana Herself and that the difference was merely a matter of degree. She talked of Dana and the Tuatha as the ancient people who were to become the Danaans had done and as worshippers of polytheistic pantheons the world over still do.

Elicia Bondre, the most recent and most influential Danaan theologian, reconciled Danaanism with Kantianism. According to Bondre, the existence of Dana cannot be known to speculative reason and Her revelations may only be taken on faith. However, the existence of a perfect being is not forbidden by speculative reason and is required by practical or moral reason. Dana, possessing a holy will, which wills only the good, forms a regulative function for believers. She gives an idea of what perfect good is which the believers strive to follow, though they can never truly reach such a state. It is the existence of a holy will and a perfect being and not the existence of Dana as She is described in scripture which matters most to the followers of Bondre. Most of them consider themselves coreligionists with Kantian Christians, Muslims, and Jews moreso than with Danaans of the other four theological sects.

Danaanism today

Danaanism is a nearly extinct religion on post-Shattering Earth, claiming only four thousand or so adherents.