Religion in Zwangzug

Religion in Zwangzug is certainly a complex matter by any means. While it was until recently widely accepted that the nation was predominantly atheistic, United Nations classification of the country as 22,628th out of 75,866 nations as "most devout" has prompted reconsideration of the issue.

Nonreligion

At this point, statistics indicate that approximately 32% of the population neither professes belief in a deity nor attends any sort of worship service (though the latter, as detailed below, does not always correlate to spiritual belief). There is little distinction in governmental census records between atheists and agnostics; the latter are generally "lumped in" with the former.

The government is officially secular.

World religions

Approximately 20% of the population is considered practitioners of "world religions", a category that encompasses many traditional practices. Members of these religious communities are often (but not always, Judaism and Buddhism being the most prominent counterexamples) very unevenly distributed throughout the country. This is probably due to the discrete and distinct nature of the many utopian city-states that constituted the nation for the majority of its history: followers of one religion would frequently settle with their fellow believers.

Christians are most often found in the east, ranging from the liberal members of the Lutheran Church - Arlington Synod in the northeast (although the synod is based out of Arlington, its jurisdiction extends throughout Zwangzug) to denominations of the southeast. The latter, despite being outnumbered, have become more well-known for their confrontational attitudes towards concepts as far-ranging as the theory of evolution, Harry Potter novels, and homosexual rights, all of which are commonly accepted throughout the society. Unfortunately for the former, all Christians are far too often stereotyped as being close-minded fundamentalists. Therefore, many liberal Christians are reticent to publicly discuss their faith, leading to lower reports of religious adherence, making Christians look even more like extremists...and the cycle perpetuates itself. However, the current Composite Minister has taken a role in actively promoting tolerance, and the ambitious efforts to erode the stereotype have been by and large successful.

In the southwest, a diverse variety of religions are (relative to the rest of the country) most popular. Islam and Hinduism are the most prevalent, with Sikhism, Jainism, and the Bahá'í Faith having significantly fewer adherents. Nevertheless, the nation's population is over two billion, so even relatively minor faiths may in fact have a fairly large number of followers.

The beliefs of the nation's indigenous inhabitants have not been fully ascertained, but it is believed that Hinduism is the most prevalent religion among the native peoples. The triquetra has become a popular symbol of the interlocking forces of creation, preservation, and destruction, represented in Hinduism by the trimurti.

Other Religions

The remainder of the nation-almost half-occupies a broad range between traditional beliefs and none at all. The drastic increase in popularity of many of these sects is difficult to attribute, but one possibility is that the nature of fluid time means that the increase has not been as fast as it might appear.

Many of these organizations have very complex worship services, hymns, and sermons. It is often difficult to tell whether the practicioners of the "faiths" under discussion actually believe what they profess, or if it is an exceptionally elaborate parody. The nation's sense of humor, if such a concept can be actually said to exist, is so dry as to make such distinction extremely difficult, and it is most likely that the levels of belief vary widely among members of the same group.

Pastafarianism and Frisbeetarianism are the best examples of these. The census category "Religious: Other" also includes groups dedicated to the worship of what others see as simple fictional characters: for example, the Jedi religion or more prevalent Ketrianism. The Order of Violet also has a few sparse members.

Followers of Margaret are very few and far between. The Zwangzug branch of Margaretism is barely organized, but is said to value good Works more than faith alone.

Finally, there is the Church of Caissa, the theology of which imitates Christianity in that a supreme deity became incarnate and died in order to atone for the sins of humanity. The chief difference is the lack of a resurrection, prompting more than one scholar to question how the faith ever got off the ground.