Religion in Fantasy

[lea_hazel]

Supposing you picked up a book (secondary world fantasy, FWIW) and from beginning to end, it didn't have a single mention of religion in it. What would you think? I mean, none of the characters, major or minor, are religious, no places of worship, no names of gods, no forces beyond mortal ken, no epithets or swears or the like. How hard would you roll your eyes?


When I look at all the things I want to add to my story's worldbuilding, religion isn't one of them. Right now the world is very frail and basic, I have to add a lot regarding language, currency, economy, border politics and documentation, even technology. I also want to expand a few things I did address, like food and clothing, arts, and class differences.

Ostensibly religion is too big and too important a part of people's lives, even (sometimes especially) if they are not adherents themselves. Certainly I doubt I'd ever write a contemporary or historical story without addressing religion at least a little. However, building a whole set of religions suitable to four POV characters of four different species frankly sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

I don't really like religion, and don't find it fascinating enough. Then again, I don't find economics very interesting either, but I look at my story and see that it's necessary to address things like trade and craft, currency exchange and the value of certain goods, in order to accomplish the story I'm setting out to tell.


Can I accomplish my story in a world with no religion, or is that just too implausible?

Comments

[lea_hazel]

It's hard for me to think about why they have no religions, because I don't really know why religions are formed. They serve various functions which are served by other institutions in my world, for example social order and (to an extent) a system of morality. But if the imperative for religion is something else, I'm not sure what might fill that role.

Some of the technological trappings are roughly analogue to late 19th and early 20th Europe, which is a time in which skepticism flourished in previously religious communities. I think that might make the worldbuilding seem more natural.

[tyger]

I think, particularly when life is hard, having something to believe in that will take care of you is important, but I'm not religious, a sociologist or a theologist, so I can't say for sure; I'm sure there's information out there, though.

Possibly, but even then there're linguistic holdovers; if they're simply not religious any more then you have to know either why those phrases disappeared from common consciousness, or how they came to be in the first place, what they reference, and so forth.