Religion in the Federation

Although humanity is now united under a single government, it is absolutely not united under a single religion. All the major religions, theologies and philosophies of Earth – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and others – weathered the Disorders far better than most other elements of pre-Federation society. Additionally, over the centuries that have passed since the Federation’s founding, numerous new religions have sprung up. Some of these are amalgamations of existing faiths, others entirely original. Some have flourished; others have been stillborn. Officially, the UCF takes no stance on religion. It is a wholly secular government that does not interfere with religion any more than is necessary. So long as a religion does not oppose itself to the Federation and so long as its precepts do not interfere with the smooth functioning of society (for example, a religion that required adherents to spend three months of every year in contemplation and reflection, eschewing all work, would definitely be considered an interference), the Federation does not involve itself in the spiritual beliefs of its populace. The people of the Federation, citizen and civilian alike, may worship or not as they see fit.

The only exception to this lies within Federal Service. While any recruit to Federal Service may certainly adhere to any religion he pleases, there are significant limits placed on worship. No matter what the religion, divine services may only be held on Sundays, for a period of one hour. Although the Federation would like to accommodate the religious tenets of all of its recruits, it is simply impossible for a company to train effectively if some of its members are gone at differing times to attend religious services of varying length. There has been some resistance to this practice in the past but SICON is unyielding on it and most religious leaders see its wisdom. In those instances when a religion does come into conflict with the Federation, the government seeks to negotiate with the religious leaders to find an amenable solution to the problem. Often, this is easy enough to accomplish. For example, a religion whose custom it was to spend two hours in prayer beginning at noon could easily be accommodated, usually by having Social Services assign such worshippers a job that does not require them to be at work during that time. On the occasion that this is impossible, religious leaders can usually be convinced to offer their worshippers special dispensation to pray at a more appropriate time, one that will not interfere with the worshipper’s employment.

Sometimes, however, it is impossible to reach a rapprochement between government and religion. In such cases, the Federation must state, however reluctantly, that the needs of the state come first. Usually, these cases result in the religion and its strictest adherents choosing to leave the Federation. Because of the nature of the parting, the Federation will supply such religions with transport to a new world, where they may begin a new colony outside the bounds of Federation space, and will even offer assistance in initial construction of the colony. From time to time, fringe groups of established religions have reached an impasse with Federation policy and have likewise chosen to start their own unofficial colonies. An example of such a group would be the Dogmatic Catholics, a small element of the church that objected very strongly to the Federation’s limitations on reproduction and left the Federation to form their own colony as soon as the technology existed to allow them to do so.

No matter what happens, however, the Federation has never and will never oppose itself to an established, recognised religion. The founders of the Federation were well versed in history and knew quite well that since the dawn of humanity, all attempts by governments to eliminate a religion have been the very height of folly, useless efforts that were doomed to failure. This wisdom is still present in the Federal Council today. Being recognised as a true religion by the Federation is a simple process. The religion must have 5,000 adherents who identify themselves as members of the faith and it must have an official, codified belief system that can be demonstrated to the government. This is an easy task for established religions to accomplish and also serves to keep the more implausible religions from receiving Federal sanction, thus creating a contradiction if they develop tenets that contravene the policies of the Federation. In an extreme example, this means the Federation does not have to recognise as a religion the beliefs of a small group of fools who have chosen to worship the Arachnids. Instead, the Federation can incarcerate them in a psychiatric institution where they can get the help they so clearly need (after checking them carefully for control bugs, of course).