Another Cyberpunk thread: Surge of Faith.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

As for the question of "how did things come to be this way?", I'd look at something more specific or dramatic than a generalised "church leaders gradually gained more power and eventually became CEOs and politicians" approach. In general, society is becoming more secular and rational, so to reverse the trend would need something significant.

Um...no.

The peak of the Age of Reason was probably 1800. What's been happening since is a mix of different things, but society is not becoming more or less rational, so much as different beliefs are competing for primacy, esp. among the social elites. All it takes to imagine a highly 'religious' future is a collapse in faith in the current day 'alternatives', which wouldn't be hard.

Green ideology, for ex, is a religious movement. So is feminism. So is the fashionable version of AGW activism. Communism was a religion. Capitalism can be one for some people. So is hard-right nationalism, in its own way (though it somes overlaps with more tranditional faith, it certainly isn't identical with it).

If faith in the current 'consensus' fails, the more likely alternatives remain the traditional faiths. It doesn't even require a disaster, just a cultural shift over a few decades.

[Kol]

The collapse of a debt based economy, combined with unanswered questions about technological morality in favor of the answer "For profit..." and the list goes on.
The communial consensus failed pretty much.

[Flyndaran]

Johnny1A.2: Spouting your opinions as fact, especially with regards to faith and religion will get this thread locked pretty fast.

Suffice it to say that many disagree with your apparent definitions of religion and faith.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Kol

The collapse of a debt based economy, combined with unanswered questions about technological morality in favor of the answer "For profit..." and the list goes on.
The communial consensus failed pretty much.

The most likely source of tension/conflict among the successor powers, if they have a faith-basis, would be the question of precisely why the former elite consensus came apart. The 'how' of it might be pretty well accepted, at least in essence, by everyone, but the why might lead to intraorganizational conflict at least as intense as the money-driven conflict between the megacorporations of 'classic' cyberpunk.

Likewise, it seems probable that there would still be a few power centers and groups (maybe not dominant but present) that would like to turn back the clock in some form, and are trying to find ways to convince people that the former consensus (or more likely, a different version of it) worked after all, and the real problem was something else.

Consider the ongoing revisionist debates about the Great Depression, for ex, as an example of that sort of thing, with each faction telling a different story about why the disaster happened.

[combatmedic]

Flyn, sending you PM.

[Daigoro]

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[combatmedic]

Nice one, Daigoro!



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[Gold & Appel Inc]

~ ¡LOS PROFETAS ESTA AQUI! ~

See that tag, ese? That means you watch your step in this barrio. You wear a cross and keep your mouth shut about your spiritual uncertainty, and don't run no rackets wit'out permission, you're okay, but otherwise the LP'll jack you up, man. Word is, they got back-up from the OC itself, for real. They got the hottest guns, they got the hottest cyber... Sure, they run the coca, they run the putas, they do what the OC won't do themselves, but the OC don't care as long as they talk the talk about el rey Jesus and light up anybody the OC don't like. If anything, the drugs and whores just add to their negación plausible...

[Flaco76]

The Liberation Church aka the Spartans

Known for their military training and organization, the Spartans run schools from kindergartens to University open to all. Primarily located in many cities, especially in the slums and favelas the schools are no nonsense but provide an excellent education. In more remote areas, wandering teachers travel from village to village providing skills and setting up small libraries.

[Kol]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

The most likely source of tension/conflict among the successor powers, if they have a faith-basis, would be the question of precisely why the former elite consensus came apart. The 'how' of it might be pretty well accepted, at least in essence, by everyone, but the why might lead to intraorganizational conflict at least as intense as the money-driven conflict between the megacorporations of 'classic' cyberpunk.

Likewise, it seems probable that there would still be a few power centers and groups (maybe not dominant but present) that would like to turn back the clock in some form, and are trying to find ways to convince people that the former consensus (or more likely, a different version of it) worked after all, and the real problem was something else.

Consider the ongoing revisionist debates about the Great Depression, for ex, as an example of that sort of thing, with each faction telling a different story about why the disaster happened.

I love all these ideas, especally this one above.

Gold & Appel Inc hit directly on the theme of the "Middle City" the part of many towns between the outer edges, and the revived inner city where a lot of urban renewal was done.
The wealthy and Middle classes dwells in midtown apartments and outskirts, ect. Suburbia and the area between various zones of wealth or gated "church communities" have gone the way of hardcore cyberpunk.