Poll of the Day > Are there any good sci-fi or fantasy books that take a deep dive into their own

(+) Yeah! (+)

...religion?

I find different religions to be interesting and was wondering if there was a book or series that flushed one out.

---

Deep dives? Not that I can think of.

The Wheel of Time does have the "Whitecloaks"/"Children of the Light", while a religious order, the books focus more on their military aspects.

Actually, "Jedi" and "Sith" are technically religious orders in Star Wars lore, so I would assume some of the books do.

---

Not a book, but a video game, but if you want some trippy mysticism stuff, here you go!
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:The_36_Lessons_of_Vivec

---

Jesus incident by frank herbert

---

A Clockwork Orange
not joking

---

RoboXgp89 posted...

A Clockwork Orange
not joking

I've watched it several times. Care to elloborate or or you talking the gay conversation therapy analogy

---

One of my all time favorite books is The Book of Lapism, by Phil Geusz. It takes place in the near future when genetic engineering has become commonplace and deals specifically with a new religion called Lapism.

The primary rite of Lapism is the use of genetic engineering to turn oneself into an anthropomorphic rabbit. The founder was a gengineer who had created a masterpiece rabbit body for a rich client's boyfriend, but they broke up and the project was cancelled before it could be used. Since his own heath was failing rapidly due to his self-destructive habits, he decided to use the design on himself instead. He discovered that the transformation had a profound effect on his personality, so he began writing a book describing his moral insights. That book became the Book of Peace, the foundation for a new religion.

Lapists believe the Change serves two purposes. First is that to accommodate differences in lapine anatomy (mobile ears, tail, etc) and due to use of rabbit DNA, subtle changes occur in the brain, dialing back normal human aggression and making a person more peaceful and friendly. Secondly, having a rabbit body acts like an unremovable clerical collar, immediately identifying someone as a Lapist and thus creating social reinforcement; everyone expects a rabbit to be kind and gentle so peer pressure helps ensure this.

Lapists do not worship any specific deity, nor to they have idols or prayers. It is probably closer to Confucianism, more like a philosophy than a religion. They have a weekly Discussion Time in which they study and talk about the Book of Peace, which is their primary scripture. They have at least one physical church, Oaktree Temple, and they own a gengineering clinic which performs the conversion procedure, though it can be done at any properly equipped hospital. The Book of Peace explicitly rejects proselytizing; the Church welcomes media attention but avoids advertising, letting members' presence in the community serve as a recruitment tool.

The Book of Lapism contains 6 stories which deal with the events that led up to the founder's original transformation, the crisis following his death, the first children raised as Rabbits, and what happens when someone is Changed for all the wrong reasons.

---

you might want to take a look at the sword of truth books. I'm not sure if its exactly what you're looking for but they are definitely good books in my opinion.

---

The Hyperion Cantos has some heavy religious themes. It's based on Christianity but with its own unique spin.

The Broken Earth trilogy takes place in a fantasy universe that is culturally controlled by zealots. I don't think it directly names any religion, but the cultural and authoritarian belief system can easily be seen as parallels.

The Left Hand of Darkness has a pretty in depth cultural exploration of a particular group of humans on a distant planet with their own unique beliefs.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a dense series, so deep-diving into religion isn't the primary focus, but the world building is so excellent that it deserves a mention here. Multiple fantasy religions with their own developed belief systems, practices, sacraments, etc. It's a slow drip of information and the series isn't complete, but might scratch your itch.

ScritchOwl posted...

I've watched it several times. Care to elloborate or or you talking the gay conversation therapy analogy

oh i jus thought that was about
how pills numb you to certain things
if you were on pills all the time you wouldn't want to have sex ever, you'd sleep all the time, your emotions would be muted
but in the book instead it's the music of beethoven he has bad flashbacks of events with things he wouldn't normally think about, even tho the things he associates with beethoven have nothing to do with the nasty ultra violent stuff

so basically it's like they're trying to make him numb to certain things so he doesn't have an emotional response instead he jus feels nauseous

it's about how to be a cop
read the book again and think about the things they can and can't do
the whole book is about being a beat cop in NYC/London where ever
being a cop has nothing to do with IQ, morality, etc. if you really think about what you're doing sometimes it's jus... ultra violent!

---

If you read the book in the 70's it'd make a little more sense...
it holds true today in some places but when people said cops are pigs, they're saying that they're jus tax collectors amoung other things...

---