The Right Religious Tradition, Part V

If you can't find a way, make one.

Seven weeks ago, I began an analysis of religion in the context of the culture war. Specifically:

Let’s put ourselves in the mindset of game developers creating a simulation, something like Civilization or Master of Orion. It is traditional in these types of games that the players can choose cultures, religions, alien species, and so on for their civilizations, with each choice having pros and cons that affect their likelihood of success. It is also traditional that players be given customization options to, e.g. create their own from the game’s building blocks.

Our imaginary game starts in 2025 and is a simulation of the future of America. As a player, we run a “faction” of the culture war. Let us imagine ourselves as the player controlling the right-wing faction in an imaginary Sid Meier’s Civilization: Culture War and that we must choose or create the religion that will give our faction the best chance to succeed.

From there I introduced the framework for our analysis and explaining the videogame tier system (S, A, B, C, D, E, F) we’d use to rate the religions. Since then we have evaluated Orthodox Christianity (B Tier), Catholic Christianity (A Tier), Protestant Christianity (A Tier) and American Civil Religion (D Tier). Nothing was S Tier!

Now, in the videogame Master of Orion II, the player chose from a number of different factions in the universe, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. However, if the player didn’t like the available factions, he could create his own custom faction. Inspired by MOOII, this week we’ll consider the literally unorthodox option of starting something new. This will be the last article in the series.

As with the prior articles in the Right Religious Tradition series, the sensitive issues discussed in this article make it for subscribers only.