Akronism: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
Line 62:
===Akrona and the Moon===
[[File:Full-Harvest-Fire-Smoke-Moon-750p-by-Shelly-Hanks.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A full moon that appears to be the color orange. This can occur naturally due to the position and angle of the Moon relative to the viewer and composition of particular chemicals in the atmosphere.]]
Since the beginning of the Akronist faith, Akrona has been strongly identified with the Moon. The Moon was said to glow just as Akrona and the crystals did, and the Moon is known to have power - the tides - over the ocean from whence Akrona emerged. The Moon continues to be important to the Church of Akrona, as religious services are held on the full moon, and the Acronian religious calendar is an exclusively lunar calendar. However, Church doctrine is very clear that Akrona is not a lunar deity, and that like all parts of the physical universe, the Moon was not created by Akrona. Generally, the Church holds that Akrona "has adopted the Moon as a symbol of her power" for reasons that are known only to her.
Outside the Church, historians generally believe that the Akronist religion emerged from a charismatic folk religion in the region of the northwestern coast of what was then known as Tavaris that was centered on moon worship, as opposed to the predominant religion elsewhere in the country, which was ancestor worship. The lunar worship in the northwestern region, more sparsely populated than other areas of the country, is believed to have been a holdout of ancient animist traditions that predated the traditions of ancestor worship. This lunar worship appears to have seen a resurgence in the area for unknown reasons in the 15th century, that by the second half of the century had shifted into the sort of belief structure that gave rise to the religion centered around Akrona. The word "Akrona" has an unconfirmed etymology, but the concept of the Goddess may descend from ancient personifications of the Moon - one Proto-Tavari word for which being "Krumii," which some linguists consider the linguistic origin of Akrona. Akronist religious scholars generally do not consider this information in their studies on Akrona.
==Role in Governing the Acronian Empire==
''For more information on the governance of the Acronian Empire in general, including the role of the Church, see [[Acronis#Governance]]''
The Church of Akrona is the established church of the Acronian Empire, and coterminous with the Religious Government of the Acronian Empire. As the religious government of the Empire, the Church is responsible for setting and enforcing religious and moral law. Criminal law is adjudicated in courts organized and governed by The Elders. As examples, laws against murder and assault are the jurisdiction of the religious government. Additionally, the social safety net is administered by the Church, as according to Acronian jurisprudence it is considered a matter of morality. Pensions, unemployment benefits, food assistance and housing assistance are coordinated by the Church and paid for by mandatory tithes from Church members. In contrast, the Civil Government of the Acronian Empire handles temporal administration, including among other things the military, foreign relations, and enforcing laws regarding the regulation of property.
The religious governmment and the civil government serve seperate roles, and also serve as a check on each other. The Elders can overrule the King, and the King has the power to overrule the Elders. Outside of formal law, the Church of Akrona exercises significant informal influence on the people and government of the Acronian Empire, primarily because citizenship in the Acronian Empire requires membership in the Church. Indeed, following the Akronist faith is considered to be the central defining factor of the Acronian national identity.
The Church of Akrona operates in many areas that in other areas would be the exclusive province of the government, most primarily in administering the social safety net. Things like homeless shelters and food banks are all religious operations in Acronis, and programs such as the national healthcare system, the national pension program, and unemployment insurance are all administered and funded by the Church. Only in one circumstance - the national healthcare system - does the Church receive taxpayer funds from the civil government to operate any social program. All other programs are funded by mandatory tithes paid by Church members and some businesses (in the case of unemployment insurance and national pensions). Acronians are expected to pay ten percent of their income to the Church. The Church of Akrona is the largest single employer in the Acronian Empire.
It is in this capacity that the Church of Akrona draws the most criticism. Because the Church administers all Acronian social programs, in order to receive these benefits, one must be a member of the Church in good standing, and therefore accept the Church's significant rules on personal and moral conduct. Foreign citizens resident in Acronis are not able to access unemployment insurance, pensions, or even food or housing assistance unless they join the Church, and must either pay out of pocket for medical care or purchase private healthcare insurance, which only exists in a very limited capacity in Acronis. Residents who hold other religious faiths, or no faith, are similarly restricted, even if they were born in Acronis. And most controversially, non-members of the Church cannot participate in the criminal justice system without a Church "sponsor." Only the sponsor, a member in good standing, may file charges on behalf of a non-member, even in cases of major crimes such as sexual assault or murder. In cases where the victim is alive, Church rules require the victim to attend religious services in order to keep their sponsor, though strictly speaking, are not "required to publically profess belief in, or even personally believe, in the tenets of the Church" in order to maintain sponsorship. The sponsorship program, while itself a compromise instituted in the late 19th century in the face of significant social backlash, continues to face sustained criticism from non-members of the Church domestically and internationally, as well as from members of the Church itself.
| |||