Re: OT A question regarding a culture I\'m working
Without addressing your points individually, but in answer to most of them:
It seems to me that the religion of your society is so tightly wrapped up with and controlled by the dictatorship that the average person within the society would have great difficulty distinguishing the two: Therefore something that attacks the State is also attacking God. Likewise, anything they regard as an affront to their deity would therefore be a threat to the State. This could very easily escalate into a "all that is not like us must be converted or eradicated" mentality. An atheist, for an example, would offend God by refusing to acknowledge his existence. By offending God he offends all Icarans, and would probably not be a popular person.
That's the danger of mixing politics and religion, which (imnsho) is where a lot of today's conflicts come from.
Of course, none of this means you shouldn't make your protagonists like that, it's just something to consider when writing them.
|