Religion In The World Without Stars

We should say something about religion, then see how this applies to World Without Stars.

See Traditions.

I think that religion is response to transcendence. Theism is personification of transcendence and therefore is one kind of religion. Non-theistic religions are Jainism, Buddhism, Taoism and the Hindu Samkhya system. 

The transcendent is variously conceived as:

many persons;

three persons;

one person;

an impersonal reality;

a transcendent state.

(I go with the fourth and fifth options.)

Religious experience is of an awesome presence or of an inner oneness or of a projected, culturally conditioned, image: Kali, Krishna, Christ, Mary etc.

Of the three groups in the "world without stars," Ai Chun, Niao and Azkashi, only the Azkashi have a religion. Argens comments that:

"Their planet showed few phenomena to inspire awe, like stars or volcanoes or seasons." (p. 76)

He overlooks the galaxy which, when above the horizon, dominates the night sky and is worshiped by the Azkashi.

The Ai Chun recognize nothing as superior to themselves and think that they created the universe but only in the way that they now construct buildings or selectively breed other species. This "creation" was not the act of a transcendent being. The Ai Chun bred the Niao for intelligence and the latter are devoted to the Ai Chun like dogs to masters, not like worshipers to a deity. However, some Niao went feral as the Azkashi, shedding submissiveness but retaining devotion, now expressed as worship of the galaxy and as mutual loyalty. Thus, rebellion generated religion.

With molecular biology, the Ai Chun might have eliminated every wild gene and prevented the Azkashi. However, some other external factor, like the arrival of the Earthmen, would eventually have challenged their rule.

Some Azkashi might be converted to a Terrestrial monotheism by persuading them that the galaxy is only a manifestation of the Creator.