I've decided to post this even though it's not finished, both to get something up and to see if I can get feedback. Also, the concepts that went into this gave me a way to work Icons in that I like a lot, so this is laying the groundwork for that as well. Enjoy!
What Do We Believe?
Frontier is not, and has never been, a religious society. Only
one colony charter was for a religious group, and they have since
composed a minority of the population of FFC1079; the rest may be
religious to themselves, but as a rule they do not bring religion to
bear in public.
The religious group was made up of about 400 members of a sect of the
henotheistic Sutukarin religion, named after Tanja Sutukaro, who
founded the religion nearly a thousand years before FFC1079 was
discovered. As henotheists, orthodox Sutukarins believe in a
pantheon governing all aspects of existence, but each Sutukarin
dedicates herself to the worship of a single god. The sect whose
members came to FFC1079, by contrast, were more syncretic in their
beliefs, viewing each god of the pantheon as a manifestation of a
single divine power, which they called Providence. Called
Universalist Sutukarins - or Universalists - by the orthodox religion,
the sect came to FFC1079 because their leader, Henry Cedd, felt a
calling to the new colony; the stated goals of the group were to use
the isolation of a Federal colony to further their understanding of
Providence and existence.
One of the significant differences between the orthodox Sutukarins and
the Universalists is that while the orthodoxy prefers small, specific
shrines, the Universalists use churches that border on being cathedrals
as places of worship. This has impacted the civic landscape of
FFC1079; in every major city, one or two Universalist churches can be
found, and they are relatively common in smaller towns as well. A
Universalist church is still a place of personal devotion and
meditation; there is no mandated day of attendance, and there are no
general services. Each church has twelve shrines lining its
walls, one to each of the twelve major "manifestations" of the
pantheon, and an altar in the center at the rear, at which the
Universalists devote themselves to Providence. This is done as
often as the adherent feels it necessary, but the average attendance
rate is about once per week. It should be noted that the
Universalists do not sacrifice or offer gifts to Providence, although
the pantheon still receive small offerings from many Universalists.
A major feature of both orthodox and Universalist Sutukarin is that
neither is an evangelical religion. Sutukarins are expected to
draw others to the faith not through spreading the word but by setting
an example. They are not forbidden to tell others about the god -
or Providence - to whom they have devoted their lives; it is simply
neither encouraged nor required. The upshot of this is that while
Sutukarin has a relatively low growth rate, it also has a relatively
high rate of retaining those who convert to the religion - and its
footprint in the community, aside from the Universalists' churches, is
so small that they rarely run into public criticism.
Universalist Sutukarin is the largest religion on FFC1079, but it still
encompasses no more than ten percent of the population. The other
90% are largely agnostic, although smatterings of the other religions
known in Federal space can be found on the colony. These
religions include Larthwid (a polytheistic religion based on the
relationship between self and nature; its practitioners are Larthwids),
Setiwa (a monotheistic, salvation-centered religion, whose adherents
are Setiyan, sing. Setiye), and Gilgre Benthyd (which is not a religion
so much as a belief system focused on self-deprivation and the path to
Truth; those who follow it are Gilgrens).