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Playing With / The Theocracy

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Basic Trope: A government that is based on a religion and/or headed by a religious group.

  • Straight: The laws of Tropestan are based on the religious laws of the Church of Crystal Dragon Jesus.
  • Exaggerated: Not only that, but all of Tropestan's leaders are named the religious leaders of the Church of Crystal Dragon Jesus. Also, anyone who does not believe in Crystal Dragon Jesus, or does not live the "right" way, is publicly executed or at least banished. It may be a setting where All Crimes Are Equal and Culture Police enforce strict morality codes.
  • Downplayed: The King of Tropestan has a priest as one of his advisors.
    • Alternatively, Tropestan is a theocratic republic, with a healthy democratic culture heavily influenced by the Church.
  • Justified: The founders of Tropestan were once persecuted for worshiping Crystal Dragon Jesus, and they wanted to build a Utopia where everyone could worship Crystal Dragon Jesus freely.
  • Inverted:
    • Tropestan is a completely secular country, ruled by Flat Earth Atheists, and the laws are based on secular humanist ideals. (i.e. treating people respectfully because it helps everyone's day go a lot more smoothly, not because The Powers That Be said so.)
    • Tropestan is a totalitarian, state atheist country where all religions are banned. The authorities regularly persecute and execute any priest on sight, confiscate religious sculptures and burn them in front of the public, and declare wars on nations that tolerate a slight presence of religion.
  • Subverted: Tropestan end UP being a largely secular country, and there are people of many different faiths (and no faith at all) living there.
  • Double Subverted: But the culture, laws, and customs of Tropestan are heavily influenced by religion. (For example, Family Honor and/or Sacred Hospitality might be important.)
  • Parodied: Tropestan's laws are based on the Church of Achoo, which believes the whole universe is suspended in a droplet of mucus from the sneeze of an adorable cosmic kitten. Kittens are therefore holy and the Priest-King of Tropestan is a cat. Also, due to religious beliefs, it's mandatory to eat cake on Tuesdays and wear pink once and only once per week. And all those who are caught failing to say "bless you" when someone sneezes are arrested and made to clean the Royal Holy Litterbox.
  • Zig Zagged: Tropestan is a tech-savvy totalitarian Police State where the police department rules over the people with iron fists. It doesn't appear to have churches opened all over the state, until one realises that the police department as a whole is the state religion. It is mandatory for the people of Tropestan to worship the police department as their god, and anyone caught worshipping any religion other than the police department would be executed by being burnt on a stake.
  • Averted: When Tropestan was founded secular government and religious freedom were included in their constitution, because the people of Tropestan adhered to many different religions and feared that one might try to dominate the others.
  • Enforced: Let's create a Utopia or Depending on the Writer a Dystopia or a False Utopia.
  • Lampshaded: "I claim this land in the Name of Crystal Dragon Jesus!"
  • Invoked: See "Justified".
  • Exploited: A religious movement seeks to build a community like this, although it may be willing (or only get to) start small.
  • Defied: Tropestan has strict rules governing separation of church and state.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Implied: We never see what Tropestan's government looks like, but one of the characters remarks in throwaway line that "a new priest king has been recently elected head of the state", implying that their government is similar to that of the Holy See.
  • Deconstructed: As a country whose living style and laws are entirely based upon religious doctrines, there's nothing stopping Tropestan from following the more... old-fashioned teachings found in the book of Crystal Dragon Jesus, which, to someone today, seem outright insane. Beatings and imprisonements for people who refuse to follow these doctrines are frequent and the government comes off as totalitarian and tyranical for all but the most dogmatic followers of the church.
  • Reconstructed: The government of Tropestan has it's beliefs and culture based upon the religious doctrines of the Church of Crystal Dragon Jesus, but they aren't enforced upon the population, even if they happen to follow their religion, and are merely suggestions as to how citizens could become closer to Crystal Dragon Jesus if they wish to.
  • Played For Laughs: Tropestan has Pastafarianism as it's state religion.


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