Are religious people more or less inclined to believe in ASOIAF Gods?

[Errant Bard]

No matter what, there is one clear god in ASOIAF, and it's GRRM.

Scratch that: two gods: GRRM and narrative necessity. The "pushes" one guy or another gets are dictated by only this, the in-story explanations are often lacking because there is actually none other than the author wanted it to happen like it did. It manifests in providence.

[straits]

No matter what, there is one clear god in ASOIAF, and it's GRRM.

Scratch that: two gods: GRRM and narrative necessity. The "pushes" one guy or another gets are dictated by only this, the in-story explanations are often lacking because there is actually none other than the author wanted it to happen like it did. It manifests in providence.

That really goes without saying. Are you bothered by events that do not have a direct explanation? I kind of go with the flow of the series. An event is not a math formula that I need to derive from first principles in order to enjoy the story.

[Melonica Stormborn]

The Stranger is the god of death (that's why he also has a statue in the House of Black & White), so he is indeed the darkest, and scariest aspect of the Seven, for the other 6 gods are aspects of life.

Thanks for providing this detail. It's been at the tip of my internet tongue :)

It's also only the Stranger who has this sort of influence outside Westeros (at least up to Braavos), very interesting and sometimes I wonder if he's that facet of the Seven that can actually affect events in the future (although I still highly doubt it).

Overall, the variety of religions in the series is fascinating. It's good that it is ambiguous whether they're real or not. It gives the characters space to question or change their beliefs (or stand by them) much like in real life.

[Errant Bard]

That really goes without saying. Are you bothered by events that do not have a direct explanation?

No, I was just staying in topic. It's not actually that clear cut what can be attributed to "gods", as in entities invented by the author (who is the only thing actually matching our usual definition of god as applied to the in-story characters,) and what can merely be attributed to mere narrative necessity without any thought beyond, even if "gods" were proved to exist.

ETA: And I am only bothered by inconsistency and deus ex machina. Everything being explained is irritating, and leads to inconsistencies too -worldbuilding should be kept to the very minimum, I don't care how good an author thinks he is, he is not expert geologist, historian, sociologist, physicist, mathematician, linguist, architect, cook, strategist and psychologist-

[Fire and Blood!]

That's interesting, because as an atheist GRRM believes in a godless world, so why could he not write a book about a godless world? And even if he did believe in a god, the Whole ASOIAF world is imaginary, and so are the religions. As human being we are gifted with the ability to make up just about anything, so why not a godless world?

I kindly ask you not to call other people's beliefs laughable though, you would not like it either if people called your belief in the existence of a God laughable. It's quite offensive to state it like that. Religion, and non-religion is very personal, and should be respected at all times.

I meant no disrespect with that, rather I wanted to express how unnatural the idea seems to me.

As for the godless world, I'm not saying that a man can't imagine such a world, I'm saying that I(and I assume most religious people) wouldn't vew it as such unless specificaly proven(or stated) so.

[R'hllor's Bastard]

GRRM has already said no Gods will present themselves, but things will happen and its up to the reader to have their own opinion.

As far as the original question, hard to say. I dont think too many ultra religious folks are open to reading a story like this.

[Errant Bard]

I'm saying that I(and I assume most religious people) wouldn't vew it as such unless specificaly proven(or stated) so.

How do you prove absence except by the object of attention not being here, like now, exactly?

[TheMysteriousOne]

I'm religious, though I can't say I go to church every Sunday or that I'm a 'perfect' Catholic who follows all the doctrines, rules etc. I believe that the bible is not literal, in fact I believe the majority of the old testament to be a metaphoric, anyways, I still don't believe that the gods of ASOIAF are real, and if they real then they are not gods in the 'traditional' sense

[Fire and Blood!]

How do you prove absence except by the object of attention not being here, like now, exactly?

Well, since we are talking about the existence or inexistence of Gods in a fictional world I count as proof the author's statement on the matter.

[Errant Bard]

Well, since we are talking about the existence or inexistence of Gods in a fictional world I count as proof the author's statement on the matter.

Ah, I had taken "proven or stated" to mean something else than "stated or stated" :P

[Rolex Baratheon]

Are religious people more or less inclined to believe in ASOIAF gods? If the question is to be taken as it seems, then I don't think this is really a proper question or not considering I highly doubt a Christian or Muslim or Jew or Hindu would believe that The Seven or Rhll'or are real.

And for the major monotheistic faiths of the world, I do believe it is outright blasphemy to believe in gods. One True God, and nobody else, is how it goes for us =)

[Daenerys is my queen]

I'm religious, though I can't say I go to church every Sunday or that I'm a 'perfect' Catholic who follows all the doctrines, rules etc. I believe that the bible is not literal, in fact I believe the majority of the old testament to be a metaphoric, anyways, I still don't believe that the gods of ASOIAF are real, and if they real then they are not gods in the 'traditional' sense

I definitely agree that the gods of ASOIAF are not gods in the traditional sense. As far as we know, none of the religions have any kind of creation story. Some of them seem to have some kind of moral code but the others I'm not sure of. I think the gods are more like very powerful spirits that some people decided to follow-in some cases at least. I find it hard to believe that Rh'llor or the Drowned God exist. Not really sure why. :dunno:

[LuisDantas]

Is a creation story usually considered necessary for a religion?

[Lion of Judah]

I believe in God, but I do not believe in religions. I would say that the gods of the north bare a similarity to buddhism with their emphasis on nature etc. and that appeals to me. If you could take the idea of God, with the practices of buddhism it would be a perfect marriage. There is no misinterpretation in buddhism which is some that plagues christianity with so many different sects and beliefs.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

I meant no disrespect with that, rather I wanted to express how unnatural the idea seems to me.

As for the godless world, I'm not saying that a man can't imagine such a world, I'm saying that I(and I assume most religious people) wouldn't vew it as such unless specificaly proven(or stated) so.

Ah good :) Just wanted to make sure the thread would stay friendly.

Yes I understand where you're coming from :) It's fun to see the different takes people have on this.

Are religious people more or less inclined to believe in ASOIAF gods? If the question is to be taken as it seems, then I don't think this is really a proper question or not considering I highly doubt a Christian or Muslim or Jew or Hindu would believe that The Seven or Rhll'or are real.

And for the major monotheistic faiths of the world, I do believe it is outright blasphemy to believe in gods. One True God, and nobody else, is how it goes for us =)

HAR! I don't think believing that fictional gods in a fictional world are real in that fictional world, would really count as blasphemy.

Hmm I wonder if there are people in the real world who actually believe in ASOIAF gods in the real world after reading the books. There are always people crazy enough... lol

Is a creation story usually considered necessary for a religion?

Not sure it's usually necessary, but I daresay there usually is one. Perhaps not always.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

I believe in God, but I do not believe in religions. I would say that the gods of the north bare a similarity to buddhism with their emphasis on nature etc. and that appeals to me. If you could take the idea of God, with the practices of buddhism it would be a perfect marriage. There is no misinterpretation in buddhism which is some that plagues christianity with so many different sects and beliefs.

I agree! Misinterpretation, or at least all the different interpretations cause so much unnecessary trouble :( I like buddhism a lot :)

[LuisDantas]

I believe in God, but I do not believe in religions. I would say that the gods of the north bare a similarity to buddhism with their emphasis on nature etc. and that appeals to me. If you could take the idea of God, with the practices of buddhism it would be a perfect marriage. There is no misinterpretation in buddhism which is some that plagues christianity with so many different sects and beliefs.

You can. Buddhism is not really adverse to the idea of God. It just doesn't define itself from it.

[Lion of Judah]

You can. Buddhism is not really adverse to the idea of God. It just doesn't define itself from it.

Very true. The idea of God is a somewhat secondary concept, but its there.

[Light a wight tonight]

As an agnostic, meaning in my frame of reference not believing is what is not provable, I see the gods in ASoIaF to be the personification of natural forces. If that. One thing is that natural forces there are not quite identical to here, so you have Red Priests being able to foretell things, the Tree network being a communication system, the Wights being animated dead men, etc. What is called magic here.

So, no, I don't believe in the gods in the stories.

[Nagisa Furukawa]

I'm very much an atheist and don't believe in the gods of ASoIaF either.

However, that has nothing to do WITH my atheism; it's purely my opinion based on the evidence given in the stories so far. There's definitely a fundamental magical force to the world, one that can show visions of the past and future or bring dead people back to life, and it takes the form of both ice and fire. However, it is ONLY through the interpretations of the humans within the story that external personalities and labels are assigned to these forces. Is there power in fire magic? Certainly. Is there the slightest bit of evidence that a being named R'hllor is behind them and is at war with another being named the Great Other? Nope.

The only ones I'd consider debatable are the "Old Gods" and that's because it's arguable whether humans who have access to the weirwood network like Bloodraven and Bran are powerful enough to be considered gods themselves. So even the gods I'll concede on are just humans taking advantage of really powerful magic.