> >Faith in Glorantha isn't so much "do I believe Orlanth exists?", as
> >"do I believe Orlanth?"
>
> Excellent. That was the point I was trying to make, only you both did
> it much more succinctly and eloquently. Thank you.
>
> IMO, this means that RW and Gloranthan worshippers would often
> behave differenly. All RW people have doubts if their God exists.
Not necessarily : to begin with there is a difference between Faith and Gnosis. Personal Revelation frinstance removes all doubt as regards God's existence, although various other doubts may remain (and perhaps even be intensified).
RW and Gloranthan worshippers differ essentially in that Gnosis is far more widespread than in RW, and (at a superficial level) that the touchy-feely bits of Divinity/Spirituality are one or two levels of magnitude higher in Glorantha than appears in RW, as magic involving an act of Will on the part of the Worshipper.
Or if you prefer, it's less abstract.
> One of the great themes of RW religion is how does a good all-
> powerful God let evil happen?
Because Man has been endowed with Free Will (including the power to do evil) as an inherently (albeit transcendentally) Good Thing.
To do evil is to disobey God (wittingly or not), whether in RW Christianity/Judaism/Islam or Gloranthan Malkionism.
> This theme is absent in Glorantha.
No it isn't, but it hasn't been much explored so far, as it's explicit mostly in mainstream Malkionism, and only implicit in the convoluted inter-relationships and relativisms of theistic Glorantha (esp. DP and Peloria).
The short answer to your question as regards the central Genertelan religions, would be that neither Orlanth nor the Red Moon * let * evil happen at all : they fight it (AKA "each other") as hard as they possibly can.
> Apparently, non-trivial numbers of Heortlings doubt Orlanth, else
> there would be very little "proto-chaotic" acts like kinstrife and
> rape.
Doubt is the necessary corollary of faith : the one isn't possible without the other. Besides, mortals are (at *best*) imperfectly obedient to their religions.
Julian Lord
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