> > It worked for Islam (too successfully at first - the revenues from
> > taxing unbelievers plunged and the resulting crisis led to the
> > ousting of the Ummayad Caliphate by the Abbasids).
>Well yeah, but this is not the same as living in a world in which magical
>manifestations of holy powers occur directly and in the home, or in every
>battle.
What difference does this make? Since the Lunars have demonstrable magical manifestations too, it either cancels out or even favours the Lunars ("The Goddess has kicked Orlanth's Butt").
>But HW is describing a
>religious process with manifest gods - do you really give up the manifest
>faith of your ancestors simply to pay less tax?
The Orlanthi worships his gods because they are the best gods, not because of what his ancestors thought.
> > Furthermore even if the original conversion is only half-hearted,
> > the children of the converts will not have much attachment to the
> > old ways. That was how Tarsh was converted: over time.
>
>Hmm, but if the controlled populace is, as the Heortlings are, conducting
>covert rituals our of sight of prying eyes, then the children would
>constantly be exposed to the manifest power of traditional worship again.
Controlled population <> converts. Most converts would not expose their children to traditional rites.
--Peter Metcalfe
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