Warning: This thread's topic will be heavily centered around religion, as such it will be very sensitive. If you participate, you will act as you are: a brony, a friend to every other brony, and a rational adult (or young adult). If you can not do this, your comment will be deleted and you'll be banned from the group. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Keep In Mind: This is NOT a place to put forth your views or to try to convince others, or even argue or debate the topic of religion. You can take that to the GC thread or PMs. Do that and we'll get along just fine.

As some of you may know, I like to always have a purpose beyond everything I do with this group. The easiest is to make them fun and enjoyable--but I like going a little bit deeper. My usual go-to is to challenge authors with a specific goal, or asking them to do something out of their comfort zone.

Well, I think we'll push the envelope on this one.

Though I haven't really done anything in regards to it yet, I also have hopes of using this group as a tool for pushing the boundaries and testing the waters of our fandom. Really learning about each other, how we work in regards to our pony friends and the world of Equestria. A real personal take on the people behind the fandom, through the creative word.

So the question this project is going to ask and present? The stories I would love to see you all bravely share with our community? Well, an interesting discussion was taking place in TripC today (the Cage's Skype chat group, if you didn't know). One I think we can follow up here.

How would you, as a religiously minded person (atheism is getting rounded up here for efficiency), honestly react if you woke up as a pony in Equestria?

We want honest, personal stories. This is self-insert done right. This should be a type of project that people can read and go, "Whoah. That was something else." You make them think, touch them with your words, even if they don't believe.

So that brings up an important point: This is not a place for you to try and spread your beliefs. You are providing an example, a picture for others to view your faith. You're not trying to give a message.

If we want this project to work and be taken seriously, it can not be hateful or combative. We're all about love and tolerating differences. Acceptance, even if we don't agree. One way we as a species do this is by learning and understanding.

Now I'm not settled on any details beyond that broad initial prompt. The rest we can hash out, except I think I'd like to do this as a true collaborative effort. All the characters exist in the same universe, with the same events. They can even come together later.

Now obviously, one thing we have to be careful with is actually keeping this as FiMFiction. Just being in the 'verse and wondering on your beliefs and philosophies isn't enough. Some sort of story must go on at the same time. This we can discuss. DarkPhoenix and TypewriterError will be assisting me on the overhead here.

But for now, for those of you who are steadfast in your beliefs, for those of you who count your religion as a defining part of your life, will you share your story with us? Will you examine your beliefs through a different lens, learning more about yourself?

I must add: I am asking you to put something of yourself out for, unfortunately, expected attacks. A project like this is going to get trolls and rabble rousers. But as a community, working together, we will easily overcome those. So, if you join in and are attacked for your beliefs, remember that everyone involved has your back. Don't get angry, don't get defensive. We'll take care of our own, no doubt about that.

I'll do it. I hope many other different beliefs will also come and do the same.

1871464
I'm curious about this, but I'm unclear about what you want from me here. Are you looking for who might be interested, or for questions, or do you actually want us to write a summery of what our opinions would be here?

1871464
I see... you want us to write a self-insert HiE fic with our true identity, not the brony "OMG I'm going to marry my waifu and be a pony" persona we all put up on Fimfiction.

Honestly... I'd be freaked out at first. I like the prospect of living there (Humanity slightly sickens me), but a lot of it is daunting. Leaving civilization behind always means certain death. Ponyville is right next to a gate of Tartarus. The princesses might be actual demigods.

Frankly my Christian view would be altered. I'd probably adopt a more eastern philosophy and assume all things in nature are connected, and the possibility of Tartarus of being the actual afterlife. I would still believe in my Christian god, but take anything I find in Equestria that challenges it as something specific to that universe. I wouldn't be skeptical, but I wouldn't just believe everything I see without a sufficient explanation.

Aka: One god rules all, but that doesn't mean there aren't other powers at work.

Sounds interesting... I'll take a stab at it.

1871532
This is initial interest to run the project. I'd like a variety of belief systems to get involved.

Granted, it could be said (and I'm saying it), that just having enough people involved would count as a number of different systems, heh.

Questions I'm also after if there are any.

I don't want a description or your theory, unless you want. But you'll be sharing that in your chapter(s).

1871533
Yes. You hit the nail on the head. I'm stealing this:

write a self-insert HiE fic with our true identity

Because that's it exactly.

As for your belief--that's the sort of thing we'd like to see you explore in a story. That's the end result we're after here.

1871515
Sure, that's fine--but how would you come to terms with your Christianity with being in a land filled with speaking ponies and magic?

That's what we're after. How your beliefs would come to terms with these things if they were factual.

1871675
Okay, well, I'm a non-practicing pagan, and I could probably write a chapter if you need.

1871464 I'm publishing a "realistic" self insert on the 6th of this month. Religion does crop up, as it's something that's almost always somewhere in my head.

I'd be interested in participating in this endeavor. I was an atheist most of my life, until I went through alcoholism and depression did I become a Christian. It was a very tough time in my life, and I'm still sometimes questioning my own beliefs. So count me up if you want a story to be written or for me to help participate in a project of some sort.

As for how I'd react, I'd be weirded out at first. Magic itself pretty much creates miracles, Discord is the closest thing the ponies have to a god (and he's a mad one at that), and Princess Celestia and Luna are basically demigods. Along with the fact that the actual, Tartarus, is within running distance of Ponyville. But I already do believe that while there is a higher power, there are perhaps other powers at work as well. Who's to say that we humans also didn't have demigods of some sort in the past?

Overall, I'd still be questioning my views on a daily basis like today, but with a much different settings and questions in mind for the pony world.

1871887
Would be honored.

Going to do away with the true collaboration. It's just an anthology, with a unified theme and a few small details.

One: In order to prevent answering yourself or adding any bias, everyone needs to start the same. You go to sleep as yourself, in your own bed, doing your own thing--you wake up in Equestria as a pony. No portals, no voices, no nothing. You can explain how it might've happened afterwards, of course (that's the project after all).

Two: Please make sure it would be accepted to FiMFiction in that there is enough relationship to Equestria to justify the publish. Since we're not doing it as a unified collab, there is no need for an overarching story. Your interpersonal journey between the reality around you and your beliefs will be story enough. (Basically this is the warning of not just soap-boxing or philosophizing. An information dump is not a story.)

Three: You can treat the Princessess as Goddesses in Equestria if you like/need. I dislike the idea, but hey--it can be a good point of contention.

I'm offering the Cage profile or my own to publish (Edit: Or we can make 1871918 post it and get more exposure, heh. Kidding, of course--but damn I'd be glad to have you, too!). If you'd like to do something else, let me know. Just shoot me a PM with a link to your chapter (complete with title, please). We'll put them together in the order they're received.

Feel free to spread the word! Invite others to join in and express themselves.

1871464 For the purposes of this prompt, is it considered dishonest if you sincerely don't believe that your religious faith would have any bearing on your reaction to waking up in the setting of MLPFIM? It seems like this prompt is predicated on the assumption that religious faith would have an effect rather than may have an effect. If I misunderstood, I'm willing to accept correction.

1871960 By when do we need these finished?

1872105
If it doesn't have an effect, there's not much point in joining in. While not impossible, I also find it immensely unrealistic to think, for mere law of averages example, that someone who believed in a One True God and absolutely no others who was thrown into a world with not only two goddesses, but two goddesses who reside with their people, didn't have some serious ramifications on their beliefs. Even if it only challenged them to become stronger, to not accept what they were seeing.

Now, away from that example, there are plenty of belief systems that would be totally A-OK for accepting Equestria and all its magic and the like. I suppose you could write with these beliefs, but I'm unsure how powerful the story itself would be. Admittedly, this prompt is far more interesting and challenging to those whose beliefs would have no room for other gods or magic or talking horses. Yes, it's an assumption, but it's a damn safe one.

1872108
Just as soon as possible, really. But preferably within a month or so.

1872172 hmmmm... I'm wicked busy with One-Shotober, but I do believe someone should write a serious, non-satire/comedy Mormon in Equestria. Count me in. About how long where you thinking?

1872214
As long as it takes, though I would think somewhere over 3K would be a good minimum. It's a serious topic. It should take a little bit of serious room, but of course that means various things to various people, haha.

1872260 Alrighty then, it's on my to do list.

1872172 Then I am a highly unrealistic zealously fundamentalist Christian. Moreover, having no room for any other gods is not the same thing as being unable to integrate Equestria and everything about it into the immense and all-encompassing belief that God created all things. It follows logically and smoothly: if God created all things and you're seeing talking ponies, ponies that can move the moon and sun around, and magic generally, then logically God created those things as well and none of them pose any serious challenge to the belief in one God. Moreover, it appears that your vision for this prompt requires people who are unusually narrow-minded, which doesn't strike me as the sort of person you'd want answering the prompt.

...Sadly, I'm one of those crazy people that would probably react with a "Meh."

1871464 Really, this is an incredibly interesting premise.

Personally, my take on it (from a non-denominational Christian POV) would simply be that God, being an infinite creator, simply didn't limit himself to creating a single world/universe/whatever, and also created Equestria, and as such his will manifests differently there. Mainly, I'd see several points cropping up (After the initial What The Crap Just Happened and AAHHHH I'm In A Fictional Universe freakouts subside):

1. Equestria apparently does have a moral system that's fully compatible with Christianity (Love thy neighbor is the #1 guide to moral behavior, according to Jesus, after all)
2. However, there doesn't seem to be any system of atonement, which implies that either such a thing either isn't necessary, or such a thing hasn't happened yet, or that due to Equestria being a separate universe, it simply doesn't require any form of incarnation
3. Celestia and Luna's roles would be a matter of curiosity; I personally don't view them as deities, just really powerful ponies.
4. The presence of Magic in the setting actually wouldn't go against Christian beliefs; sorcery is only considered evil when the source is demonic. In Equestria, this obviously isn't the case; it's basically science to them.

The TL;DR version is that it would be incredibly alien, but wouldn't necessarily contradict anything. This would actually be a really interesting story, but it would take me a long time to write, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to get anything out in time for this.

Is there any sort of due date for it?

1872362 I actually agree with the general idea that Equestria could be easily integrated, but I disagree that it would be no cause for response even in that case. There's always the question of "What do I do?" You aren't from that universe, so there's the question of whether you should continue following your own faith or attempt to integrate into Equestria. There's also the matter of how much you should attempt to inform the ponies of your own faith vs. just leaving them to their own devices.

1872362
Not narrow minded. Dedicated would perhaps be a better descriptor. It takes all sorts, and I'm not saying it's not possible. Merely the more unlikely amongst those whose faith is a stronger part of them. This project is for someone who sees the world and, using your example, sees a creature that has immense power and immortality and is known to be a goddess or something like Discord (some people treat them as such, I've never seen it myself) as fact which then contradicts their tightly held belief that there can be no other supreme being but God. If that is not you (and that's only one example of potentially many), then this project isn't for you. Simple as that, no big deal.

1872500
I thought so, which is why I chose to attempt it. There is absolutely no due date. Take as long as you need. This is the sort of 'neverending' project that will accept entries so long as they are deemed suitable for the purpose. I'd love to have one from you as well.

1872595 Alright then. I've actually tossed the idea around in my head of someone having a dialogue about religion, but I never considered attempting it because of the potential for flames. This might give me an excuse, though. I'll have to see how things go. There's a lot of theology I could work through here.

This idea intrigues me. I'll certainly be participating.

1872595 Well, darn. It'd be really fun to participate in this prompt but although I think I fit the letter of your description, I think I don't fit the spirit of what you're after.

1873204
You are welcome to try. At worst it doesn't fit in and you publish it on your own. Either way, thanks for showing interest!

Well, my religious views wouldn't be altered all that much because their already rather accepting. I'm effectively a Unitarian Abrahamic Neo-Pagan. So it'd pretty much just be a regular HiE story.

EDIT: Now, if the Princesses were gods of some sort, would I worship them? No, as I am not Equestrian and they aren't my gods. But I wouldn't go out of my way to tick them off.

Now Discord...I might worship Discord.

My religious views are pretty much all Unitarian Universalist/Lutheran/Shinto. And from how I grew up my reaction would (probably/maybe/possibly) sum up as:

"Huh, Equestria, cool. Anyway..."

You've got a heck of an idea here, and I'd like to participate . . . but I don't think I can. My faith simply isn't strong enough; while an honest self-insert would be entertaining, I doubt it would have a significant impact on my religious beliefs. I could probably fake it . . . but that's not the point of the challenge.

As an aside, I actually have a back-burner fic in which a teenager who's religious gets transported to Equestria and tries to become a missionary. Where I left off, he's trying to explain the concept of a soul to Twilight.

1871464 Question(that might sound stupid): We can collab with someone else on this right?

1982894
The question is designed to challenge your individual beliefs, so, no, I don't want you to collaborate with another. Discuss, brainstorm, and the like, sure. But as for writing the piece, it should be yours and yours alone.

1982933 We share the same beliefs, but if you prefer I'll have him write his own. It is of little consequence.

1982933 Where do you want us to send these?

2047883
As stated above:

Just shoot me a PM with a link to your chapter (complete with title, please). We'll put them together in the order they're received.