I have an idea for two new sects of Shimmerism, both are predicated on people seeing a video of demon Sunset in the fall formal:

1. There is an evil and a good Sunset, both exist in the same body at the same time and the more good people do the more the good side comes out, the more evil people do the more the evil side comes out. The explosion of magic was depending on what sect of this sect either because humanity had been acting so great the good side had enough power to bless the world, the other sect believes the inverse evil had become so great and a curse was placed on the world. In the end this sect overall has a very positive opinion of the world because Sunset is always on her good version, though this sect will have massive reaction to the Transition Spectrum.

2. A mix of Harmonists and Shimmerists, they believe that Sunset was once a bad person, so bad she turned into a demon, but she changed her ways and learned and grew and helped others and apologized and did all these amazing things. She eventually became from a bad person to the best person to have ever lived and so merged with harmony and became the new harmony. This sect believes very strongly in redemption and that people can change, it also happens to be the ones closest to what actually happened aside from the idea that Sunset was the best person to have ever lived.

What do people think of these ideas?

1. Manichaeism, is that you?

2. Personally, I find it hard to picture Shimmerism as doing anything other than eventually absorbing the majority of Harmonists, similar to how Christianity (especially in the early days) absorbed many Jews, so I could definitely see something like this taking place.

7538685
It did not absorb many Jews, Christinaty became large because it spread to pagans, it was never very large in Judaism, Jesus had a followers in Judaism but not the majority or even a large minority and Jews did not flock to him after his death. There were few Jews in the world at the time of Jesus, they were only one nation, a decently large one but still only 1.

Judaism has never been absorbed by Christianity and it never will.

Your point though is valid if talking about paganism.

7538685
Got the idea from Zoroastrianism, not Manichaeism.

7538697
Ah, apologies. There are a few things I could stand to learn about my own faith, it seems. But yes, I could definitely see Shimmerism absorbing Harmonism over time, especially thanks to Sunset's explanation about Cutie Marks (which would make it possible to argue that Harmonism's symbol rites are still respected and even fulfilled in Shimmerism).

Got the idea from Zoroastrianism, not Manichaeism.

Ah, interesting.

7538683
Both reasonable theological takes on the Fall Formal incident, though I'll note that Sunset has explicitly shared the events of that night as one of many PSAs on the dangers of magic abuse. (Plus, she can and does take a very similar form when the situation calls for it. More than a few attempted demon summonings have ended up producing a bat-winged, red-skinned, and thoroughly unamused Sunset.)

That said, as you noted, the events of Transmission Spectrum definitely were a PR headache for both her and the assorted offshoots of her church.

7538685
The terrible irony is that Sunset would much prefer people to follow the tenets of pre-Shimmerist Harmonism.

7538703
Come to think of it, has there ever, in recorded (textually or orally) history, been a case of a religion where a deity or power consistently declares that they are not divine? Buddhism is obviously an exception, because IIRC it's not predominantly theistic, but even there did the Buddha claim that he hadn't achieved enlightenment? What religion has had such a key figure deny their own authority in such a way?

Honestly, the Shimmerists don't need another message from Sunset saying no, she isn't a god, they need to apply Occam's Razor to her previous messages.

7538705
Some call it humility. Some say her actions speak louder than her words ever could. Some believe it is Sunset's greatest lesson: That even she is flawed and, like the rest of us, forever striving for impossible perfection. And doesn't that make that struggle all the more worthy?

Mind you, there are people who get the message. They, quite understandably, aren't Shimmerists. Whatever the form or reason, faith is stronger than one girl's protestations, even if that girl is the object of that faith.

3. Sunset reveals herself to the world as the Empress of Friendship and Harmony.

7538683
What occurs to me is you're always going to have that one, that really wishes the other aspect were in charge, and come up with some harebrained scheme to separate the two aspects into the real world simultaneously. Since this would require a new body for Demon Sunset to inhabit, logically the loyal cultist needs to find the right host...

7538866

And oh! Look! A nice similar body for her to inhabit!

It may be a simple as people not caring about what Sunset wants regarding Godhood in the face of having the chance to influence a modern God to their own ends.

These ends might not even be bad. I mean, the fact that you can actually talk to her if you really wanted to could be reason enough for many people. A God that you question and have change come of it could lead to a great many good things for everyone involved.

A religion that has a method of updating itself built directly into it could avoid the many pitfalls of traditional religion while capitalizing on its ability to improve. Just as religious texts weren't written with gay people in mind, they also certainly weren't written with (let's say) sapient machines (aka True AI) in mind either.

You could also ask for a multiple choice afterlife (Heaven, Reincarnation, Etc.) or have Sunset eventually agree to implementing a youthful immortality for everyone who has ever lived. If wouldn't matter if such things were currently beyond her power or if she simply disagreed about doing them. The very prospect of being able to alter the reality universe to match our idealized systems or ideals with only our ability to reason or persuade a attentive Goddess is inherently tantalizing beyond compare.

Of course, the issue with this in general is that Sunset isn't really omnipotent enough to solve just enough of everyone's problems for them to be satisfied while also leaving enough left for them to not have nothing left to strive for. But, I imagine the response to that problem would be "convincing" (read as: "pestering") Sunnybuns to use what power she does have to create a method to reach the level on omnipotence and omnipresence required for her to become what would essentially equate to reality's D&D Dungeon Master.

Whether that would be through direct worship or the following of her ideals with "souls acting or resonance" or some other theolobabble would be up to how people would want Sunset to make the universe decide to give her an excuse for stomping all over entropy. I mean, when it comes to things like deities, it's not like things absolutely have to follow causality anyways.

7540018
whats interesting is that at least according to one common interpretation of Jewish Law and Jewish belief, the laws of the Torah(the Jewish/Original Bible) were supposed to be updated. This idea comes from the phrase "You shall go to the judges of your time" and it was how Jewish law developed. Its why in 2nd century CE at the latest the death penalty was made illegal in Jewish law, so its illegal for the goverment to execute people for breaking the sabbath or for the real crime murde. Or more accurately its essentially impossible because even when completely adding or removing a law you can't directly contradict a commandment(even if G-d put it into the text to add or remove laws). Then the body that could legally make these changes was dismantled when the Jews were exiled from the Land of Israel, and no one knows the correct means of reconstructing it. (The only instructions are to bring the wisest men or something like that, which isn't very helpful in figuring out how to create a body). So at least Judaism with this read of its history was built to be alterable for the time.

And now to criticism my own faith after hyping it up. Being attracted to the same sex was completely known at the time, which brings questions on how then could G-d ban it, though a non-jew would probably say "G-d didn't ban it, some hateful asshole did" which is a simpler explanation, but it goes against my faith.

Key: G-d = Dog spelled backwards(sorry for certain religius reasons I should not write the name out)

7540341"Being attracted to the same sex was completely known at the time". Looks at culture of the Classical era and especially things like the Sacred Band of Thebes. What time period are we talking about here? Because It really looks like you need to do more reading.

7540453
Umm, it was seen as completly normal in Greece for two men to have sexual relations, in fact it was accepted and celebrated.

Sorry I almost have a BA in Ancient History, so I'm not saying I have nothing more to learn on the subject, I have a ton more to learn on the subject, but it was well known and at least in Greece from the Archaic Period to at minimum the early Principite it was celebrated.

7540610
Very Sorry, looks like I misread what I quoted. You are very right that such relationships were seen as completely normal in Classical Greece and Early Rome, something that those who wrote the bible would have been fully aware of. Also given the poetry of Sappho such a relation ship between two women would also have been known of.

7540775
Oh definitly, women homosexuality was compeltly known, I'm not sure it was celebrated though.