What religions do you think would exist in Equestria?

For example,ponies would most likely worship Princess Celestia, I think, with Changelings worshipping their Hive Queens.

7647887
Ooh, interesting question!

Basing myself only on what has appeared in the show, I think that ponies and other creatures are very likely to be spiritual, but not necessarily religious in the theistic sense.

Essentially, I don't think that ponies would necessarily place a lot of emphasis on worship of higher beings; note that the princesses aren't really portrayed as divine or preternatural figures, and for the most part mainly do the same sort of things that other ponies can. Ponies certainly respect them, revere them and view them in very high regard, but I don't think that they would necessarily view them as beings to be prayed to and formally worshipped as such. Godlike beings do exist, mind, but usually they're sorts like Discord who generally act more as pains in the ass than helpful or propitiable gods.

Another thing to consider is that the world is probably a lot less mysterious and fearsome for ponies that it was for historic human societies. The weather, dreams, plant growth, the day-night cycle -- all these things aren't ineffable natural processes, they're handled by your friends and neighbors, scheduled for convenience, managed by bureaucracy. There's not likely to be much call for mysticism in such a tidy world, or for trying to appease or personify natural forces.

However, by the same token, it's also an indisputable fact of life in the show's world that things like morality, spirituality and the supernatural are very real things, recorded and observable. Things like the Heart's Warming story or Discord's original defeat are the things you normally find in mythic cycles and morality fables, and act like them entirely, but here they're also historic events that obviously happened the way that they did. Ponies live in a world where ideas like Good Triumphs Over Evil, Faith Can Work Miracles and Disharmony Will End the World are indisputable and true -- and, even if the princesses aren't gods, beings like Discord certainly are, or at least are close enough as makes no nevermind.

There are also two big open questions about the world that the show never addressed -- namely, how it began, and what happens after death. These, I think, is the biggest area where ponies and other beings are likely to speculate when pondering the world's nature: how did it begin, and where do we go when we leave? There is, I think, room for a creator deity, and perhaps an afterlife or reincarnation cycle, although probably not ones that hold a lot of thought in day-to-day life.

Basically, I think that ponies and other sapient probably don't worship much, but I think that the show's world would be very conducive to faiths similar to Buddhism, Taoism, or Confucianism -- that is, ones focused less on deities and deity-like beings and more on cultivating one's personal spirituality, ethical growth, one's relationship with the world, and the proper ordering of society.

(That being said, I think it's reasonable to assume that cults exist around powerful individuals, such the princesses, Discord, Grogar or the like, regardless of how powerful they are or aren't; I just don't think that they're likely to be mainstream faiths; one idea I like is that Discord and Grogar were responsible for creating some still-extant species, which leads to periodic popularity of cults to them among these.)

7647887
More than Celestia, in particular, or the alicorns, in general, I think ponies would tend to worship Harmony itself. Either as an abstract ideal or a personified deity.

7647887
A very good question.with the history they've had with creatures of power it's a complicated situation. I tend to think they don't have gods anymore. It's a concept I've seen in some religions where there is nothing almighty because there no trace of any. What happened was creation either happened as a naturalistic event (like the waters of chaos in Egypt which revealed the primordial gods who shaped the universe; pre-existing things like Tiamat are killed to make things, or Ymir who didn't make the worlds or grow Yggdrasil, just revealed the Aesir and was killed to make the world) or the big gods used up so much power they eventually became small gods, and are in theory never going back, though you could have them destroy the universe to absorb the godly power again, maybe. I have something like that in mind, a Manichean kind of primordial good order and primordial evil chaos. Chaos disgorged random stuff and order made something of it, ex nihilo creation becomes de novo ordering. And order uses more and more power to make sense of the universe until it hand-makes a world. And in that Manichean thing I mentioned, the first coherent thought chaos has, when it bled off enough power to not be an inarticulate, gibbering Azathoth but have structured thoughts, is to feel envy. To want what order had made. Now chaos is making after order and making... all the really awful things the world has.

But I can't do a full cosmogony. Anyhow, Alicorn Power is the last of primordial order at its smallest and most basic, no longer having personality. Discord kept most of his power but bled off just enough to remain a god in a more traditional sense. Equestrian would be monolatrous henotheistic dystheist or... damn, I forgot the other word. Anyway, they have one god out of a pantheon, but also recognize other gods and think one is evil, or actively hate him. They wouldn't have a formal church, the good god is effectively dissipated by creation, and the one they know, they hate.

But cults would be a thing. Either worshipping powerful beings like The Storm King or Tirek, or, of course, Discord. Not that they're necessarily all bad. There could be ancestral veneration, or belief in powerful heroes. It's such a rich mine I put in a whole government agency, The Office of the Cult-Finder General. Like the FBI meets the NSA with religious overtones.

7647899

7647887

In terms of religion in Equestria, I sort of look at it from ancient Greece and how they had different gods and goddess.

Celestia would be a representation of the goddess of the sun.
Luna would be seen as the goddess of the moon.
Cadance, goddess of love and fertility.
Discord, god of chaos.

Not sure what Twilight, Flurry Heart or let alone Dragon Lord Ember would be in terms of using the religion concept for them.

Add into account the show adopted the Pegasus concept along with Greek architecture for Cloudsdale.

By in large, I've only seen a few stories on here that adopted religion for storytelling, so it really depends on how writers use it to make an interesting story come to life.

7647899
A intelligent consideration. I also hold that Equestrians, at least in the modern day, would split the functions of "religion" as we know it a few different ways. Borrowing and amending an old post of mine...

• Understanding the world, cosmology and history. No doubt there were all kinds of myths and legends about this at some point, some of which persist to this day. Of course, given that Equestria is world that resembles our own myths given life, one might guess that their tales are more commonly accurate - but that isn't nescessarily the case. (Of course, if even their modern "fiction" isn't...) In any case, as with in our world, much of this purpose was overtaken by the more scientific study paradigm that Twilight is a product of - which might sometimes clash with the older tales.
• Veneration of deities - possible, in various ways. On the one hand, they're probably as likely as us to posit some distant Creator - but there are also likely much more immanent beings, either still present or past, who make suitable figures for worship. (My own headcanon has an age of "gods" a few millenia before the show - most are gone now to parts unknown, although some remain dormant in places. Discord was a small-timer in that era.) As for alicorns, see below.*
• Providing moral and ethical guidance, as well as social norms. Philosophers have served as a (sometimes) secular alternative to this throughout history, and I expect in Equestria philosophies serve as the major counterparts to religions, but more informally. (Of course, the distinction gets a bit vague when the philosophy was handed down by - or in the name of - a "god".) In a bit of a "Starswirlism", I consider the most prevalent one to be a Harmony-based one promulgated by the Princesses as the basis for their new nation, with Twilight's more recent "Friendship Gospel" being somewhere between a branch and a child. Another might regulate the ponies complicated relationship with the natural world - explaining why they mostly mimic nature as we know it rather than optimising to extremes. (Follow this along, and you can find some radical weather "terrorists" to fill an antagonist role if you need them.)
• Serving as a source for customs and holidays. Well, the ponies seem to do well enough at this one on their own... some local, others more widespread. Some might even tie back to old religions with few modern worshippers. And as we've seen, other cultures have their own ones too.

• Addressing matters of death and the afterlife. This one is obviously touched on the least in the show, although the funeral scene in Hearts and Hooves Day likely comes closest. Certainly, pony beliefs on the afterlife would have a strong effect on the immortality debates which circulate on this site from time to time... Unlike some stories on this site, I do think (or perhaps just prefer) that ponies have no more absolute knowledge on the matter than we do - or arguably even less, since their world contains many more strange things than ours.

  One variant I do use sometimes, though, is a belief in a Paradise whose key is said to be love - although whether it means being loved, loving others, or both varies from one interpretation to the next, with some sects and philosophies adding additional requirements. Also varied is what befalls those who fail to attain Paradise - rebirth, being reduced to an invisible wraith, being pulled down to Tartarus or similar, and simple cessation of existence are all among the various speculations.

*Alicorn worship I have as an old fashion that predates the Princesses (and gave them a lot of their initial "cred") - they were seen as the incarnate images (and possible daughters) of Epona, the "mother goddess" all three tribes had in common even if their interpretations differed, and Celestia in particular didn't hesitate to play up this image to help try and unify ponykind. However, this practice faced a major backlash from her after the whole Nightmare Moon business, which warring Church factions had not insignificant roles in. Since then...well, it's a bit hard to outright worship somepony who's been quite vocal about not wanting it, even if she closed the Inquisition down centuries ago, but despite that Celestianism lives on as an undercurrent that both fuels and is fuelled by the Princess's vast general popularity. (Luna worship was always rarer and more scattered, and quite a few of the remnants sadly declined to Nightmare cults, but there were still surprisingly a few remaining to witness their goddess's return.)

And it's something of a different matter abroad, where worship is tolerated by Celestia (who knows the fear that the heavens are moved by a power beyond one's reach and understanding well) but often persecuted to a greater of lesser extent by local leaders displeased at the lionising of another country's monarch over them. (An incident related to this actually sparked Equestria's last foreign war...) Of course, such distant groups might have somewhat inaccurate images, especially if the Princesses were syncretised with local solar or lunar deities... and there are also those who demonise them, and sometimes ponies in general, of course.

7647887

So! Thought I was already in this group, but apparently not.

Ponies and religion. Always a tricky topic, of course.

Ultimately, the answer will always be "it varies." Not just between authors, mind you, but in world it will vary, from one city to another, one pony to another.

To sum it up most succinctly: God loses his mystique when you can say "howdy!"

The broad norm that I see, based on what's in the show, is that the majority of ponies would be defined as atheistic or, at minimum, agnostic. And probably hard-core agnostic - they're used to dealing with powerful beings literally living down the street in a lot of places. Celestia controls the sun, your neighbor helps control the weather, Discord controls whatever he feels like from one moment to another, beings like Tirek wander around from time to time trying to take over the world - it's like a superhero universe, but with the superbeings much easier to get to know, and on a much larger scale, all at the same time.

But that's most creatures. Some ponies and like are going to take it into their minds that, as the benevolent immortal leader of their utopia, Celestia is divine. They're going to be convinced of this, and form their own moral and religious strictures. The fact that Celestia doesn't seem to care doesn't have to matter. The fact that she may seem uncomfortable doesn't have to matter. She could order them to disband, and they'd probably just go underground.

In my world, these are the Sol Invictus, borrowed from the Clocktower Society universe. They have strict moral rules, and are basically what you'd get if Neighsay from the S8 pilot were in charge. Celestia looks like a pony - ergo, ponies are best. After all, look at how much better Equestria is than the rest of the world!

Villains like Tirek, Chrysalis, Discord, and Sombra, are demonic to these ponies. Luna and Cadance are divine. Twilight is divine... but they aren't sure what to do about her, since she's supplanted Celestia. Some say that Celestia willfully stepped down and gave Twilight dominion over the sun and moon, so now Twilight is in charge. Some say that Twilight is clearly a usurper, and Celestia is testing their willingness to stand for the rightful ruler of Equestria after her ponies have failed her so many times before. I refer to this sect as the Celestines, a fanatical subsect of borderline terrorists under Twilight's rule who want to see Twilight deposed and Celestia returned to power.

That Celestia might not want to return doesn't even cross their minds.

In other nations, religion is probably a bit more common, but in different forms. I suspect that ancestor and nature worship are most common, with a certain amount of animosity towards ponies for screwing around with nature as much as they do. To break the specifics down:

Hippogriffs/Seaponies: Much like ponies, and close allies to them. Similarly atheistic/agnostic.

Griffons: Probably used to be idol worshippers - quite literally, pulled together and unified by the Idol of Boreas. Now, some hold on to their belief in the Idol, most have just given up overall, some are probably tempted by various other religions.

Yaks: Them, I figure they're probably solid ancestor worshippers, honoring the spirits of those who have p\assed before.

Changelings: Queen-worshippers by law and dictate, enforced by death. Now, they're probably more than a little scrambled.

Zebras: I figure they're probably more like nature worshippers, with a touch of ancestor veneration as well.

Abyssinians: They're cats. Why would they worship things that are lesser than themselves?

Dragons: They're dragons. Why would they worship things that are lesser than themselves?

Avians: Know practically nothing about them, but probably close to harmony worship as *actual* worship.

Buffalo/"Livestock" species: Probably more like nature/ancestor veneration, with a hefty touch of "but what does it matter?" with ponies in charge.

That's something I'd like to pin down - harmony worship. I think most ponies treat it more like a philosophy than a religion. Much like Buddhism, where achieving enlightenment is represented by alicornication. Unachievable for most, but something to strive for.

Others? They view Harmony as a divine force, something less understandable than the ruler you can have tea with, more distant, but still tangible enough to create magical rainbow lasers of doom.

Magical rainbow lasers of doom, particularly for ponies, are a very important part of divinity, you see.

Then you've got the darker stuff. Yeah, "Tirek" doesn't count as the darker stuff here.

That would be Sombra, or beings on the lower layers of Tartarus. The beings who empower, or have merged with, Dark Magic itself. There is a power out there, a semi-sapient one, capable of twisting minds and alicorn-level magic. Yeah, don't think I don't remember that "alicorn magic" involves Sombra-style dark magical auras and such. I've gone into parts of this with other posts waaaaaay back, but in summary, I suspect that truly demonic-type forces exist, and are tapped into by sorcerers and dark mages. The Shadow, Windigoes, etc, for lack of a better term. Fortunately, there are few who worship these forces!

Unfortunately, there are a few who worship these forces, whether out of fear, the desire for power, or other perceived advantages.

So, like I said - TL;DR version? It depends on who you're talking to.

7648149

The broad norm that I see, based on what's in the show, is that the majority of ponies would be defined as atheistic or, at minimum, agnostic. And probably hard-core agnostic - they're used to dealing with powerful beings literally living down the street in a lot of places.

Going by this, what you're describing seems closer to what Tv Tropes callas a nay-theist than actual atheism or agnosticism. Atheism specifically states that gods do not exist, and agnosticism holds that issue to be unknowable or meaningless; what you seem to be describing is that ponies know that gods and godlike beings exist, but don't think that these beings need to be revered or treated as being spiritually "special".

(Basically, an atheist position would "beings like Celestia and Discord do not exist", an agnostic one would be "we cannot know whether beings like Celestia and Discord exist", and a "nay-theist" one would be "beings like Celestia and Discord exist, but they're not really any more special than anyone else".)

7647887
Religion doesn't really seem to exist in the show (the closest we get is a few aesthetic trappings), and to be honest, I don't really see much in-setting reason for it. Religion came about in our world for reasons that are fundamentally different than what they have.

A lot of mythology and religion in our world exists as a way to explain various aspects of our world, like why certain things happen. They don't really need that. Magic already explains much of what goes on, as well as providing a means to investigate these aspects. Spirits and other supernatural entities exist, often having a profound effect on the world around them (such as Discord). They don't need to create a mythology because they're living in one. And, while they have clearly identified powerful beings, some of which they hold high respect for, they don't worship them, because there is no need to do so. Celestia may be the closest to some divine figure that we can identify, but she's not worshiped as a god. She doesn't want it, and while she appreciates the respect she's shown, she's also expressed that she finds it tedious at times. People aren't going to gain advantage for worshiping her, and they aren't punished for not doing so. Worshiping her is demonstrably unnecessary, which is likely to hinder it ever catching on enough to become a full-blown religion. There might be some out there (probably those who have never interacted with Celestia) who do take it to religious lengths, but I don't see it catching on. Their situation is just so different from ours.

The only aspects of religion I could see having any importance are the questions of where they came from, and what happens after they die. Creation myths are common, as are myths about the afterlife. But in Equestria, neither of these questions have ever come up (edit: in the show, that is). There seems to be some vaguely spiritual concept of people continuing after death that can be read by implication, but nothing explicit, and certainly nothing organized. So there might be some spiritual thoughts on what happens after death, maybe, but not in an organized, religious fashion.

So I'd go with religion not being a common thing, though it might exist in some small capacity, likely on the edges of society.
7648154

Atheism specifically states that gods do not exist

Eh, not quite. Atheism is specifically the lack of belief in gods. Whether that's "I'm not convinced that gods exist" or "I'm convinced gods do not exist" is another question, but both of those are subsets of atheism.

Which is maybe a small quibble most of the time, but in this case it's the difference between "I'm not convinced that Celestia is a god" and "Celestia doesn't exist."

7648154
I was actually thinking less "divine beings don't exist" than "Celestia, Luna, Discord - whatever they are, they aren't divine" or "we can't know if they're divine or not."