On the contrary, these are the people that generally don't care about the religion, about making it prosper, or providing an interesting and varied game experience. These are the people that run the typical, uninspired, statist religions. They're not in the religion game to RP a religion. They're in it to protect their realm from the foreigner religions. And that's the kind of stuff that needs to stop. Even if it means we lose a few religions along the way.
Then who does care, eh? 'cause I don't see many inspiring religions about. If they don't care about religion, then not a damn soul does, as nobody bothers doing anything about it. It's easy to come here on the forums and whine about available religions not being worth anything, but it's nothing more than that, whining. It's like people who complain that a realm is silent, but never write anything themselves nor react to things when they do happen.
Pretty much everyone has the ability to become influence an existing religion or one to be, as founding religions is relatively easy. Yet how many of you people, complaining here and passing judgments on others, are bothering to actually do so?
I've done it, created something quite original, fun, stimulating, and heavily RPed. But with retrospect, it was a lot more effort than it was worth. A lot of other people founded religions, and as few people has as much time as I did back then, they obviously don't get to develop their religion anywhere near as well as I did. Most of those religions I knew started with great intent and ambition, but never really amounted to anything because it required a lot more work and motivation than was anticipated. The lucky of these end up as stale state religion, like those you all pigeonhole and smear. But at least they actually bothered trying something.
IMO, it takes very special circumstances to make religion work. SA was the first religion of the continent, in a theocracy with a favourable geopolitical context, on a continent where and when SMA as really important and everyone was really involved and wanting to make religion matter. A few other detailed religions had some success due to various actors and context as well. But in general? The religion game simply sucks. And the hardline stick "solutions" proposed here so far would only end up in religion being gamed an used as a political tool even more.
