Heaven's Witnesses

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Heaven's Witnesses
IconHeavensWitnesses.png
Symbol
Organised Religion
Ideological doctrine: Nontrinitarian theology, restorationism, millenarianism
Governing Body: Governance
Operation
Region(s) of operation: Multi-system
Historical information
Predecessors: Jehovah's Witnesses
[Source]
If you are kept in ignorance of the true way and permit yourself to rely upon and be guided by the opinion of imperfect man, you can never gain the riches that will bring you peace and lasting happiness.

–Joseph Franklin Rutherford

Heaven's Witnesses is a doomsday cult descended from the Jehovah's Witnesses and an interplanetary sect of the Christian faith. They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and that the establishment of God's kingdom is the only solution for all problems faced by humanity. This is achieved by Heaven's Witnesses through space colonization.

History[edit | edit source]

Background[edit | edit source]

The origins of Heaven’s Witnesses lies with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and schism of the sect that occurred during the Christianislam Crisis. While the larger part of the church took part in the unification of Christianity and Islam, a significant minority refused to take part and decided to leave Earth for Mars as result. These would become the first Heaven’s Witnesses.

From then on, Heaven’s Witnesses would spread slowly from Mars to other parts of the distant Solar System such as the Main Belt and beyond to various exoplanets. The largest concentration of Heaven’s Witnesses outside the Solar System ended up in the Trappist System on Bellona and Kienan, living in small insular communities.

Religious separatists like their predecessors, Heaven’s Witnesses would largely avoid conflicts until they were forced to interact with the outside world or outright persecuted. This first happened on a large scale during the Commonwealth Wars on Mars and in the Main Belt where Heaven’s Witnesses were killed alongside their neighbors in conflicts they had nothing to do with. During the Martian Civil War, Heaven’s Witnesses were especially victimized when millions of them were forcefully integrated into Martian society by ALIAS, leading to great hardship among the community and its eventual destruction. In the Trappist System, Heaven’s Witnesses suffered tremendously at the hands of the Martians during the invasion of the system and later from ARES during its ideological crackdowns against state enemies.

Current Era[edit | edit source]

The current center of the Heaven’s Witnesses is the Trappist System on Cariocecus, despite also being an area of persecution from ARES due to their rejection of its regime‘s authority over them. Other parts of the Trappist System are less hostile, and the Solar System has similarly calmed down in recent years. However, many Witnesses are becoming uneasy with their minority status and are discussing a colonisation effort further into ungoverned zones, far away from those who could persecute them.

Structure[edit | edit source]

There is a Governing Body for the Heaven’s Witnesses on Purity that officially heads the religion, but day to day affairs are largely run by a body of appointed unpaid male elders and ministerial servants. Elders maintain general responsibility for congregational governance, setting meeting times, selecting speakers and conducting meetings, directing the public preaching work, and creating "judicial committees" to investigate and decide disciplinary action for cases involving sexual misconduct or doctrinal breaches. Ministerial servants—appointed in a similar manner to elders—fulfill clerical and attendant duties, but may also teach and conduct meetings.

Membership[edit | edit source]

Heaven’s Witnesses were traditionally centered on Mars before the planet’s fall to ALIAS. Now, the religion is more evenly spread out between the Solar System and the Trappist System.