Pantheon of the Anthropocene

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> “Humanity's fire will not be extinguished by the seed of lies spread from false gods! We alone, by our own hands and our own blood, forge our own future!”
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> — *First Grand Archivist and founder of the Pantheon of the Anthropocene, Trenton Wakeman, c. 2139*
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## Pantheon of the Anthropocene

### Deities

Humanity
The God
The Goddess

### Sects

Many; dependent on which historical figure worshipped

### Headquarters

Torch of Humanity's Fire, Imperial Square, Columbia
New Rome, The Periphery,  Coalition of Congressional Republics

### Origin

2120
New York City, Eastern Seaboard Megasprawl, United States of America
Earth, Solar System,  Coalition of Congressional Republics

### Ministers

**Archivists:** ~25,000
**Librarians:** ~2 million
**Custodians:** ~240,000

### Other name(s)

Pantheon of the God and Goddess
Pantheon of Mankind
Anthropocenism

### Slogan

*"Over the Gods of Old and Ires of Tomorrow"*

The **Pantheon of the Anthropocene**, also known as **Anthropocenism** or the **Pantheon of the God and Goddess**, is a quasi-religious, atheist, humanist, and anti-theist philosophy founded in 2120 by Trenton Wakeman in the United States of America. Originally a movement formed by Wakeman to oppose the dominance of theistic religions such as Christianity and Islam in the 22nd century, his efforts in aiding the further colonization of the New Rome star system through his fellowship and the assistance of the Fran-Wakeman Corporation launched the Pantheon into the public eye. As the Stellar Republic of New Rome was established in 2137, his ascendance to presidency of the novel nation and his dual declaration as the guiding leader of the Anthropocenist movement further bolstered the philosophy's following, effectively grounding it in the state institutions of New Rome and setting it on a path of novel quasi-religious identity.

In the modern day, the Pantheon of the Anthropocene is recognized as a religion by the Coalition of Congressional Republics, thus conferring it a tax-exempt status. It is given government favor by New Rome and corporate favor by Fran-Wakeman, receiving billions of notes annually in donations. The current Grand Archivist, Hawthorne Ryen, directs the archival and philanthropic efforts of the Pantheon from the Torch of Humanity's Fire, the largest stratoscraper on Columbia. He is also responsible for managing Anthrophilanthrophy, a philanthropist organization of the Pantheon dedicated to fighting "religious oppression" and spreading "liberating philosophy" abroad.

## Etymology

The Pantheon received its name from Trenton Wakeman's initial writings on his philosophy, featured on the *New York Times* in 2121. He called it a "**Pantheon of the Anthropocene**", where the qualities of mankind would be anthropomorphized into two figures known as the God and the Goddess. In specific, he references to the Anthropocene age, which he considers to still be in continuity.

## Beliefs and doctrine

All Anthropocenists, irrespective of their individual sect of philosophy, believe in three core tenets:

* the **rejection** of any sort of divinity, god, or supernatural substance that influences mankind (atheism).
* the **superiority** of humanity over all things (humanocentrism).
* the **reverence** of the Human spirit, of past human figures, and of great human works and advancements (legacism).

In essence, this means that Anthropocenists see Humanity, its collective spirit, and its great works and innovations as the only thing worthy of worship and respect within reality.

### Quasi-deities

In his writings, Wakeman typified the collective personality of humanity into two figures: **the God** and **the Goddess**. These "quasi-deities" consistently appear in Anthropocenist works of art and architecture, in replacement of where more traditional deities would go in true religions. He emphasizes that these entities do not exist, but instead are representative of human qualities that should be respected.

The Goddess is described as a tall, slender, and beautiful woman, exhibiting the desired human traits of *love*, *wisdom*, and *progress*. The God is described as a short, squat, and rough-looking man, exhibiting the antiquated but nevertheless pervasive human traits of *war*, *belief*, and *struggle*.

### Progress

Anthropocenists value progress as a result of human works and achievements. As such, science is held to a supreme standard within the philosophy, as it is tool to which humanity wields in its conquering of the Universe. Social progress is also highly valued, as it furthers the unification of mankind and advances it from older, tribal identities.

### Loyalty

Loyalty is a facet of the Pantheon as a result of the collective human spirit, which must originate from a united human force within the Universe. As a result, Anthropocenists are often avid nationalists of the New Roman government and zealous in their membership within the Pantheon's organizations.

## Practices

Due to being an atheist philosophy, the Pantheon does not have any practices of divine reverence. Instead, reverence is projected towards historical figures that forwarded human innovation and progress, such as Henry Ford or Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, throughout the ages.

Reverence towards such figures does not have a codified set of rituals, and instead is mainly accomplished through the maintenance of information relevant to the figure and filtered through the philosophical lens of the Pantheon's ministry in addition to the preaching of the Pantheon's creed. This mainly done through missionaries of the idea and the construction of *museums*, the equivalent of churches to the Pantheon of the Anthropocene.

## Scripture

The Anthropocenist "faith" does not have any official scriptures that it consider holy. Instead, *human history* itself is declared sacred, with innovators seen as saints and their innovations as works of Human "divinity".

## Structure

The Pantheon of the Anthropocene is hierarchical, which means that the various athenaea look towards the First Athenaea and its Grand Archivist, on Columbia, for direction in policy and action. Although Wakeman originally intended for it to be congregationalist, the backlash and suppression that was against his philosophy by various organized religions forced his hand to make the philosophy rigid in its dissemination and administration.

Currently, the Pantheon is dispersed throughout the Coalition in more than 250,000 *athenaea*, or congregations, with a membership of 5 billion. 25,000 archivists administer large subdivisions of the Pantheon's demesne, with 2 million librarians and 240,000 custodians providing support.

The Pantheon also operates almost half a million primary schools, 215,000 secondary schools, and 50 tertiary institutions. Although these are spread throughout the Coalition, the bulk are located in the New Rome star system.

The Pantheon uses the Anthrophilanthropy organization for philanthropic events, and maintains an armed wing known as the Zealotry for security of its personnel and properties.

## Social and cultural issues

### Militant atheism and antitheism

Since its inception, the Pantheon of the Anthropocene has been implicated in several militant atheist and antitheist activities throughout the Coalition as a part of its "war against the façade of religion". Many religious people within the Stellar Republic of New Rome have faced some form of discrimination from the Pantheon-majority government or its followers, and violence has sparked several times in the New Rome system and abroad. Anthropocenist protests against the re-election of the Evangelical Christian President of the Stellar Republic of Hathor, Alexander Foulke, quickly spiraled into a series of riots spurred by Hyperian Anthropocenist congregations in 2695.

The Zealotry has been directly blamed for beating and killing several Christians, Jews, and Muslims in 2680 during an Abrahamic-aligned protest on Columbia as a result of the Pantheon's direct intrusion into the New Roman government. However, this case has gone nowhere in the Coalition level of government as a result of significant bribes from the Fran-Wakeman Corporation, the New Roman government itself, and the Pantheon through "donations" from Anthrophilanthropy.

### Rival religious intrusion

The Pantheon has been blamed by several religious groups for sponsoring "intrusions", such as within the Roman Catholic Church or within the congregations of influential imams.