Lexicon

In the story of the Priest, the religion/government of the land is known as the Dogma. I thought this a fitting term until a friend of mine, a stiffly-raised Christian, told me that a faithful follower of a religion will never call their faith a dogma, that such a title is reserved only as a title of derision for a heretic to refer to his old religion.

I was enlightened by what he told me, thinking that what I had chosen was a neutral term for religion by rote, a system of control. And indeed, to unbelievers, dogma is a term without connotation. But to believers, it's completely different.

So I hunted. I tore through the English language, looking for a term that describes a faith, but connotes a rigid control - a kind of governance by the Book, by the reigns of power. I tore and I shredded and I compared and I sought.

Nothing.

I even searched latin, greek, french, and spanish for a term.

Nothing.

This is the first time a word has honestly eluded me. The meaning is there. But can it be that English has not a term for what I seek?