On Conversion Experiences, probably part 1 of 2

Orthodox Beautavism required that any person of the Beautav faith must experience a conversion experience, in which any manner of miracle occurs to them. This is essentially to prove that God wants them in the faith, and that they do not falsely profess it for whatever purpose. The miracle, however, can be of any sort (generally it is the convert claiming that God has spoken to them and commanded them to convert to Beautavism), and the priest who confirms the conversion cannot reject it unless there is significant and compelling evidence.

Birth in the Beautav faith is considered a miracle in itself, thus ordinary Beautavs do not require an official conversion. In theory, this meant that conversion was a relatively easy process, and virtually any person who wanted to could achieve a full conversion to Beautavism within a year. There are documented complaints, however, of priests demanding bribes in exchange for confirmation even in the late 11th century. Witholding confirmation meant that the person could not achieve various rights according to the country in which he lived. If he lived in one of the River Republics, it might even put his life at risk. He had already turned his back on the prevailing Ronan or Isti faith, which made him an apostate and subject to harsh penalties including execution. His conversion to Beautavism would offer him the limited protections guarenteed to Beautavs in that country, but those protections cannot be extended until the conversion is complete.

A complete conversion is required for citizenship in the pre-modern Beautavan Empire, Kingdom Hope, Union of Hihaythea, Yiffen Republic and Saulite Kingdom. While non-Beautavs in Vend and Great Acrola can achieve citizenship, they only have limited rights, and cannot, for example, vote in local or national elections (although pre-modern Acrola, of course, has no national elections).

Thus in traditional Beautav lexicon, a practicing Beautav is a person who believes in the Beautav religion, attends Moon Rituals and open services, but has not yet had an accepted conversion experience. A Beautav convert, meanwhile, is any person who has successfully converted to Beautavism, including a person born into the religion.

The early extortion of the conversion process festered and thrived for centuries, until the reformations of the 15th century. In 1411, the people of the Yiffen Republic threw off the shackles of Beautav Orthodoxy and forced their President to follow their lead. The commoners then, over the next decade, the people created the Northern Beautav Reformed Church. Hihaythea and Vend followed suit shortly after, and collectively rejected the idea of a church hierarchy. For this reason they refused to accept the idea that a priest needed to receive and confirm the converted. For a few years anyone who claimed to have had a conversion experience was automatically accepted into the Northern Beautav Reformed Church. Later, however, this sect rejected the idea of a conversion experience entirely, ruling at the 1487 Synodat of Grontinion that a person constantly received the word of God, and therefore as soon as they have followed God's order to convert, there is no reason for a miracle to prove that God welcomes the convert.