Designer's Note: In the first Religion data dump, the term 'religion' was given a very specific, technical meaning in the context of MOO3. However, many people conflated what the word 'religion' means in ordinary English with 'religion' in the MOO3 sense. As a result, there was a great deal of confusion about what counted as a 'religion' as far as MOO3 is concerned. Most people wound up feeling good about the 'religion' model once they grasped how the term was being used in MOO3. However, understanding often came only after long discussions, discussions that had to be repeated each time someone new came across the 'religion' data dump. In hopes of clearing things up and forestalling further confusion, we've reformulated some key terms used in the original data dump to bring them closer to ordinary English usage. Each word is still used in a very specific way in the context of the game, but the new terminology should be less misleading now. The most important change is that what was formerly called a 'religion' will now be referred to as an 'ethos.'

Philosophy and Religion in Master of Orion III are generic in description but epic in its breadth and scope. Each region of a planet has its one dominant ethos and all the population points there are all considered of that ethos.