IIRC in S2 you saw Serena and Commander Waterford laying the foundations for Gilead, including cherry-picking the bits of The Bible that they felt would suit their plans. So I'd say it's based on the Old Testament, but filtered to suit the needs of its rulers. It seemed that, at least initially, they were trying to do what they thought would be good for humanity.

I have a big problem with the show's timeline in that I can believe in the society shown coming to pass, but I can't imagine it happening so quickly - certainly not to the level of ritual shown.

"It seemed that, at least initially, they were trying to do what they thought would be good for humanity........I have a big problem with the show's timeline in that I can believe in the society shown coming to pass, but I can't imagine it happening so quickly - certainly not to the level of ritual shown."

That's how every fascist society starts...with good intentions. The show's timeline may seem unrealistic if you assume our current society is so far from what the show depicts. However, if you can already see the dangers of a dictatorial ruler intent on right wing, authoritarian, ultra-nationalism in today's US, for example, you will absolutely see it happening in the time frame depicted. Only someone who has never lived in a society where people's rights are trampled on and where it is death to defy the government, will assume that liberty is somehow always magically guaranteed.

You think the Nazis were the only oppressive totalitarian regime that murdered its own people? That would describe hundreds of countries, including some that exist today. You seem to be following the common convention of treating the Nazis as some kind of ultimate boogeymen, with only the vaguest understanding of what made them distinctive.

And in what sense is Gilead nationalistic? Do you even know what that term means? The Nazis believed they were fulfilling the destiny of a German people, or Volk, rising from the ashes. Nationalism isn't inherently fascistic (many modern countries arose from nationalist movements), but fascism is inherently nationalistic. In the case of the Nazis, it had distinct racial connotations: it excluded "other" groups, such as Jews and Gypsies, even if they'd lived in Germany or other European countries for centuries or more.

Gilead didn't arise from some belief in an underlying Gileadean people reclaiming their heritage. And in the show at least (but not the book), there isn't any mass persecution based on race. Indeed, it's bizarre to invoke the Nazis when racial persecution isn't a major theme. Nazism without racism is like a tree without bark: it's a concept that ceases to make any sense because it removes the essential component of what makes it what it is.

@Thespear said:

"It seemed that, at least initially, they were trying to do what they thought would be good for humanity........I have a big problem with the show's timeline in that I can believe in the society shown coming to pass, but I can't imagine it happening so quickly - certainly not to the level of ritual shown."

That's how every fascist society starts...with good intentions. The show's timeline may seem unrealistic if you assume our current society is so far from what the show depicts. However, if you can already see the dangers of a dictatorial ruler intent on right wing, authoritarian, ultra-nationalism in today's US, for example, you will absolutely see it happening in the time frame depicted. Only someone who has never lived in a society where people's rights are trampled on and where it is death to defy the government, will assume that liberty is somehow always magically guaranteed.

The bare bones of the society? Believable. It's the level of ritual and how ingrained into society it is that I find hard to believe in just a few years.

" There are no atheists in a foxhole" What might seem 'hard to believe' right now, can become imminently plausible in the right circumstance.

Philippe LeMarchand, I don't understand what you think it takes to make ANYTHING 'ritual and ingrained in a society'. All you need is power, followers and the will!

@Thespear said:

Philippe LeMarchand, I don't understand what you think it takes to make ANYTHING 'ritual and ingrained in a society'. All you need is power, followers and the will!

The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, yet a lot of people still seem to struggle to live up to its basic tenets.

In most of the West, the majority are kept in line by the false carrot of hard work giving them a shot at the big bucks. I can't see any "carrot" in Gilead - it's all the stick.

I am not sure we see enough of Gilead to understand fully how 'upward mobility' in that society works. There are suggestions that strict adherence to the general tenets of that society, while not necessary following or even actually believing in all of them, are KEY. The driver who fathers June's baby is a good example of someone who knows how to work the system and advance himself, while not necessarily being a TRUE BELIEVER. But that is NOT the focus of The Handmaid's Tale, that story focuses on the trial and tribulations of ONLY some of Gilead's women: the Handmaids.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a terrible example of something becoming ingrained in a society like Gilead but not ours. The reason it is taking so long for it to become accepted and part of OUR modern society is PRECISELY because it is NOT advanced at the point of a gun. People in the US today were asked to embrace a law passed by their congress and upheld by their Supreme Court...willingly. Gilead is NO SUCH SOCIETY. My point is that even in our modern society where there are these check and balances to extremism and there are perhaps the "carrots" you mention, it does not take much for such a society to change and become a Gilead. Again, all a Tyrant would need are POWER, FOLLOWERS and the WILL.

Today, Trump blatantly utters right wing racist's call to arms and his popularity in the Republican party goes UP from 90% to 95%. How long do you think it will take these same 'followers' to accept , tolerate and even believe in a RIGHT WING RACIST Gilead-like America?

It's clear that Giliead's religion is just a fantasy of author. I don't know any existing cult that uses same doctrine. She just used her imagination. It seems some kind of cult of Christianity. However she picked the USA for Giliead perfectly, because usually it's USA where some weird cults spawned starting from Jehovah's Witnesses and ending with Mormons and they have hundreds of such weird cults. Canada is more secular country in real and they also made it same in TV show, which is logical.

Gilead's religion ?

Scientology?

I s03e03 they directly quote from Psalms (6,2) and acknowledge the source and Christ is mentioned. Apparently other biblical passages have been used: https://the-handmaids-tale.fandom.com/wiki/Scripture

So whilst it's not Christianity as such, that would appear to be its basis.

Religion is in THT and that religion is Christianity however I still think you are taking the 'religion ' too literally, Yes, Christianity fits well with the US but had THT been set in Indonesian, Islam would have been the 'religion' chosen. I see the 'religion' more as a metaphor for a structure that allows for indoctrination. What's going on in THT IMHO has little to do with theology, faith or belief and much more to do with the rigidity and doctrinal nature of most human religions....when taken to extremes.