Yes, they were. Genghis’ Mongols didn’t generally force religious change in the people who they subjugated.
It’s actually a cool belief system from what I’ve read, known as Tengriism; they had their own beliefs but (and I hope I have this right) that whatever religious worldview prevailed locally was considered not just valid as a personal or cultural expression, but actually metaphysically true as well. That seems fantastic, doesn’t it? Patchwork metaphysics.
I’m not an expert but from what I’ve read most ancient world deities were attached to certain geographies (it would be reasonable to sort of leave the boundaries of your gods) so I wonder if this comes from that tradition. The roman catholics sure successfully weaponized monotheism.
That’s one way. Another was syncretism. The Romans famously stole the Greek gods, but they also worshipped isis for example. “That god resonates with me, so sure why not”.
Provided you paid your tribute and obeyed the Khan’s laws they were cool with just about everyone. Fail to do either of those things and you’re in for a bad time.
I mean pretty consistent with today’s neoliberal values:
It’s okay to exploit people as long as we don’t discriminate.
