(As per K&G youtube channel) I learned that when it comes to believe system, the Mongols believe that everyone worships the same god, Tengri, but in varied way in every culture/religion they encounter.
They believe that as long as everyone submit themselves under the Mongol rule, it means they obey Tengri/Mongolian god.
There are various religious communities inside the empire but they also don't bother to do the worst thing possible to obliterate anyone who doesn't submit to Mongol, regardless their believe.
But I think in a smaller level it's also not as simple/straightforward as that. Mongolian Shamans also known to have conflicts with the Khan. Sometimes the Khan kept asking the Shamans to do a ritual over and over again until the result aligns with the Khan's desire. Or sometimes the Shaman (being a regarded class in their society) have their own political motive to do something against the Khan.
Is this...Mongolian propaganda? Because the Kahns definitely did a whole lot of subjugating, raping and murdering. Not sure that really fits the "coexist" meme...
The meme format doesn't really work, but the joke they're trying to make is that even though they did all these terrible things, it was never because of religion. In fact, they just didn't give a fuck in what you believed in. Genghis even allowed religious figures to be exempt from taxation.
And let's be honest: the Mongolians were probably not worse than any other invader. War, destruction, looting and raping is kind of par for the course for most civilizations in history.
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.
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.
It was mixed. Their subjects were more free to travel, practise religions, and generally exist within the empire than without it. It was just that transition. The Mongols liked to do things the easy way, or the really easy way.
Genghis Khan: Are you good at killing and terrorizing my enemies? Yes? Ok, see those fuckers over there? Conquer them. I don't care how. Burn it all down. Re-route an entire river. I just want them paying tribute.
I find it interesting how the Mongolian empire has kind of taken a 180 in its historical image. Not long ago they were viewed as just cartoon villains that destroyed everything. But now you see so many people talking about some of the "good" aspects that it almost makes them seem strangely benevolent.
The reality of course was that they were an empire, and like all empires they steamrolled and destroyed anything that stood in their way while taking advantage of anything that furthered their goals. They probably killed far more people than they helped if you asked anyone living through the time.
Dan Carlin's podcast, Hardcore History, has a series called Wrath of the Khans where he talks about this in length and it's very interesting to think about.
You see that village over there? they resisted. we burnt everything , killed every man and child, and raped all the women.
See the other village over there? they joined us, and we gave them access to goods from across the world, the latest technology and treat them better than their previous rulers.