Essay alternatives

Shirszae

There's a very easy way to not be forced to do anything, skip all the lore you want, and basically, as you say, rely entirely on your own character without the need to preach Gods or understand past events.

Go rogue.

Houses can't just cater to the lowest denominator. Lore is needed to maintain a rich ambient in a House, otherwise everything will just feel bare-boned. It would not be healthy for any house at all.

Mathonwy

Opt-in mechanics are always going to be better for things like lore than mandatory anything. The whole point of novice program reqs is to give your org a chance to show off your org's unique take on Game Mechanic X, not to make people sit through an endurance marathon of tedious paperwork for things in which the player might not even be interested. 

Ultimately, in the end, Cities/Houses are meant to be as inclusive as possible. Differentiation based on what you personally find fun in the game happens later, often at the House faction/Order/city leadership level, but telling someone to 'go rogue' doesn't actually solve the problem of player interest in/integration into your organizations. All it does is chase people away.