A faith willing to keep learning

We believe reality is one whole, always changing. Everything in it exists through its relationships with the rest. Nothing stands outside it.

Only the present is actual. The past remains in memories, evidence and the changes it left behind. The future is what can happen next. Time is change, and what we do now becomes part of the world the next moment begins with.

Life is a self-sustaining pattern of matter and energy. Its biological processes depend primarily on electromagnetism, including the chemistry and electrical activity that keep organisms alive.

Every organism has its own body, needs and history, while belonging to the same ancient continuity of life. We are sustained by other living things and the systems around us. Those connections are part of what makes each of our lives possible.

We are individuals and parts of a larger life. Both matter.

We understand consciousness as something that emerges from physical processes in life. In people, it depends on the brain’s organized electrochemical and electromagnetic activity. We still have a great deal to learn about how that becomes conscious experience.

We don’t believe there is a separate immortal self inside the body. When the living pattern that sustains a consciousness ends irreversibly, that consciousness ends. A person’s life still changes the world. Those changes continue through other people and what happens after them.

The Old Gods give names, faces and stories to the powers and experiences people encounter: nature, chance, love, conflict, wisdom, folly, grief, hope, laughter, creation, destruction and the unknown.

We understand them as inherited ideas and symbols, rather than supernatural beings outside reality. People may choose deities from any past culture to symbolize the church’s beliefs and creed. Choose one, several or none: deity symbolism is optional, and no pantheon is required.

Learn the histories of the symbols you use and respect the people who preserve those traditions. Explain our interpretation honestly. Choosing a symbol does not require accepting every belief or institution associated with its historical tradition, and symbolism does not replace scientific explanation. Read about freedom to choose symbols and worship.

We also give faces to the evils we oppose together: Hunger, the Gnawer; Sickness, the Unraveler; and Exposure, the Breach. They personify deprivation, illness and the failure of shelter or life-support. The people who suffer are never the evil.

Hunger, sickness and exposure are the evils we fight without. The Horde is the evil we fight within: selfishness, ego and greed. It erodes the team and weakens our ability to feed, heal and shelter one another. We answer it with mutual care, reciprocity and accountability. Our own needs matter alongside everyone else’s. The Horde names an impulse within us, never a people or an outside group.

Survival is a team event. No one should be left undefended. We answer these harms with nourishment, evidence-based medicine and care, and shelter, from a safe home on Earth to breathable air in a habitat beyond it. Read more about these personifications.

We are part of nature. Like other life, we change the world around us. Our unusual ability to remember, imagine, communicate and cooperate lets us deliberately bring possibilities into reality across generations.

We call that the gift of the gods, symbolically. It comes with responsibility. When we can understand what our actions might do, we need to use that knowledge to protect life, repair damage and reduce suffering. Other people, other species and future generations all belong in that consideration.

Science is our most reliable way to test claims about the physical world. A claim doesn’t become immune to correction because it is old, popular, made by a leader or written here.

When the evidence shows we’re wrong, we need to change. Our commitment to life, peace, freedom and shared prosperity tells us what we are working toward. Science helps us understand the world and whether our methods are actually helping.

Knowledge belongs to humanity. Keep it open, preserve it and make it possible for people to question and improve it. Show the sources, disagreements and uncertainty.

Artificial intelligence can help us find patterns, test ideas, organize knowledge and coordinate work. People remain responsible for how these tools are built and used, including their effects on others. A machine cannot take over our moral responsibility.

We recognize selected teachings about compassion, justice, generosity, truthfulness, learning and care across many religions. These are points of connection drawn by our church; they do not make different traditions identical or imply that they endorse our creed.

The duties continue as our knowledge and abilities grow. Care must reach beyond our own group, across generations, throughout the living world and eventually beyond Earth. Explore the comparisons, differences and sources.

Worship can take place through theater, clothing, education, repair, food preparation, medicine and other forms of care. A person may practice alone or with others. Creative work, useful service, celebration, reflection and rest can help us connect with life and one another.

People are free to form groups around goods or services that express the creed. If you’re interested in establishing an official branch of the Church, contact us. Earning a livelihood can coexist with spiritual commitment; the work should serve care, dignity and shared prosperity. No one has to work, attend a ceremony or choose a deity to belong. Explore worship and community.

A bright, prosperous future is a central tenet of the faith. We reject interpretations of end times that make death, despair or the destruction of life our destiny. Within our faith, that imagery means the death of an old, decayed system and the birth of a new Team Earth.

We work toward a united humanity that protects differences, makes life’s necessities available to everyone, cares for Earth and explores the stars. This is a commitment to build, not a claim that success is guaranteed. Read our responsibility for the future.