Intergalactic Summit

I still don't get how slavery saves a soul. Doesn't make sense to me.

I struggled with this when I first came to my current position, but eventually I had to admit that I was not an abolitionist because I have seen the alternatives. We have to remember that our current system of slavery may not be perfect, but nothing in the cluster is. Having traveled quite a bit and, admittedly, with many of my parishioners having come from disadvantaged situations, I can't say for certain that our system is really so horrible. It can be abused, but in reality any system can be abused. I can, unfortunately, say our abuses are not unmatched in the universe.

Remember that our system of slavery is not just analogous to a class system, but also takes the place of what most empires would call a penal system, debtor's prisons, rehabilitation centers, welfare systems, and community service, to name a few. When long-overdue slaves were released, it began to fix the problem of corrupt Holders holding on to slaves for generation and generation with no education. There is no way for, say, the Gallenteans to solve the problems that come with children in destitute communities idolizing criminals and eventually ending up committing crimes that put them in prison forever unless they did something to eliminate their right to freely associate.

The reason I can't be an evolutionist is because I've seen that slavery, if properly practiced, simply minimizes a lot of terrible problems I've seen in other empires.

I think the major problem with the system is that it's so impenetrable. Essentially, there is little government control, and what government control there is isn't necessarily practiced. I think the only way slavery can prevent cases like cruel and abusive masters is to have much more transparency and decisive standards of education and release. You are a very obvious case of someone who should have been released, whose master was rightly punished, but too late. Perhaps it should be that Holders should not feel so comfortable in their positions to do as they like. They are performing a job, as everyone is, and failure to meet their responsibilities should be met with punishment.

However, knowing the element of corruption, I simply can't agree that the practice should be completely abolished. My grandmother was born a slave and was very recently promoted to the position of cardinal. There are so many success stories and so many problems that it answers. It should be improved, certainly, and we should never be content that what we have is good enough. However, to abolish it completely would be to take on the host of issues other empires deal with that we do not.

I suppose you could consider me a reformist rather than an abolitionist. I do agree that cases like yours are evidence enough for more robust regulation and reform. Really, I think that answers your question, "Why do these abuses happen?" They happen not because power always corrupts, but because we allow it to happen. A few corrupt Holders should be nothing compared to the investigations of the righteous, but we tend to allow it because we don't want to step on any toes.

The greatest of crimes is when good men do nothing in the face of corruption. Just as the Gallente are charged with removing corrupt officials, regardless of their popularity, and the Caldari were charged with removing Heth when he grew to be above Caldari law, and as the Matari are charged with removing their own corrupt officials from tribal responsibility, this is our charge. There must be a strong message that no one is above the Word and the law. No Holder, no matter his station, should ever be above reproach for his failure to uphold the highest of standards.

That process has begun, but there is so much more to do. The fact that you are free and alive, and your master is dead, is proof that we are beginning to move forward with that reform to return it to the standards of the Scriptures.

I simply can't say that I've seen a better set of alternatives.

I would say I'd like to hear more about what we should do with children born into slavery. I do see where that is coming from, but it's one of those things we have to wonder about. The problem is that slavery has a better record on corruption than most orphanage systems. But you are right, we are a theocracy and education is supposed to be a part of what we do. We will need a more centralized entity to handle that, and I know there is probably a rather squeamish issue of whether you should take children away from their parents to be raised by the state. I think you're really on to something there, though. Perhaps it is time for the church to take that task upon itself. At the very least, there needs to be a very strict set of regulations on how anyone would educate and bring up those children. We certainly shouldn't be breeding a larger labor force. That isn't Scriptural by any stretch of the imagination.

I may not be an abolitionist, but having children brought up in slavery to face a life of slavery that they've no power to leave is a major issue. One we should be able to address as a people, one would think.

Through conversion. The original Scriptual justification for bondage of another person is to ensure that they are taught the tenants of the Amarrian faith and are given loyalty to its political institution, the Amarr Empire. Of course, not all Holders are as inspiring as others to this end, and thus the problem we have with multiple generations of heathens still living under the puriew of the supposedly righteous. It's a bit of a contradiction, and I do not especially like the implications.

...most fundamental right of self-determination....

The Federation, the Republic or the State can make serious effort but there's no way they can change the Empire anywhere near as much as the Empire can change the Empire.

Those sound like song lyrics you stole from a band whose musical stylings cater exclusively to moody teenagers.

(They're also incorrect if you're trying to apply them to me)

*shrugs* Only for those who feel the need to change the Empire.