Intergalactic Summit

What about the Broken Piano? I feel like as a proponent of freedom of speech there, as thats its ideal, then book burning is its own form of such?

This is way too generalized and vague, why don't you specify the exact person, or group, that you would like to throw a fit? This is IGS, after all. One can't properly throw a fit at the right time unless called to action!*

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*with a few important exceptions who need not to be called to action.

You people really don't understand the smallest thing about the Amarr religions, do you ?

You have no concept of how a multi-stellar religion that has been stable for thousands of years, manages to remain stable, do you ?

See, the religious authorities, of all the Amarr religions know fine well about social trends and development, and suppression of heresy.

They know fine well, that printing heretical texts risks spreading said heresy, should people read the heretical works.

And yet, you fail to understand that the Theology Council, for example, is indeed the largest producer and distributor of heretical texts in the Empire.

Now, you may say "what ? I don't understand ! That's perverse !", and well, you see, you don't understand. Because you don't get how a multi-stellar religion, stable for thousands of years, operates.

Consider the diversity of opinion on a continental scale, let alone planetary, or interplanetary, or interstellar, or inter-stellar regional.

You see, the religious authorities of the Amarr religions have been in the religious business for a long, long time.

When, for example, a Saint dies, then the body of the Saint is wrapped in as many death shrouds as is physically possible. Why, you may ask ?

Simple.

Wrapping a Saint in say, a thousand death shrouds, allows the creation of a thousand places of pilgrimage, to view the genuine death shroud of the Saint. If there was only one, then there would be great public discontent, due to the logistical impossibilities of being able to visit and view the genuine death shroud of the Saint. There are simply too many pilgrims. So, there are thousands of genuine death shrouds, and thus, thousands of holy places, allowing the pilgrims to attend their local pilgrimage site, rather than everyone all trying to be on one single planet.

And so to heretical texts.

As I said, the Theology Council is indeed, the largest producer and distributor of heretical texts in the Empire.

"But that doesn't make sense!", you cry, because, again, you fail to understand Amarr.

The Theology Council produces and distributes authorised versions of the heretical texts, intended solely for the purposes of ritual burnings or other such acts of destruction.

"What !?" you say. "Surely that makes no sense?!"

But it does make sense.

See, when a ritual burning of a heretical text is announced by some clergy, then, the faithful wish to participate, as both a religious and social occasion.

But of course, the faithful do not have the heretical text. Because they're faithful.

And here is where the Theology Council steps in. By providing authorised heretical texts, for a modest fee, and the promise that for every authorised heretical text purchased, a real one will be destroyed, then the Faithful can obtain an approved heretical text, to throw onto the ritual bonfire.

And by so doing, they fulfil their religious obligation, and can commune with their fellow believers, in the social occasion that is a ritual burning of heretical texts. It's a fun day out, some churches offer marshmallows or tiny sausages on a stick, cooked on the bonfire. Warm in winter too.

And so, by providing authorised heretical texts, printed on the right kind of paper, that burns with a satisfying flame and crackling noise, the Theology Council prevents citizens from reading the heretical texts, while allowing them to participate in the social activity of ritually burning heretical texts.

And that is how a religion that has stood for ten thousand years, maintains stability and social order.

And it's surprising how many so-called educated citizens of New Eden, from the non-Amarr cultures, fail to understand the smallest thing about the way of Amarr.

For Shame.

But they surely do understand the only couple of lines that matter in this particular case.

The Theology Council and the Ministry of Internal Order do not fear it so neither do I.

A symbolic counter by means of ritualized burning of texts which the highest authorities have declined to deem as dangerous to me seems to only demonstrate an irrational fear of the book or a lack of confidence in the Imperial Government. The display would also elevate the writings beyond their appropriate station as a ten chit book filled with flowery but meaningless language and a somewhat disorganized anthology of major and minor Scriptural excerpts.

I would have expected a Holder to be able to grasp the subtleties of the act. I suspect that you do know and are feigning ignorance just to make a ham handed and not very good point.
I am burning the Max Amarria for the same reason I pour bad alcohol down the drain.

Like many other poorly educated participants of this forum, the Butcher equates liberalism with kindness and conservatism with cruelty.

You are a liberal, Butcher. Liberalism is about freedom. Liberty, at the expense of tradition and history. You call yourself Chosen, when you are not. You create your own Scripture, instead of submitting to laws that have been in place for thousands of years. You own slaves when you are a commoner, and you treat them in ways that appeal to your own base sadism instead of God's will. You, a commoner of fallen blood, claim to speak for God and yet you call yourself a conservative?

Conservatives do care about bloodlines. Only the True Amarr are the Chosen. All others, including your bloodline, are to serve. Slaves? Slaves are not for your amusement. God has commanded the Amarr to cultivate the spirit of man, to Reclaim His creations, to be His shepherds, His Angels of Mercy. The slave races have sinned, the great sin of apostasy, and that is a crime for which they are punished. But their punishment is for God, not for your amusement. They are still His creations, as are all things, and our Destiny of Faith is to Reclaim His creations, not destroy them.

Excessive compassion and failing to remember the sins of the fallen races is a liberal failing. But so is excessive cruelty. The Human Endurance Program was a liberal creation. Breeding factories are a liberal creation. TCMCs are a liberal tool. These things are done in pursuit of selfish and godless personal ambitions, not for God's will. Material and sadistic motivations, not the Reclaiming.

Kindness is not the mark of a liberal, no more is cruelty the mark of a conservative. They are not political constructs. Freedom to do as one desires, for their own selfish aims, that is liberalism. You are no conservative, Butcher. You are one of the most wayward and liberal devils to defile this cluster, and God will see you burn.

And yet all of these things are more the norm than the exception, as New Eden can clearly show. Even if I subscribed to your "ideal" version of the Reclaiming, it is clear now more than ever that it is a pipedream that will never come to pass. Your own Empire shows as much, in a thousand little ways. And a few rather big ones, like the Khanid inclusions in the trials etc. Think he subscribes to your version of idealism?

When the reality is that your ideals will never come to pass, it is time to cut out the entire cancer of slavery from your Empire and move forwards to being a force for good. Potentially the greatest one New Eden has seen. To try and fix something that is so utterly broken is futile. Take it apart and build something new instead.

Of course not, but the tools you use to achieve your end is what in question, not the end itself. Your goals are Reclamation, universal adoption of your faith and so on, yes? Slavery is touted as a tool for this, for spiritual and physical reclamation, not a value in an of itself.

The reality is, the tool now does more harm than good. The more it is used, it generates more ill-will and backlash in the cluster. The ones wielding the tool misuse and abuse it as a matter of course, and whatever ideal you are reaching towards ends up further and further out of your reach.

I would and do question the values your side have, as they run very counter to a lot of basic human rights on our side, but you'd still have a much better chance at retaining your values and achieve your goals if you rid yourselves of this relic of the past and sought new means.

Don't mistake tradition and tools for values.

And this is why religion is a dangerous thing.