Shame and Redemption

Orthodoxy and Dissent

By Romana Annette 05/12/2009

In the world of Orthodoxy and Dissent, I always seem to be a Dissenter. I realize that these distinctions can be relative, since one can be a dissenter in one context, but orthodox in another. However, in this essay, I will concentrate on the right-wing orthodoxy of the Christian religion.

If one types in the words orthodox and dissenter into an internet dictionary, one just gets a sense of established culture versus alternate opinion. However, one does not get a sense of ongoing and maybe even universal conflict.

The historian Earl Wilbur had documented 450 years of this conflict from the perspective of the Unitarian church, but the conflict most likely goes back to the Council of Nicea, when the Emperor Constantine decided what books would be in the Christian Bible. Since the Emperor controlled the scribes, he also controlled the content of future books; there were no printing presses.

One can even probably return to the very invention of written language. Oral tradition could evolve over time without creating problems, but once something was written down, it was there to be read even after the author had died. Since the interpretation of written documents was subjective, people would argue about meaning, especially if the author were considered to be a prophet. Perhaps this conflict (between orthodoxy and dissent) is the origin of the War in Heaven, which was a product of the Middle Ages.

We have no knowledge of any non-human species possessing language and writing, but I still think this conflict is universal. Thus, I propose Romana’s Theorem 1.

Theorem 1: The Doctrine of Non-uniqueness

While human beings are likely unique on the planet Earth, possessing both written language and even a technological society, they are likely not unique on a galactic scale, and certainly not unique on a scale spanning our known Universe. Any extra-terrestrial species possessing writing will most certainly experience conflict over the content of written documents.

As a child, I tried to be compliant. I did not understand how to fit in, since I had Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. Even then, I had some sense of philosophical correctness, since I did not believe the standard Christian definition of an omnipotent God, with Jesus Christ as the only path to this God. For the subset of Christians who preach like this, it is self-evident (to them) that there can be no other way. These people can be quite vocal, and they get so much press that many people think they represent all Christians. While I disliked all the propaganda, I did not develop a good response until years later.

I have always been a on the side of dissent; however, while the orthodox might view dissenters as being demonic, dissenters often focus on purifying the interpretation of scripture, rather trashing scripture. Yes, there have always been (dissenting) anarchists, but their reasoning has often been oppositional rather than creative. Oppositional ideology does not solve conflicts or provide critical insight. To be fair, there have also been orthodox anarchists, who have been quite willing to ignore the rule-of-law to advance their cause.

My reaction to beliefs, that make no sense, used to be oppositional. In terms of modern philosophical principles, I ignored the diversity of reality by reducing it to black and white (binary) logic. While the orthodox might regularly resort to binary logic, it is not a good defence in return. People have a right to their cherished opinions; yet, if the possible variation of each feature in reality were to be diagrammed, it would most assuredly not be just a choice between two binary options.

Historically, whenever extreme orthodoxy seemed poised to take over, people lost interest. People know that orthodoxy often has a focus on obedience to sets of doctrine that are difficult to quantify and that may not even be relevant. The Buddha summed it up thousands of years ago when asked if there was a God. The Buddha said that religion was about helping people, while the existence (or non-existence) of God was philosophy. There was no such thing as a philosophical proof, since all philosophy is subjective. However, like all great prophets, the Buddha was a dissenter going up against orthodox belief.

The great Process Theologian and dissenter, Alfred North Whitehead, summed it up this alternate way: Philosophy is the self-correction by consciousness of its own initial excess of subjectivity. Since we are subjective beings, all our problems can be described as subjective excess. As a discerning technical analyst, I am far less impressed with subjective arguments than most people. I am always analyzing and filtering. I also tend to attack my points of view just as much as the views of others.

Due to developmental delays caused by my autism, I have just begun to explore the meaning of reality. I come well-prepared, because this is something like what I did at Boeing, as a Maintenance Programmer. It was my job to fix other people’s computer code; at the same time, I had to find out what the customer wanted, but that was always subject to change. I can combine my analyst sense with the philosophical tools I learned while studying Process Theology.

Our reality presents a particular problem: the trail is quite cold and jumbled. I do not have all the facts, I do not know the original requirements, and all the processes (programs) are self-sufficient and open-ended, so I have no idea how to do acceptance testing, because there can never be a final result.

As I observe events around me, I have come to realize there is a lot more going on than we are aware of. We depend on a subconscious reality that smoothly fills in a lot of blanks in our daily lives. While we might think that we are all self-sufficient, independent beings, we are actually part of a very large interrelated and interconnected whole.

Neither the orthodox nor dissenters have even come close to grasping the breadth of reality, especially those portions that we suspect are there, but are beyond the range of our senses and equipment.

Now we come to Romana’s Theorem 2.

Theorem 2: The Doctrine of Total Inclusion

Reality is always evolving, and all components, including living things, are relevant to this evolution, receive feedback from past experience, and contribute input to the creation that always follows perishing.

Whether I like it or not, orthodoxy is relevant, but I wish the orthodox would stop to reflect on the advisability of all their zeal, especially their tendency to restrict diversity. Their reluctance to embrace and understand the latest scientific findings is really disturbing. I would rather that their conservatism converged on objective excess, than passionate right-wing liberalism.

I also wish orthodoxy were not so obsessed with the negative connotations around death, since they are not timid about using a fear of death to push their point-of-view. This is why orthodoxy finds me to be particularly annoying, since autism creates a barrier through which their propaganda of fear cannot pass. We do not grieve for our component cells when they die, and so reality does not grieve for our passing. Death will always be followed by new life. Even if our species should die out prematurely, another species will arise and take up our banner.

I will now sum up my observations, based on my personal insight combined with the philosophical discipline of Process theology:

IDEA	ORTHODOX VIEW	MY VIEW
Bible	The words in the Bible are inerrant and absolute word of God.	Bible means book. This book is a collection of stories and fables created by men as a historical reference and propaganda tool.
Binary Logic	Black and White binary logic is the only logic; there can never be more than two options. One is either for God and Jesus Christ, or against them.	Binary logic is only found in computers that use the base 2 or some multiple thereof. Even genealogical diagrams, based on binary logic, break down, as distant ancestors began to appear in more than one slot.
Change	God’s Kingdom is perfect and unchanging. We suffer the effects of change because of our sins.	Being alive means causing changes, or being affected by changes. Natural changes have no morality, but excessive changes perpetrated by people can have moral consequences.
Conservatism	Conservatism is the only correct philosophy. Changes are not allowed; obedience to God and Jesus Christ is mandatory.	I am conservative, because I practice objective excess. Orthodox conservatism is more a form of subjective excess.
Creation and Perishing	This annoying feature of reality is God's way of testing people for a future life in a perfect paradise.	Creation is required to create new entities, but prior entities must either transform or perish to accommodate changes.
Death	Death is some kind of horrible error, which God will remedy in an after-life.	Death is a necessary feature of evolution: the old order must always make way for the new.
Determinism	Reality is teleological, and all processes were predefined to produce human beings.	Reality is a mix of random events followed by consequences. History cannot repeat itself.
Dissenter	A dissenter is the same as a heretic. Dissenters must be controlled or eliminated by any means possible.	Originally, a liberal faction of the Church of England that arose in the seventeenth century. Now, anyone who takes issue with any proclamation that is stated as law or absolute fact.
Diversity	Their creeds are often very supportive and democratic, but personal prejudices often override basic creeds.	Reality always has and always will seek the maximize diversity, since evolution is driven by diversity.
Divinity of Christ	Jesus is God; read the Bible. It is to be believed, and it is not a paradox.	This is the next cause of major dissent. It does create a major paradox, and there is no logical reason for God to share power in this fashion.
Entities	God and Jesus Christ are dominant entities, while human beings are subordinate entities created to serve God. True entities all have immortal souls.	Entities are relationally-grouped processes that have an emergent identity that is different than all the components. Entities can be either animate or inanimate.
Evolution	Evolution is hated because it disproves the existence of an omnipotent, controlling God.	Evolution is the only way the processes of reality can be prototyped and modified.
Faith	Faith is solely based on belief in God and Jesus Christ. If such beliefs weaken, faith may be lost.	Faith is that life is worth living, based on prior experience and feedback. Some kind of a future is always guaranteed.
Gender	Sex and gender is the same, and are binary. God supplies all correct identity.	Sexuality is objective, while gender is subjective. Sexuality and gender are not the same, and gender is an emergent quality.
God	An omnipotent and Omniscient God has already defined everything and must be obeyed. Paradoxes over the question of good and evil and who is at fault can be ignored.	The helm of reality is vacant, in order to provide total freedom. God only supplies continuity and advice and can never know any more than the current sum of all experience.
Immortality	Immortality is subjective; one gets an improved existence in a celestial paradise.	Immortality is objective; one does not live again, but one’s knowledge and experience benefit others.
Intelligence	Humans are the only intelligent species, as a result of special creation.	We are not the only intelligent species in reality. Written language is a sufficient, but maybe not the only test.
Jesus Christ	Jesus Christ is God and the only path to salvation.	Jesus was a dissenter; the most famous dissenter of all time. He taught relevant and useful philosophy, not blind belief.
Liberalism	Liberalism is a derogative term, and everyone who opposes them is a godless liberal	Liberalism is no more than being more subjective than objective. There is no sin involved.
Love	The only love is generated by a benevolent God who is properly worshipped by his subjects.	Love is the unconditional acceptance for what reality is, and for what it is becoming.
Messiness and Wastefulness	Obvious subjective excess cannot be part of God's plan, so it must be the work of Satan.	Much of reality only makes sense to various entities so far as it relationally involves them.
Moral Relativism	They continually denounce moral relativism as evil, but they do pick and choose what they profess to believe just like everyone else.	Moral relativism is the only way anyone can sift through all the layers of subjective excess.
Morality	God is a cosmic moralist, so God predefines all moral concepts.	All morality is relative to the physical and emotional makeup of a given species.
Objective Reality	Physical reality is an inconvenience that can be ignored in preference to a fabulous after-life.	Physical laws define a fairly stable environment in which inanimate and animate entities can both exist.
Paradise	Paradise preceded our current reality but was lost because of sin.	Paradise has never existed, but evolution is continually trying to invent it. It is a lost cause.
Perfection	God is perfect, and Jesus Christ was his perfect son. Man's sins caused a fall from grace and perfection.	Perfection has always been a future goal, but it is not attainable by subjective beings that cannot even define perfection.
Prayer	If one prays correctly, God might grant special favors, which can violate physical laws, if necessary.	God can only advise; it is people who always have and always will answer prayers.
Process Theology	Process Theology is a dangerous set of ideas that are no more than atheism disguised as religion.	Process Theology combines modern metaphysics, sensible philosophy, and current scientific knowledge into one model.
Processes	All processes in reality were created by God and are directly controlled by God. God has even worked out the entire future.	Processes are open-ended programs with no specific goal. Processes combine to create entities, which are emergent processes that have an identity separate than the underlying processes.
Purpose	The purpose of life is to serve God, by worshipping Him and accepting Jesus Christ as savior.	The purpose of life can never be fully known. Purpose is relational, derived from relevant past experience combined with future vision.
Reincarnation	Reincarnation is false doctrine, even though passages in the Bible might allude to it.	Since souls are a relative feature of Objective Immortality, there can only be incarnation, never reincarnation.
Relativism	This is a heretical concept that improperly removes God, Jesus Christ, and Man from the top of all hierarchies.	Bottom-up, relationally-driven, evolving hierarchies fit observed reality far better than any top-down model.
Sexuality	The whole plan is based of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Males and females have their distinct and separate roles.	Sexuality is a biological convenience designed to drive evolution. Males, females, and intersexed persons have interrelated roles.
Sin	We all carry the burden of original sin, based on the transgressions of Adam and Eve.	Sin is just a mistake, but some are far worse than others. We are punished by our sins, not for our sins.
Soul	Every human being, but no animals, has an absolute, uncreated thing as the basis of its being.	Every living thing has a temporary, relative identity: made of subjective, emergent qualities not present in its underlying molecular makeup.
State Diagram	Reality has only a two-box diagram: God and Jesus Christ are in the top box, and Man and everything else are in the bottom box. Strictly speaking, IS OR IS NOT are the only two options.	State Diagrams, maps of possible variations, are usually simplified into two-dimensional arrays of boxes. A comprehensive multi-dimensional diagram would be more realistic, but very hard to follow. Other options include IS AND IS NOT, and NEITHER IS NOR IS NOT.
Stories	Only the inerrant stories in the Bible are relevant. Other stories are filled with useless wastefulness and messiness.	The processes of reality create large sets of stories. We reflexively follow suit and add to the volume of stories.
Subjective Reality	A religious subset of subjective and even abstract concepts are considered to be totally real.	Subjective reality includes all life, information, God, and experience. None of it is real in an objective or absolute sense.
Tolerance and the Law	It is okay to pass laws that discriminate and to make sure only same view-point judges get appointed.	Dissenters support tolerance and balanced laws, even when it is used to advance the cause of orthodoxy.
Trinity, the	Scripture clearly breaks up reality into the father, the son, and the holy ghost. It is a core part of belief.	This idea is not supported by the Bible as a whole, and it is a major influence leading to the rise of dissent.
Virgin Birth	The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is a required part of the whole belief structure.	Inclusion of pagan myth has led to further dissent. Genetically, in order to become pregnant with a son, a woman must somehow receive a Y-sperm.
War in Heaven	The War in Heaven is an eternal battle between God and Satan that has eschatological significance. It is plainly spelled out in the bible, especially in the Book of Revelation.	The War in Heaven is allegorical, the perpetual battle been orthodoxy and dissent. The Book of Revelation was a strange inclusion at the Council of Nicea. The current interpretations stem from the Middle Ages and later.