I have been Contemplating the Scriptures for Some Time, and believe that it would be Possible to Unify the splintered Amarr Religions, since Quantum Entanglement Communication allows Rapid communication across arbitrary Distance, and Religious Discourse is not dependent on Slow and Infrequent Starships, as it was in the Time of the Empire two thousand Years ago.
At my Current rate of Progress, I believe it would take me between Five and Eight Thousand Years to develop a Theological Argument that would be Convincing enough for this Purpose.
One Factor that I have been able to Identify that might Allow more Rapid Evolution of the Argument, is greater Access to Scripture Libraries, as many Religious Institutes have restrictions on lending out Library Books.
Does Anyone Know if the Order of Saint Tetrimon does Inter-Library Loans, and if So, how they may be Contacted ?
Going to have to agree with Elsebeth on this, Synthia.
I do understand where your perspective necessarily comes from, but the Moral Reforms weren’t a bad thing for basically anyone who wasn’t Sani Sabik, at least as time passed. Undoing them is likely to be a nonstarter.
Also as I expect you’re very aware the various Amarr offshoots (typically known to the Amarr as heresies) don’t agree with each other, either, even on the basics. The SoE seem to have gone enthusiastically humanitarian (and mostly harmless, at least according to popular sentiment); the EoM are full human-extinctionists; and while the Sabik are from some angle also humanitarians it’s in the more … culinary sense.
I don’t think you square that circle without the heresies basically just surrendering and returning to the faith from which they arose. If you wanted to engineer that you might find some Imperial authorities happy to cooperate.
Well, the distance involved in communication has not, historically, been the primary driving factor behind disunity in this. So I don’t believe modern technology is likely to provide for much use in solving this.
That said, if we are both still around when you’ve come up with this argument, I will admit a certain measure of academic curiosity about it.
It has not ?
I Was under the Impression that divergent Interpretations of Scripture arose due to Long periods of Isolation, which caused sectarian division within the Major Religions.
Examples being the Innumerable minor Sabik sects that have Appeared over the previous two thousand Years, and the distinct Differences between the cults that originated from the Bleak Lands, and those that originated from Delve.
That can certainly magnify it, yes, and to some extent it can serve as an additional cause as divergent evolution takes its course. But I would not say that it is really the primary reason, no.
Well, the exact causes are perhaps a touchy subject to some, but I would say it all gets down to the fact that humans tend to disagree with each other and hold different opinions, and well … that leads to things, many of which might result in disunity over religion.
Well, that is a perspective one could take, I suppose. But probably a lot of groups would likely disagree with it, like the Tetrimon. Though maybe it worked out for them in the end, and now that they’re part of the establishment again, possibly they might have a different opinion, but they were sure pretty opposed to them at first.
I’m not exactly sure what makes you bring the Sani Sabik into it, though, since they were not really a thing in the Empire at that point? Maybe one could make some theological parallels, but that is an … interesting suggestion.
That said, you are probably right that undoing them is likely to be a non-starter.
I don’t think I’d exactly list the SoE as an offshoot, even if they do borrow some mythology, they’re mostly their own synchronistic thing.
Your summery of the EoM is perhaps a little simplistic, but reasonably accurate.
I suppose that is true of many Sani Sabik but definitely not all, and in any case is not usually considered really part of the core essence of their philosophy.
All that said, you are certainly correct that it unlikely you can get them to agree on things regarding unity. In particular, the Sani Sabik and traditional Amarr faith have basically opposite assumptions about some very basic philosophical ideas.
While there are different sects and interpretations within the Amarr religion, the idea of uniting them all under a single banner would be a monumental task due to the deeply ingrained beliefs and historical differences.
If accomplished it would only strengthen the Empire.
The Equilibrium of Mankind is a doomsday cult that originated as followers of an Amarr cult, though their beliefs today have mutated so as to be only somewhat related to Amarr beliefs, the core beliefs of the EoM today relate to the belief that humanity does not belong in the New Eden cluster, and that, if a sufficient portion of humanity is killed, the Eve gate will reopen, and the survivors will then be able to leave New Eden to go to paradise. This belief if basically entirely unrelated to any belief that the Amarr have ever held.
When the EoM was founded, either about 1500 years ago (shortly before the Moral Reforms) or about 2000 years ago (just as the Amarr were starting to leave the Amarr system), depending upon which records one believes, they were an offshoot of the Followers of God, an Amarr cult (which is still an approved cult to this day), specifically following what they believed to be the original and true teachings of Aramon Khalid (whose approved teachings of how to reach Paradise in the afterlife had inspired the Followers of God cult), which, in their belief, talked of hells that awaited all those that did not follow his teachings (it is worth noting here that the Amarr faith tends not to focus very much on what happens after death, and when it does, it generally speaks of some paradise that will await the faithful, while belief in some eternal torment in the afterlife is not forbidden by the Amarr faith, and some Amarr do have such beliefs, it is a fairly uncommon belief).
Eventually, these beliefs along with the personality of the leader of the EoM, Ocilan Ardishapur, led to conflicts with the Amarr establishment, and while they were quickly defeated, they survived in hiding until the current day, with their beliefs seeming to evolve a fair bit since, such that today, while they are descended from the Amarr faith, they no longer really have very much, if anything, in common with others whose beliefs come from that faith.