Church of Integrity

The Church of Integrity is founded on the following statement:

Do what is right.

Of course it is impossible to capture the whole message of the church in one sentence but the above goes pretty far in doing so. Religion involves among other things a code of ethics, a philosophy of life and a worldview. The above statement captures the essence of that. We lead our lives by making decisions that confirm to what we feel is ethically right.

So what is the right thing to do? Couldn't you justify murder and other evil deeds then by simply saying that you felt it was right?

In the Church of Integrity we believe that ethics are deeply connected with biology in the sense that we, humans, are preprogrammed with certain ethics that have helped the species to advance and survive for a long time. For example then most people agree on that murder is bad. We are not so naive though to think that the world is black and white. We teach ethics that we believe almost everyone can agree on. Examples are that murder is bad and that you should treat others as you want them to treat you.

In theory then the Church of Integrity will only preach those truths we hold to be universally true. However we also believe that current religions have imbalanced our views so we shall make our stance clear on some hot subjects. It is our hope that as time progresses then we will reach a common understanding in those subjects and that the church will not have to use its influence for or against some views in matters that are under debate. The power of religion in ethical discussions can not be underestimated and should not be misused. The church implements a somewhat democratic method in choosing what can be considered acceptable in our teachings, the details will be posted soon.

Science plays a big role in the church. We believe that we should use the scientific method to observe the universe around us. Science is the only right way we see in explaining how the world works. Science can not account for absolutely everything but we feel it is absolutely ok for us to admit that we do not know everything. After all, we are humble humans, just like you.

What about the bible or some other stories about God or does God even exist? I emphasize that we should use the scientific method to observe out universe. There is no factual evidence that points to the fact that God has made contact with any human being or somehow told us how the universe was created. Hence we only use science when trying to explain life, the universe and everything. Scientists often use their intuition, for example they might believe that something holds true and then operate on that assumption and try to put it on a rigorous basis with the scientific method. Just as we claim that there exists no proof for the existence of God then we still believe he exists.

The existence of God is not the core of our teachings, the core is that you should do what is right. However we claim that our believe in God is defendable, for example how some sick people seek strength in God and how some people that are about to die seek strength from God. To believe in God is not inherently evil or somehow against science.

Community is a very important concept in the Church of Integrity. Preaching, telling stories, giving advice on how to lead your life are all important parts of the church but we feel that they alone are not enough. When talking to a very general group of people then the talk must be rather general and thus we wont always be able to answer your exact questions. When you are not sure what the right thing to do is then it is extremely important to be able to consult with someone and the more people you consult with, the better. We, the priests of the church, don't claim we have all the answers ourselves. The teachings of the church are based on some sort of general consensus on what is believed to be right, that is, no one person decided what is right and what is wrong. Similarly then consulting with many people will probably give you a better picture of what is the right thing to do in your specific situation.

Do we have to go to church? No, you do not have to go to church. At the time of this writing we don't even have any physical churches. Spending time with your religion is very important though. Often we don't think about the moral implications of what we do. For example many people download pirated songs on the internet. What are the moral implications of that? Some might claim that it was wrong because it was stealing, others might claim that the citizens have the authority to rebel against the laws that the government sets when they are unreasonable and hence that downloading of songs is not morally incorrect. We do not take a stance in this particular example here at the Church of Integrity but point out that discussions on issues like that are very important. Even if you think that you got everything figured out and there are no real questions any more in your life about what is right and what is wrong then you should contribute back to the church by taking part in the community and helping those that are confused. Both helping individuals in making the right decisions and helping the church in figuring out what we can claim to be universal truths are very important parts of being in the church.

Helping others is a very important lesson we teach at the Church of Integrity. Our situations are very diverse but we should all strive to help our fellow human beings. We realize that people want to lead good lives and we encourage you to do so. You do not need to quit your job and move to Africa to help those in need. However you should help others to the best of your capabilities. It is the right thing to do. How much to help is something you'll figure out but yet again we point to the community, talk to others and find out how much they help and perhaps more importantly ask the community about how much the need is and then make your decision. Also remember to treat others like you want them to treat you.

What about the Bible and other ancient books about God? We claim those to be stories, written by men because that is best explanation that science can give. That does not mean though that you should for example underestimate the Bible. It contains many good stories and examples on what the right thing to do is. We encourage people to read about other religions and try to pick out some of their good messages. Again, if you are not sure if some message is good or not then we yet again refer you to the community. Discussing moral values is very good for you and can help you figure out what the right thing to do is.

Moreover we encourage people to write good stories that contain good messages. We realize though that writing is art and in no way does the church want to impose some restrictions on artists outside what you can call common sense (for example we don't condone murdering etc.). Has your church banished some books, for example Harry Potter? This church will never banish books. Writing down your ideas and thoughts is encouraged because it spurs dialogs that can help us, the community to understand what is right.

We want to spread the knowledge about this religion as far and wide as we can. Forcing religion onto others or somehow forcing yourself onto others is not acceptable though. This blog is the first step in spreading the religion. Please comment on the blog if you want to spread the religion or if you want to support the Church of Integrity.

The Church of Integrity is not here to make money. All finances will be open to the public. Spreading the word costs both time and money so in the future we will add advertisements on the site in hopes that they can generate enough money for us to move to a dedicated server where we can put up a genuine community with a forum and rank better on search engines to yet again, be able to reach people better. Just like priests get paid then this church supports that people can be paid for stepping up and helping it but in general then we recommend voluntary work where possible. Our churches do not need to be laden with gold. There are no set restrictions on what our churches must look like except we expect you to use common sense. The church has no official signs or artwork but we encourage you to build beautiful buildings and use artwork that for example has reference to good old stories with good messages.

There are many reasons for why this church was founded. One of the more important ones was that we feel that the more conventional religions don't feel as close to the people any more, people sort of find it hard to see their purpose. Another important reason is that many simply don't agree with teachings of many religions, they simply feel that they aren't teaching any more what the right thing to do is. Our mission is thus to stay relevant, teach what the right thing to do is, reach out to the people and evolve.

Evolution of a religion might sound bad because the religion is supposed to contain some universal truths. However society changes and we face a very different society now than thousands of years ago. Thus we might face questions that people simply couldn't think of back then. Hence we strive to evolve in the sense that we try to answer the questions that are relevant to you and we try to answer new questions that come up. We are not here though to be part of some popularity contest. As noted above then we do not plan on taking sides in matters that are still under discussion but we will encourage those discussions and when we feel that a universal agreement has been reached then we shall update our teachings to reflect that.

This post covers the founding statement of the church. We will continue to post here about how the church works and we'll also give you examples and stories of what the right thing to do is. To join the church you don't have to do anything but posting about it in the comments and helping spread the word is appreciated.




Trackposted to Blue Star Chronicles, 123beta, Pursuing Holiness, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Big Dog's Weblog, The Pet Haven Blog, Shadowscope, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, Rightlinx, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Thoughts, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie Is Wired, High Desert Wanderer, Outside the Beltway and Walls of the City, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.