Idea For A New Religion - Chapter 21 - Priest And Community & Vow of a diligent priest

PRIEST AND COMMUNITY A 1) An elected priesthood - The will of the people, enlightened by faith, is the will of god and so all priests must be democratically elected by their community to serve both their spiritual and practical needs. Candidates for priesthood must be people of experience; people of knowledge; people of ability, people of persuasion and people of principle. 2) People of experience - Priests must have knowledge of life. Preferably, they must be atleast 30 years old. They must have a store of personal experience to draw upon when giving advice and helping their community through hardships. 3) People of knowledge - A priest must not only have a thorough knowledge of their own religion but also be versed in many faiths and philosophies since all religions stem from God and the wisdom of all faiths is of use to all people. 4) People of ability - A priest must be able to serve the practical aswell as the spiritual needs of their community. 5) People of persuasion - A priest must be able to unite, organize and motivate their community to serve the greater good. 6) People of principle - Those who are elected to serve the community must be people of honesty and commitment. The good of their community must be foremost in their hearts.

PRIEST AND COMMUNITY B 7) How should a priest be elected?- Within a small community, each candidate should have a book and voters should sign their name and write their address within the book of the person they wish to elect. The candidate who gains the most signatures should become the priest of their community. Keep the books safe from outsiders, as they will have names and addresses of community members in them. In a large community, a system of booths, ballot papers and boxes like that used in government elections is probably better. The election of a new priest should be a joyous, festive occasion with music and food and decorations. 8) Duties of a priest - A priest has two roles to fulfill in their service of God. The first is to be useful to their community and to all who need their aid. They should exemplify usefulness to God. The second is to help forge their community into a powerful force for good. 9) Helping the many to become one - Each human being is a cell within God, the living universe. United, they become a powerful limb of God but they require ritual, symbol and the power of faith to unite them and a priest to conduct the ritual of unification. 10) Macrocosmic Healing - A community which is wounded or weakened cannot act as a useful organ within God, the living universe and so it must be healed and it is the duty of a priest to organize the healing and regeneration of his community. 11) Limitations upon the power of the priesthood- Because a priest is elected by the people therefore, they are the servants of the people and the people have a right to criticize, question, disobey, disregard and democratically replace a priest if they are dissatisfied with them.

VOW OF A DILIGENT PRIEST God is the good within all people and the people have chosen me, out of goodness, to serve them like a trusted friend and I shall not cease to strive to be a priest deserving of the peoples trust. Let me be the helper of healing; the midwife of change and rebirth; the copper which conducts the power of my people; the ladder that lifts them up and the bridge which carries them over. I shall be like a good coxswain to the mighty rowers of my community and they shall row fast and far ahead. Only love can make a person fight with all of their strength and sacrifice all that they possess and I love my people for I am my people and for them I shall give everything.