The Temple of Reason  A Proposal by David S. Annderson

The seven tenants of the Temple of Reason, as handed down in the 20th Century before me

1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason

2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary persuit that should prevail over all laws and institutions

3. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's will alone

4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend without causing measurable harm.  To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedom of others is to forgo one's own

5. Beliefs should not interfere with one's best scientific understanding of the world, recognizing that that world is complex and that an emotional and philosophical understanding of the world might differ from that of reason alone without emotion, yet still recognizing this, that this emotional understanding should not interfere with embracing one's best scientific understanding of the world.  One should take care not to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs, but rather base an emotional understanding of the world on science combined with the things that only the emotions feel, such as beauty, and not on a distortion of scientific fact

6. People are falliable.  If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.

7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought.  The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written word

These are the principles upon which the Satanic Temple is founded.    The reference to satan in the name of the Satanic Temple is a joke and a rebellion against the cruelties and hypocracy of some forms of organized religion.  As the Temple of Reason is simply a rebranding of the Satanic Temple's principles, and as Satan can, after all, stand for whatever we want it to, the Temple of Reason will recognize the Satanic Temple of the seven tenants as its father church from which the Temple of Reason is descended, and recognize the history of the Satanic Temple of the seven tenants as part of its own history.

We fully recognize that it is natural in a world where some to cruel things in the name of God that it is just as natural to, in response, do kind and good and just things in the name of satan, and invoke the name of Satan as a form of rebellion.

The only significant modification to the seven tenants is the modification that I made to the 5th tenant to reconcile the deep philosophy based on emotion guided by reason with the 5th tenant's principles of science.  There is no reason that deep philosophy based on emotion guided by reason should conflict in a fundamental way with science.  It is not unscientific to believe in beauty and joy, or to believe that beauty and joy are more fundamental to the world we experience than science.

Perhaps the pentagram, which was originally a neoplatonic symbol and is related to the Star of David, can be a central symbol of the Temple of Reason.  I invite you to be creative and invent whatever symbolism and artistry that you with for your personal form of the Temple of Reason.

Well, what do you think?

Don't be afraid to learn more about the Satanic Temple, they are good and kind people who use the name of Satan as a form of protest against cruelty in religion in the name of god.

They have a wonderful set of principles, and the Temple to Reason is there to give people a choice to follow the principles and choose whether or not to make the invoking of the name of Satan as a form of protest a central part of the way in which they follow the principles.

Hopefully one day the invoking of the name of satan as a form of protest will no longer be relevant, because hopefully one day cruelty in the name of religion will be a thing of the past.

Well, anyway, what do you think?

I think they have put forth a very good set of principles!

God loves you!

Sincerely,

David S. Annderson

P.S. If the evil Satan of Christian mythology were real and had an evil temple, he would not call it the Satanic Temple, he would call it the Guardians of Morality or something Orwellian like that!