What We Believe
Our Creed
We believe God is the source of all things. We believe that being the creations of God we are driven to follow God’s path. We believe to create is to know God, to seek the objective truth is to commune with God, and that service to the advancement of humanity is the path to salvation (finding true purpose).
Our Doctrine
The Church of the Objective Truth is a Deistic Church following in the tradition of Deism. We honor writings such as De Veritate, Judging for Ourselves, or Freethinking the great Duty of Religion, The Resurrection of Jesus Considered, and The Age of Reason. We believe that the most likely truth that humans must come to terms with, is that God created us in some fashion and has left us to progress and evolve as a species free from direct intervention.
We are skeptical that any person has been born as God incarnate nor had a direct line to God inaccessible to any other person. We also believe that religions, cults, or schools of thought spawned by such “prophets and messiahs” are fundamentally flawed and lead their followers away from the objective truth. Nevertheless, we do believe the works and writings of some do shed light on aspects of obtaining salvation. For example, the writings of Ptahhotep, the teachings of the Mahavira and Buddha, and the sermons of Jesus speak generally to many traits which we should all seek to possess.
To that end, we differ from some classical Deists in that we do not have faith in humans ability to reason without interference. This makes us skeptical of anyone’s claim to knowing what the right ethics, morals, or any other constructed truth are. Put bluntly, philosophy is all to often akin to revealed religion and just as harmful. As such, we focus on quantifiable evidence derived from application of the scientific method rather than our feelings on an issue.
How We Show Appreciation for Our Existence
Creation is the first way we show appreciation for God creating us. Through creation we know the joy and sense of self-worth that comes from meaningful contribution.
Seeking knowledge is the second way in which we show our appreciation. We were made to be intelligent, curious, of free will, and provided paths to enlightenment and we should use those gifts to pursue the objective truth.
Service - doing good for the betterment of the species rather than solely for self - is the third form of appreciation. God brought a complex system and life into existence, we too must strive to create value absent simple desires for self-enrichment.
Conversation, feasts and festivals, meditation, natural connections, prayer, relaxation, and song and dance are forms of celebratory appreciation meant to restore us mentally and physically and to thank God for our undeniable souls.
How we think about “sin”.
The Church of the Objective Truth considers sin to be an antiquated term given that we do not believe in heaven or hell. Instead we focus on those things that advance or hinder an individual’s pursuits of excellence and the objective truth. Thus, those things that hinder our or others individual pursuits of the objective truth and/or the path to salvation for self and others are frowned upon. For example, engaging in actions that objectively harm ones self (e.g., clearly self-destructive behaviors) or others (e.g., physical hurting another or being cruel). We consider the impact and circumstances of such actions when considering an appropriate response by the Church and its Membership.
Church Politics
While we appreciate the protections provided by the United States of America and its constitution, the church will always remain apolitical. We will never endorse or support any political party, candidate, or policy.