The Casitians Return by Michelle Murrain

Author:Michelle Murrain [Murrain, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781452410944
Publisher: Michelle Murrain
Published: 2011-04-04T05:00:00+00:00

San Francisco, California, September 4, 2011

“Thank you so much, Jal'end'a for coming to visit me.”

Jal'end'a smiled. “Patricia, I've wanted to see this church of yours, dedicated to a mystic, for a while now. It is quite beautiful.”

Patricia smiled in return, exuding quiet pride. “Yes, it is, isn't it? Thank you. It was quite the challenge to raise the money to get it built—but we finally did it.” They finished the tour, then went into Patricia's office. “So, not to change the topic but... I need to ask you some questions.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“We've already talked in detail about the different religious traditions of Casiti and Earth. I'm finding myself in a place where I'm having to describe Casitian religions, and I am not sure that I am doing them justice. I also have been faced, primarily by very conservative Christians, with the questions about what this means in terms of who Jesus Christ was, and who he died for. This is a very big issue for many Christians. If God is God, that means that God created all Galactic species. Some Christians think that this means that only humans fell, so Jesus only died to save humans. But that, of course leaves out other species. Others say that all intelligent creatures fell, and Jesus died for all of them. But then how do you deal with any being, human or not, who never did hear about Jesus—since, basically, the whole galaxy hasn't heard of him. Some, like the Calvinists, don't have a problem with that. Anyway, it's created quite the theological conundrum for Christians, especially. I think that Jews and Muslims have a different set of theological issues. Anyway, I have to figure out how to explain what Casitians think about who is chosen, or who is saved.”

Jal'end'a was quiet for a moment, then spoke, “Patricia, we haven't ever had theologies like those that suggest that some are 'saved' and others damned. These are foreign to us. No Casitian school has a theology which suggests that some beings are 'saved' and others not, no matter what the criteria. We do have theologies of evil, and we have struggled with why evil exists in the universe. As you might imagine, given our history as slaves, that struggle with the presence of evil in the universe was a very important question for us for a long time. Different schools have settled that question differently.”

Patricia sighed. “Yes, I imagined you would say something like that.”

“All Casitian schools basically believe that the divine is present in all beings, small and great, all over the universe. We believe that we must respect the divine presence in all beings, and work to deepen our understanding of the divine. Some schools do that by contemplation, others by ritual and worship, others by scientific investigation. Does that help?”

Patricia nodded. “It helps, I think, but it won't help those who are conservative theologically. I do have a question, though. Would you be willing to meet with the Pope, and with the Dalai Lama?”

Jal'end'a smiled.

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