EVE PANDORA | News Article: Theology Council Issues Advisory Exhortation on Status of Cloned in Amarr Doctrine

Theology Council Issues Advisory Exhortation on Status of Cloned in Amarr Doctrine

New Eden News - Tue, 11 Oct 2016 - 00:00

AMARR - The Theology Council's highest deliberative body, the Supreme Sobor of Theology, has issued an "Exhortation to the Faithful" in response to Empress Catiz I's request that the deacons and justices of the council consider the needs of the "New Era" declared upon her coronation. The exhortation, an advisory judgment on the interpretation of Amarr scripture, adopts a newly unified position on the status of cloned human beings in the Amarr religion, significantly improving their standing within the Imperial Rite of the Amarr faith.

The status of cloned human beings in general, most notably including Amarr military and loyalist capsuleers, has long been a confused issue within Amarr theology with no single source of authority adopting a distinct position on the matter. Much theological discussion on the matter has been drawn from the very specific prohibition against cloning members of the Amarr Royal Houses, a scriptural ban known as the "Sacred Flesh Doctrine". The question of whether a living clone can be in communion with the Imperial Rite, the Amarr state religion, has been left relatively open. Various of the other orthodox Amarr sects take differing but definite positions on the matter.

The Supreme Sobor's judgment has laid out an argument that cloned humans should be accepted as "embodying souls in communion with the Imperial Rite as the flesh of their birth would speak to us", a formula that suggests capsuleers should not be treated any differently to non-capsuleers for religious purposes.

The Theology Council's top scholars have supported their judgment by analogy with the highly unusual cases of Empress Jamyl I and Lord Aritcio Kor-Azor. In regard to the former case they noted the "miraculous presence" of the Empress's soul in both the body of her birth and the body "given her by divine providence after her first death", while in the case of the late Lord Kor-Azor they noted that his cell regeneration was a religiously mandated use of technology to "renew his soul by providing a new body". The scholars also noted the induction by two different Emperors of several capsuleers into the Order of the Sacred Throne, a military religious order.

The Theology Council also noted and reaffirmed that the Yulai Convention's prohibition on simultaneous instantiations of a single personality in multiple clones is in accord with Amarr scripture. The exhortation is sure to provoke much debate within the Amarr faith, however it is believed that the Empress and Privy Council will now consider the text of the judgment and issue a definitive ruling that will settle the matter in terms of the Imperial Rite.

In a related matter, the Privy Council has released notice of numerous minor matters and responses to petitions, while it continues to deliberate on "the primary issues of state and church in the New Era". Amongst the notifications issued was a response to the Order of St. Tetrimon's petition against Lysus, the House Champion of Kor-Azor in the Imperial Succession Trials.

The response declares that: "The sustained public outburst of impiety and prideful defiance of the Imperial will during the inspection of the Imperial Guard by Her Imperial Majesty Empress Catiz I suffices as evidence to convict Lysus on the charges of both blasphemy and heresy. He is therefore stripped of all status within the Holy Amarr Empire. The Holder's title and fief conferred on him by the noble and lamented Lord Aritcio Kor-Azor is revoked and confiscated, to revert to the Royal House of Kor-Azor."