Jonathan_S wrote:cthia wrote:Of course, what manner of worship is Third Stellar? Why does it remind me of something on the order of Freemasons? A hole card up the author's sleeve, is it?
Apparently some future form of Protestant Christianity.
There's a little more from Flag in Exile; but not much.So whatever Third Stellar Missionary Communion (Reformed) is it's further subdivided into a high and a low church. But as it's only mentioned, pretty much in passing, in two book RFC hasn't laid out its history so we don't know from which particular current branch(s) of Christianity it derives.Flag in Exile wrote:On a personal level, she was here because she had learned to respect the Church and because it was so central to the lives of her people. She needed to share it, even at one remove, to understand them. And even if that hadn't been true, she found the solemn majesty of the Church's liturgy and music compellingly beautiful.
Honor had been raised in the Third Stellar Missionary Communion (Reformed), but her family, like most Sphinx yeomen, had always been low church. The Third Stellars emphasized each individual's direct, personal relationship with God, with a minimum of structure. The high church had become more formal over the last few T-centuries, but low church services tended to be quiet, introspective affairs, and Honor had been unprepared for the sheer pageantry of the Church of Humanity. She supposed Mother Helen, the priest who'd confirmed her so many years ago, would have sniffed at all the "unnecessary fol-de-rol." She'd certainly regarded the formalism of her own denomination's high churchmen with enough reservations! But Honor suspected even Mother Helen would admit the beauty of Grayson's liturgy, and no one could doubt the personal faith of the people who followed it.
The fact that you were able to distill all of that down and come up with Protestant, speaks volumes. I thought Honor was possibly Protestant, or Catholic, as well, but I dunno why.
What is this reference to high and low? Snobs and true Christians come to mind.
I don't see Grayson wanting to invite outsiders to commune with them. Which, going out into the community to witness, or any such diplomatic mission, would have to ultimately entail. Or The Church of Humanity Unchained would appear to be a bunch of hypocrites.