Castrism

Castrism, or as it is more sometimes colloquially known, Nova-Calvinism, is a post-Jred Christian religious movement that is extremely popular on the Jred Frontier where resistance to the Jred is a daily part of life. Castrists believe that those that have survived the Jred Scourge are God's elect, and that when Christ returns they have the moral duty join the redeemer in casting the Jred back to hell in order to usher in the thousand year reign promised in revelations. The have, as a result written additional testaments to The Bible, affirm and outlining their beliefs and allegory for the challenges of the New World. The Castrist movement is therefore seen as heretical by many more traditional Christian movements, even though they too have deviated at least a little, in doctrine over the millenia. Though it did not originate in the Castra (formerly Neuve Lorraine) System, it became popular there, and well known to the galaxy, and is where the religion got its name.

Structure

The Castrist Religion, is relatively informal in structure. As members of the priesthood are considered first among equals and a spiritual guide, and not necessarily as a leader. This means that, to a certain extent every member of the faith is responsible for spreading its teachings. Each community has its own meeting house, and here people collectively meet to discuss matters of faith, and each of these meeting houses is managed by a handful of people well educated in matters of theology. Meeting houses are generally expected to form a militia of able bodied citizens (sometimes including small flotillas of spacecraft) that are expected to defend the community from external threats, usually Jred organisms, though pirates, planetary raiders, and invading armies may also warrant a call to action from the local militias.
This highly decentralized structure allows for a great deal of fleixibility and resilience in the face of frequently hostile locations, though the church, especially in Civilized Space has more influential pastors who often run fairly large branches of the church from highly populated worlds, particularly within the states of the Neuve Lorraine Sector. These 'megapastors' are often seen as spiritual leaders of the broader movement though more fundamentalist members of the church reject these people on the grounds that they have become too concerned with worldly power and influence to retain their values fully.

Culture

The Castrist movement is dogmatic in its pursuit of the destruction of the Jred, which they see as a holy mission and one in which participation is a demonstrator of one's favor with god. As a result most practicioners are deeply xenophobic, rejecting all alien influences on human technology and culture. Many Nova-Calvinists are also skeptical, often to the point of genocidal bigotry against Psions, as they believe that Psionics are a dangerous extention of Jred infestation of the human geonome, though this is not necessarily a universal belief of all members of the faith.

Public Agenda

The Castrist church ultimately believes that the end times have descended upon humanity already and that they are in a tribulation enacted by God to weed out his chosen from the meek and the sinful. It is the job therefore of Nova-Calvinists everywhere to find and annoint the Elect to make ready for the second coming of the Redeemer, only when all of the living Elect have been gathered into the community can He return, and only then can the Jred be driven from the galaxy for humanity to receive its promised millenium in Eden.

Resistance to Jred is obedience to God

Founding Date

AU 1947 (3950)

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

Neo-Calvinism

Demonym

Castrist/Castrists, Nova-Calvinist/Nova-Calvinists