ERCIAN TESTAMENT, the Guide to Proligion

My name is Joseph Marchante, author of "Ercian Testament, the Teachings of Proligion and Ercian Philosophy."

Does the world need a new religion? Not really, because religions are dogmatic and unless there was one that can be acceptable to a large number of the "good" people in the world, we will continue to be religiously divided for no good reason whatsoever.

The Ercian religion is here to preach Proligion. Yes, there is the concept of God I offer which is different. The Ultimate God, ERC, is not a thinking being. This I believe I know through logic. And I also believe in God EllaEl, a conscious entity. This I believe through faith.

What is different about the Ercian religion is that we let each Ercian create his or her own religious and spiritual journey. No Ercian reports or answers to me. There is no organized church or venue to attend. You can read any book you want, religious or not. You can incorporate into your Ercianity aspects of your native religion or religious experience. It is all between you and God.

 With plenty of goodwill but a lack of knowledge and logical thinking, I believe the arguments in my book prove that most existent religions teach inaccurate concepts of what I believe is our "Ultimate" or "Primary/Primordial" God, our Infinite Source and Eternal God, the base or foundation for everything that exists. To Ercians, ERC is "the" God before all Gods.

The Gods of the Western religions such as Jehovah and Allah are personal Gods who believers think have revealed their "Words" through messiahs or prophets. They are the equivalent of what ELLAEL is in the Ercian religion. 

 ELLAEL is a personal God with whom Ercians can have a "personal" relationship, but no Ercian can say God talked to them or that God wants him or her to convey a message to the world, because even if that were true there is no way a society can or should take as a fact. 

So, the relationship between an Ercian and ELLAEL always remains personal although Ercians have the freedom and the right to express what they think or feel about their religious experiences.

 While it is a good thing to teach values that lead to good behavior and order in a society, it is a bad thing to believe that "Allah" will bring you to paradise if you do what alleged prophet Muhammad tells you to do, especially when it teaches one to kill "infidels." To me, terrorists who murder people are true infidels, fanatics who kill thinking they know God's will. 

On the Christian doctrinal side, it is also a bad thing to think your sins will be forgiven if you just "believe" in Jesus. We must learn to be responsible and accountable for our own sins. However, doing unto others as you would have them do to you is good and wise advice. Do that throughout your life to have a good and clear conscience.

Also, as good as Jesus is portrayed to be, he is not God. We are ALL children of God with the same direct link to ERC the Infinite Source and True Ultimate God as Jesus had. When we are born, our "status" is the same as any other being, but then with our words and actions through our lives, we gain or lose worth and status.

Because I followed the Old Testament's first commandment to worship only God (and I did not want to worship a false Ultimate God), when I started my religious and philosophical journey of discovery, I needed to know if He who was speaking to Moses and Abraham was the True Ultimate God. Thus, I have used my logical skills to the limit to find the true nature of that Ultimate God, the one that is the Foundation of all that exists.

ERC is the God of my Intellect. However, make no mistake, as much as I have depended on Reason to know ERC, it is Faith that has led me to believe in ELLAEL, our personal God, the God that has helped me get through tough times in countless occasions, the God that helped me quit smoking after 45 years when I didn't have the will power to do it on my own, the God whom I believe promises us life eternal; it is that God that gives peace to my spirit as I await the day of my eventual death. That is the God of my Heart, the God of my Soul. 

As you will learn in detail if you read Ercian Testament, and as you will learn in general reading the pages of this website, according to sound logical arguments and my best honest analysis and reasoning, God ERC is impersonal Being, our Infinite Source and, simply put, infinite space, eternal time and all the energies existent in the different dimensions, energy like the type we see in our universe and "primordial" energy which is of a different quality from ours.

I have given our Ultimate or Foundational God the name of "ERC," a neutral generic name, not a "personal" name but one proper to the concept of God existing as Everything, not a "He" and not a "She" but in an impersonal way embracing both genders. 

Although I believe in traditional pronoun forms, and I am opposed to people having their own made-up pronouns because it destroys a common language and leads to confusion and a Tower of Babel type situation, out of necessity, I use the generic neutral pronoun "Ert" for ERC and ELLAEL both for the possessive form, and "Ertself" for the reflexive form.

Another concept introduced by my book is the concept of "Proligion." Rather than remain divided by religious or political dogmas, let us use our power of reason to communicate ethically with one another and bring solutions to our problems. 

The Ercian religion is a "proligious" endeavor, seeking to bring together "peoples of good mind and will" through effective communication. Know that for one's will to be good, a good mind is necessary. 

Fanatics cannot be proligious people. Fanaticism only leads to the denial of truths that are self-evident and also to doing bad or evil things in the name of the blindly accepted ideology. 

Proligion excludes those not willing to be honest or participate in good faith. Emotion takes a back seat to Reason. Yelling and screaming will fall on deaf ears. Good arguments will catch the attention of Ercians.

Proligion accepts people of good character regardless of their religion, race or ethnic background. If you are a good Jew, a good Christian, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, or a good person of any religion, you can practice Proligion. 

What do I, as an Ercian stand for? I can say that I stand for holding Truth as the Supreme Value, a value without which a society is doomed. 

Politicians and media participants who seek power or the pursuit of personal agendas by defiling Truth have no place of honor in a proligious society.

Those whose words and actions reflect Ercian ideals, deserve to be called Ercians. We should be guardians of the intellect against terrorists, anarchists, dictatorships and all irrational ideologies, political, religious, racial, or otherwise.

We should say no to dogmatic religions that use the words of men to tell you they represent "the Word of God," an inaccurate statement.

We should say no to repressive ideologies like communism and socialism which end up taking away your freedoms and controlling your life.

We should say no to the rule of the mob, no to social warriors canceling people, no to unethical politicians who use the mob to blackmail public figures and corporations alike by demanding resignations or threatening to boycott.

We should say no to "unchecked" democracy, no to the idea of one person one vote, a system through which those who are selfish and unwise as to the needs of the country can be bribed by politicians who offer "free stuff" that all taxpayers end up paying for.

We should say no to "the indoctrination of the masses," no to the control of the media by powerful corporations who in the majority support the same social and political agenda. 

We should say no to a biased press, because a free press is not really "free" when most of the journalists and commentators think alike. 

We should say no to the suppression of free speech in our universities by mobs of oversensitive or indoctrinated students who do not want to hear views that disagree with theirs.

We should say no to activist teachers and professors in our schools, colleges and universities that poison the minds of our youth with false and harmful ideologies.

We should say no to stupid ideas, of which there are plenty in today's society. For example, the idea that defiant students should not be disciplined in our schools, the idea that it is guns that cause mass murders not the evil (no values) or sick human minds that pull the trigger, the idea of defunding the police, the idea of no bail for "low-level" criminals, or the idea that socialism is good for a society.

We should say no to "open borders" and "unchecked" immigration policies. No nation can be a sovereign nation without exercising proper control over who can be a welcome and productive member of our society and who cannot. It is unfair for the citizens of any country to assume additional burdens which could threaten the survival of their society.

We should say yes to the United States Constitution and to our "checks and balances" system of government. It should be the example for the world to follow.

We should say yes to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," yes to freedom of expression, yes to the Electoral College so that we can keep the rule of the mob from taking over, and we should say yes to the right to bear arms so that we have a way to fight back against tyrannical governments.

We should say yes to Proligion, the idea that we can talk to each other as rational civilized human beings and reach agreements that way.

We should say yes to honest and wise politicians and journalists who present views that are fair and balanced and who work for media outlets that do not enforce support for a particular religious, social or political agenda.

We should say yes to capitalism "with a conscience," using the free market to fuel our economies while at the same time providing for the needs of the people. 

We should say yes to good and affordable education and health care, making sure universities and colleges, health care providers and pharmaceutical companies are not taking advantage of the government and of the people.

Those whose words and actions reflect Ercian ideals, deserve to be called Ercians, the rest do not. I will try to live up to those standards. 

Only God or a wise and impartial judge or jury somewhere should determine whether you, I or any other soul is or was a true Ercian, always remembering that human beings are imperfect beings. The least we can do however is to keep and nurture a good conscience. That way us as well as society can evolve in consciousness.

Becoming an Ercian calls for a commitment to work for the unity of humankind so that we may become a civilization worthy of the highest destiny possible. Let the world know that you have chosen to become an Ercian, and then do your best to work and fight so that those ideals become universal.

Follow the good ideas no matter from whom they come. We should follow the advice of our own good conscience while always listening to other views to ensure we are in the right path.

 Because communications are key, if not in person, use the phone, the Internet and whatever other methods of exchanging ideas are available. 

A good education begins at home and should continue faithfully in our public and private schools. Teach good civic values to children, so they become good citizens but never indoctrinating them with a particular ideology whether religious or from a different source, a Marxist source for example.

There is no group of people with me. My wife of 56 years passed away in 2023, after a fight with lymphoma cancer. I am alone now, but God is with me. My love for the rest of the good people of the world is what gives me the strength to continue in this long journey. 

A society, a race, or a world for that matter, cannot prosper through multicultural diversification unless all those people first support a philosophy of unity through rational assimilation. In other words, people of good mind and will choose to agree to work together because it makes sense: because they are on Earth to build not to destroy; because they are on Earth to live in freedom not to impose their beliefs on others, and because they are on Earth to share life together and survive not to conquer.

Joseph Marchante

Copyright © 2022 by Joseph Marchante

  AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM: My religion and philosophy are spelled out in the book "Ercian Testament" with the subtitle "The Teachings of Proligion and Ercian Philosophy."