After reading your last post I had to write a response. I have never had
the pleasure to meet you in person though I have learned much about you
from your previous entry. I can tell that believe what you have written
to be true. As a cleric who has spent the better part of his life
pondering such questions, I agree with you on some of the issues that
you addressed. However, much of your conclusions are based on faulty
information. Like you, I do not speak for any group or organization. My
words are my own.

First of all, you claim that we as mortals have a 'sort of divinity'
within ourselves. You claim we are immortal just as the Gods are
immortal. You have carelessly forgotten that we can return from Dis only
because Lord Avasyu has marked us and Lord Thanatos has agreed to allow
us passage from the underworld. Without them we would die once and fall
into an eternal slumber from which there is no return. Truly you think
to highly of your own existance to even consider such facts. Have you
ever shrubbed a God? Your blasphemy should be clear to both magicker and
non-magicker alike.

I am a cleric and I abhor magick in all of it's forms. That is not to
say that I think all magickers are bad people. Many of them are good
people who have be ill-informed to it's corrupting nature. Of course not
all non-magickers are good people. Hatred runs on both sides, and that
is the very reason that magick must NOT be practiced. If you want to
compare magick and fayth as mortal powers then it is no contest. Magick
is much stronger in that it can manipulate reality. But fayth is not
some power to be had by mortals. It does not draw it's substance from
some shattered, unpredictible source. It is pure and granted unto us by
the Gods themselves in order that we can protect ourselves from those
who use magick.

There are some zealots and hateful people in Antioch. I would never deny
that fact. When I was younger, magickers were allow inside the desert
and even inside Antioch itself provided they leave all magick outside
while visiting. Slowly over the history of our city we have become less
tolerant. Not surprising given the fact that each time we try to become
more open as a society we pay a price. We simply cannot afford to trust
any magicker lest our way of life become a relic of the past. We, as a
whole, do not think ourselves superior to anyone.

I agree with you that hatred makes one blind. I have spent my life
saying that very thing. But it is clear to me that you can see less than
those who hate. You said that you have walked in all three circles. It
has been said that if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything.
You seek only to justify your use of magick and your post was designed
to spread it's acceptance. You would love for Antioch to embrace magick
and forsake her Gods. Like others before, you seek to whittle away at
our fayth by crafty words wrapped in a fascade of enlightenment. Why
should anyone listen to one who claims to be channeling divinity. You
self-righteousness exceeds that of anyone in Antioch.

I am a peaceful man and I have never slain anyone. I am not your enemy
and will do nothing to cause you harm. You have a right to believe
whatever you choose. Should not we be afforded the same right? So in the
interest of 'balance' quit spewing your propaganda all over the public
channels. Our stance against magick is much more than a religious issue.
They are based on facts and simple truths that I will share with anyone
if they would be willing to keep an opened mind. Just send me a message.

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Naturalis, in the year 507 AD.