Treatise on Intersex and Non-Binary Faith

We begin by asserting that faith is personal. A person’s experience of faith, spiritual phenomena, divinity, and sanctity are subjective and known primarily by that person and that person alone. These experiences cannot be shared, only related and related most effectively between people engaged with the same or similar spiritual paradigm. Therefore, to have tasted of the spiritual life is as personal as one’s experience of oneself, as personal as one’s experience of one’s body, and as personal as one’s experience of their identity. To believe a person when they profess to having a soul, that they have experienced divinity in their lives, or have achieved any manner of spiritual actualization is no less an act of faith in others’ self-advocacy than to believe a person relating their gender identity or their intersex physicality. 

This treatise is written for those whose identity or body does not fit the gender / sex binary and who proclaim both faith and the desire to practice as a member of a community of like believers. Such adherents will be referred to in this document as epecine, or simply: “we” “us”, and “ours”. Furthermore, this treatise is addressed to both epecine individuals as well as those individuals who are both dyadic, meaning not intersexed, and binary, meaning identifying as a man or as a woman. May there be no doubt that such individuals exist who stand astride and without the loose categories described within these pages.This document treats as understood that individuals can be singularly non-binary or intersex as well as both intersex and nonbinary. These words are written by one such person identifying with the latter category.

The purpose of this treatise is to engage in the discussion of spirituality and religion for intersex and non-binary humanity. As the realm of human belief is so diverse, these words are meant to be inclusive and generic in their observations and conclusions. As this document is not assumed to be the first work on the subject of spirituality by and for us, may these words serve as an entry in engaging with that topic. What is written here may be revelatory to some and elementary to others, but these conclusions bear stating in order to lay the foundation for discussion of more complex nuances. Insofar as this treatise is successful, it will facilitate effective and constructive communication between us and dyadic and binary people within various religious and spiritual communities .For the purposes of discussion, such communities will be will be used to refer to as an Affiliation, defined as:

• Communities, which can range from loosely associated individuals who share a spiritual practice or multi-generational religious institutions, identifying as spiritual or religious

• Communities of laypeople, clerical staff, monastics, or any combination thereof

• Communities centered around, whether in groups or in coordination, engagement with beliefs and practices surrounding the supernatural, divine, metaphysical, Sanctity, magic, morality, or the advancement of humanism 

Furthermore an ethical Affiliation, for the purposes of this document, is such a community as described above that:

• Engages its members, insofar as they seek engagement within that community, as an Affiliation is nothing more nor anything less than its members.

• Honors the dignity of its members, insofar as the Affiliation has honor to bestow and further when the dignity of its members are impugned, as the ability of an Affiliation to recognize sanctity rests in the human experience of dignity.

• Represents its members, insofar as the Affiliation retains authority or power, as an Affiliation does not exist save by the consent of its members.

• Liberates its members, insofar as they are suffering impositions upon the human condition from within the community and without, as an Affiliation can offer neither salvation nor solution to the human condition that does not also dispense with worldly oppression.

• Nourishes the bodies, minds, and/or hearts of its members, insofar as they look to the Affiliation to slake their thirst for life and actualization, as the beliefs and practices of the Affiliation must address the needs of its members.

Spirituality, as a class of practice, and religion, as a class of institution, functions best when they ethically serve these aforementioned needs for their constituent members.Therefore, any discussion of Intersex and Non-binary partipation in an Affiliation can only be held when the following requirements are fulfilled by an Affiliation. Such a community can only serve its Intersex and Non-Binairy member when that Affiliation does the following:

• Engages us, whether this be to recognize our historic role in spirituality and religion or or recognize our role in the contemporary Affiliation. Just as with all adherents, we must be invited, welcomed, addressed, included, and appealed to. While our needs and ability to engage may differ from others, assumptions and prejudices must be replaced with our own advocacy. Our spiritual needs are to be tended to as with any other affiliation member, and that which engages us must be included in surveys that document the practices of our spiritual communities.

• Honors us, whether by recognizing the non-binary nature within divinity or by recognizing the divinity within intersex and non-binary individuals as humans. If life is treated as divine, then as such we are to be recognized as belonging to those epicene patterns that are vibrant within life in general. We are to be honored with the same dignity that our religious institutions and spiritual cultures honor dyadic and binary individuals. Honors reserved for men and or women, must not be denied to us by nature of our differences. Where those honors cannot be shared, similar forms of dignity must be erected, through our participation.

• Represents us, restricting us not from positions of representation, responsibility, and authority insofar as they are recognized by the religious community and open to men or women. Therefore, such positions reserved for men must also be accessible to women, or similar positions established. Just as no group can be served by a community without their participation, no authority can be established over a group without including their representation. When researching and publishing spiritual practices in which we also take part, our participation and contributions are to be represented as well. 

• Liberates us, as we exist in the context of an oppressive denial and rejection of our natures and identities. All people bound in inequity require the resounding peal of liberty, and many attune themselves to their pulpit to hear even an echo of that chord. It is a sad reality that not all religious institutions are liberatory, though many forms of spiritual engagement are liberating from mundane contexts. Despite varying degrees of engagement, Affiliations’ appeal to righteous struggle must establish solidarity between all who suffer with equity. Where other congregant’s oppression is addressed, so too must ours be addressed. When other congregants sorrows are heard, so too must ours be heard. However the Affiliation stands up against injustice, Justice for trans and Intersex people must also be championed  Spiritual practices and dogma that dismisses our liberation are rampant, but a wrong does not become right because it is normal. 

• Nourishes our spirits, minds, and bodies, by denying us not the rites, rituals, and mutual aid enjoyed by binary and dyadic individuals within the Affiliation. That same Affiliation should be nothing short of encouraging of our fulfillment in ethos or in dogma. Doctrines that deny our spiritual realities should be scrutinized and reformed, just as Doctrines that deny the spiritual realities of other marginalized people must be scrutinized and reformed. Rituals with binary roles should be adapted to observe us as well, or Epecine rituals of like sanctity must be adopted to the litany. Spiritual truths that deny our existence or value should be questioned and rejected, just as we must dispute the principles of a spirituality based on other forms of bigotry. 

These requirements are rigorous, but what are religious and spiritual Associations if not ardent? Nevertheless, this treatise must acknowledge that there exist many influential spiritual and religious communities who do not bear the aforementioned requirements of an ethical Affiliation nor in actuality or intent offer these requirements to their Epecine adherents. 

Therefore, our participation and consent in these communities are not to be taken for granted.. Where we are not welcome, we need not seek sanctuary. Where we are not empowered, we need not accede to power.  Where we are not sacred, we need not recognize sanctity. Insofar as religious and spiritual practices already exist which are incompatible with these requirements or used unethically to deny these requirements, Epicene individuals are not beholden to follow these paths. 

That a religion or belief is accepted by our larger community, our family, or our society is insufficient reason to require our participation. Where such institutions and traditions are being reformed, there We will find welcome and inclusion. Where such institutions and traditions are not being reformed, We hold no obligation But resistance against  encroaching theocracy. The spiritual practice and religious community that do not strive for and enact these standards operate as an extension of the oppression from which we turn to the faith for refuge. Good intentions and supportive speech are all well and good, but are meaningless without effective policy and practice. 

Insofar as our participation and consent is sought by Affiliations, no lesser measure than these requirements need be accepted. For we are free and empowered to form our own communities based on ethical reasoning we can agree to recognize, and there will be no such religion or spirituality about us, without us. 

Be It So!