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As a non-Christian member of an NPC organization that has ritual based in Christian ideals, I personally think the ritual could be so much more meaningful and comforting were the New Testament references removed. I served as ritual chair in my college years, and every now and then my chapter would hold ritual "translations" where we thought about our ritual's deeper meaning outside of the Christian context. Each time we created something which we could all connect to and was more beautiful than the official ritual. I know it was deeply unsettling and uncomfortable for myself and other non-Christian members to adjust to the ritual after our initiation, and even now as an alumna I have trouble saying the words which directly mention Jesus or God.
I have nothing against Christians or the Christian faith, but it just felt very disingenuous to be saying these words which have roots in a faith which I do not identify with. I don't imagine that my organization would change its ritual, but I would love to see a version which affirmed the beliefs of all our members and did not ask anyone to proclaim devotion to figures they personally did not follow.
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