A Privacy Religion and Congregation

When I practice privacy as part of my Autonomist faith within the Kinship Secretorum, I add responsibilities to my life, and I also reap benefits.

Responsibilities

1. Deciding on how my faith will influence my deeply held beliefs. KinSec is a congregation of those of the Autonomist faith who are working on their beliefs and the practice of those beliefs.
2. Acting on my deeply held beliefs. Over time, the deeply held nature of my beliefs should become increasingly apparent in my routine actions.
3. Sharing with others how my actions and beliefs are connected. Decisions of how and with who to share my faith are a private and individual decision. However, I recognize that those outside of the KinSec will only be able to acknowledge the value of our congregation when they are able to recognize a strong correlation between right living and the Kinship.

For those who can accept these responsibilities, we may enjoy numerous benefits. For example:

Clarity on Privacy

Questions about why I act with privacy can foremost be answered in the language of fundamental existence, belief and moral imperative. For those in the Kinship, and for countless people who have come before us, privacy is a natural property of our soul, mind and body. As a fundamental part of the soul's existence, we justify our need for privacy in the same way we justify our need for food for our bodies or for mental health.

I don't look to groups of elite people, changing laws, or temporary governments for the basis of my belief in privacy.  All of those things change, they end, they contradict, they are temporary.

I believe my soul requires privacy by its permanent nature, and that I naturally must choose my own privacy expressions. I must be able to account for any of my acts that coerce or compel people, or acts that violate privacy. Privacy nourishes our soul, mind and body, and coercion and compulsion contribute to starvation and illness.

Right living

I acknowledge that we all live in societies, which compel and coerce individuals by their nature. As those in the Kinship acknowledge the importance of privacy and adapt our behavior accordingly, we can more easily arrive at answers to some questions about how to live rightly amidst society and protect what is important to us. For example, when should I allow a device to track my location? When should I use credit cards, or cash, or payment apps? How should I share my life and thoughts on social media? These are individual privacy expressions, but we offer guidance to help those of our faith to make a deliberate decision.

The Kinship does not claim revelation over all of life's questions, though.

Accommodation

Many societies acknowledge that those who have deeply-held religious and spiritual beliefs must act in ways that could otherwise be prohibited. Societies will sometimes make special accommodations for those who are acting based on a deeply-held religious belief.

For example, in Sweden, a law prohibiting the wearing of masks in public contains an exception for those who cover their faces for religious reasons.

Tenets of the Kinship Secretorum include responsibility for each person to choose how and when to protect our bodies and our identities. Depending on where someone lives and what their circumstances are, it is increasingly likely that someone may decide they need to protect their body and identity by wearing something in public that blocks the indiscriminate and dangerous collection of their facial biometrics and identity.

Community

While I believe that principles of Autonomist faith stretch back as far as the existence of the soul, the Kinship Secretorum is young. I want to build a welcoming community that supports relationships between individuals who choose to make community a part of their life. A privacy-focused ideology can provide a healthy and respectful path to community. There are far too few communities that serve the needs of those who value privacy as a fundamental part of their existence.

Intangibles

What are the benefits of living with freedom of choice, of right living, of living life in a way that nourishes your body, mind and soul? Will you be able to sleep better, be better protected, enjoy better organizational skills or be more capable of facing adversity with confidence? These are all possibilities, but are not assured or measurable. The Kinship believes in our souls, that privacy nourishes our souls, and that opening up a deliberate conversation between our body, mind and soul, will nourish each individual in ways that are impossible for others to predict.