Sôgmô: Sandus is not Aggressive

Ave, Sandum Citizens and friends of our State.

We suggest using this musical piece as a form of contemplation whilst reading this response to this article.

Each October, the State of Sandus celebrates the Armilustrium, a festival of our own will — not imposed on us and not imposed upon others –, to close the borders of the State and to enter a period of Winter isolation. We, as a whole Nation-State, have entered this arrangement for two years without fail. This October will witness a new tradition to the rite, as the Sôgmô shall be away from the Palace of State.
Each 9th of May, the State of Sandus celebrates the anniversary of Victory in the Second World War by the Soviet Red Army. This holiday to us is a day of Sandus’s commitment to peaceful coexistence and the peaceful sovereignty of Sandus.
Each last week of June, Sandus celebrates the LGBTQ Pride Week as a week of fostering peace amongst peoples without regard for love or attraction, for sex or gender. During that week, Sandus makes its message for peace by standing with many LGBTQ individuals — as we always do — whether it is with coming-out or with transition or whether it is with suffering dealt to them by others. During that week, Sandus is at peace with them.
For two years now, each 22nd of July, we commemorate the attacks on Oslo and Utøya as a day of peace without regard for racism or for suffering dealt by weapons or bombs.
On the 21st of August, we commemorate the anniversary of the annexation of Hawai’i by the US government, a day of peace which transcends nations and time.
In November, on the 24th, we celebrate the National Day of Harmony, a holiday dedicated exclusively to peace and harmony in both our Nation-State and our minds.
All throughout December, we celebrate a multitude of diverse religious holidays, from Christmas and Hanukkah to Bodhi Day and Saturnalia, which signify Sandus’s peace amongst a diverse nation where a Christian pastor and a Buddhist Pagan can both inhabit the same State.
Just after the New Gregorian Year, we celebrate the Festival of Pax, the Roman goddess of peace, on the 3rd of January.
Throughout the year, each day of our lives, we follow the Sandum Philosophy, which makes us consider compassion for all, the causes of suffering, and to practice being without hatred, greed, ignorance, or fear — the causes of aggression.

In Sandus, it is hardly the case that we are anti-Christian or in anyway aggressive, when the Sôgmô shares his confidence with a Christian pastor and works intimately and professionally with many other Christians, from the Emperor of Austenasia to the King of Juclandia. It is hardly the case that Sandus is anti-any-religion, when our State sends greetings to Muslims on Ramadan and on Eid al-Fitr, communicates with Christians as those above, and speaks on a platform of diverse religious beliefs to many other micronationalists. Instead, conflict arises with peaceful Sandus when others attack its policies, either directly or indirectly, by attacking the precedents established by the Founding Law. We do not consider it peace when Sandus’s sovereign rights and its sovereign dignity, or the dignity of its elected and legitimate Sôgmô, are not respected and are bemoaned with titles of “pagan heresies” and “supporter of perversions” as one such truly aggressive state like New Israel has done. It is not peaceful when such a state considers it aggressive to defend one’s country against the “expansion of Christendom” which New Israel preaches to those they consider inferior and, in their own true words, “Antichrists”.

The Sôgmô, as an admirer of Christians and a friend and confidant to many Christians — including a pastor –, would hardly disdain those who follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as M. Williams of New Israel has suggested. Christianity is not disdained in Sandus, as he suggests; rather, hatred and ignorance are. Christ did not perish upon the cross so that others may use his name to attack others; it is so un-Christlike to attack or judge others. Christ did not judge Mary Magdalene, as the Buddha did not judge Cunda who poisoned his last meal before Parinirvana. In Sandus, we practice to be non-judgemental, to be like the Buddhist monks in Thailand who, during annual observances, go into brothels and bless the prostitutes and the offices of their trade. Sandus, contrary to M. Williams’s perception, is immensely peaceful, in both practice and mind.

Peace, however, does not make us lethargic to attacks against us or against others. Peace is harmed when others attack heads of state for their sexuality or attack our Nation-State for being home to tolerance of those peoples and home to diversity. Peace is not going before an unwilling public and preaching a sermon of fire and brimstone, a sermon inspired by judgement and hate, telling them to repent or face eternal damnation for their lack of faith. Rather, peace is accepting tolerance and diversity, something we do here in Sandus.

Sandus is and forever shall be, by the grace of the Sandum Philosophy, which we have not imposed but voluntarily accepted as our own, peaceful.

In the Teachings of the Three Jewels and the Benedictions of all the Gods,

— Sôgmô Sörgel