THE ORIGINAL EDICT

   I, Christopher Ryce Toney, a citizen of the United States by birth, born July 31st, 1981, have desired, felt called, and believed it necessary to initiate and facilitate the institution of a reformed system of culture, tradition, and self-governance for the purpose of "Excellence In Stewardship". I hereby pronounce The Reformed American Society (also referred to herein as The Society) to be officially established and on record as of Sunday, September 1st, 2024 AD.

   As the Founder of The Society, I, Christopher R. Toney, pursue the task of establishing the foundation for a system of stewardship and self-governance based on the Five Founding Statements: "The Desiderata Proclamation", “My Role", "Our Christian Paradigm", "The Natural Call To Stewardship", and "The Principle Of Design". These Founding Statements are preeminent and all subsequent bylaws must be aligned with them to be valid. My job is to be the best steward of The Reformed American Society that I know how to be and to work to establish a foundation for a community that will nourish a culture of good stewardship and self-governance. Let it be understood that my role as Founder is to set in motion a practice that I hope will be in place for many years, long after my death, perhaps many centuries, perhaps even millennia. This practice is intended to take a human person from birth to death, instilling in them the values of stewardship and self-governance, and giving them a culture and lifestyle that fulfills certain key physical, spiritual, and psychological needs, resulting in strong, healthy people of Faith.

   My function in The Reformed American Society is to oversee the development and proper functioning of The Society, reserving for myself the office of Original Guardian (as carrier of the vision for the organization), to be defined in subsequent legislation (reserving all rights and powers until further notice).

   There have been those who question the validity or justification of our adherence to Christian ideals and principles in American society. Perhaps there are those who perceive the United States as being about something else, but we who assemble as The Reformed American Society are in agreement with the ideology of the American Declaration Of Independence when it reads, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The recurring theme we see throughout the founding documents as well as the Federalist Papers of The United States is that those who are able to self govern do not need authoritarian overlords, and therefore are at liberty to make whatever choices they see fit. Without self-governance we are, by our very nature, subject to tyranny. John Adams said, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” James Madison wrote that there were those who believed "that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government." If we wish to govern ourselves, we must have virtue, or at the very least, a set of principles that guide and inform our decision making. Those principles must be so deeply rooted in our consciousness that we follow them privately as well as publicly. The only institution that we have seen to accomplish this is that of religion. We have come to hold, not only from our own research and observation but also that of distinguished men throughout history, that religion is an indispensable element of society, one of the support beams of the overall structure. So what religion do we choose? Our ancestors chose Christianity and the Bible, and we make that same choice now. No other religion in recent history has afforded it's adherents the Life, Liberty, and Happiness that Christianity has for those healthy American people who live it genuinely.

   Since there are many denominations of Christianity, and it is unlikely that we will get them all to agree on everything anytime soon, our time and effort is best spent on finding common ground on which to build the next manifestation of American society. Life is organic and is given to organic variation as a natural part of God's creation, so we understand that freedom to ponder different ideas and try different things to discover truth and find our place in life is as necessary to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" as the need for focus and discipline. However, if we are to have a stable society, there must be some basic ideals that we share in order to unite us in our mission and strengthen the fabric of the nation. Therefore, I call for the creation of the Moral Canon, a basic set of principles that a majority of Christian denominations and traditions can agree on. This Moral Canon is to be included in a greater work called "The Reformed American Handbook", to be authored by myself and a selection of other qualified individuals who will be chosen by me.

   Instilling moral values and principles into the young, falls, first and foremost, to the family unit, which one might call the fourth branch of government. The father and mother are the leaders of the household, and their duty, as such, is to teach practices and values to their children that will make it possible for them to self-govern as adults and be good stewards of whatever is allotted to them in life. This is the premise upon which we build our cultural framework.

   Reformed American citizens accept the natural call to good stewardship over God's creation. Clues to this calling can be found in the world around us. First we can observe the consequences of our actions and how they positively or negatively affect those around us. Second we can observe the way entropy affects our environment. In order to make a space suitable for human living, we must subdue and organize it. Failure to maintain that order will cause the environment to eventually return to it's "wild" state. Third we can see how human health declines if it is not maintained though various observances such as healthy eating, good hygiene, and proper discipline. We can see these observations echoed by the many religions, civilizations, and philosophies developed by mankind throughout history. Finally, we can perhaps also see a suggestion of the natural call to stewardship in our finite existence. Anything material, even one's own body, is subject to the laws of nature, which were in place before our existence. The laws of the universe are preeminent and we are in helpless subjugation to them. All of this gives us a clue that there is an order to the universe, and perhaps it belongs to Whoever made it, and we, therefore, accept the charge to operate as if things affected by our decisions are temporarily on loan to us from the Creator. Terms such as "owner" or "belongings" are thus finite terms used in a finite context. It is therefore the call of each Reformed American Citizen to be the best steward we know how to be of all things over which we have decision making influence.

   To achieve "Excellence In Stewardship", an accurate model of proper functionality must be established. Through observation, it can be seen, beginning at the genetic level, that all life is created according to a code or design. This gives us a clue that we are, at the very least, subject to a certain order in the universe, and possibly designed by some Superior Entity, which we call God. We can be functional (organized & productive), dysfunctional (disorganized and/or unproductive), and non-functional (dead), which tells us that there is a correct way to maintain our physical and psychological health. This is one of the bases for moral teachings on "right and wrong" and "good and evil". This then branches out to other parts of our lives. We interact with all known material throughout our world and universe by using the 5 senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, along with our ability to think and reason. The effectiveness and functionality of these faculties is dependent on our good genetic, physical, and mental health. If we are to find any truths or facts within our realms of existence, if we are to engage properly in relationships and pursue our desired endeavors in life, if we are to maintain an organized and functional society, we must first see to it that each person's genetic, physical, and mental health is maintained properly. Reformed American philosophy shall therefore maintain that there is a standard design to which all human life can be measured. That design includes proper healthy functioning of the human body which should bring about a self-regulated emotional balance within a reasonable threshold, a minimal degree of active participation in society, healthy and acceptable relationships with peers, self-control, and a positive outlook on life which remains open to the possibility of faith, hope, and love. (Love is defined here as making a priority out of someone else's needs or desires.) We believe the human design is most effectively expressed by the principles taught in the Christian Bible. Therefore, commitment to good stewardship based on Biblical principles is paramount in the proper creation and development of the human person. This, then, is the foundation of our culture, that we are dedicated, first and foremost, to the raising of healthy children into adulthood. 

   I hereby proclaim myself to be the Founder, Original Guardian, and Original Member of The Reformed American Society, and I decree that membership to this community will be extended to anyone of any ethnicity and/or national origin who receives an invitation and commits to assimilate the culture after successful completion of the initiation process.

If God Sees Fit, Let It Be So

Christopher R. Toney, Founder, The Original Guardian Of The Reformed American Society