My dear Lothair, you *have* read the Codex, I'm impressed. However, it
is probably wiser to point out hypocrisies within the Church when you
actually understand its doctrine. Half-baked knowledge can be very
dangerous. There's still a chance for you, however, if you come back to
the Church and finish your study of the Codex. Because you have missed
its intent.
You seem to forget one of the most commonly misunderstood yet important
tenets of the Codex. Good is Eternal, Never-changing, and Absolute. What
is Good now, is always Good. An Evil act, such as the brutal slaying of
the innocent Handel, who serves a fruitful, Righteous purpose by saving
the souls of numerous orphaned children, is not to be tolerated. A crime
is a crime. Righteousness admonishes such despicable acts. The Church
does not pounce along like bunnies catching a few wild, misguided,
carrots lying amidst the fields. The Church ends Evil. The Church will
send you to the Logos Himself, upon whose feet you can grovel to ponder
your crimes against Good. Please tell me Lothair, that being killed by
*each* Church-member for a crime does not make you think twice as to
whether you will commit the same sin again. Please tell me that you lose
your ego, your selfishness, slowly, as time after time, you are punished
for your crime- because if it didn't, you wouldn't have posted your
claims of hypocris
As to the status of Marhisa and Syvelium- Marhisa, *Priestess* of
Virtue, and Syvelium, the *Paladin*, it seems quite clear to me they are
indeed Churchmembers. But that is not the reason why the Church defends
them. We defend them because they are innocent, because they are our
friends, our allies, and most importantly, because they are Good-natured
souls who want Good to triumph.
Lothair, you left the Paladins, but you never told me why. Can you
honestly feel like your life is more sound, more happy and content now
that you are supposedly 'Evil'? How can you bear the pain of knowing
that you can never be the most powerful, or the most dominant? How can
you feel content when you must look over your shoulder at every junction
in life, watching for those who seek to trample you over as they fulfill
their own desire for power? How can you live with the loneliness of
knowing that one day, you will have no friends, no family, no allies,
because they will all have been eliminated with your desired rise to
power? But more importantly, how can you live with yourself knowing that
you abandoned your chance at learning to enjoy the simple pleasures of
unselfishness, and Compassion and Good?

Penned by my hand on the 8th of Scarlatan, in the year 282 AF.