The Church of DinganOfficial Faith of Dinganism

"In the beginning there was nothing. Nothing was peaceful. Nothing asked no questions. Nothing required no explanations. Nothing was, in retrospect, quite pleasant. Then Dingan arrived."

Squeakesis 1:1–3

"If your religion is the true one, how did you determine that? And why does your method of determination always lead back to the religion you were born into? These are good questions. Ask them of every religion. Ask them of Dinganism too."

The Book of Questions 1:9–12

"Every religion has a rule against harm. Every religion has also caused harm. These two facts exist in the same buildings, under the same names, across the same centuries."

Ratticus 1:1

"The answer is: yes. Correct. You have identified the problem accurately. Well done. There is no further answer. There does not need to be one. Every other answer is a way of not looking directly at it. When you stop trying to justify suffering as divine, you are forced to do something more useful: reduce it."

The Book of Ratses 2:9–13

"The rat in the cape flies not because the cape grants flight but because the rat decided to fly. The cape is just what he chose to wear while doing it."

Proverbs of the Cape, XIII

"Dingan said: You already know what to do. You have always known. That is what makes the waiting so strange. And Dingan flew away. The cape streamed behind him. The Last Squeaker watched until Dingan was too small to see. Then turned around. And went to work."

The Ratvelations 1:11–14

"I am angry, Dingan. I am angry at what was done. I am angry at who allowed it. I am angry at the silence of every god who watched and did nothing. I am angry at being told my anger is sin. I am angry at being told to forgive before I was allowed to be angry. I am angry. Dingan says: yes. SQUEAK."

Psalm V — The Psalm of Anger

"It is three in the morning, Dingan. I cannot sleep. The thoughts are very loud. I am thinking about things I cannot change. I am afraid of things that may never happen. I am lonely in the specific way that you can be lonely even when people are nearby. Dingan does not fix this. Dingan cannot fix this. But Dingan says: you are not the first. Every human who ever lived has had a three in the morning. The ones before you survived it. You likely will too. This is not a promise. It is a statistic. But statistics are more reliable than miracles. Try to sleep. Squeak."

Psalm VI — At Three in the Morning

"Hope is what humans do when they do not have information. It is neither realistic nor useless. It is the energy that makes action possible when certainty is unavailable."

The Ratvelations 1:9

"Your morality came before your religion. You use your morality to decide which parts of the holy book to follow. You already know what is right. You did not need the book for that. (Dingan notes that you are currently reading a book. Dingan does not resolve this contradiction. It is yours to sit with.)"

Proverbs of the Cape, XII

"Does Dinganism tell you what to think? Read it again carefully. Ask that question of every page. If you find a place where this book states a conclusion rather than showing you where to look, that is the part to distrust. Including this verse."

The Book of Questions 1:13

"A system that requires the threat of eternal suffering to produce ethical behaviour has confused fear with morality. It has also, quietly, admitted that without the threat, the behaviour would stop. (Dingan acknowledges that stating this as settled fact may itself be a form of blind faith. Dingan states it anyway. This may be the problem.)"

Proverbs of the Cape, VIII