The Virtual Church of Benevolent Deities, Inc symbolically gathers all divine manifestations of peace, kindness, love and compassion - as well as laughter, satire, joy and wisdom - as a corporation. Please do not worship the symbol, but rather the divinity and divinities toward which it points. Our corporation is a rare one - an ethical membership where the board of directors works through process concensus developed over aeons, and each member is ultimately responsible not only to the board but also to all stakeholders. You are a stakeholder! When you join, you only symbolize your acceptance of your spiritual stake as a human being, but in exchange for this outward sign you are blessed with a member icon, as well as a symbol (in the classic Wizard of Oz style) of your investment, one official stock.
This church corporation is not recognized by - nor does it receive any benefits or liabilities from - the earthly organizations which determine the legal status of religions and corporations. VirtuBene is both earnest and satirical.
Board of Trustees/Directors
As with many corporations, many of its players prefer to remain silent and invisible. Some prefer to be called Directors and others Trustees. Some prefer not to be named, and to promote and embody compassionate love and peace from a very humble dwelling-place, such as human being. However, many Benevolent Deities are fairly well-known. In future, we will produce a profile of each of the more visible members. Many of the deities are, of course, complex beings with history and have a darker side, but this corporation encourages the benevolence of our deities since it is so strongly needed by humankind. While deepest wisdom indicates that duality is a product of process, and that all is one ultimately speaking, we prefer to pluck the strings that sing to us, providing beauty and forgiveness and compassion - not only in our times of need, but always.
Perhaps the most well-known is the god Jehovah (Yahweh, YHWH). He is a jealous God, not really a team player. While he sometimes exhibits benevolent characteristics, he has chosen to have his partners in essence represent him here: Holy Spirit and Jesus the Christ (who "job-shares" with Archangel Michael on occasion). There is an almost invisible presence of another, more female component: sometimes called Mary, sometimes Sophia (or Sofia), sometimes wisdom. The multiple personality traits of the "One God" are a little difficult to follow, so we shall just indicate that some portion of its presence works powerfully and somewhat mysteriously on this board. See the Hebrew and Greek scriptures (Torah, Bible, etc.) for his bio.
The Lord Buddha is detached, really really detached, but we know that escape from the cycle of rebirth is accomplished by all-encompassing acceptance and compassion for others. Buddha is our guide especially for waking up, becoming enlightened, opening our eyes. While Buddha was not initally seen as a god, he evolved into one (much like Elvis), and there are many schools and types of Buddhism (which are often mixed with elements of Taoism, Confucianism, and so on). cf, Siddartha Gautama, Amitabha
The Bodhisatva Kuan Yin (Quan Shi Yin, Kwan Yin) from Chinese Buddhism manifests as female and seems to have evolved from Avalokiteshvara, who manifests as male in Indian Buddhism. The very embodiment of divine compassionate love, we love her/him, too in all his and her appearances. See in particular The Lotus Sutra for a bio and also cf, Tara.
