MSU student aims to secure religious protections for bodily autonomy

“Being born to your inherent nature and being true to your nature is divine. Autonomy is pivotal to a spiritual freedom,” said MSU student and Djedi Order founder Chris Spencer. Spencer described the Djedi Order as the first LGBTQIA+ religion, which aims to affirm the religious right to freedom and bodily autonomy.

Spencer started The Djedi Order in 2022, the name of which stems from the Egyptian word Djed, a word that refers to priests of the Egyptian god Horus. He said that much of his motivation to create this religion came from his desire to secure bodily autonomy through legal protections afforded to religious organizations. In a video posted on X in 2022, he said, “We believe, based on the history of the Djedi, being [LGBTQIA+] is a religious practice and this includes trans-affirming health care.” 

He said he also believes abortion should be viewed as a religious right and afforded the same legal protections. He is currently involved in two legal cases in Texas surrounding abortion rights. 

Spencer’s religion is comprised of four branches, according to the Djedi Order website. These include the Djedi Order, a sect for pagans, spiritualists and agnostics; Out Proud, for atheists, The Tree of Asherah, for deconstructing Christians and Christians who have disavowed the patriarchy and The Church of Prismatic Light, for Christians.

“I believe in the inherent divinity of humanity,” said Spencer. “I started the Djedi Order and its branches to promote spiritual freedom and healing.” 

This religion did not spring from a vacuum. The Pluralism Project — a Harvard University initiative that studies “the changing religious landscape” of America – found that “[the] American Pagan community has multiplied dramatically” since the 1990s. The project states that some are drawn to paganism through the desire to find a community specifically open to LGBTQ+ people, and “to develop queer and transgender traditions and to recover images of gender-fluid deities from ancient mythologies.” 

While the Djedi Order is not solely pagan, it does offer a space for pagans and spiritualists, seeks to provide a community for LGBTQIA+ people and is an alternative to mainstream religions which “promote coerced obedience, control and submission and demonize our divine nature,” Spencer said.

While the Djedi Order has yet to open any in-person churches, Chris said they have some 200,000 members across the U.S. who have signed up online. He hopes to open physical churches in Montana, Florida and Texas soon. 

Spencer and The Djedi Order join a complex and uniquely American conversation around the tension between civil and religious rights. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision in “Masterpiece Bakery v. Colorado,” where Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Bakery, was found guilty of breaking state discrimination law for refusing to bake a cake for a couple’s same-sex marriage. In the 2018 appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court found that “the government, consistent with the Constitution’s guarantee of free exercise, cannot impose regulations that are hostile to the religious beliefs of affected citizens and cannot act in a manner that passes judgment upon or presupposes the illegitimacy of religious beliefs and practices.”

Ultimately, Phillips won the appeal by arguing that he would not refuse service to someone based on their sexual orientation. Instead, Phillips viewed making a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage as participating in the ceremony, and that forcing him to was a violation of his First Amendment rights. Can an argument of constitutional rights be made for issues like abortion and gender-affirming care? If so, Spencer and the Djedi Order are determined to make them. 

“The Djedi Order and its branches may be focused on marginalized communities, however, all are welcome. You don’t have to be [LGBTQIA+] to join, the branch that focuses mostly on that community is Out Proud,” he said.