Article 1
Name and founding purpose
Santeria Church of Olodumare is the proposed name selected for development by Keith Lawrence Miller. The legal name, jurisdiction, and formation instruments will be recorded when established.
The church is founded in reverence for Olodumare and respect for Orisha. It seeks a living community in which prayer, religious knowledge, character, sacred obligation, and care for one another find expression in daily conduct. It will provide accurate education about Santería, honor its Yoruba and Afro-Cuban inheritance, protect entrusted religious knowledge, and account openly for the resources placed in its care.
To establish and sustain a Santería devotional community rooted in respect for the Orisha, responsible religious practice, education, and mutual care, and to restore a historic church as a lasting home for worship and learning. The church will account publicly for every dollar received and spent, honor the responsibilities of its religious traditions, and improve public understanding of Santería through accurate education and honest conduct.
A restored nineteenth-century church, or another suitable historic religious building, will become an active devotional space with altars, statues, ceremonies, education, and community gatherings. Its preservation will serve a living congregation. The congregation will first develop its administration and religious life in dedicated space in the founder's home, then move into a suitable permanent property when it can responsibly acquire, restore, and operate it.
Article 2
Working doctrine
This working doctrine reflects the founder’s stated religious understanding and the church’s proposed commitments. It is offered for review within Lucumí and Regla de Ocha, with respect for differences among houses and lineages. It does not claim to speak for every practitioner. Exact prayers and restricted teachings remain within their appropriate religious relationships.
Olodumare
The church recognizes Olodumare as the Supreme Creator and ultimate source of existence and sacred power. Its name expresses reverence for that source. The church’s teaching about Olodumare, Olofi or Olofin, and Olorun will preserve the relationships and terminology taught within its religious tradition. It will not turn an explanatory comparison into a universal formula or silently substitute one name for another.
Orisha and aché
Orisha are living sacred powers through whom people encounter divine guidance and relationship, expressed through nature and human life. Devotion to Orisha involves reverence, prayer, praise, gratitude, care, offerings where appropriate, and responsibility. Sacred objects and images have their religious meaning within that relationship. The church understands aché as spiritually grounded power and capacity whose responsible exercise requires character, humility, and restraint.
Ancestors Ori and destiny
The church honors ancestors and the religious responsibilities of remembrance and gratitude. Ori and destiny are part of its understanding of the person’s spiritual path. Human choice remains consequential: people are responsible for their conduct, promises, and response to guidance. Hardship will not automatically be treated as proof of wrongdoing, spiritual failure, or a prescribed remedy.
Character and accountable conduct
Religious life must shape conduct through honesty, humility, discipline, service, self-control, and willingness to correct mistakes. Ritual, religious titles, knowledge, or spiritual experience do not themselves establish maturity or release a person from accountability. Ethical conduct and properly guided ceremony each retain their place. Respect for elders and religious office remains compatible with questions about integrity, treatment of people, and stewardship.
Prayer knowledge and lifelong relationship
Prayer, praise, gratitude, learning, and responsible care sustain relationship with Orisha. Sincere people may pray and learn without claiming an initiation or office they have not received. Deeper rites and duties require the qualifications, guidance, and permissions appropriate to them. Books, online learning, and broadcasts can support understanding; they do not by themselves confer religious authority or complete a rite that requires ceremony and physical participation.
Initiation lineage and religious authority
Crowning is a serious religious commitment and lifelong relationship, not a service suited to every person or a status obtained through a donation. Preparation, trustworthy guidance, prayer, ancestor reverence, education, and responsibility matter. The church grounds its practice in Lucumí and Regla de Ocha, respects lineage differences, and identifies the source and scope of its teaching. Ocha and Palo retain their own religious identities and will not be casually merged.
Offerings sacrifice and sacred obligation
Offerings and sacrifice belong to a living religious tradition and must be understood through their sacred purpose and proper guidance. They are not a mechanism for purchasing a guaranteed result. Consecration and sacred work are understood within a larger religious process involving prayer, herbs, omiero, lineage, ceremony, and aché; the church will not reduce that process to blood alone. This public doctrine gives meaning and principles without publishing operative ritual instructions.
The church will speak honestly about contemporary religious sacrifice and ritual slaughter, recognizing their continuing place in multiple living traditions. It will not portray Santería as uniquely primitive or speak as though such practices have disappeared from the modern world. Religious practice, legal duties, and event permissions will be addressed accurately for the actual activity.
Protection responsibility and human dignity
Sacred power must not be invoked to justify petty revenge, manipulation, exploitation, or avoidable harm. Protection, spiritual guidance, and repair carry responsibilities. A person’s race or ethnicity does not determine whether they may be sincerely called to learn or participate. The church will honor the religion’s roots, elders, and transmission while treating people with dignity and explaining the actual requirements of participation.
Article 3
Sacred laws
Respect for Orisha is the protected sacred law expressly directed by the founder. Laws two through seven are proposed additional sacred commitments drawn from his stated principles. Their designation as protected laws requires religious review and formal ratification. The Constitution as a whole remains proposed until adopted.
Sacred law 1 Respect for Orisha
The church shall honor and respect Orisha in its teaching, worship, conduct, ceremonies, use of sacred names and objects, and stewardship of religious knowledge. No officeholder, committee, member vote, commercial arrangement, or institutional expansion may authorize contempt for Orisha or use the church’s authority to degrade them. This commitment may be clarified or strengthened; it may not be abolished or reversed through the ordinary amendment process.
Proposed sacred law 2 Truth and freedom from manipulation
Religious authority shall not be used to deceive, coerce, fabricate revelations, promise guaranteed spiritual results, misrepresent qualifications, or create dependence for private advantage. Questions, uncertainty, and limits of knowledge shall be stated honestly.
Proposed sacred law 3 Integrity of entrusted resources
Every dollar received, spent, and remaining shall be accounted for. Purchases, fees, administration, compensation, reimbursements, and related-party arrangements shall be reported accurately, with the necessary protection of private information. Sacred purpose shall never excuse concealed diversion of resources.
Proposed sacred law 4 Faithfulness to sacred obligations
Vows, promises, accepted duties, and obligations to Orisha, ancestors, and the religious community shall be treated seriously. Guidance shall identify the responsibility actually undertaken. Mistakes shall be addressed through honest acknowledgment, appropriate religious guidance, and corrective action rather than concealment.
Proposed sacred law 5 Protection of entrusted knowledge
The church shall preserve the boundaries around restricted religious knowledge, initiation, lineage, and ceremonial permission. Possession of information does not authorize its use or publication. Education and broadcasting shall respect what has been entrusted to the church and the authority required for its transmission.
Proposed sacred law 6 Dignity and accountable leadership
People shall be treated with dignity. Religious standing, family status, donations, or institutional power shall not excuse humiliation, exploitation, retaliation, or abuse. Respect for leadership shall coexist with truthful accounting and a fair way to raise concerns.
Proposed sacred law 7 Responsible exercise of aché
Sacred power and religious knowledge shall be exercised with character, humility, restraint, and responsibility. The church shall not authorize their use for petty vengeance or manipulation. Protection and the correction of wrongs shall remain accountable to the church’s religious commitments.
Article 4
Permanent founding family and governing authority
Keith Lawrence Miller is the founder. By his direction, the permanent founding members are Keith Lawrence Miller, Hazel Miller, Paris Miller, Ares Miller, and Genesis Vuitton. The proposed Constitution places their appointment as founding directors under his authority as founder. Each is intended to hold full board authority and one full vote, with no lesser or merely honorary status because the church later grows, recruits outside directors, or becomes international.
Their founding attachment to the church is eternal as a matter of its identity and constitutional commitment. Their intended governing seats are permanent for their lifetimes, without periodic reelection, term expiry, or revocation by ordinary institutional action. One-year terms apply to the additional service positions, not to the named founding family. Eternal founding identity does not itself create ownership of charitable assets or an automatic inherited seat for an unnamed successor.
To the fullest extent that governing law permits, no board, member majority, officer, committee, affiliate, or successor administration may expel, remove, demote, suspend voting rights, convert a founding seat to advisory status, abolish that seat, or use an amendment, merger, reorganization, transfer, or new entity to displace a named founding member. No ordinary amendment power may be used to bypass these protections. Institutional growth and expansion shall preserve the founding family’s identity and governing rights in the central church.
Proposed protection against indirect displacement: changes to founding seats, voting rights, board composition or size, nomination authority, amendment protections, governing control, institutional identity, mergers, or transfer of substantially all assets require the affirmative written consent of every living, legally competent protected founding member, including Keith while he is living and legally competent, together with all approvals otherwise required by law. An ordinary board majority cannot substitute for the protected consent.
Full authority means the full legal powers and responsibilities of a voting director within collective board governance. It does not independently authorize one person to bind the church, spend without approval, disregard donor restrictions, or approve a transaction in which they are conflicted. Disclosure, lawful financial controls, and impartial review remain applicable to founding and additional directors. Those controls shall not be repurposed as an internal mechanism to erase protected founding status.
A founding member may voluntarily decline active service or resign from legal office through a documented choice; historical and religious founding identity remains. Death, incapacity, inability to serve, and any legally required change to office need a separate continuity provision that preserves the maximum lawful protection without inventing an involuntary removal power. Successor appointment and inheritance rights are not created by this draft and remain to be determined before adoption.
These provisions describe the proposed protection against institutional displacement. Before adoption, the Constitution, organizing instrument, and bylaws must be reconciled with the governing law. A person who does not meet the applicable age or other legal qualifications cannot be counted as a legally voting director. Founding identity is preserved while eligibility for legal office is resolved.
Article 5
Additional voting service positions
Additional positions are planned for people who want to serve the church in defined areas of responsibility for one-year terms. A lawfully seated additional director will have one full board vote. Holding several assignments does not create extra votes. The permanent founding seats are outside the annual service cycle.
The proposed openings are Treasurer and Finance Director; Secretary and Governance Director; Membership and Community Director; and Events and Broadcasting Director. The number of additional seats, eligibility, selection process, and term dates will be adopted before appointments are announced.
Each adopted opening will have a role description, reporting responsibility, and a recorded appointment or election through the lawful process. Renewal requires a new decision. Committee and volunteer participation does not automatically confer a board seat.
Article 6
Religious leadership and institutional responsibility
Qualified religious leadership shall guide worship, religious education, initiation prerequisites, ceremonial practice, and protected religious knowledge.
Qualified religious leadership will determine the church’s religious scope, the qualifications for particular rites, and the boundaries of public teaching and recording. The board will oversee budgets, assets, contracts, policies, and institutional accountability. A board title or family relationship does not itself confer religious office.
Religious authority and financial stewardship must each be exercised honestly. The church will maintain a fair route for concerns, questions, corrections, and appropriate independent review.
Article 7
Membership and member participation
The church is being developed as an active community for devotion, learning, and mutual care. Planned membership services include orientation, daily updates, a weekly report, member meetings, volunteer opportunities, approved broadcasts, and ways to submit ideas and events.
Ordinary community membership will not require a donation under the proposed policy. Any later dues proposal must explain its amount, benefits, and accounting before enrollment. No church dues schedule has been adopted.
Community participation, religious eligibility, donor status, and statutory voting membership will be explained separately. A donation, website purchase, or community enrollment does not itself establish a board seat, spiritual rank, or legal voting right.
Members will be able to choose their communication preferences and raise proposals through a published process. Any legally required member elections and reserved decisions will follow the final governing documents.
Article 8
Public accounting and financial integrity
Every dollar received, every dollar spent, and every remaining balance will be publicly accounted for. Public reports will identify purchases, suppliers, amounts, payment fees, administrative costs, compensation, reimbursements, and the purposes they serve. Supporting records will be published with necessary privacy redactions. Donors may remain anonymous. Financial transparency will protect private contact details, bank information, and confidential religious matters.
The church will describe costs honestly. Administration, insurance, professional services, building maintenance, and fairly approved compensation may be necessary expenses. Each will be visible. The church will never promise that all receipts reach a project without fees or operating expenses when that is untrue.
The proposed reporting schedule combines daily activity updates and a weekly member report with monthly reviewed financial reports, quarterly progress reviews, and an annual report. Interim figures will be labeled provisional. A reviewed monthly report will identify its period, preparer, reviewer, and any unresolved issue.
Church assets and transactions will be accounted for separately from personal assets and existing website commerce. Family-related payments and compensation require the lawful conflict-review and approval process and appropriate public disclosure. Permanent founding status does not exempt a director from fiduciary duties or financial controls.
Article 9
Community events and broadcasting
The planned program includes crowning celebrations, drumming, community gatherings, educational sessions, and other celebrations. Members and community organizers will be able to request calendar announcements, member notices, live broadcasts, or approved recordings through a reviewed submission process.
The host and presiding religious leadership will approve which portions may be shared, with whom, and in what format. Permission for a live event does not automatically include recording, replay, clips, or promotional use. Restricted ceremonies and teachings retain their religious boundaries.
Attendance and viewing requirements will be stated for each event. Viewing a broadcast does not confer initiation or complete a rite that requires ceremony and physical participation. A submitted event does not guarantee publication or production support.
Article 10
Living document and protected provisions
The Constitution may improve as the church learns. Members may propose changes through the published proposal process. The secretary records the text, reason, affected provisions, and source; religious leadership reviews doctrinal language; and the board assesses legal and operational effects. Distribute proposed amendments at least thirty days before a decision unless mandatory law requires another process. Explain the final decision and preserve the prior version.
Proposed ordinary adoption threshold is two-thirds of all legally seated voting directors plus any legally required member or outside approvals. A change touching protected founding authority also requires the protected written consent stated above. Changes to working doctrine require the founder’s religious approval while he serves in that capacity and the qualified religious leadership identified in the adopted succession provisions. Administrative policy cannot silently rewrite doctrine.
The sacred commitment to respect Orisha cannot be removed or reversed through ordinary amendment. Other proposed sacred laws acquire that protection only when expressly ratified as protected laws. Clarification must preserve their substance. Record the difference between an operational improvement, a doctrinal interpretation, and a change to a protected provision so no ordinary policy update can undo the church’s sacred commitments or founding protections.
Review the working doctrine at least annually and when a genuine question or correction arises. A review does not require change. Maintain an amendment register containing the exact prior and new wording, reason, religious review, legal review where relevant, notice, votes, protected consents if required, effective date, and approved public version. Restricted religious evidence stays in its proper confidential record.
Article 11
Adoption and document record
Version 1.1 was prepared on October 25, 2026. This public edition presents proposed constitutional text from the revised founding handbook. It has not been represented as an adopted or executed legal instrument.
The adoption record will identify the legal church name, governing authority, notice and meeting, actual vote, required protected consents, effective date, and authorized signatures. Until adoption is completed, this document retains its proposed status.
The published record will retain the version, date, amendment history, and an accessible current edition. A later adopted instrument will identify the version it supersedes. Changes to working doctrine will preserve the source and scope of the teaching and the applicable religious review.
Document history
Version 1.1 · October 25, 2026 · Proposed public edition
Introduces the proposed church name, working doctrine, sacred commitments, permanent founding-family provisions, one-year service positions, member reporting, and community event program.