Anthropocentrism also corrupts Gnosticism:
Like their ancient ancestors, contemporary Mandaeans revere John the Baptist and consider baptism the most important of their religious rituals. Hadi Mizban/AP In March 2021 Pope Francis became the...
the Mandaeans. Also called Sabians, they are followers of the last Gnostic religion to survive continuously from ancient times down to the present day.
Gnostic religions view the material world as the product of a mistake in the heavenly realm, the creation of one or more inferior divine beings rather than the supreme God. Gnosticism also emphasizes that human beings can become aware of this and prepare their souls to escape from under the influence of the malevolent spiritual forces that created and rule this realm, so that when they die they can ascend to the good realm that lies beyond them.
If you truly believe the material world is evil, how can you exclude non-humans from escaping? If you believe the Demiurge created the material world in order to allow humans to enjoy oppressing non-humans, either you accept the Demiurge's plan and hence do not seek to escape at all, or reject the Demiurge's plan and hence understand that non-humans also need to escape. These are the only two intellectually consistent positions (though only the latter is ethical). But to want to escape yet then think that escaping is for humans only doesn't even make sense.
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