November 19, 2004

There's a New Kid on the Block

I have been working a LOT lately with the Church of Reality web site. The Titles and Terminology page in particular:

http://www.churchofreality.org/terms.htm

I have doubled the number of definitions and I hav included far more detailed explanations of the Terms. But I have included new concepts not found in any other religion. These new concepts include terminology for understanding cult behaviour. I have included a number of tests and examples for people to determine if that are in a cult. For example - if you are "one of the chosen" - you are in a cult. I have included definitions that talk about being addicted to praise and Ego Masturbation that keep people plugged into the cult mind.

The world is becoming a cult and the time has come for the CoR to step out and make itself known. Adding this new material is a step in the process. I am still on track for our first radio campaign and I am in the process of crafting the message. For those who don't know - I used to own a couple of Computer Stores about 15 years ago and radio works. I've done this before and I think I can do it again.

The plan is for the radio to be self sustaining and leverage the Church into the news media. Get some interviews on bay Area newscasts and talk shows. And hopefully the word will spread. The plan is to get noticed by the other religoins and get people talking about the name and what it means to have a reality based religion. If it accomplishes no more that that it will have a huge impact at raising the status of reality in society.

So - that's the plan. Anyone want to help make it happen I'm always looking for ideas. Mostly at this point the mission is to spread the word. There's a new kid on the block and his name is Reality - and he's here to stay.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

Posted by marc at November 19, 2004 07:45 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Marc,

Great work! There are a lot of freethinkers at morons.org who would probably be interested in the Church of Reality.

If you're not familiar with it, you may want to check it out and let folks there know about it.

Anselm

Posted by: anselm at November 21, 2004 10:52 PM

Marc, I appreciate your efforts. With religions running amok politically, there needs to be a countervailing force of rationality. I have long thought that if people had a greater understanding of what science has brought to light in the way life functions, they could find that enough of a "miracle" - and appreciate their own life and the life of others to a greater extent. Thanks for you good efforts.

Posted by: Cynthia Allaire at November 23, 2004 12:31 AM

I think as Liberals, we are seeking to shun something that we shouldn't. Zogby ran a poll after the election about one's self-proclaimed spirituality and returned some rather interesting results. Namely:

1. Role of Relig/Spirit in your life:
Very important 48.8%
Somewhat important 29.9%
Not that important 11.4%
Not at all important 9.5%
NS 0.5%

4. How important faith/values in deciding your vote for President:
Very important 42.7%
Somewhat important 23.4%
Not that important 12.8%
Not at all important 19.9%
NS 0.1%


9.During campaign did you see/hear messages from:
Religious conservatives 34.3%
Relig liberals 0.8%
Both 37.0%
Other relig groups 1.3%
Neither 21.4%
NS 5.2%

This scares me for two reasons. The first is that as democrats or progressives, we cannot turn our back on religion or we will never again win an election. When religion plays an important role in 78.7% of the population's life and directly affects 66.1% of people's choice for a president, it is something that we must address. Obviously the deist founders of our country are spinning in their graves right now, but as religion continues to influence people's lives so exorbitantly we must find a way to deal with it. Remember this isn't the first time in American history that religion played a large part in politics, so it probably won't be the last.

The other thing that worries me is less than 1% said they heard the voices of religious liberals, 34% said religious conservatives, but 37% said both. If there truely was a presence from both sides more than 0.8% should have identified religious liberals. It is impossible to have a statistic that so disprotionately favors one side, yet have an intersection between the two. This in itself says to me that 37% of the country is in disillusion and 21.4%- who said neither- are completely ignoring the obvious. We can't fall into that 21%

I do believe that focusing on reality in a time of religious zealousness is appropriate, but I don't think trying to alienate such a large percentage of the electorate will have any good effects. I grew up a Lutheran and when I was in highschool got grief from people with other religious values for my own. This really helped shape my impressions of these other, basically cults. We need to be tolerant of these people, so that their religious ardor becomes the question and not our compassion.

Posted by: M.Wills at November 23, 2004 07:13 AM
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