March 29, 2006

Pregnant Fetuses?

Figure this one out. A fetus pregnant with another fetus? This will drive the anti-abortion whackos nuts.


Posted by marc at 08:21 AM | Comments (1)

March 28, 2006

Life in san Francisco vs. Afghanistan

In San Francisco people get stoned and have sex. In Afghanistan people have sex and get stoned.

Posted by marc at 12:05 PM | Comments (1)

March 23, 2006

Is this a Victory? Where is the Outrage?

Letter to the Editor

Sometimes it's easier to tell what isn't a victory than what is a victory. The current government of Afghanistan has a constitution that says anyone converting from Islam to Christianity is to be put to death. That ny friends is NOT a victory. Bush says that he is deeply troubled that Christians can be executed for their faith. I was expecting Bush to be outraged rather than just troubled because after all, he is a Christian, isn't he?

Posted by marc at 05:32 PM | Comments (3)

I thought we liberated Afghanistan?

Letter to the Editor

I thought Afghanistan was liberated. I thought we won the war there, gave them freedom and democracy, and that victory there had been achieved. Now we find out that under their laws that a person can get the death penalty for merely being a Christian. Under the new Afghan constitution being a Christian is a death penalty offense. How is it that we can liberate a country and have them bless killing Christians in their Constitution? Is this what we sent our Christian soldiers there to fight for? I'm an Atheist and this even offends me! Only Bush and his ilk could call this a victory.

Posted by marc at 08:24 AM | Comments (3)

March 21, 2006

Impeachment will bring troops home sooner

Letter to the Editor

President Bush said today that it will be up to a future president to bring the troops home. So I think we should impeach him and bring the troops home 2 years sooner. Is there going to be anything left of America if we don't accept the fact that our president is a failure? Impeach Bush Now!

Posted by marc at 09:17 PM | Comments (1)

Church of Reality requests IRS Exemption for Privacy

Dear news organization,

I - marc Perkel - Founder of the Church of Reality send the following email to the membership of the church asking them to write the IRS to ask for a religious exemption to not allow our tax returns to be sold to marketers. The Church cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act anking that its Sacred Principle of Privacy be respected. Here is the letter:

Dear Church of Reality Members,

I just read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer about an IRS plan to allow the accounting firms that do your tax returns to sell them to marketing firms. Just when you think nothing more can shock you, they take it to a new level. Here's the article, you read the story.

Thanks to dvorak.org for the link.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14147002.htm

Disclosure of personal information such as one's tax forms is in direct violation of the Sacred Principle of Privacy and undermines the concept that we own ourselves and that our tax information is not to be marketed. Our information is something that it ours and I think I speak for everyone when I say that none of us want marketers calling our home phones while looking at our tax returns trying to scam us.

Last month the US Supreme Court upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which allowed a religion to use a Schedule 1 drug in a religious ceremony. The case is /Gonzales v. O Centro. /The decision upheld that the federal government cannot impose a "substantial burden" on an individual's or group's free exercise of religion unless the burden: "(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and (2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest."

I am declaring by edict that the marketing of our Sacred Principle of Privacy and that such disclosure imposes a substantial burden on our free exercise of our religious beliefs. Such a ruling violates use to the core of our being. We also contend that the government has no compelling interest in allowing accountants to market our personal information to scammers. So, in light of the RFRA we demand an exemption for members of the Church of Reality to prohibit anyone from disclosing any of our members information to anyone.

So - here's what I want you all to do if you can find a little time. I want as many people as possible to write a letter to the IRS stating that you are a Realist and that you want them to make a ruling exempting Realists from any regulation that involved tax return disclosure. I don't know how many letters it will take but the more the better.

The other think I need done is that this message should be posted in as many places on the web as possible. I want it to reach new people who didn't realize that they were already Realists and that they are entitled to privacy.

Who does this apply to? Who is a Realist? What does it take to be a member of the Church of Reality? Well, you may already be a Realist if you accept the axiom of our religion. Do you believe in reality? are you willing to make a religious commitment to believing in reality the way it really is? Is reality important in your life? Is it so important that you often tell your friends that they should take reality into consideration when making their important life decisions? If you answered Yes to these questions then you are a Realist and welcome to the real world! You are now entitled to assert the Sacred Principle of Privacy and tell the IRS that you support the exemption.

To write the IRS send a snail mail to this address:

CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG-137243-02)
Room 5203
Internal Revenue Service, Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station, Washington, D.C. 20044

Write the letter in your own words, but feel free to use anything in this email or from the article it links to. One of you might come up with a better letter than me and these letters shouldn't be just copies of the same thing. The reason I think this will work is that the folks at the IRS probably don't want to do it either and need a good reason to say they can't. This letter gives them that good reason. This idea is so stupid that it can only come from one place.

And - spread it around the web. I think there are a lot of Realists out there who want their privact protected.

This has a good chance of making a difference. Your email worked last time with Zogby. I noticed on the last survey I get that it included Atheist/Realist/Humanist as one of the choices. We are now at least worthy of being counted.

In other news, I have significantly expanded the "Why we are Different" section.
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/different/

And - added some new fun vocabulary, Futurism vs. Dogmatism!
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/terminology/terminology/dogmatist.html

Made significant progress on the Self Ownership section:
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/self_ownership/

So - feedback appreciated as always.


Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

San Bruno California
866-666-3211
marc@perkel.com
03/21/2006

Posted by marc at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

March 20, 2006

New Video Seriously Questions 9-11 building colapse


Was the world trade center building destroyed by the plane crashes or were they blown up? I just cam across this video that is very pursuasive raising the question if this wasn't yet another Bush plot. The things that got me in particular were:

1) The center support columns sholdn't have collapsed even if the building pancaked.
2) The third building that collapsed that wasn't hit by a jet totally looks like it was being blown up.
3) No other skyscrapers have ever collapsed from fire.

I'm still in denial and the only thing that heeps me from believing it is denial or that I'm somehow being suckered. You watch it and see what you think.

Posted by marc at 06:36 PM | Comments (14)

March 19, 2006

We lost the war

Letter to the Editor

We can pretend that we are winning in Iraq but we have already lost the war. The reason is that there is no insurgency. Iraq is in a civil war and the own way we can win the war is to defeat the people who we are trying to liberate. You can't win a war when you don't know who the enemy is. And who is the enemy? Bush is America's enemy.

Posted by marc at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2006

CNN Covers up War Protest for Bush Administration

CNN is running stories about the war protest on the 3rd aniversary of the Bush occupation of Iraq. The ran a 30 second story mentioning only a few cities in other countries and nothing about any protest in America. So when hundreds of thousands of Americans gather to protest the occupation and CNN refuses to cover it, are they really a news agency? I don't think so. CNN is controlled by the Bush administration and won't cover Americans protesting the war.

NBC was even worse. Coverage lasted 10 seconds. They did memtion New York protests but said basically nothing. NBC is also clearly Bush's whore.

Posted by marc at 05:23 PM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2006

Republicans continure borrow and spend orgy

Letter to the Editor

The Republicans are about to vote again to increase the national debt, this time to 9 trillion dollars or $30,000 for every man, woman, child, and illegal immigrant in America. It's like having your credit card stoled by Uncle Sam and he charges $30,000 and sticks you with the bill. I'm old enough to remember when Republicans used words like "Balanced Budget Amendment" and "Paying off the National Debt" but concepts like that are now as outdated as the 4th Amendment and Civil Liberties.

This is the 4th time that Bush has increased the debt limit since he stole the election and one of these days the Middle East Arabs and the Communist Chinese are going to come knocking wanting us to pay back the money we borrowed, with interest. And on that day Freedom, Democracy and Government of the People will cease to exist as well. Everything that America stands for will be gone. We are a nation in denial. We have turned our backs on reality.


Posted by marc at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2006

Church of Reality is a Religion of Courage

Dear Church of Reality Members,

I have been giving a lot of thought to issues regarding when to speak out against something and when to be silent and I believe that the Church of Reality is a religion that must speak out even if there are risks involved in speaking out. It's interesting that when you write a set of sacred principles that it is in those principles that the answer lies.

The Church of Reality is a religion about reality and if we are afraid to speak the truth when speaking the truth is necessary then what are we? We are nothing. We would be Realists in name only. I believe that true wisdom comes from courage and that since we have a Sacred Principle of Courage that we can not afford the luxury of keeping our mouth's shut while extreme fundamentalism takes control of the world.

I found an interesting web site on Islam that nails it. The scary part is that what they say there is true and one only need to look at the pictures to see that there are states of human deevolution that are worse that extinction. We absolutely must never let a religion like this be allowed to control the world through terrorism. Islam is not a religion of peace and love and one need mot look any farther than their prophet to understand why. What you do is what you believe and all I see from the Muslim world is hate, violence, murder, torture, and they must never be allowed to win.

I was raised Jewish, barely, but one of the things I remember as a child was seeing people with numbers tattooed on their forearm from Hitler's concentration camps, and that is something that stuck with me. We are living in a world where that could happen again unless we Realists commit ourselves to ensuring that we will make sure it doesn't. I'm not prepared to count on the Jews to do that job considering their own problems with violence. And if I don't mention Christians here it's not that I haven't forgot them. They too have lost their minds and are a threat to the future of the human race. We as Realists can not allow either one of them to start world war 3 and wipe out our futures.

Back to Muslims. I found this web site and it moves me.

Faith freedom

Especially this song called Islam is not for me:

I personally am strongly moved over issues of the oppression of women. We live in a world where women are taught to be slaves to their Islamic and Christian husbands. The Prophet Mohamed is a child rapist. He married a 6 year old girl, but waited till she was 9 before he "consummated the marriage". I don't care who you are or what time or culture you live in, sex with a 9 year old girl is just plain wrong. It absolutely can not be justified under and conditions that I can think of. but because their holy prophet did it it sets an example that is still being followed today. 9 year old girls are still being raped. Women are still being stoned to death and hanged. Men are being tortured and murdered and over what? That we draw cartoons about the molester? And we are supposed to allow that because of sensitivity to their culture and religious beliefs? I don't think so!

Yes it is true that Muslims have been abused by other cultures. They have been tortured and killed and are angry about it. But as Sam Harris pointed out, Buddhists have also been tortured and killed, but they aren't going around expressing their hatred by the mass slaughter of innocent people. So there is a difference between Buddhism and Islam and Buddhism is clearly superior when it comes to matter of peace. Something that we should learn from ourselves.

I have decided that for myself that I am going to speak out clearly and without fear about the injustices of the world, even if it gets me in trouble. I believe that fear is a luxury that I can not afford and that I am actually serious about our principles and our missions and that we have a duty to transform the world into the proverbial "Garden of Eden" and that I believe that it is achievable.

One think to remember. They are not afraid to call us non-believers infidels and to declare that we deserve death and that we are intrinsically evil, have no value, and that we are going to be punished by burning forever in Hell to pay for the sin of having a wrong opinion abut the existence of the invisible cloud being. So I'm not strongly motivated to respect their religious sensitivities and offend them by suggestion that stoning a woman to death for a chastity violation is barbaric.

I haven't determined how I'm going to proceed but I have decided that the Church of Reality should represent a position of strength and wisdom and that I am not going to let the fear that some crazy Muslim is going to kill me someday because of my cultural insensitivity.

Anyhow - I just felt motivated to say that and if it sounds like megalomania - we'll no one's perfect.

Let us dream the dream of a better tomorrow, and make it happen.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

Posted by marc at 11:36 PM | Comments (9)

Bush's Homeland Security Plan - Pray Nothing Happens

Once churches get hooked on the govrnment money then the government will control the churches. Then when Hillary gets elected we'll see how happy they are after selling their souls to Uncle Sam.

Executive Order: Responsibilities of the Department of Homeland Security with Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to help the Federal Government coordinate a national effort to expand opportunities for faith-based and other community organizations and to strengthen their capacity to better meet America's social and community needs, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Establishment of a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security.

(a) The Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) shall establish within the Department of Homeland Security (Department) a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (Center).

(b) The Center shall be supervised by a Director appointed by Secretary. The Secretary shall consult with the Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (WHOFBCI Director) prior to making such appointment.

(c) The Department shall provide the Center with appropriate staff, administrative support, and other resources to meet its responsibilities under this order.

(d) The Center shall begin operations no later than 45 days from the date of this order.

Sec. 2. Purpose of Center. The purpose of the Center shall be to coordinate agency efforts to eliminate regulatory, contracting, and other programmatic obstacles to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the provision of social and community services.

Sec. 3. Responsibilities of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. In carrying out the purpose set forth in section 2 of this order, the Center shall:

(a) conduct, in coordination with the WHOFBCI Director, a department-wide audit to identify all existing barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the delivery of social and community services by the Department, including but not limited to regulations, rules, orders, procure-ment, and other internal policies and practices, and outreach activities that unlawfully discriminate against, or otherwise discourage or disadvantage the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in Federal programs;

(b) coordinate a comprehensive departmental effort to incorporate faith-based and other community organizations in Department programs and initiatives to the greatest extent possible;

(c) propose initiatives to remove barriers identified pursuant to section 3(a) of this order, including but not limited to reform of regulations, procurement, and other internal policies and practices, and outreach activities;

(d) propose the development of innovative pilot and demonstration programs to increase the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in Federal as well as State and local initiatives; and

(e) develop and coordinate Departmental outreach efforts to disseminate information more effectively to faith-based and other community organizations with respect to programming changes, contracting opportunities, and other agency initiatives, including but not limited to Web and Internet resources.

Sec. 4. Reporting Requirements.

(a) Report. Not later than 180 days from the date of this order and annually thereafter, the Center shall prepare and submit a report to the WHOFBCI Director.

(b) Contents. The report shall include a description of the Department's efforts in carrying out its responsibilities under this order, including but not limited to:

(i) a comprehensive analysis of the barriers to the full participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the delivery of social and community services identified pursuant to section 3(a) of this order and the proposed strategies to eliminate those barriers; and

(ii) a summary of the technical assistance and other information that will be available to faith-based and other community organizations regarding the program activities of the agency and the preparation of applications or proposals for grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and procurement.

(c) Performance Indicators. The first report shall include annual performance indicators and measurable objectives for Departmental action. Each report filed thereafter shall measure the Department's performance against the objectives set forth in the initial report.

Sec. 5. Responsibilities of the Secretary. The Secretary shall:

(a) designate an employee within the department to serve as the liaison and point of contact with the WHOFBCI Director; and

(b) cooperate with the WHOFBCI Director and provide such information, support, and assistance to the WHOFBCI Director as requested to implement this order.

Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented subject to the availability of appropriations and to the extent permitted by law.

(b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

March 7, 2006.

Posted by marc at 10:25 PM | Comments (1)

Church of Reality Challenges other Religions on War

PRESS RELEASE:
Contact: Marc Perkel - marc@perkel.com
Release Date: 03-10-2006

Church of Reality Challenges other Religions on Morality

The Church of Reality today issues a challenge to other religions on the issue of ethics and morality. We live in a world where the hatred among religions grows daily between Christianity and Islam and the time has come to put a stop to it. Both sides claiming the superior moral position and to represent the word of God while taking up arms and going to war with no concern for the costs to civilization and the future of the human race. Both religions claim divine inspiration from the same source but as an outside observer we do not see it. We believe that what you do represents what you believe and if you are dishonest and you are violent then that is what you are and that is what you believe.

Both religions claim to be a religion of peace yet neither side has not the will nor the divine inspiration to make peace happen. If your religions truly have divine inspiration and guidance then one can only conclude that your gods are failures. On the other hand if your gods actually do represent love and peace then your religions do disservice to your creator.

It is logical therefore t assume that the superior religion would be the one who wins based upon the nature of the gods that you believe in. Therefore our challenge is, show us your God through you and show you are the true voice of the master by winning through peace and not by war. According to your own holy books when you turn to war over peace and when you put hate before love you are violating the very core principles that you claim that God stands for. Therefore you can not win a religious war by doing the opposite of what you claim God wants you to do.

We in the Church of Reality are Atheists. We look at your behavior and we conclude that if a God does exist that you are not in touch with it. We are committed to believing in whatever is real. We would believe in God if God were real. Your religions claim that you have a personal relationship with God and that you communicate with God directly and that God transforms you into something that reflects its nature. So we say, show us the fruits of that transformation. We ask you if your God is powerful enough to erase the hatred from your heart and to bring peace through each of you and to stop the violence. If your God is so weak that his followers can't stop killing, then you aren't going to convert and Realists to your religions.

We in the Church of Reality also believe, "By their fruits you shall know them." So if you are filled with the spirit of the Lord then lets see if you can shine the light of God's peace and love and end the wars.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

Posted by marc at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)

Fight for what Freedom?

Letter to the Editor

There is no longer a reason for people to sign up for the military to defend America's freedom. Now that Bush has signed the Patriot Act we no longer have any freedom to fight for.

Posted by marc at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

They're monitoring Everyone's Banking Activities Now

From the town where I used to live, Springfield Missouri, the home of the Patriot Act, is this report from TV station KY3 abut bank spying. I call Springfield Missouri the home of the Patriot Act because that's where John Ashcroft and Roy Blunt are from and the headquarters of the Assembly of God Church who all want total government control of everything. Here's the story:

SPRINGFIELD -- The revised Patriot Act just passed by Congress has provisions that might bring your banking practices under scrutiny. The checks you write and the deposits you make are all are under a microscope as a way to try to keep America safe from terrorists.

"We're automatically at high risk,” said Empire Bank vice president Cindy Harding, a fraud investigator.

Banking with a federally insured bank means you're now being monitored under the Patriot Act.

"Everybody in southwest Missouri, in Springfield, in Christian County, is considered high risk because it’s designated like that by the feds for drug trafficking,” said Harding.

Under the new Patriot Act, Harding says, most banks will have to have one person working full time to monitor customers and their money.

"They risk assess all of our customers as to what is the likelihood they could be involved in terrorist financing and money laundering,” she said.

Each and every customer will be classified based on his or her perceived risk threat: low, medium or high risk.

"Then we have to monitor everybody’s accounts to make sure they stay within the bounds of what was determined would be normal activity,” said Harding.

Certain companies and certain people will draw more scrutiny.

"Any cash intensive business, restaurant, convenience store, gas station," she said. "Doctors, lawyers, Accountants."

If a large amount of cash appears in an account, or a large amount of money is moving through an account, that could trigger concern

"If we can't determine why, we're required to fill out a suspicious activity report," said Harding.

That report contains a customer’s personal information and what he or she is suspected of doing. The bank is also forbidden under the Patriot Act to tell a customer that he or she was flagged. The information is then turned over to federal investigators.

In this monitoring, you can look at banks as the middlemen. They're being monitored, too.

"The feds look at us,” said Harding. “They’re monitoring everyone's activity."

Posted by marc at 08:51 AM | Comments (1)

March 07, 2006

Superman is not dead!

Letter to the Editor

Today marks the passing of Dana Reeve, wife of Christopher Reeve who played Superman in the movies, but who real story started years later when a horseback riding accident left him paralyzed. Yesterday she died of lung cancer at the age of 44.

Dana and Christopher Reeve leaved behind a story of love, loyalty, courage, and taking adversity and turning it into advantage. They took a situation that might otherwise have been a tragedy and used it to bring them closer to each other and to be an example of not only recovering but thriving. Together they raised awareness of the plight of the paralyzed and formed an organization to fund research and became a voice for promoting stem cells as a way to regenerate spinal nerve tissue.

Although Dana and Christopher are gone as individuals their work and their foundation live on. Their legend is part of the Tree of Knowledge and they live as an example of what people can accomplish in the short amount of time we exist in reality. Their lives inspires us to live the kind of lives worthy of being remembered. Their accomplishments are not only still alive, but they leave something for the rest of us to build upon. Their lives so us that even in the absence of an afterlife that we are not without some measure of immortality. All of us have the opportunity to leave behind part of ourselves if we choose to live the kind of life worth remembering as Dana and Christopher have.

Posted by marc at 05:38 PM | Comments (2)

March 06, 2006

South Dakota's Fetus Fetish

Letter to the Editor

I agree with the Governor of South Dakota when he says, "In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society." What I don't agree with is that a fetus is a member of society. The legislature of South Dakota is insincere and is acting out a fetus fetish to make themselves feel morally superior rather than focusing their scarce resources on child care for working mothers, education, and medical care for children. The worst kind of morality is faked morality and I am wholly unimpressed. Religions people who merely pose as moral to make themselves feel self important drive people away from religion.

Posted by marc at 01:33 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2006

Forcing women to bear the children of their rapist is wrong

Letter to the Editor

The State of South Dakota has passed a law that prohibits all abortions with no exceptions for rape or incest. What this means is if a woman is raped she is forced by the State to bear the child of the rapist against her will. And this is touted but South Dakota as "moral"? I don't think so. Some of us have a different standard of what is right and wrong and my values say that it is fundamentally wrong to force the victims of rapists to bear the children of their attacker.

Posted by marc at 08:26 PM | Comments (1)

March 03, 2006

Church of Reality demands religious exception to South Dakota Abortion Ban Law

PRESS RELEASE:

TITLE: Church of Reality demands religious exception to South Dakota Abortion Ban Law
DATE: 03-03-2006
CONTACT: Marc Perkel - marc@perkel.com

Does the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protect the Church of Reality from South Dakota's abortion ban?

The Church of Reality has today issued an edict declaring that South Dakota's ban on abortions violates the rights of it's members to practice their religion and calls upon the state to provide an exception to the law for members of the Church of Reality to be able to get abortions, and to provide immunity from prosecution to health care professionals who would provide abortions to church members.

The Church of Reality has taken a strong pro choice position when it comes to abortion declaring that a woman has an absolute right to choose not to reproduce if they don't want to. "This abortion ban is in direct conflict with several of our Sacred Principles.", declares Marc Perkel, the First One of the Church of Reality. "Our religious freedom is at stake here."

On February 21st the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act allowing a religion to use a prohibited drug Hoasca, a hallucinogen containing DMT, a Schedule 1 drug prohibited by federal law under the Controlled Substances Act. This ruling declared that religious freedom take president over law in cases what the law creates a "substantial burden" on a "sincerely held religious belief". Under the RFRA the government has to demonstrate a "compelling government interest" in order to overcome the substantial burden test. This ruling opened the door to allow the Church of Reality to challenge the State of South Dakota on the basis that this law is unconstitutional as applied to members of the Church of Reality and health care workers who would provide abortion services to church members.

"We are starting the process today by putting South Dakota on notice and asking for them to voluntarily cooperate with us to provide our membership with a religious exemption to this law. If they fail to comply, we will see them in court."

The edict can be found at:
http://www.churchofreality.org/wisdom/current_event_edicts/

====================

South Dakota Aborting Law Infringes on Religious Freedom of Realists

Edict Date: 03-03-2006

The decision of the State of South Dakota to ban all abortions puts a substantial burden on the sincerely held beliefs of the Church of Reality which believes that a woman has an absolute right to and early term abortion without any outside restrictions. The right of a woman to control her own reproduction is vital to the advancement of society which is necessary to advance the cause of exploring reality the way it reality is.

This law violates several of the Sacred Principles including but not limited to, the Principle of Freedom, Principle of Privacy, Principle of Positive Evolution, Principle of Inclusiveness, Principle of Compassion, Principle of Environmentalism, Personal Responsibility and the Principle of Wisdom. We can not grow as a society where the government can command our women to bear children against their will. We are a fiercely independent and individualistic religion that places great sanctity on the value of personal choice which includes one of the most personal of all decisions, the decision of bearing children.

We reject the patriarchal view of other religions that the male dominated ruling sex should be allowed to decide to compel women to bear children against their will. We believe that one's status in society is not enhanced or diminished by their sex. Women and men are equal in the church of Reality.

We in the Church of Reality recognize that overpopulation of the planet is a serious threat to the integrity of human civilization and that overpopulation is worsened when women are compelled to bear children against their will.

We reject the notion that pregnancy is God's way of punishing teenage girls for chastity violations.

We believe that a person has the right to control their own lives and make their own choices even if those choices are considered to be clearly wrong choices. One has the right to live the life they choose to live and to enjoy and suffer the consequences of their decisions. We hold these personal decisions to be private and not a matter that requires any justification or explanation to society.

We take the position that a person begins their existence and has the rights of a human being at live birth. We reject that personhood and personal rights begin at conception. We in fact recognize that the two cells that make up a person are alive before conception and that conception is one of many steps necessary to produce a person and has no more significance that any other necessary step.

In particular, the South Dakota law prohibits all abortions even in cases of rape or incest. Therefore if a father rapes his daughter and impregnates her, she is forced to bear his child under the law. We in the Church of Reality finds this to be repulsive. Not only is the rape victim who would seek and abortion criminalized, but the doctor who provided the abortion would be criminalized as well.

Pursuant to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and consistent with the Supreme Court decision upholding the right to religious freedom, I Marc Perkel, as the highest authority of Church of Reality law do hereby declare and decree by edict the following:

1. That the Church of Reality finds that the South Dakota Abortion Ban is repulsive, unethical, and immoral.

2. That it infringes upon our freedom of religion under the First Amendment and places a substantial burden on our sincerely held religious belief in the right of women to choose to have abortions.

3. That the law criminalizes abortion providers from providing abortions services cutting off our female member's ability to legally obtain an abortion.

4. That it is our position that the State of South Dakota has no compelling government interest in prohibiting abortions and therefore the rights of Realists to get Abortions in South Dakota take precedent over South Dakota law.

We therefore demand that the State of South Dakota make provisions in their law enforcement system to allow members of the Church of Reality to legally obtain abortions and to provide doctors and other health care professionals immunity from prosecution for providing abortion services to Realists.

Posted by marc at 11:36 AM | Comments (2)