i'm starting a religion. we worship our control of our own bodies, our choice in our own destiny. hence, whenever we lift weights, get tatoos, get pierced, and, most interestingly, take drugs, we are engaging in religious worship which cannot be interfered with by law enforcement officers due to the seperation of church and state. i've been trying to come up with a name for it, and i've come up with autodeism (philosophy of self-god).

what i'm wondering is what it takes for the "g" to recognize an establishment as a legitimate religion such that our worship can be performed uninterrupted by, say, the DEA.

if anyone knows something about this, or has a better name for my religion, or wants to join, or wants to flame me, by all means reply.

thanks in advance.

I have been thinking about this for a while, after all, we already have the temple! I will be starting a thread in My God..., all contributors will be welcome. Self worship is good, but a proper theology requires a higer power. Something tells me this is not the first time this has come up on this site, to make it stick will require some tenacity. (this is in no way shitting on your idea Dopeman, but you seem fairly centered on the tattooing and piercing thing, I would like the religion we develop to be accessable to everyone, even people who choose not to alter themselves)

yea i agree and follow you on this... i have no tattoos, but piercings. um by the way, just to let ya know, atheists march DC on nov 2nd, so we (me being an atheist) wont be recongnized as second class citizens. but i will follow this new religion once it becomes fluid. drugs must be controlled in way other than law.

Sounds good, instead of raping choir boys we could make a forest of weed, shrooms and mescaline in front of our temples

I just read that again I think we do far too many drugs.

I think you have a novel idea and all, but just to let you know, there are thousands of religions/cults that are like this already...If you dig around a little on the net you may find one in your own area..You're prolly better off joining one that is already established rather than starting from scratch...One of the most widespread religions (cults?) of this sort that I know of are the 'Rainbow Family of Living Light' (popular in California)...They usually have massive get togethers and drop a ton of acid (though they'll deny this for legal reasons)...the cops have been trying to bring them down for years

[This message has been edited by Godfuck (edited 10-15-2002).]

Hey dopey---Your just going to get youself thrown in jail for trying to make the "system" look stupid and you must be one big fucking dumbass if you even thought for a second that you'd be tight enough to pull something like that off.

Disclaimer: What follows is Not meant to be a flame. It is meant to be a serious response to the post. It may seem antagonistic due to it taking a position contrary to the originator, but that is the nature of debates and is not the opening salvo in a new flame war**

quote:

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Originally posted by dopeman420:
...and, most interestingly, take drugs...

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That line right there shows it for what it really is: A thinly disguised attempt to legally do drugs, with a couple of other [admittedly cool] aspects thrown in to distract from the drug part.

Don't get me wrong: I find nothing wrong in looking for ways to legally do what shouldn't be illegal in the first place.

Of course, it might offend people who are members of real religions that. I use 'real' to mean just what you think I do. Not that I believe in any of them: I don't I just couldn't think of another term that would get just what I meant across without mudding things. So don't take 'real' to be an endorsement or even a personal validation of their 'real 'realness' [Now if that didn't just muddy things up the way I was hoping to avoid....You just can't talk about religion without muddying the waters ;-) ].

That said, I'd like to now say: It won't work.

Yes there is separation of church and State [more or less...].

But, above all else is the obvious fact that the people who make up the Government are not [on the whole and despite how much we like to think it otherwise] completely stupid: Don't you think they would spot it for such right away?

Ignoring that for a moment, let's take a look at why it won't get saluted should you run it up the flag pole.

What you would have to do is prove [or convincingly show] that it is a religion and not just a way to skirt anti-drug laws.

You have no history of practicing such a religion, which will make it even harder.

More important, though, you would have to convince them that you use the drugs solely for spiritual enlightenment only. Any evidence of recreation use would kill things right there.

Look at the religion of the American Indians: They are legally allowed to consume peyote as part of their sacred sacraments but only in the context of the religion.

They can't just 'pop a button' when ever it strikes their fancy.

Nor can anyone just claim to be part of that religion: You must show either that it is part of your heritage or you must really convince the Government andelders of a branch of the church that you truly wish to become a member and not because you want to take peyote.

So, really, it does look good on paper, but in reality it just won't work.

Besides: Don't you think others have tried the same thing over the years?

quote:

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...we are engaging in religious worship which cannot be interfered with by law enforcement officers due to the separation of church and state.

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See above about proving that you are and not just using it as a thinly veiled attempt at skirting the law.

Again, though, it was a good thought and shows you can engage in creative thinking [and that is not sarcasm]


**: It may seem silly to put up such a disclaimer as I did up top.

But with the current situation I want to make things better by posting information and constructive replies, and keep the flames out.

So I am going to extra lengths to make sure that people know that I am not writing as a flame right at the start.

Oh, some may still fire one off back at me; I'm hoping to prevent those that would hit the reply button to send off a response flame as soon as they perceive they're being flamed.


Okay, so I over react; shoot me ;-) ]

"God can be found in LSD"
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/info/info.html

haha to clarify, yes, it is meant as a way to skirt around the law. the piercings, tattoos, etc. are just extraneous examples that i threw in as examples of other things that could be construed as exercising one's right to do whatever they want with his or her body. and yes, i realize that it won't work. but wouldn't it be cool if it did?

A large portion of the American population (too large if you ask me) consists of people that object to drug use and will blindly fight for such beliefs to thier death. They disregard thier rights as well as the rights of others to establish what they think is right. But the truth is: There isn't a right or wrong. It is a matter of opinion, and this truth is often overlooked. I would love to be apart of a religion which supports our right to make our own choices, so long as those choices do not effect another negatively. Hope I didn't ramble to badly...