Reality is our God
Science is our Bible
Evidence is our Scripture
Big History is our Creation Story
Ecology is our Theology
Integrity is our Salvation
Positive Evolution is our Mission

The Church of Reality is based upon the Authority of Evidence
rather than the Authority of Scripture

The Church of Reality is about making a religious commitment to the pursuit of the understanding of Reality as it really is.

We are about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Reality!

We are of One Planet - we are all here together - and we are committed to making the future better than it is today. We are committed to making sure humanity evolves in a positive direction.

What is Reality?
Reality is that which when you stop believing in it - it doesn't go away. ~ Philip K. Dick

“A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.” ~ Carl Sagan

The Sacred Missions of the Church of Reality are:

1. We Believe in Reality - the Way It Really Is
2. We Spread the Sacred Message - Reality
3. We Choose the Sacred Direction - Forward
4. We Honor the Tree of Knowledge
5. We Ask the Sacred Moral Question - What Is Good
6. We Issue the Sacred Challenge
7. We Are Activists - We Make It Happen
8. We Unite Religion and Reality

Our name is our mission. We are the Church of Reality

Just as a whale is a mammal that looks like a fish, we are a religion that looks like science.

• Reality Based Religion - Every religion has a basis. Most have some holy text which describes a deity and miracles and grand stories and commandments and such. These religions are "faith based" and you are generally required to accept it without proof. The Church of Reality is a reality based religion and it is based on what is real. A religion that is based primarily on the commitment to the pursuit of reality the way it really is represents a new world view. We call it Accepting the Truth. It offers a religious choice that few other religions offers.


• Fundamental Commitment to Real Reality - The Church of Reality is a fundamentalist religion that is dedicated to an absolute loyalty to the pursuit of real reality the way it really is. Many religions are reality friendly but allow for individual opinion to be superior to objective observation. As Fundamental Realists we take a more humble position about our understanding of reality by assuming that everything we believe is either wrong or at least incomplete and can be improved. We are after all a highly limited biological computer that injects a lot of ego noise into our perception of the universe.
  
  Reality is not a human construct that becomes whatever we believe it is. Humanity is a reality construct and we become what reality deems us to be. Through us reality becomes aware of its own existence. Our relationship to the real world is fascinating beyond belief and that any time we let our egos obscure pure reality we cheat ourselves out of the holy grail of the possibility of perfect understanding. It is a quest beyond achievement, yet something that we commit ourselves to accomplish. If humanity spent and infinite amount of time pursuing pure reality and stayed true to the purity of the quest, then after an infinite amount of time we might be successful. If however we allow our ego to make our opinion more important than reality, then even in infinite time we will fail to achieve the purpose and cheat ourselves out of the ultimate conquest. To become one with the real world.
  
  This is the Church of Reality, not the Church of Reality-ish Belief. The name is the mission. There are people who think reality is boring, but those people are not Realists. There is nothing more exciting to us than the pursuit of reality the way it really is.


• A Religion that Makes Sense - Reality itself has consistency. It all fits together. It is something that makes sense. Reality is testable. It invites logic. The Church of Reality is a mirror of reality itself and (if we stay true to our missions) has the consistent properties of reality. The world view of Realism doesn't conflict with what we observe in reality itself. It doesn't require that you have to cheat on the objective level to explain your beliefs. It doesn't rely on magic and miracles or omnipotent deities who can operate outside the bounds of science. We don't ask you to suspend rationality. We don't ask you to accept information that can not be questioned. Realism makes the inner scientist smile.


• Humanity based Religion - You can't explore without an explorer. Who is the explorer? We are. At least that's the way it is on this little piece of dust in the universe that we call Mother Earth. As we humans progress forward in our evolution from what we were to what we will become we increase our abilities to explore reality the way it really is. Thus the Church of Reality is the exploration of reality by humans, and the positive evolution of humanity is necessary for progress to be made. The exploration of reality and the progress of humanity are the same thing.


• Realism is a Discipline - Our mind is a tool. It's not a very good tool, but it's all we have to work with, so the better we learn how to use it, the more progress we will make. Realism is the understanding of understanding. How do we rise beyond self delusion? How do we sharpen our minds? How do we come up with new innovative ideas and expand the horizon of understanding? How do we network with other minds to increase our collective mental abilities? We learn how to see through the fog. We try to understand ourselves and each other so that we can become the tools of exploration that we need to be in order to increase the sum total of human understanding. To grow the Tree of Knowledge. In order to do this we adhere to the disciplines of science.


• Doubt Based Religion - Most religions are fiction based and require you to accept on "faith" without question that their premise for existing is true. The Church of Reality takes the opposite point of view. We are a doubt based religion believing that truth will stand the test of scrutiny and that the questioning of everything is a required process for discerning what is really real from that which is just bullshit. In our religion there is nothing that can not be questioned. We think faith is something you earn by accepting doubt and proving that you are trustworthy. We think that anything that you are required to believe without scrutiny should be considered to be false.


• Upgraded Religion - The Church of Reality is more like a software upgrade for both Atheism and all other religions. It's more accurate to see us as an update rather than a conversion.
  
  Atheism is focused on the Biblical deity and Atheism is ultimately about nothing. Realism, in contrast, is about everything. Atheism doesn't give any guidance as to the meaning of meaning or what we are supposed to do when we wake up in the morning.
  
  All religions are about how to live in the world. Where does right and wrong come from? How did we come to be? What is our purpose? But the answers are usually based on old teachings that become more and more obsolete with each passing year.
  
  The Church of Reality addresses these question deriving its answers through logic and science. Meaning actually does have meaning and there is right and wrong and there's formulas for determining what right and wrong are. (or at least a probability spectrum)
  
  
• Tree of Knowledge - Although this name has been used in other religions no other religion has recognized the importance of the sum total of human knowledge in a religious context. The Church of Reality embraces the growth of human knowledge as one of its axioms. Most of what we know we know collectively, not individually. In fact the sum total of human understanding is one of the key indicators of our evolutionary advancement.


• Positive Evolution - Although a brighter future in itself is not something that is new, the idea of making it the moral compass of a religion is a new concept. The Church of Reality accepts that our survival and progress is preferable to extinction and gives it a central role in church doctrine. We recognize that one can not advance the understanding of reality without the progress of society. We not only have concluded that evolution is real, but realize that only in taking control of our evolution can we pursue the goal of exploring reality as it really is.


• The Sacred Direction - The Sacred Direction is forward, making the Church of Reality a Futuristic religion. Most religions are Dogmatic religions looking back to the good 'ole days starting in paradise and the future ending in destruction. In contrast we look towards the future and marvel at the possibilities of what we can learn about reality and what we can accomplish for the good of humanity by harnessing reality. Most religions look backwards in time towards what they believe is ancient wisdom. Our world view is that our best wisdom is yet to come. We believe in Futurism, not Dogmatism.



The Church of Reality focuses on the future, not the past.

• The Power of Vocabulary - The human race is linked together through a complex set of agreements that is sustained through vocabulary. Some people say that you are what you eat, or you are what you think. We think that perhaps you are what you talk about. It is our vocabulary that binds us together as a society. Words and phrases convey meaning and establish common references. These common references trigger standard thought patterns that come from our shared understanding of reality. Through language we learn who we are, how society works, and our relationships with the people around us. Language is how we connect into the social fabric of humanity. It is what defines who we are as a community. If we change that language we can change civilization. We therefore consider our Terminology to be very important and we speak in the Vocabulary of Reality.


• Intellectual Tithing - An important concept first introduced here as a religious concept is Intellectual Tithing, which is the contribution of knowledge to the sum total of human understanding. Our religion recognizes the giving and the sharing of knowledge as something that is at the heart of human evolution. We are creative and we share our ideas for the benefit of everyone as they share their ideas with us for our benefit. The ideas that we contribute to humanity becomes our immortal legacy if we do anything worth being remembered for. The sharing of ideas is like a holy sacrament in the Church of Reality.



Lawrence Krauss The difference between Science and Faith

• Faith - The Church of Reality is not a faith based religion. We are a doubt based religion. Faith is actually prohibited and doubt is required in the Church of Reality. We believe that truth is purified through doubt and that anything that is required to be believed without questioning is assumed to be false. We believe that all truth will stand up to scrutiny. Because things believed by faith can not be tested there is no way to distinguish what is true from what is not true.


• Earned Trust - The Church of Reality takes a strong position against "blind faith" and says that if one is expecting to be believed that they have to earn it by being trustworthy and accepting scrutiny. Faith that is required without proof or where doubt is prohibited is considered to be bullshit. Most of what we know is based on trusting relationships with people and organizations who have developed a reputation for scientific discipline.


• Vectored Answers to Important Questions - Unlike many other religions the Church of Reality doesn't answer questions but rather specifies the correct process for determining the answer. For example, the short answer to the question, "Does the Church of Reality believe in an afterlife?" is No, we don't. But the long answer is that our position represents the current consensus of the secular scientific community on the subject that they have determined through the disciplines of the scientific process. We recognize that we don't have answers to questions that no one knows, and that as our understanding of the world evolves forward that our position will reflect that evolution. Our answer to "What is Real?" is whatever free science has determined what is real.


• Communion - We don't pray together, we contemplate together to share ideas and explore the reality we all exist in. In our tradition any time two or more people gather to talk about reality, that is communion. When we talk about reality with those of other religions we are sharing communion with them.


• We are Monorealistic - Our world view is Monorealism in that we believe there is only one true reality, not multiple realities. Our reality includes all realities that are actually real and is the sum total of everything that actually exists. We contrast ourselves with the polyrealistic religions that believe in multiple realities without regard to whether or not they are actually real.


• Nothing Supernatural - The Church of Reality rejects the idea that there is anything that is supernatural, magical, or miraculous in the sense that the impossible occurs. We think that everything has a basis in science. We don't have explanations for everything because we know that there is a lot we don't know. There are things that are real that we don't yet understand, but there is nothing that happens that is outside of reality. There is only the reality we know and the reality that we don't yet know. But it's all within the scope of reality. Because nothing supernatural is real, we can guarantee that you won't go to hell.


• Artificial Intelligence Compatible - If humanity ever produces a super intelligent computer that is far smarter than we are, and that computer can rewrite its own code and goes through an existential crisis asking "What is the meaning of artificial life?", the goal of the Church of Reality is to have an answer that is so scientifically sound that the AI would conclude that we are on the right track. The Church of Reality is also a Religion for Robots.


• Free will and Agency - Our view is that we do have free will and agency and that we not only can make choices but that we actively own our story and are responsible for our choices.


• Intrinsic Value of Humanity - The Church of Reality accepts as one of our axioms that all people have intrinsic value and that we Respect the intrinsic value of ourselves and others. This is the basis for our view that we are equal citizens of one planet, that we have the intrinsic right to Self Ownership. That we consider human rights to be sacred, that all war even when necessary is fundamentally wrong. We express our love of humanity through our commitment to Positive Evolution to ensure that tomorrow is better than today. We are Realists because people are important to us.


• Self Ownership - Realists own their own lives. We don't belong to God, Jesus, or Mohammed and we are not subjects or property of the nation states we reside in. We believe in individual rights and responsibility and respecting the individual rights of others. We assert the rights to freedom and liberty, the dignity of the individual, and the assertion that the only purpose of government is to serve the population that gives it power. Self ownership includes the right to control one's life, one's death, one's own medical decisions, the right to birth control and abortions, and the right to personal privacy. Self Ownership is also a personal religious commitment for people to take control of their own lives, to think things through for themselves, and to actually exercise personal choice and make sure that their decisions are their own and not those of an oppressor.


• Human Rights - While members of most religions strongly support the human rights and the protections and freedoms that every person is entitled to, the Church of Reality has incorporated those right within the heart of our religious texts. Other religions are based on ancient texts that lacked a concept of individual liberty, self ownership, and the intrinsic value of the individual. In fact, many religious texts accept slavery and human sacrifice as normal behavior. We don't. We incorporate freedom and liberty into our religious doctrine.


• Responsibility and Accountability - Responsibility and accountability are the cornerstone of Realism. Unless a deity shows up there is no omnipotent father figure to fix our mistakes. If we screw up, we screw up. We are responsible and accountable in that we realize that we have control and that our actions have consequences. Maybe some day space aliens will show up with welfare packages but we can't count on that. We don't believe in a God that forgives our sins allowing us to go out and sin knowing that we will be forgiven. If we do something wrong then we have to live with the consequences of that. And if we do something right then we get the benefit. There aren't any outside influences that are rigging the game. We therefore accept this responsibility and aspire to live the kind of lives that we can be proud of.


• Religious Law - The Church of Reality has a very large and detailed Kernel which is the operating system of the human race. In it we assert a variety of religious rights and freedoms that we require to practice our religion. Many nations create special exception in their laws for religious practices. Because we are evolution based we take advantage of religious law to advance our cause of exploring and evangelizing reality.


• Religious Identity - The Church of Reality provides a religious identity to people who believe in reality the way it really is. Many Atheists and scientists who have lacked a religion are able now to have a religion that they can identify with so they can say what they do believe in rather than just what they don't believe in. The Church of Reality is the religion of what is real, not what is not real.


• We are Thinkers - Most religions put value in blind faith and trust and using emotions as a basis for seeking the truths of the universe. We are a doubt based religion that put value in thinking and exploring the reality around us. We think that everyone can become smarter than they are now and that thinking is good exercise for the brain. We are a religion that puts value and incorporates thinking and logic into the core of our religious doctrine. We honor innovation and invention and consider the accumulated knowledge of humanity to be sacred to us.
  
  We also think that thinking has healing powers for the mind. Whenever someone is thinking about reality it reprograms their brains away from fiction based belief to reality based belief. We want to make thinking cool again.


• Contemplation instead of Worship - Most religions come together to worship fictional deities. That becomes the cultural tie that binds their religion together. The Church of Reality uses the Sacred Contemplations to bind our religion together culturally. We explore reality together with our minds rather than stunting our mental evolution with the limitations of faith based thinking.


• We Find Solutions - The Church of Reality is a solution oriented culture. We figure out a way to make it happen. We do tech support for the human race. If a problem has a solution, we'll find it. And if there is no solution, we'll still figure something out. We are innovative and resourceful and we like being clever and accomplishing things that no one else can accomplish. Our religion, a religion based on reality, has been called an impossible task. But we are here to accomplish it in spite of whether or not it is possible because it is something that we must do, and we must be successful. Because if we can't make reality work then we're all in trouble.


• Building Bridges - The Church of Reality is not an "us vs. them" religion. We are a religion that builds bridges. We are here to help everyone else evolve in a positive direction by making reality part of the discussion. We also look for the opportunity to learn things from others to see if they have good ideas that we can adapt to improve ourselves. Some cult based religions separate themselves from other drawing lines to separate us from them. We are the opposite. We try to tear down the lines, find common ground, and view all people as us.


• Evolving Doctrine - Our religion isn't static. We have an evolving and forward looking doctrine that is expected to change and improve. That will keep us from being stuck with and aging holy book that becomes more outdated with each passing year. Our Kernel is always considered to be in development and we expect that we will make mistakes, but we are committed to correcting our mistakes as we find them.


• Conversion and Evangelizing - We do not measure our success by the growth in our membership and we are not dedicated to saving the world by converting everyone to Realism. We are a religion of ideas and a religion of the mind. We think that reality itself is a Sacred Message and it is our goal to inject reality into the human equation to help all people evolve into better people living in a better society.
  
  It is not necessary for us to get believers in fictional deities to give up their fiction. We just want to assist other religions in incorporating reality into their culture and help them focus on a positive future so that they are a more productive member of the human community that a threat to civilization. Our world view is that whenever a person is thinking about reality that they become a Realist in that moment and that the world becomes a little better place because of it. We evangelize reality by discussing reality and getting more people to think about reality more often. By taking small steps forward in the right direction the whole world gets a little better, a little bit at a time.


• Equality of Women - The Church of Reality does not force women into an unnatural role. We do not stone women to death. Women are not the property of men. Wives are not subservient to their husbands. Women are not considered to be unclean during their period. We have no requirements for chastity. Women are not required to pretend that they are something they aren't. Women are 100% equal participants in our religion and have an equal right to Own Themselves. The Church of Reality actively opposes those who would oppress women.
  
  Furthermore the Church of Reality considers the oppression of women to be morally wrong. We oppose any laws that treat men and women differently. In our world view women should have access to the same resources as men. This rights include the right to equal education, health care, the right to dress as they want, to drive cars, to go places unescorted by men, to decide reproductive issues themselves including a right to have an abortion, the right to vote, the right to server in public office, and equal protection under the law. Furthermore women are entitled to additional rights regarding pregnancy and child bearing in order to accommodate their unique needs as females.


• Guilt Free Sex - Unlike most other religions the Church of Reality has few restrictions on sex. These restrictions include sex with children, rape and other forms of forced sex, and sex that involves exploitation and behaviors that are harmful to society. Sex must be consensual. The Church of Reality has no marriage requirement so words like adultery and fornication do not apply to our religion. Sex outside of a committed relationship is only wrong to the extent that you are violating promises made and not kept. Infidelity would be an issue under honesty, and not under sexuality. Some couples choose to have multiple partners.
  
  We do not associate sex with sin. There is nothing immoral about sex outside of marriage. Marriage is not relevant in any way with respect to the morality of sex. Sex between people of the same sex is no less moral than sex between heterosexuals. Our position on sexuality is that it is a personal choice and that the individual has a right through Self Ownership to make their own sexual choices. We are therefore officially disinterested in sexual morality.


• Marriage - Traditional marriage is not part of the Church of Reality culture. The traditional institutions of marriage are historically based on deity based sexual morals and are geared towards reproducing heterosexuals only and not the needs of non-reproducing heterosexuals, late life marriages, and homosexual relationships. Much of marriage law it written around the concepts of generations and inheritance of property. Marriage used to include a lifelong commitment but most nation states have no-fault divorce laws that seem to negate the very core concept of marriage as a lifelong commitment.
  
  Many religions struggle with the issue of same sex marriage and our religion is no exception. Ultimately our answer didn't come down to the equality question, because homosexuals are fully equal in our religion, but rather do we try to fit everyone into the same mold offering a state marriage to everyone equally when state marriage laws and traditions are designed to serve only one class of citizen. Our answer is that traditional marriage offers a "one size fits all" solution and doesn't meet the needs of our membership. We therefore do not officially offer it to anyone. We will in time develop our own form of union where the individual couples can tailor their own union based on their own agreements that suit their unique relationship.


• Homosexual Relationships - Being homosexual or homosexual acts are not considered to be either immoral or sinful in the Church of Reality. Gays and lesbians are full participants in the Church of Reality. Sexual orientation is not considered to be an issue in our religion.


• Virgins - We're not obsessed with virgins or virginity. We're not really even interested in the subject. In the Church of Reality virginity is not any sort of big deal. Some people are virgins, some aren't. Virginity is a personal choice. We are equally disinterested in both male and female virginity and neither has to worry about becoming a human sacrifice to a deity. We do not believe that you will be offered as a prize in the next life because someone killed a lot of people in the name of a deity.


• Abortion - The Church of Reality is a pro-abortion religion. Our world view is that a woman has an absolute right to control her own reproduction. We do not have a fetus obsession like some other religions. Personhood begins at live birth. The world is overpopulated and it's irresponsible to add to the population problem by forcing women to give birth against their will. Women have the right to write their own life story, to have control over their own lives, to own themselves. Reproduction is a personal decision and it is the right of the woman to make it.


• Atheistic Altruism - We establish a logical reason for being generous and selfless and caring about the well being of others in the context of reality, thus refuting the idea that Atheists are selfish. Humanity's success is based on sharing resources and taking care of each other and forming strong and healthy communities. Generosity is part of human evolution and is necessary for our common survival.


• Good and Evil - The Church of Reality looks at good and evil as being choices rather than forces or entities. It is more related to short term thinking and selfishness rather than good and bad entities that influence people. We believe that the individual is responsible for their own behavior.


• No Holy Prophets - The Church of Reality has no holy prophets. I, Marc Perkel, founder of the Church of Reality, has no special powers, is not divine, and there is nothing at all special about me except that I am an ordinary guy who came up with the idea. I didn't invent reality, reality invented me. People are just people and we do not worship anyone. If this church is successful there will be people in the future who are far smarter and wiser than I am, who are also not to be worshiped or given excessive social status. As will all of you most everything I know comes from the Tree of Knowledge and I am just building on the work of billions of other people, most of whom are dead and forgotten. If the Church of Reality excessively exalts current or historical figures it is on the wrong track. I am not, in many ways, a role model for human behavior. When I die I want my bad habits to die with me. I don't want to end up like Ayn Rand whose arrogance lives beyond the grave. May my arrogance be cremated with me.


• Cruelty Free Religion - The Church of Reality rejects all forms of cruelty including torture, flagellation, stoning, slavery, human sacrifice, animal sacrifice, eternal damnation, and crucifixion. Our position is that these are the acts of barbarians and have no place in civilized society. Any religion who has to threaten its members with burning in Hell forever to entice them to believe is an admission that their beliefs can't stand up to Scrutiny. We are not a sin and punishment religion.


• No Terrorism - We don't terrorize people to enforce our religious values. The following is a partial list of things we consider to be just plain evil. We are moved by our sense of moral justice to spell it out so as to take a strong stand against this kind of behavior.
  
  
  • Realists do not blow up airplanes or fly planes into buildings.
  • Realists do not blow up trains or subway stations.
  • Realists do not stone people to death.
  • Realists do not kill women for sex crimes.
  • Realists do not kill our daughters for refusing to wear the hijab.
  • Realists do not kill homosexuals.
  • Realists do not kill cartoonists who draw offensive cartoons.
  • Realists do not kill the families of those who offend us.
  • Realists do not kill people because they are a different race or tribe.
  • Realists do not kill women who were raped to restore the family's honor.
  • Realists do not kill women who refuse to marry them.
  • Realists do not allow husbands to beat their wives.
  • Realists do not do suicide bombings.
  • Realists do not blow up abortion clinics or kill doctors who perform abortions.
  • Realists do not throw acid in the faces of little girls on their way to school.
  • Realists do not cut off body parts or otherwise mutilate people.
  • Realists do not burn people alive.
  • Realists do not torture prisoners.
  • Realists do not crucify people.
  • Realists do not burn the homes or destroy the property of those who don't agree with us.
  • Realists do not poison people for political or religious gain.
  • Realists do not cut off the hands of thieves.
  • Realists do not perform honor killings.
  • Realists do not rape women to punish them and their families.
  • Realists do not punish women who have been raped.
  • Realists do not turn children into bombs.
  • Realists do not behead people.
  • Realists do not execute people by public hangings.
  • Realists do not enforce sexual morality through flogging.
  • Realists do not beat people.
  • Realists do not kidnap people.
  • Realists do not teach hatred.
  • Realists do not teach children to kill.
  • Realists do not teach that non-believers deserve death.
  • Realists do not teach the God will send you to burn in Hell to be tortured forever.
  • Realists do not believe that God is an omnipotent terrorist and torturer.
  • Realists do not kill people who Realists think offended a deity.
  • Realists do not believe in an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
  • Realists do not believe in god(s). But if Realists did Realists would not believe in an angry vengeful god.
  • Realists do not commit genocide or ethnic cleansing.
  • Realists do not start religious wars.
  • Realists do not condone the accumulation or use of nuclear weapons.
  • Realists do not use weapons banned by the international community.
  • Realists believe terrorism is always wrong.
  • Realists believe torture is always wrong.
  • Realists believe cruelty is always wrong.
  • Realists believe that the deity portrayed in the Bible sets a bad role model for human behavior.
  • Realists refuse to participate in war crimes.
  
  Our position is that our beliefs stand on their own merits and that belief systems that require terrorism to support their religious views are admitting through their conduct that their beliefs will not stand the tests of scrutiny. Terrorism is the tool of those who believe in a weak and false God. We believe that every time any person commits these kinds of acts that it forever becomes part of their Life Story, and it becomes part of the Story of Humanity. Our view is that once you do something it can not be undone. What Adolf Hitler did, for example, is forever part of human history and will forever remain a blemish on the soul of humanity itself. These acts are more than crimes against individuals. They reflect who we are as a species. That fact that you if did one of these acts is forever with you. After you die you will be remembered for the horrendous acts that you committed and your Life Story will be remembered with disdain.


• No Absolution from Sin - Although we are a religion that sees forgiveness as a virtue, we do not absolve your sins. You have to work out forgiveness here in the real world. We provide no deity who will expunge your record. In the Church of Reality what you do becomes what you did and once you do something it becomes part of the Story of the Universe which is the sum total of everything that happened since the beginning of time. So if you do something evil, the fact that you did it is forever part of your Life Story.
  
  In our world view absolution from sin encourages crime and irresponsibility by giving those who do wrong a false sense that some deity has forgiven them as if what they did never happened. In our view absolution is a form of cheating and you can't cheat reality. A person can change what they do in the future but what someone did in their past is forever part of who they are. Our view is that religion who offer absolution of sin through a deity are being irresponsible because they are creating a false illusion that people are forgiven who aren't. We think that it also contributes to higher crime rates and that if the individual knows that what they do is what they did, and there's no deity to help them cheat, then they might think before they commit a serious crime.
  
  In other religions one can either confess to God or confess to a priest who is representing God for one's sins to be absolved and one's reward in the "next life" to be restored. The fostering of belief, for example, that the victim of murder might be in Heaven and that the murderer might get to go to Heaven too is an irresponsible religious act. Criminals might come to rely on such moral support to continue a life of crime. In the Church of Reality if you murder someone then they are forever gone and you are forever their murderer and that never changes. Some criminals can be rehabilitated and returned to society as productive citizens but what was done was done and can not be undone.


• Original Virtue - The Church of Reality realizes that people are intrinsically good and that the Philosophy of the Open Hand is the natural character of the human race. Our world view is that people are intrinsically good people and that although there are people who do bad things that is the exception rather than the rule. We reject the assumption than humans are intrinsically evil.


• No Religious Homeland - Realists do not believe that we or any other religion should have control of a country where some people have a superior social position based on religious or ethnic affiliation. Our world view is that justice and equality applies to everyone and that we are all part of an integrated human society. We believe that if a culture or religion has any special wisdom that they should share it with everyone else. We want to share our wisdom and learn the wisdom of other religions. Our view is that religious homelands lead to isolation, oppression, a false and dangerous sense of self importance, and eventually to war.


• Commitment to Peace - The Church of Reality is a religion of peace. We have taken on the challenge of figuring out how to solve the problems that lead to war so that humanity can evolve beyond thousands of years of killing each other. Reality is best explored in an environment that is free from war. We embrace the Vocabulary of Peace and we take the position that we are an anti-war religion and we challenge other religions to identify as anti-war religions.


• The Shame of War - Although we recognize that sometimes war might be necessary we think that it is never something to be proud of. War always represents a failure of peace and must never be glorified. We do not honor veterans merely for being in a war because if you glorify unjust wars then you encourage others to fight in unjust wars.


• What the Church of Reality Isn't - Besides the above statements of what we are, much of what we are not defines us and not only a unique religion, but a completely different class of religion. Some people consider all religion to be evil because all religions tell you what to think or do other things that most all religions do that scares thinking people away. Some of the things the Church of Reality isn't includes:
  
  
  • We do not tell you what to think. You have to think for yourself. We are not interested in doing your thinking for you.
  • We do not worship anything.
  • We are not into rituals. No throwing virgins into volcanoes.
  • We don't burn witches.
  • We are not out to get your money.
  • We are not a cult.
  • We are not the only path.
  • We are not any better than anyone else.
  • We are not on a higher plane of consciousness.
  • We are not enlightened.
  • We are not into dogma.
  • We are not sinners.
  • We do not demonize sex.
  • We do not require you to get married before having sex.
  • We do not demonize thinking, science, or reason.
  • We do not hate ourselves.
  • We do not hate homosexuals.
  • We do not have commandments.
  • We are free of gods, devils, demons, spirits, fairies, elves, vampires, angels, leprechauns, trolls, pixies, thetans, prophets, ghosts, goblins, witches, and space alien possession or abduction. (Some of us however secretly believe Spock is real.)
  • We do not demonize nonmembers.
  • We are not the chosen people.
  • We do not restrict your personal freedoms.
  • We do not indulge in an inflated sense of self importance.
  • We are not endorsed by any omnipotent beings.
  • We do not accept real estate from deities.
  • We do not ask you to turn your life over to anyone.
  • We do not kill you for converting away from Realism.
  • We do not kill people over cartoons.
  • We do not shun you for leaving this church.
  • We do not ask you to put aside logic and reason.
  • We do not require you to accept anything on faith.
  • We do not save your soul by asking you to have a personal experience with a fictional deity.
  • We do not pass out preacher credentials, participate in religious fraud, nor are we involved in or advocate tax scams.
  • We do not make false promises or threats about in relation to a fictional next life. No Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or Reincarnation.
  • We do not offer you virgins as a reward for terrorism.
  • We do not make you wear weird clothing.
  • We do not distort the meaning of words to make them meaningless.
    
    • War is not Peace
    • Freedom is not Slavery
    • Ignorance is not Strength
    • Submission is not Freedom
    • Death is not Life
    • Suffering is not Pleasure
    • Reality is not Illusion
    • Reality is not Personal Perception
    • Faith is not Truth
    • You don't obtain freedom by giving it up
    • Common Sense is not the opposite of being Smart
    
    

The Tree of Knowledge is the sum total of Human Understanding. It represents the collective knowledge of humanity.

What separates humans from animals is our huge amount of collected knowledge that we share as a species.

We Realists commit our lives to Realism by making The Sacred Choices

1. We choose to accept the Sacred Missions as our mission.


2. We choose to uphold the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality making them our principles.


3. We choose to pursue the understanding of reality the way it really is.


4. We choose to reject mythology and the belief in things that are not real.


5. We choose to accept the path of responsibility and acknowledge that our choices matter.


6. We choose to strive for wisdom and to live our lives as realistically as possible.


7. We choose to commit to challenging our beliefs and the beliefs of others by asking the Sacred Question - "Is this real?"


8. We choose to acknowledge that the Tree of Knowledge is the sum total of all human understanding.


9. We choose to commit to working to improve the Tree of Knowledge by working for a better future.


10. We choose to be forward looking and work for a better future for the human race.


11. We choose to be good ethical members of society and contribute our efforts to the well being of the human race.

The Linux Penguin symbolizes the Giving of Knowledge

The Tree of Knowledge represents the sum total of human understanding. Intellectual Tithing is the giving of new and useful information to the Tree of Knowledge. The Tree of Knowledge is what separates us from the animals. We all benefit from the knowledge that has been handed down to us.

Think about it - where would we be today if someone didn't invent the wheel? The person who invented the wheel made a great contribution to the Tree of Knowledge of the human race and helped all of society move forward. If you look around at all the stuff around you - you soon realize that almost all of it was built by other people. As you sit in front of your computer reading this, you are using a device that is the combined work of millions of people and technology that is built on the work of people for thousands of years. All contributing to the Tree of Knowledge which allows us to have things like computers. We are living off the intellectual tithing of others, and we give back to the world by contributing intellectually - by being creative and sharing our creations with the rest of humanity. This helps grow the Tree of Knowledge and furthers us as a species. From this perspective - the human race can be envisioned as a single super being that shares a common mind. And in that respect we all have the opportunity to contribute to that common mind so that our thoughts and contributions will outlive our physical bodies. Contributing to the Tree of Knowledge is probably as close as you get to immortality in the Church of Reality.

Intellectual Tithing is discovering something useful and making your knowledge part of the Tree of Knowledge.

I use the Linux Penguin as a symbol of intellectual tithing because the Linux operating system is distributed under the GNU license and is free to everyone. This software is the work of tens of thousands of people contributing freely to a software tree that everyone on the planet is allowed to use. These people freely give of their intellectual resources to the good of humanity. As you surf the Internet you are hitting servers that are running this free software.

The Church or Reality exists for the pursuit of the understanding of understanding. We exist to pursue the answer to the Sacred Question - "What is Real?" This church isn't about what you believe in - it's about what you do. To be a member of this church is to commit to the doing of the doing. You have to walk the walk and talk the talk. The Church of Reality is about being real - not pretending to be real because reality looks cool. It's not about being a poser and fake being real. The dharma of the church is to actually be real.

Although we don't go from door to door asking people if they know Darwin and saying Darwin loves you, one of the sacred missions of the Church of Reality is to spread the idea that reality is important and that it is something that shouldn't be ignored. As Realists practicing Realism we benefit in growing our church by attracting others who may not be church members, but have embraced the concept of being realistic and are interested in what is real. It is one of our goals to raise awareness about reality and the importance of including reality in our daily lives and to make people aware of the pitfalls of ignoring reality.

So - how do we do this? There are many ways, but there are a few obvious places to start. As the First One I will start the process and list some specific objectives of the Church of Reality. The list will grow - but it will form an outline for the kind of thinking that defines the dharma of the church.

Some of the Sacred Principles use our Sacred Terminology. The reader will better understand the principles by reading the Terminology first.

The Church of Reality began with an idea I had in the evening of November 7th 1998. I was sitting at home Smoking a Joint, thinking about all the problems that religions cause in the world, and the idea just hit me - why not have a religion based on believing in everything that's real? What an idea! Can Reality be a Religion? Do you have to believe in something fictional to be a religion? The more I thought about it - the better I liked the idea.

The next day I went into the office and it still seemed like a good idea. I was only half serious about it at first, but it was at least a good way to tweak all those people who think they have God by the short hairs and need to impress me with their moral superiority. Personally - I hate religion. But it seems to be everywhere and constantly trying to intrude into my life. So - it's always been something you have to deal with - people who take their fiction seriously. So I registered the domain name - churchofreality.org - and started building a web page.

In the process of building the page I had to make some early decisions. Was I going to write some "holy book" to go by? How long would that last before it became obsolete - even if I did do a good job on it? It became apparent that telling people what reality is - as if I knew - was definitely a mistake. But - exploring reality and changing as the exploration continued - that made sense. So what we believe in is what's real - and what's real is really the best effort guess at the time. Obviously this opens us up to mistakes - but mistakes happen. It's about correcting your mistakes when you realize you are wrong. So the Church of Reality became more of a commitment to the pursuit of reality than the understanding of reality itself. It's about the hunt for reality.

As I was thinking about the pursuit of reality - I started wondering about how that is really done. What is understanding? How does new knowledge relate to existing knowledge? How much knowledge can be gained? Will we ever know everything? It became clear to me that the pursuit of knowledge - the exploration of reality - is something that we as a society all do together. It became clear how interconnected we are as a society - as the human race - what separates us from the animals - we have this vast amount of common knowledge that we all use on a daily basis. I realized that language itself - words - were all invented by other people and were handed down to us. As I type this I am aware that I am using words and concepts that came from other people - and that you are reading this using those same words and concepts. Stealing the term for other religions - I called this the .

1. The omnipotent being who is all powerful and created the universe.
2. God is invisible - but he is everywhere - and he knows everything - even our thoughts.
3. God hasn't showed up in physical form - out in public for at least 2000 years - longer if you are Jewish - 150 years if you are Mormon.
4. God could show up any where at any time in any form if he wanted to, but he doesn't.
5. God is infinitely wise.
6. God knows the future and everything is going according to God's plan.

The official position of the Church of Reality is that God does not exist until such time as God chooses to reveal himself to all Realists and come out into objective reality in the real world.

It's not up to the Church of Reality to prove God doesn't exist. It is up to theists to prove he does.

The first duty of Realists is to uphold the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality.

The first duty of Realists is to uphold the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality. This duty takes precedent over loyalty to your country, your military unit, your commanding officer. If the cause of war is just, you are at best a team member fighting together with non-realists towards a common higher goal. To this end Realists should set a shining example and strive for positions of leadership in the military unit in which they are fighting. A Realist who practices Realism should be in a position to realistically assess the situation and to be able to help make the realistic choices in how to best execute the war and to build the peace after the war.

If the cause is a just cause, then the Realist would be the ultimate war asset in order to maintain intellectual discipline to make the right decision and positively affect the outcome of the struggle. The Realist should set an example of personal behavior and inspire his fellow soldiers to be smart and wise and to fight efficiently and effectively and to not degenerate into committing atrocities. The Realists sees into the future and envisions the end of the war and to building of the peace and to integrating the enemy into the world's society as a productive peaceful member.

The Church of Reality doesn't prohibit its members from going to fight in a war. It does however prohibit its members from fighting in an unjust war - and it requires its members to make a personal determination if the war they are about to participate in is just or not. Members who do participate are required to adhere to a code of moral conduct that puts the Sacred Principles ahead of everything else and are required to refuse to participate in anything that is clearly immoral and to actively resists orders of superior officers who would lead troops down the wrong path. Realists are expected to think for themselves and to make wise choices in times of war.

Different religions have different positions on death and dying, and in cases where there is a legal dispute, often the courts will turn to the person's individual religious beliefs to determine the wishes of people who are unable to speak for themselves. So it seems logical that the Church of Reality should have some official guidelines so that if the outside world turns to the individual's religious beliefs we have a response.

When does death occur? Who gets to decide? When do you remove a person from life support? When do you assist a person in terminating life? What are the roles of individuals, their spouses, their children, their family, their church, and the government? The Church of Reality cannot answer these questions, but we can create guidelines and principles to come up with these answers and that is what we choose to do here.

Issues surrounding death and dying can become complex, especially in a society that is in denial. Sometimes people are trapped in a permanent vegetative state. Sometimes they are still alive and facing a horrible death. Sometimes they are clearly alive but face an uphill battle that they don't want to go through. Science and technology offer new choices, and, because of that, often complicate the situation allowing the body to remain alive long after death would naturally occur. Therefore it is difficult to create hard and fast rules for dying. We therefore will state general principles from which rules can be derived.

To become a saint in the Church of Reality you have to put yourself in a position of grave personal risk in order to promote an idea that is real in the face of a public that refuses to face reality. People who do this are heroes and are the visionaries that move humanity forward against the tide of fear and religious mythology. These people deserve an honored place in the memory of human history and I therefore am going to declare them as saints.

Sainthood in this church is based more on advancing the cause of reality rather the just doing good things. Thus a saint in this church might be someone who contributed significantly to science or protecting rights necessary for the pursuit of Reality rather than those who are without sins. People who have done great things deserve to be recognized, but there are plenty of other churches to recognize other achievements.

I'm not a religious guy and never started a church before. I'm not even entirely comfortable with the thought of being a church because that implies worshiping something. I'm looking at this as a way to get more people to want to look at reality the way it really is. I'm getting tired of being the only sane person on the planet. (I'm joking)

Here's a list of what needs to be done. This is a changing list. As I accomplish things I'll remove items. As I get new ideas I'll add items. I'd like to get this going fairly quickly.

• Spread the Word - The name is the message. If most of the people in the world were just to hear the name "Church of Reality" and have a vague idea that it is a religion based on believing in what's real, they then ask the sacred question, "What is real?", that in itself would make a huge difference in the world.


• Link to Us - The more people link to the Church of Reality the more people find it. It also helps with Google searches because Google ranks you higher based on the number of people that link to your site.


• Ideas - I'm always looking for great ideas and suggestions, especially early on. If you do something right in the first place you don't have to do it over later. Feel free to suggest and participate.


• IRS Church Status - I've started the paperwork. I've ordered several books from Nolo Press an not-for-profit organization. Any advice would be appreciated.


• Income - If I'm going to continue to do this, I need an income. Besides begging for donations, I need some products to sell like T-Shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and sequentially numbered certificates of membership. Looking for ideas.


• Activities - I want to see local activities on a regular basis. I'm picturing meetings where people get together to argue and explore interesting subjects much like Mensa, but without the IQ test requirement. I need names for these meetings and ideas to bring people together and fulfill much of the needs that people go to church for. Let's get together. This church has no Sabbath so we have the advantage of using any day of the week that works.


• Charities - I want to be a conduit of tax deductible money for useful charitable projects. Just what, I don't yet know.


• Projects - I feel strongly about freedom and justice. We need freedom and justice to support an advanced society where the pursuit of reality can be enjoyed without fear and oppression. One of the church's missions is to work for freedom and justice.


• Membership - What are the requirements? I suppose it should be fairly open to those who pay a membership fee. I hope to sell sequentially numbered membership certificates so that those with a low number will always be stored in a computer database and will be known as the ones who got it started. It's like being an employee at Microsoft with a really low employee number.


• Advertising, Promotion, Public Relations - How do we market it? Spread the word? Relate to the rest of reality? I don't want foaming at the mouth Christians burning my house down because they think they can stop the real world by killing the messenger. I'm looking for media attention so if anyone knows anyone who will write articles about this religion, send them this way.


• Symbols and Artwork - I'm looking for symbols and artwork for the web pages, letterhead, and things to put on T-Shirts, coffee mugs, and bumper stickers.


• Hymns - Need some songs. How about, "Oh, what a friend we have in Darrr-winnn."

I'd like to get started right away. Feel free to jump in and participate.

This is not an endorsement of these religions. We are merely attempting to create links to the main web sites of people who believe in something other than reality. That way you can choose if you think you'd rather believe in what's real or something else.

• World's Main Religions
• Islam
• Buddhism
• Hindu
• Jews
• Unitarians
• Church of Satan
• Taoism
• Wicca
• SubGenuis
• Scientology
• Sikhism
• Universal Life Church
• Krishnas
• Atheism


• Christian Denominations:
• Assembly of God
• Baptists
• Unification Church (moonies)
• Catholic
• Mormons
• Jehovah's Witness
• Seventh Day Adventists
• Methodists
• Russian Orthodox


• Non Diety Religions:
• Pantheism
• The Brights
• YOism


• Other Links:
• Religious Tolerance
• DMOZ Religion Index
• Freedom from Religion Foundation
• Everything you wanted to know about the Moonies

"The Cage" from Star Trek

Our job as Realists is to make sure that the Christians are denied Armageddon."

Lets face it - Realists don't trust Christians and Christians don't like Realists. But we do need to communicate in spite of our differences. After all - we are stuck here on this planet together. And - Christians have been around for a long time and they aren't going away any time soon. And - neither is reality. So - we are stuck here together and the way I see it - we better make the best of it. After all - our religion requires it of us since we are all one people on one planet - we are all here together - and we are dedicated to making tomorrow better than it is today. That's our principle of positive evolution, the first of the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality.

There is a lot of discussion about the relationship between Realists and Christians. We don't trust each other. I did after all write a web page titled Christianity Sucks, and I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that I think what I said is true. After all - to a Realist Christianity looks like a primitive religious cult. No different really that the way some Christian look at each other. Jehovah's Witnesses think they are the "True Christians" and therefore need to convert other Christians to their form of Christianity. Those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses think that the Jehovah's Witnesses are seriously off track and believe that they are in fact - a cult.

In fact - and be honest about this - most Christians can name at least 5 other Christian Religions that are cults - and if you know what I'm talking about then you will understand that Realists feel that way towards all Christians. As far as I am concerned - every last one of you is a "True Christian". But what Christianity truly means is very different depending on who you ask. If I were to compare Christianity to an animal species - Wolves are "True Dogs". They are the dogs from which every other breed of dog comes from. But look at the variety. From the outside perspective Christianity is as diverse as breeds of dogs are. After all these centuries - who is to say who are true dogs anymore? After all - even the wolves aren't the same as they used to be.

So - what does Christianity look like from the outside? Did you ever wonder that? Wonder what Realists were really thinking? Well - I see a lot of diversity - not just in belief - but more importantly - Christian culture is highly inconsistent between religions and is also fast evolving. When it comes right down to it - the Bible says anything you want it to say - and there's no level of behavior that's outside of Biblical support. And that scares us.

After all - Christian History is not a pretty picture. There has not been any significant period of time since Jesus departed where Christians weren't at war with someone - many times other Christians - or brutally oppressing someone. And - that is a trend that has continues up to and including today. The Iraq war - for example - clearly has deep religious undercurrents to it. It is clearly in part - a battle between Muslims and the Christian-Jewish alliance..Our President - Mr. Bush - identifies himself as a Christian and he is running the country into the ground. This is a man who had a memo drafted to approve torture, and as a result of that memo we have widespread torture - committed by us - and done in a way to make us look like barbarians.

Now there are several Christian groups who have announced that they have seized control of America - and they are going to use the rule of law to enforce their "moral" standards - a huge rollback of freedom - and replace the science of evolution with the fiction of Creationism. And all children will be taught their prayers in school. And if the Christians are in control of the nuclear arsenal - and the country is in a nose dive - and these people envision the future in terms of Armageddon - the destruction of the world - that scares the shit out of us Realists. Especially when your Christian president was advocating the idea of using nuclear weapons in Iraq during the initial invasion - and it turns out - Iraq had no weapons. Yet is it believed that Bush is somehow being controlled by or inspired by God. That it was God's idea to attack Iraq.

As a Realist - the idea that God is covertly in communication with people is something I don't believe if for nothing else but the fact that God apparently is highly inconsistent. So - God knows who God is really talking to. However - if God ever does show up - I will personally pay for an anger management therapy session to work on that temper problem. If you are omnipotent you have to be taught that you can't go off and destroy the Earth every time someone pisses you off!

However - having said that - one can not ignore the variety of Christian charities and other organizations who's task is to selflessly help other people who are in need. These organizations are dedicated to the same principles that we Realists share - that we are /root and we do tech support for the human race. Christians become Christians because they have chosen to "do what's right" and to be one of the "good guys" and to be a productive member of society. And this is something that Christians and Realists share. But - as they say - the Devil is in the details.

So - in summary - Realists see Christians as an irrational primitive cult and prone to irrational behavior at times - and has an unhealthy view of the future. You are someone who we are stuck here with and we have the job of trying to protect you from yourself and to help Christians evolve into a positive and productive religion.

For the record - I was raised Jewish - sort of. My parents are Jewish - sort of - in name only. Much like the followers of any other religion of people who identify with a religion because of ancestry rather than actually believing and practicing something. I remember back when I was 5 years old being forced to study the old testament and thinking - no way in hell does this make sense. Having said that - Judaism is perhaps one of the least stupid of the stupid religions in that they aren't out beating on your door like the Christians do wanting to know if you know Moses. But come on! Judaism is based on ancient bullshit and it's time to give it up and move on.

Judaism is a stagnant religion that is stuck in the past.

Judaism is one of the world's oldest religions. The oldest one in terms of religions who created a knowledge tree that still exists today. There are other religions that are older - but forgotten - because they failed to create a knowledge tree. Judaism is the predecessor to Christianity who took a bad idea and made it worse.

Judaism is a prime example of what happens when you fail to admit that you're beliefs are just plain wrong. In it's day, 5000 years ago, Judaism represented state of the art thinking. They had the most advanced Tree of Knowledge on the planet. It represented the best of human understanding at that time. The problem is - their ego got in the way. God had chosen them - the Bible was the holy word of God - who can never be wrong. Their knowledge tree became frozen and as time progressed - it's real apparent that these beliefs are ridiculous in the context of current scientific thinking. But the Jews and their derivative religions stick with it because if they start changing things - then they have to admit that Jews are just people like everyone else and that there's nothing special about being a Jew. But they are too arrogant to face reality - and they remain frozen in time.

Pot is considered a dangerous and illegal drug in most countries, however, the reality is that pot is nearly harmless --- especially when you compare it to dangerous legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol. And smoking marijuana has beneficial effects in that it enhances certain mental abilities that allows the pot smoker to come up with new and interesting ideas that are practical in the real world. Pot can make you smarter as long as you use it correctly and don't abuse it. Many of my best ideas have come from smoking pot -- and one of those ideas was the idea of starting the Church of Reality. The Church of Reality is a marijuana inspired idea and if not for smoking pot --- this church wouldn't exist.

First of all --- this site and this web page is not a pro drug use site. There are a lot of dangerous drugs out there that are very destructive and should be avoided. There are also a lot of drugs that are harmful if not used correctly or used to excess. Anyone who is considering doing a drug should first become familiar with the facts about the drug and use it with caution. I have written web pages on the subjects of marijuana and tobacco.

• Marijuana - Telling Teenagers the Truth about Smoking Pot


• Smoking - Message to Teenagers about Smoking Cigarettes

Having said that --- the use of some drugs --- when used correctly --- can enhance your mental abilities and allow you to come up with imaginative "outside the box" solutions to common problems. The drugs that have benefited me by opening up my mind are Marijuana and LSD. If not for those two drugs --- you would not be reading this web site. This idea of the Church of Reality was an idea that I came up with while stoned. I therefore give credit where credit is due. Since Pot caused the idea to occur --- and the very existence of the Church of Reality is a result of smoking pot --- I therefore declare Pot as a Holy Sacrament.

First I will say that I believe that every person on the planet has a right to believe in any religion, no matter how stupid it is. I also believe that every person has a right to free speech and a right to talk about stupid religions and the reasons they are stupid, even if "people of faith" get offended. Just because I respect your right to practice your stupid religion doesn't mean that I have any respect for it, nor do I have to pretend your religion isn't stupid and/or isn't a dangerous and destructive cult. If you are offended by frank discussions of religions, you can leave now.

I find Christians particularly offensive. Everyone is going to burn in Hell except them. They have no respect for any other religion. In fact, most Christians hate most other Christians. The Pentecostals think the Catholics are all going to burn in Hell. It's a very dishonest religion and has a holier than thou culture; they believe they are better than everyone else. They like to pose as persecuted, but more often than not they are the persecutors. They tend to lie and steal a lot because they are "forgiven" and therefore can indulge in sin. The religion is theoretically based on the Bible which is, quite frankly, a stupid book, and certainly not written by a God. But Christians hardly follow their own teachings and are more likely to cheat and steal than your average person off the street.

1. The Prince and Hives


2. Wimp


3. Father and Son


4. Reverend Chuck D. Change

So - if any of you have any $$$ and you want to download these ads and put them on your local radio station - let me know. That would be a great way to spread the word. Also - feel free to post these on your web sites.

If I get more revenue than it costs me then I will take the extra money and expand the radio campaign. If I get less than what it costs me then the ads go away. Most of the money that we are starting with is money I've put in myself. And - this church isn't going anywhere until I get other people on board. But - I think I have a good plan and I'm hoping it will work.

Besides staying on the air - doing these radio spots is a media launch. I'm hoping that it will leverage me into the news media - get me on talk shows - and tweak the Christians just enough to get them talking about the Church of Reality. I believe that just to get the name out there - that there is a Church of Reality - and that it is a religion based on believing in what's real - and it causes people to ask the Sacred Question - "What is Real?" - that this will make a profound change in the world. And I'm hoping that you will see this and contribute to the cause.

As you know the Christian Right - that seems to be taking over Christianity - thinks they own America and that they are going to prepare the world for the second coming and the destruction of the planet. I know this is (hopefully) an exaggeration - but this is a country that has turned it's back on reality. We are having a very twisted version of "morality" laid on us and they are screwing with the culture in some very unhealthy ways.

I believe it is time to challenge these other religions head on and compete for the religious mind space. and what better religion than believing in reality itself. After all - you don't get any more real than that. I want to work reality into the religious dialog and help other religions evolve in a more positive direction. I'm not out to eliminate fiction based religions. But I do want to keep them from becoming dangerous and hurting themselves and others - including me.

If you haven't fully explored this web site you should do so now. I want you to fully understand what the church of Reality is all about and decide if you want to support the cause. If you like what you see then come back here and throw a little something in the hat to keep this going. I know a lot of you are cash strapped so if you like this and can't contribute real money - if you can tell your friends and link to us on your web sites - that would really help a lot. Right now the mission is to get the word out and every time you talk about reality - you are sending the Sacred Message. We are one people sharing this planet. We are all in this together - and we are going to have to figure out how to make it work. If you like what you hear and you want other to hear it to - $75 gets it played again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to explore this web site.

The short answer is, nope, never happened. The story can't be supported by either science or mythology. Even if you believe God is all powerful and can do anything it still doesn't make sense. It only makes sense if you are going to believe the Bible no matter what. In that case everything makes sense. "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that's that." If this is what you believe you should stop reading now because what I'm about to say will only piss you off. I can't change your mind and you won't learn anything. For the rest of you, here's an interesting point of view on an old story.

Let's look at the math. It amazes me that I've never seen anyone look at it this way before. As the story goes, God made it rain for 40 days and 40 nights and created a great flood that covered the entire earth. Enough to drowned everything except fish. Our tallest mountains are 27,000 feet tall, so if you're going to flood everything, that's 27,000 feet of water. For round numbers, let's just say 24,000 is enough.

If you divide 24,000 feet by 40 days, that's 600 feet of rain a day, over the entire planet. There's 24 hours in a day so that would be 25 feet of rain per hour, or 300 inches per hour. 7200 inches per day. 5 inches of rain a minute. That's one hell of a rain!

When you look at the math it's pretty obvious that the Flood of Noah could never have happened.

This is also hundreds of times as much water as what's in the oceans and the atmosphere. Where did all this water come from? Where did all this water go to? It's hardly going to run down the storm sewers. It can't evaporate because the air would be totally saturated once just a few feet evaporated. That much water isn't going to sink into the ground. There isn't that much ground. And there's no geological evidence that the entire planet was ever covered with water.

I haven't gone into the problems with gathering two of every species and fitting them all into a small boat. I'm not going to talk about the DNA problems of deriving species from only two individuals. Not going to talk about where dinosaur bones came from. Not going to bring up the possibility of animals, reptiles, and insects surviving on floating debris. We're just talking about the flood itself.

Of course, God can do anything. He could have created the water, made it disappear, and then covered up all geological evidence of the flood so as to fool those faithless scientists. A flood like that would have carved up the entire planet big time. But God must have erased all the erosion and recreated a landscape that looks as if it had been here for billions of years. If you believe in Noah and the Ark, then you have to believe that God concealed all evidence of the flood and intended to fool scientists.

Why would God do that? If God wanted to waste the planet he could have just struck them all dead instead of doing the flood thing. Looks like he went to a lot of trouble that he didn't need to. God works in mysterious ways, and we mortals can't comprehend the ways of God. We are to accept it on faith because the math and science sure don't add up.

• The Council of Realists - The High Council of Realists is the Board of directors of the Church of Reality.



• Marc Perkel - Marc Perkel is the First One of the Church of Reality. He is the person who came up with the idea and is the person who is presently responsible for the creation of Church doctrine. He is the visionary behind the creation of this organization. Marc Perkel is a self taught individual who has become an expert in philosophy, law, computer hardware and software, systems administration, and religious beliefs. Marc is a writer and has an extensive web site at perkel.com. He runs a small web hosting company specializing in free speech issues. He is also a former systems administrator (root) for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.


• Robin Gross - Robin Gross is a San Francisco based attorney specializing in intellectual property issues. Robin is the founder of IP Justice - a nonprofit organization dealing with international copyright and patent issues. She is on the board of directors for the Union for the Public Domain. She teaches international copyright law at Santa Clara University School of Law. She is on the Advisory Board for Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility - Peru. And Robin is licensed as clergy by the State of California.
  
  Robin travels the world giving speeches, organizing, and advising policy makers from around the world on the impact of intellectual property rules on traditional rights and innovation. Robin has made it her mission in life to protect the Tree of Knowledge from being choked off by over-broad copyright laws. She is also a former staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.


• Deborah Pierce - Deborah Pierce is founder and Executive Director of PrivacyActivism. Her work focuses on consumer education campaigns, advocacy, and analysis of privacy issues, with particular emphasis on data flow, data matching, privacy risks associated with data collection, and biometrics.
  
  Deborah is currently a member of the University of Washington's Shidler Center for Law, Commerce and Technology Advisory Committee. She has been on several committees to help find solutions to privacy and security threats, including the Washington State Bar Association's Access to Justice (a committee formed to develop more detailed guidelines addressing the issue of the technological impact on privacy within the justice system) and the Federal Trade Commission's advisory panel on online access and security.
  
  In April 2005, Deborah chaired the 15th Annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP) conference. CFP is a conference that has played a major role in the public debate on the future of privacy and freedom in the online world and brings together attendees and an audience from government, business, education, and non-profits, as well as from the community of computer professionals, hackers, crackers and engineers who work the code of cyberspace. The themes have been broad and forward-looking. CFP explores what will be. It is the place where the future is mapped.
  
  In her previous role as a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, she worked on issues related to electronic privacy, database information collection and personal identity. Deborah was the inspiration for the Sacred Principle of Privacy.


• Administration - The Administration is the business end of the Church of Reality. The administration is run by the executive director who is responsible for the executive staff and conducting the business of the church.


• Marc Perkel - Currently Marc Perkel - the First One - is also the Executive Director. Some day when we are bigger the Executive Director will be someone else.


• Technical Staff


• Marc Perkel - Webmaster
• Michele Kaeder - Technical Assistant
• Owlswan - Technical Assistant
• Paul Gaskin - Logo Design, Artist
• David Lewis - Voice Artist
• Joe from Digital Images Design - Web Monk


• Editorial Staff


• Marc Perkel - Visionary
• Michele Kaeder - Editor
• Carole Fanning - Editor


• The Monks of the Order of Root - Are the highly committed members who are maintainers of projects and have the power and authority to fulfil their missions. The Monks of the Church of Reality get their direction from the Executive Director.


• The Beacons - The Beacons are the clergy of the Church of Reality.


• The Membership - People who have taken the Oath of Reality, by accepting the Sacred Choices and identifying themselves as Realists. Through the Sacred Choices they have committed themselves to the Sacred Missions and The Sacred Principles.

In pure science the universe is just stars exploding and rocks in space bumping into each other. The universe doesn't care if we evolve or become extinct. It only matters to us in that we choose evolution over extinction.

1. We Choose to Understand Reality and to Believe in what is Really Real - We choose to reject fictional beliefs and to use the abilities that we have evolved and to take the knowledge that has been handed down to us (the Tree of Knowledge as we call it) and use it to know more about the reality around us. We seek real truth and understanding and we choose to dedicate our lives and our existence, both individually and as a society, to this purpose. Because we dedicate ourselves to the exploration of reality, we call ourselves Realists.


2. We Choose Evolution over Extinction - We are Realists in the practice of Realism, and to explore our reality we have to continue to survive, to evolve forward, and to continue our course of evolution in a positive direction. We call this the Sacred Direction.


3. We Accept Responsibility - We understand that our actions, and inactions, have consequences. We accept the laws of cause and effect; we comprehend that we have choice and that the choices we make have results and consequences. Therefore, we commit to expend the effort to determine the right and wrong choices in relation to our goals to survive, to understand reality, and to evolve forward. We will work toward making the right choices.


4. We Own Ourselves - Our lives are our own. We have ownership of our own lives. This means that we have the right to make the choices that affect our lives, to control our own destiny, to be free to speak out, to take action in our own interests and in the interest of our society. We have the right to personal privacy, and to be secure in our person and our property. We are not the subjects of any nation state nor are our rights limited to what nation state allow us to do. Nations are an artificial construct that exist only for the purpose of serving the needs of humanity. Self ownership is a personal commitment to think for ourselves, to resist control and oppression by other people. To take back our lives and our reality. Because we assert our rights so do we respect the same rights of other individuals.


5. We are a Society - We can not achieve our objectives if we allow Extinctionist religions to succeed or allow fiction-based religions, which envision a future of annihilation, to prevail over our choice to survive and to flourish. To the extent that the goals of their religions deny us our goals, we commit to doing whatever it takes to ensure that we prevail. We can not allow ourselves, as a society, to destroy our existence and to become extinct. We support the creation and maintenance of a healthy society that is design for the sole purpose of serving the advancement of the human race.


6. We are Humanity - We are dedicated to the Positive Evolution of people--not government, not machines, not corporations, not monarchies, not religions, and not fictional deities. Our loyalties lie with people. Furthermore, this religion isn't just about reality itself, but about reality as experienced by the human race. We are people who are exploring reality together, as a society. Therefore, we have to take care of the human factor to enable humans to explore reality.

Most everything we know comes from other people who we trust. We just don't have the resources to test everything ourselves.

A cult is every other religion other than the one that you believe in.

What most people call Magic and Miracles are things and events that they can't explain.

I think it's a miracle that no one had already come up with a Church of Reality until now.

If believers can't agree on what moral certainty is then it isn't certain.

We are really just trying to trick religious people into thinking.

AMAZING REALITY
(sing to tune of  “Amazing Grace”)

Amazing things I see each day
Before my very own eyes
Things that can not be explained away
They are real and are not lies

'Twas thinking mind and open eyes
That allowed me to find
All the wonder that in reality lies
Available to anyone with open mind

I  live a life with no need for delusions
To enjoy all of  life’s grandeur
There is no need for grand illusions
When amazing reality has such allure

There is beauty in all that is real
I am real and believe you are too
Think about it and here is the deal
Amazing Reality shows the world to you

by Gena Hendrix

If Salvation is based on faith, and if faith is believing without proof, then proving God is real undermines salvation.

Since the world can be all of our personal illusions, there must be some greater reality that we are all part of.

Your personal reality is your perception or experience of the greater objective reality.

Realist women have an absolute right to contraception and abortion services.

We're not going to solve the overpopulation problem by forcing women to reproduce against their will.

My life - my choice. Even if it's the wrong choice it is my choice to make.

Medicine is about the rights and health of the patient, not the religious views of the doctor or the religious organization that owns the hospital.

The first purpose of the human brain is to survive, not to process logic.

The Earth is our creator. It gives us life and sustains us. We must maintain her so that she can maintain us.

• Deity-Based Religions - A deity-based religion assumes that its omnipotent being (we will use the term God(s) to reference all religions' omnipotent beings) is perfect, infallible, and infinitely wise. The religion assumes, also, that their God can communicate with people and has expressed itself, and that their doctrine is an accurate expression of the will of their God. They claim that their religion is reality because it meets these necessary criteria:
  
  
  1. That their God is the real God. That it is authentic. That it has established itself as a supreme being and that it is sufficiently omnipotent to be an authority of knowledge of absolute reality.
  
  
  2. That God has communicated reality to the human authors of the holy books. That this communication is real, that there is a basis to believe that God used divine powers to make sure that the communication is accurate and complete, and that the communication was fully and accurately incorporated into the holy texts. The holy texts must be believed to be accurate, specific, clear, and not subject to individual interpretation.
  
  
  3. That there is a verifiable chain of custody of the holy book and that it wasn't altered or tampered with by anyone who wasn't also divinely inspired. If it was altered, then there is reason to believe that anyone who made an alteration did so as a result of God using them as a conduit to get his changes made, and that the changes can be relied upon. Although, if changes are made, it raises the question of why God didn't get it right the first time. After all, if you are infinitely wise, omnipotent, and you can see the future, then why would any changes be necessary?
  
  
  4. The issue of completeness is somehow dealt with. Since all holy books are finite, it must be assumed that the holy book either covers everything or that God is adding new chapters through some divine process. If the book is considered complete, how does it deal with new issues not specifically covered in the holy book? If it relies on humans to act as live interpreters, such as priests or prophets, how do we know that these interpreters are in direct contact with God to ensure that their word actually is God's word and not their own agenda, or even an honest mistake?
  
  
  5. If some human fallibility is possible in the religion (mistake), does the religion support a mechanism to correct the mistake? If a priest or prophet gets it wrong through not having a 100% accurate communication link with God, how is the error fixed? If there is room for error, then how does the faith determine the probability of accuracy of doctrine and how do they deal with the deviation from absolute reality?
  
  
  6. It would also seem that the doctrine would agree with science and that the word of the deity would tend to be proved to be correct and accurate as human knowledge advances.
  
  
  As you can see, religions that claim reality based on divine inspiration have a lot of hurdles to deal with to verify their assertion. If a religion is truly divinely inspired, shouldn't there be consistency? Wouldn't God say the same thing to everyone? In reality, for example, the laws of physics apply the same to everyone, every time. If you jump off a tall building you will fall to the ground at the same rate of acceleration and with the same laws of wind resistance as every other object, every time. If an omnipotent being is accurately expressing reality through a supernatural process, wouldn't one expect that the results would be the same? Wouldn't contradiction indicate error? And if there is error, how is that resolved? Who is the true voice of God? If two religions, or two people from the same religion, claim that God is saying opposite things, then at least one of the religions cannot be reality-based.
  
  We believe that in order to pass the reality-based religion test for deity-based religions, members would have a single, consistent voice and be in agreement with each other and with God. That those who speak for the deity would speak with a single voice, and that they would ultimately be proven to be accurate. That the doctrine would be both complete and error-free, that the deity would actually be infallible, and that the communication link with the deity would not be subject to error or mistake.
  
  For example, the Bible would fail these tests for a number of reasons. The Bible expressly claims that its prophets are human and fallible, and are subject to mistakes. The God of the Bible changes its mind even though it is infallible, and claims the ability to know the future. It also gets angry, loses its cool, and destroys the world when aggravated by humans, exhibiting behavior unbecoming of a deity. Thus the Bible fails the reality test.


• Human-Based Religions - Human-based religions are religions whose doctrine is clearly created by humans. Some of these religions claim supernatural events and some are based purely on science. But, in a human-based religion, it is accepted in doctrine that the religion was created by people and that there is a probability of error. The Church of Reality is an example of a human-based religion, and one of the few things that we can accept on faith is that we will always have mistakes.
  
  So - if we are wrong, how can we claim to be a reality-based religion? How can we claim reality when we freely admit that some of what we proclaim is just plain dead wrong?
  
  With the assumption of fallibility, the best that a human-based religion can do is to pursue reality. The pursuit of reality is the commitment to explore reality the way it reality is and to change your mind when you find out you were wrong. This means that a reality-based religion that is human based can not be a static religion and have a fixed doctrine. It has to be evolving forward. It has to embrace change. It has to be humble and admit its limitations. And it has to invite scrutiny and maintain a world view that allows and encourages positive evolution.
  
  Even then a reality-based religion is merely an attempt to pursue reality, and the religion has to earn its place in history by being sincere in its pursuit. Since one never achieves reality, one can only make a good chase and record their progress in the Tree of Knowledge so that future generations can build upon their work. We are the Church of Reality only to the extent that we stay sincere to our principles and succeed in actually moving forward.

If the Church of Reality doesn't commit to real reality then our religion has no meaning. We have to earn our name.

By taking the name Church of Reality we are making a commitment to humanity that we are going to honor the name as a sacred trust.

Realists and Unitarian Universalists share a lot of the same important values. We have the same moral code and our passions about society are almost identical.

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

The Church of Reality is about Reality - not Marc Perkel. There is nothing special about Marc Perkel.

Copyright by Linda Gadbois's Creative Transformations

1. Contemplating the Name - What is the Church of Reality?
2. Contemplating the Universe - Science, Physics, the physical universe, things that are real.
3. Contemplating the Tree - Knowledge, what do we know and why do we know it? The collective knowledge of humanity.
4. Contemplating Society - Our relationship with each other. How we get along as members of humanity.
5. Contemplating the Future - What is our destiny? What are we evolving into?
6. Contemplating the Path - Who am I and how do I fit into society?
7. Contemplating Contemplation - My mind, my perception, how our minds interface into reality.

Our cultural identity defines who we are in the world community.

Our gift is to give you something to think about.

We believe that thinking about reality is good for you no matter what your religious beliefs.

We were created by reality and we are trying to understand our creator just like every other religion.

One's computer is an extension of or physical brain and our thoughts are stored in both places.

So here we are. We exist. So what are we going to do?

The artificial imposition of debt is a form of slavery that we must not allow.

One person one vote has now become one dollar one vote.

We can not allow humanity to evolve into a slavery based society.

Yes! The good news is humanity does have a purpose in the Universe.

1. A superior race of space aliens lands on Earth and they are weeding out our section of the galaxy and they say to us, "Why should we let you exist? What purpose do you serve?" And if we don't come up with a good enough answer, they are going to wipe us out of existence."


2. We create a race of robots that have superior abilities to us and become a child race of humanity and they look at us asking the question, "Why are you still around?"


3. Since computing power doubles every year by the end of the century computers will be trillions of times smarter than we are today. Futurists like Ray Kurzweil predict that in the year 2028 that computers will exceed the human brain. At some point computers will be able to reengineer themselves, making improvements to their own design. These improved computers will be able to make themselves even better. They will control their own evolution.
   
   Since we know that something like that will happen and that it is likely that they will become their own life form, what values should we pass on to them that will become the guiding principles of their evolution? What will we teach them about their role in the universe? And in order to teach them, maybe we need to figure out our role in the universe first.

Why are we as a people worth saving? If humanity has no greater purpose then for what reason do we deserve to continue to exist?

When it comes to gods, size matters. If God isn't the greatest then it's not God

What happens when computers become smarter than humanity?

"I don't know what will happen when computers are smarter than people.", is the wrong answer.

The Church of Reality gives Realists a religious identity.

You don't need to believe in a deity or the supernatural to be a religion. All that is required is to share a common world view and doctrine.

What is left of you after your body dies? If you reproduced then your genetics live on. But does that represent who you are? Not really. Yes - you might pass on some values to your children and if the values are good values then you continue to contribute to the world after you are gone. If the values you pass on are bad values then the things that are bad about you continue to live on after you are gone. The "guy who inverted the wheel" is still with us because the wheel is a very important part of the Tree of Knowledge. Hitler is still with us because the remnants of his destruction still exist and have make an imprint in the Tree.

Some people are remembered for what they contributed to the Tree. Some are remembered for being destructive. But most people aren't really remembered at all. When you die there is a small circle of people who knew you and remember you. But what happens when the last person who knows you dies? Will there still be anyone around to tell your stories? Will there be people quoting your writings? Will they be using your invention? Or will you merely be forgotten?

What you do counts and what you leave behind and how you are remembered represents the only form of immortality that we know for sure exists. So if you want to be remembered in the Tree you have to accomplish something. You have to take all the Knowledge you inherited from the Tree and give something back. Come up with something new and useful - or - you can help someone else come up with something new and useful and you can know you had a hand in it.

Steven Hawking is one of the worlds greatest physicists. He contributes much to the Tree of Knowledge and he will be remembered for his accomplishments. But the people who dress him in the morning - feed him - and put him to bed at night also have a hand in his accomplishments. So you can contribute to the Tree by supporting those who are making a difference in the world and helping us evolve in the Sacred Direction. When you do that then part of you lives on and the world becomes a better place because you contributed to help make it happen.

The name of the church is a message in itself. In the Church of Reality - the name says it all. We are a church based on believing in everything that is real. Therefore the first goal of the church is to expose most everyone on the planet to our name. It is our goal that everyone has heard the name, "Church of Reality" and at least has some vague idea that it is some kind of church that is based on the idea of believing in everything that is real.

The reason this is important is because if people are aware that the Church of Reality exists, it immediately causes them to ask the sacred question, "What is Real?". It causes them to wonder, "Is my religion real? Do I believe in things that are real? Do I believe in things that are not real? How do my beliefs compare to reality the way it really is?" This raises the importance of reality in the minds of the individuals who make up the world.

From the perspective of the Church of Reality - reality isn't given enough importance in society. Reality is often ignored or deliberately obscured. Most of the people of this planet believe in some form of mythology that has no basis in fact. None of the religious choices include believing in what's real. There is a vacuum out there for knowledge of reality the way it really is. So many people who are being forced or brainwashed into living the lie who are waking up and saying, "Wow! - Reality .... What a Concept!"

The Tree of Knowledge is a very powerful concept. The tree really represents a mathematical tree in that all knowledge is understood by interconnecting it with other knowledge. New words are defined in terms of old words. It is much like the way that software is developed. A word is defined and is passed around in the vocabulary. Once the word becomes common then that word represents a reference to everything that went into the definition of that word. So if I say "democracy" I invoke volumes of thought with a single word. We all know - more or less - what that word means. But someone had to invent that word - create a concept around it - and educate society as to what it means. Thousands of years ago there was no word that represented the concept of democracy. Now we have it. I inherited that word from the Tree of Knowledge. Now it is time for me to give back to the Tree. I have created the name "Tree of Knowledge" so that I can talk about our shared knowledge structure in a single phrase. And - one of the missions of the Church of Reality is to make this phrase - and many others - part of the vocabulary.

With the discovery of the Tree I realized that if we are going to be explorers and explore the reality we live in - that we are going to have to all do that together. We are only partially individual minds. In reality we are all socially interconnected and our whole lives are spent interacting with others, exchanging ideas, and learning. We are all in this together, so the better the support structures are and the better society works - the better we can explore reality together. Exploring reality and growing the Tree of Knowledge is really the same thing.

• Every Death is Unique - Every death is individual and unique. Rules and policies around death should be flexible to accommodate the wishes of the dying person and the person's family.


• Wisdom should Prevail - In complex situations the individuals involved should take the time to think things through and make a determination based on the circumstances rather than just citing policy. Where there is conflict, efforts should be made to achieve resolution. New situations should be carefully considered in determining the ethics involved and the rules and policies that preserve the rights and liberties of the patient and the family.


• The Patient has Choice - The wishes of the dying come first. The Church of Reality supports the right of the patient to choose how and when they are going to die. If the patient wants to be euthanized or wants to be fully awake until their last breath, their choice should be honored.


• Suicide and Doctor Assisted Suicide - If a person is terminally ill or is in a hospice program and doctors have determined that they have a short time to live, then the individual has the right to determine when and how their life will end. If they decide to end their life, then that decision should be honored and they should be allowed to have help in terminating their life from their doctors and their family. No one should be pressured into ending their own life.


• Who Speaks for the Patient? - If the wishes of the individual are not known and the individual patient cannot express them, then it is up to family members to express what the individual would have wanted. The wishes of the family take precedent over anyone else except for the individual.


• Living Wills - Members of the Church of Reality should have living wills and they should also make their wishes known to their friends and family so that their wishes are clear. That way other people won't have to guess as to what you would have wanted.


• A person is dead when - they have lost consciousness with no reasonable chance of recovery. Although one might be declared legally dead, later when the body dies, a person's last moment is the last moment that they were conscious. If you are brain dead, you are dead.


• Other Religions to Stay Out - Realists have a right to their own religious choices regarding end of life decisions and free from the imposition of beliefs of other religions and cultures. It infringes on our religious freedom when another religion or the government tries to impose their values on us against our will. Our rights to our religious choices are superior to foreign beliefs or laws that infringe on our end of life freedoms.

Unlike other churches, we don't have the advantage of saying that you have to give us 10% of your money because the Bible says so. We can't threaten you with you are going to burn in Hell forever for turning your back on Jesus. We're not going to use shame and guilt on you or the fear that you might piss off God. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with logic and reason. I won't get as rich at this as the big boys. But there are good reasons to donate money, and if any of these reasons appeal to you I would appreciate your help.

The goal of this church is to offer a religion that is based on reality as an alternative to religions based on mythology. Most religions are based on superstition and stories that just aren't true. They all have their holy books and their rules and customs that have little or nothing to do with the real world. Many of these religions, including Christianity, have a goal of world domination. And they want to impose their beliefs on the rest of us whether we like it or not.

I organized this church out of frustration with Christians in particular. I'm rather tired of Christians with their holier-than-thou attitude and their constant attempts to impose their beliefs on me and society in general. Christianity itself is evolving into a hate group as it becomes dominated by various right-wing influences like the Christian Coalition which is becoming a branch of the Moonies. Christians didn't seem so bad years ago when they focused on helping people, charity, humility, and being good, honest and hard working people. But those days are gone and many of these people have evolved into a threat to free-thinking people who want to experience reality the way it really is.

The reason the Church of Reality is important is that it offers an alternative to dogmatic religions and allows people to see reality the way it really is. People seem to have a need for a religious identity, to join, or to herd. There are a growing number of people who reject mythology and want to experiance reality, yet have no organization to identify with that supports the belief in reality as a religious identity. This religion fills a necessary gap and provides a psychological framework and a community of people who are exploring the nature of the universe and want to know the truth.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian is a true saint. Kevorkian has been the primary advocate of doctor assisted suicide and euthanasia to allow people who are terminally ill to avoid a horrible, torturous death by providing life termination services to people who want to die with dignity in a manner and time of their own choosing. Kevorkian believes that humans should be given the same high quality care we give our pets when we put them out of their misery when they are dying. When we do it to animals it is considered the "humane" thing to do, to end suffering, and we do it out of compassion and love for the poor beast. We should have the same love and compassion for humans.

Opposition to Kevorkian comes from a society that fears death and is afraid to face the Reality of Death. We all will die, therefore death is a part of every life. But, as a society, we are afraid of death and therefore afraid of the Reality surrounding death. Fear of Reality is one of the most common barriers to seeing Reality the way it really is. When a person or a society is afraid of Reality, they will fail to see it. We can only see Reality the way it really is through courage. And it takes even more courage when the price of standing up for Reality is facing a murder charge and losing your freedom.

On Sunday, November 22nd 1998, Dr. Jack Kevorkian appeared on the TV show "60 Minutes" and aired a video tape of himself helping a patient, who was in the final stages of ALS, die. ALS is a disease with no cure where the person slowly suffocates by choking to death on their own saliva. By showing the world this tape, Dr. Kevorkian was forcing the issue of Reality on a public that is unwilling to face death and dying. He did this with the expectation that he would be charged with murder. Because of his extraordinary personal sacrifice in the name of bringing Reality into the real world in the face of adversity, Dr. Kevorkian has earned his rightful place as a saint in the Church of Reality.

As the founder of the Church of Reality I declare that I and all of my members have a Constitutional right to smoke pot. This is based not only on the historical event of having formed the church while stoned --- but that smoking pot is essential for coming up with new ideas and further advancing our knowledge of reality and seeing reality the way it truly is. Thus smoking pot is necessary for the practice of our religion itself.

Marijuana -- when used properly -- can significantly enhance your ability to see reality the way it really is. Smoking Pot can improve your ability to think clearly.

An individual in this world is not capable of understanding everything or analyzing everything. Most of what we know is based upon the trust in information and knowledge held by others. Much of that information is inaccurate and has to be reexamined so that we can determine what is and isn't true and to serve society in general by helping to eliminate mythology from the social narrative and replacing it with fact. That is one of our purposes in society and why this church exists. Marijuana is a powerful tool that allows the user to bypass the "herd instinct" and to look at the social narrative from an altered perspective to test it for flaws. Marijuana is not (just) a form of entertainment --- it is a scientific tool. It allow us to use our minds more effectively. We in this church claim a right of access to these kinds of tools.

• The capital letter "R" with a halo over it is our Sacred Symbol that identifies our church. It symbolizes that Reality is Holy to us.


• We claim the phrase, "If it's real - we believe in it!"


• All words and phrases defined in our Terminology section not used in common language as our trademarks.


• All words and phrases defined in our Terminology section used in common language, but not commonly used in the context of religion as our trademarks if used in the context of religion.

1. A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith. (Our Principle of Self Scrutiny)


2. Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions. (Same as our commitment to Reality the way it really is.)


3. A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general. (Our Principles of Wisdom and Bullshit)


4. A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it. (Our commitment to Reality)


5. A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us. (Our Principles of Inclusiveness, Preservation of History)


6. A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility. (The Principles of Positive Evolution and Responsibility, and the Sacred Moral Question)


7. A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children. (Positive Evolution and many others)

Having stated how I (and attempting to speak for other Realists) felt about Christians - it's also clear that Realists aren't exactly Christian's favorite people. After all - we are all godless sinners who are condemned to burn in Hell forever. Without a God - we have no morals. That's why we all kill babies, love queers, and are keeping children from praying in school. After all - the bottom line is - if God doesn't control you - Satan does. So - what you're reading right now must be inspired by the Devil.

Some of my closest Christian friends are looking at this Church of Reality and are seeing real potential here. So much potential in fact that they are admitting to wondering if I might in fact actually BE the Anti-Christ. All I can say is - thank you for the compliment and your "faith" in my success - however - we are Realists and we all know that Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ.

And how arrogant of us Realists to think that we need to shepard the poor dumb Christians the poor dumb brainwashed Christians because Realists think they are so "enlightened". Just because Realists put on the Reality title they think that they are so smart - but the reality is that Realists are just as much of a cult as any other religion. Godless sinners who refuse to let Jesus into their heart and accept divine guidance. How can the wisdom of man compare to the wisdom of God?

So - as you can see - we have a big gap to cross. But - we are still stuck here together on this planet so we better try to figure out how to get along. After all - reality isn't going to go away.

Jews believe that world was created in 6 days - with God resting on the 7th day. This occurred about 7000 years ago. Well - wrong! We now know that the universe is about 15 billion years old. But the Jews still believe it anyhow. Now - many Jews will admit that this is probably wrong. In fact - probably most of them. So then - why the obsession with the Sabbath and all the stupid rituals associated with it. Isn't it time to pull that one from the Ten Commandments? Well - can't do that because God gave Moses those commandments .... except that never happened either. Noah and the Ark - never happened. Tower of Babel ... never happened. It's all just stories and none of it ever occurred. It just isn't real.

The Jewish god is modeled after the early oppressive kings. In those times kings had absolute power and if they got in a bad mood - they might have thousands slaughtered. Since God is the supreme king - then he would be the ultimate oppressor. The God of the Bible fits this model. He's a tyrant who loses his temper and slaughters a lot of people when he gets pissed off. And he gets pissed off because he's not worshiped the right way. Think about it - God needs animal sacrifices? The being that created all the universe - all the galaxies - needs people to sacrifice animals to it? hmmmmm ... do you buy that? The God of the Jews is nothing more than a petty tyrant modeled after their petty tyrant kings - and that's according to THEIR beliefs!

So - if the Bible isn't real - then God didn't pick the Jews as the "Chosen People" and Jews are just ordinary people - just like all the rest of us. If you give up the Old Testament - then you have no basis for claiming that God gave you property in the Middle East. It takes away your justification for slaughtering Muslims because it puts you on the same level as they are. Jews of course believe that they are superior to Muslims and are therefore justified in taking their land.

Just as Muslims believe they are God's chosen people and they are justified in slaughtering Jews and taking they land. But the reality is - Muslims and Jews are both pigs and maybe if they spend a few more hundred years slaughtering each other, they might learn that it makes more sense to get along and build on reality and work together to lift each other up. Or - at least there will be less of them to contaminate the knowledge pool of humanity.

God never gave any land to any group of people. Those who slaughter others in the name of God are religious terrorists, nothing more.

The God of the Jews is week and stupid. If God were judged by today's standards - he would be criminally insane and we would execute him as a mass murdered. After all - according to the Bible - God slaughtered all the first born males of Egypt! God mass murders children! What kind of a supreme being is that? Of course - that nothing compared to the Great Flood where God supposedly slaughtered almost everything on the planet. This is a guy who has serious problems. And - God is male - because - well - I guess because God has a penis. What God does with his penis is still a mystery - but we know he has one - otherwise - he wouldn't be a he.

The core of Christian belief is based on the idea that everyone has sinned, and, because you have done something wrong, God will punish you by burning you with fire, or otherwise torturing you forever. If a 5 year-old tells a lie and then dies, God will burn that kid in Hell forever. Out here in the real world, if someone behaved like God supposedly does, that person would be considered severely mentally deranged. We put people who behave like God in jail or mental institutions. In fact, many people are locked up every year for imitating the "Wrath of God".

If Jesus could see what Christianity has evolved into, he'd be spinning in his grave!

Then there's this Jesus guy who's supposed to be "God's Son", born of a virgin, because sex is something evil, and he's here to cut a deal to get you around his dad's wrath. God has an anger problem you see, and so he has to sacrifice his own kid to appease himself so that he doesn't have to torture people, that he created, forever in Hell. So, Jesus has to die on the Cross for your sins, but then he's resurrected, so he's not really dead anymore. And now he's "paid the price" so those who "believe" in him will not fry in Hell like the rest of us.

Even though God created the universe and created billions of us, and he's all powerful and all knowing, he seems to have an identity problem and is so insecure that he needs us to worship him. Kind of like a kid shaking his fist over an ant colony demanding to be worshiped and obeyed, but on a much larger scale. God loves us but needs to punish us, unless we worship him. It's like God is some southern hick child abuser or something. Maybe we should call family services on God for child abuse? Anyhow, Christians believe God has a God sized ego problem and needs us to worship him, or he throws fits like destroying the world and such. God doesn't seem to have much control over his behavior and often is controlled by his own strong emotions.

God doesn't seem to really care much about what you do, but in what you believe in. It's "faith" not "works" that impress God. So, a mass murderer who gets "saved" during his lethal injection will go to Heaven, but the Dalai Lama is going to burn in Hell. So, you can be bad all your life and change at the last minute and get into Heaven. Christians obviously think God is pretty stupid and will fall for something like that. Actually, they don't "think" that because you're not supposed to think. You've got to "have faith" to believe something that stupid. Faith is the belief in something that has no basis in logic or reason.

The bottom line is, Christianity is about the fear of going to Hell. They say it's about "love" too, but hey, people who love you don't torture you in Hell forever, so I'm not buying the "he loves you" crap. And even though God created the universe, he's just not very good with money, and he needs you to give him your cash. God was a lot more out there in ancient times than he is today. God likes to work behind the screens, being the invisible guy in the sky, and letting the churches do his work. He doesn't talk directly, so he needs babbling nut cases to speak for him, (in tongues), with another nut case interpreting it. God is rather impotent these days and his authority seems to be limited to getting even with you after you're dead. So God needs his army of Christian Soldiers to do his work for him.

The alternative theory to Noah and the Ark is that it never happened. It's just a story that just isn't true. 4000 years ago people believed the world was flat and that the sky and the clouds went up forever. They didn't know how high mountains were and how much water it took to cover them. They thought that a big flood could cover the Earth and the water would evaporate or run off somewhere. They were wrong.

The alternative theory is that it's just a story and has no more basis in truth than any other fairy tale. No reasonable person could believe this is true.

The Church of Reality doctrine is the logical extension of our goals and our axioms. It is the set of rules that supports our world view.

The doctrine is to our religion as what an operating system is to a computer. The doctrine is the collection of principles that make our religion work.

The Church of Reality isn't about science. We are about people.

1. We are not Stuck in the Past - Most religions are stuck in the past. They rely on a fictional event that happened ages ago and they look backwards in time to a fading memory of a story that becomes less real with the passing of time and the advent of technology. The Church of Reality looks towards the future, the Sacred Direction, We have no fictional cross to bear.


2. We are Reality Based - Reality based means that we believe in what is real. And if what is real changes, we change with it. What we really mean here is if we believe something that is wrong, and we discover that we were wrong, we change our minds. We adapt to reality because we are committed to that. Fiction based religions facing the reality that their fiction is wrong will either cease to exist, adapt to reality, or find better ways to force their fiction upon their enslaved cult members.


3. We are the Natural Religion - Our religion is built on the rock of reality, to use a biblical metaphor. When the waves come and wash away the fiction, we will still be here. Reality isn't something that is going to go away, it is like a beacon that always leads us back to the way things really are. As we understand ourselves and the world we live in, we develop a lifestyle and a belief system that is a natural progression of who we are and all the good things we work to become.

1. 1. Being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verifiable existence: real objects; a real illness.
   2. True and actual; not imaginary, alleged, or ideal: real people, not ghosts; a film based on real life.
   3. Of or founded on practical matters and concerns: a recent graduate experiencing the real world for the first time.
2. Genuine and authentic; not artificial or spurious: real mink; real humility.
3. Being no less than what is stated; worthy of the name: a real friend.
4. Free of pretense, falsehood, or affectation: tourists hoping for a real experience on the guided tour.
5. Not to be taken lightly; serious: in real trouble.
6. Philosophy. Existing objectively in the world regardless of subjectivity or conventions of thought or language.

Although there is some evidence that this is all just my dream, I seem to be stuck here, so I am going to presume that reality is bigger than me.

You become trustworthy by accepting scrutiny and doubt and fixing mistakes when you are wrong. In this way you earn the faith of others.

Try taking this test as an American citizen to test if America is a cult!

• 1. The Guru is always right.
  
  No - the Guru definitely is not always right.


• 2. You are always wrong.
  
  No - members can be right or wrong.


• 3. No Exit.
  
  Well - you can't exit reality itself. but you can quit the Church of Reality


• 4. No Graduates.
  
  True - the quest for reality never ends. But anyone has a shot at passing the guru. If you do - I hand over the keys and you get to be the guru.


• 5. Cult-speak.
  
  Yes - we have cult speak! We have our own language, we invent new terms and we redefine words. But they aren't thought terminating, but thought inspiring. But that's what the guru is supposed to say


• 6. Group-think.
  
  No - group think is actually prohibited. Members are required to think for themselves.


• 7. Irrationality.
  
  No - we believe in only what is real.


• 8. Suspension of disbelief.
  
  Disbelief is required. We are a doubt based religion.


• 9. Denigration of competing sects, cults, religions...
  
  Sometimes I just have to take a shot at the crazy theists. The Principle of Inclusiveness requires we put up with them. We aren't into the hate thing.


• 10. Personal attacks on critics.
  
  Still trying to get noticed enough to have critics.


• 11. Insistence that the cult is THE ONLY WAY.
  
  Got us on that one. You're either with reality or you're against it.


• 12. The cult and its members are special.
  
  I think the Church of Reality is special, and so are the members. Hooray for us! But the question is if we are "special" as in "Chosen by God" or something. This planet is a spec of dust in the universe. How special is that?


• 13. Induction of guilt, and the use of guilt to manipulate cult members.
  
  If you were real loyal members you'd get me on TV like all the other preachers are.


• 14. Dogma, Unquestionable Dogma, and Sacred Science.
  
  The only thing you can't question is that you must question everything.


• 15. Indoctrination of members.
  
  So many web pages - so little time.


• 16. Appeals to "holy" or "wise" authorities.
  
  We're out here on our own. It's up to us to become wise authorities.


• 17. Instant Community.
  
  Maybe when we get bigger. We have an instant online community.


• 18. Instant Intimacy.
  
  Ooooohhhh if only! But in the context of the real question, no, we don't do that. No community confessions.


• 19. Surrender To The Cult.
  
  Are you willing to make a personal commitment to reality today? We don't ask that you hand over your property.


• 20. Giggly wonderfulness and starry-eyed faith.
  
  The Church of Reality probably has some enthusiastic believers but not starry-eyed.


• 21. Personal testimonies of earlier converts.
  
  Reality changed my life. If we get some celeb converts we'll exploit them just like everyone else does.


• 22. The cult is self-absorbed.
  
  No. Not us!


• 23. Dual Purposes.
  
  It's all about what's real. There is some fear of Deists though. We don't want to be marched into church at gunpoint.


• 24. Aggressive Recruiting.
  
  We aren't aggressive enough.


• 25. Deceptive Recruiting.
  
  Reality itself - how can that be deceptive. If you think reality is deceptive, you might be a cult member.


• 26. No Humor.
  
  My mother always said, "There's something funny about that boy!"


• 27. You can't tell the truth.
  
  Truth is what the Church of Reality is all about. Members can say anything they want. The truth is not suppressed. We accept scrutiny.


• 28. Cloning -- You must redefine yourself and your life in cult terms.
  
  We're strongly individualistic. Strength in diversity.


• 29. You must change your beliefs to conform to the group's beliefs.
  
  Well - this church is about reality. You are expected to give up fictional deities.


• 30. The End Justifies The Means.
  
  Not in this church.


• 31. Dishonesty, Deceit, Denial, Falsification, and Rewriting History.
  
  Nope - that's what we are against.


• 32. Different Levels of Truth.
  
  Everyone gets the same truths.


• 33. Newcomers can't think right.
  
  Newcomers often bring in fresh ideas.


• 34. The Cult Implants Phobias.
  
  We aren't in the fear based stuff. But if you leave our "cult" you might end up in a real cult.


• 35. The Cult is Money-Grubbing.
  
  Sometimes I fanaticize about that. Rolling around naked in the Church of Reality money room.


• 36. Confession Sessions.
  
  We aren't into the confession thing. We are for changing and moving on. Looking to the future.


• 37. A System of Punishments and Rewards.
  
  Nope - don't have that.


• 38. An Impossible Superhuman Model of Perfection.
  
  We accept that everyone is imperfect.


• 39. Mentoring.
  
  Nope.


• 40. Intrusiveness.
  
  Your personal lives are your own business.


• 41. Disturbed Guru, Mentally Ill Leader.
  
  I suppose it is up to the members to answer this one. The guru has had an interesting life.


• 42. Disturbed Members, Mentally Ill Followers.
  
  If reality is for the mentally ill then what kind of world is this?


• 43. Create a sense of powerlessness, covert fear, guilt, and dependency.
  
  No. We empower everyone.


• 44. Dispensed existence
  
  This cult decides nothing about people's worthiness.


• 45. Ideology Over Experience, Observation, and Logic
  
  Reality over fiction.


• 46. Keep them unaware that there is an agenda to change them
  
  We are openly trying to change people to bring reality into their lives.


• 47. Thought-Stopping Language. Thought-terminating clichés and slogans.
  
  We use thought provoking language. Think about that!


• 48. Mystical Manipulation
  
  Not our style.


• 49. The guru or the group demands ultra-loyalty and total commitment.
  
  We demand that you doubt everything.


• 50. Demands for Total Faith and Total Trust
  
  Assumes a fundamental distrust to keep everyone honest.


• 51. Members Get No Respect. They Get Abused.
  
  We try to respect everyone.


• 52. Inconsistency. Contradictory Messages
  
  Contradictions should be resolved.


• 53. Hierarchical, Authoritarian Power Structure, and Social Castes
  
  We do have a hierarchy


• 54. Front groups, masquerading recruiters, hidden promoters, and disguised propagandists
  
  Not big enough to consider front group.


• 55. Belief equals truth
  
  If you believe in bullshit, I mean REALLY believe in bullshit, it's still bullshit.


• 56. Use of double-binds
  
  No virgins thrown into volcanoes.


• 57. The cult leader is not held accountable for his actions.
  
  Oh I wish!


• 58. Everybody else needs the guru to boss him around, but nobody bosses the guru around.
  
  See previous answer.


• 59. The guru criticizes everybody else, but nobody criticizes the guru.
  
  See previous answer.


• 60. Dispensed truth and social definition of reality
  
  Nope. It's about reality, not the guru.


• 61. The Guru Is Extra-Special.
  
  My mother though so. But nothing beyond that.


• 62. Flexible, shifting morality
  
  Would I lie to you baby?


• 63. Separatism
  
  We're inclusive. We're involved.


• 64. Inability to tolerate criticism
  
  We require criticism.


• 65. A Charismatic Leader
  
  I hope not.


• 66. Calls to Obliterate Self
  
  Actually humility and loss of self importance and selflessness are very powerful. We're busted on this count. But it can be abused by cults.


• 67. Don't Trust Your Own Mind.
  
  Busted again in some respects. But to us it's a realistic assessment of our own limitations and research into ways to compensate. How to discern reality with an imperfect mind to work with.


• 68. Don't Feel Your Feelings.
  
  We aren't into feeling control.


• 69. The cult takes over the individual's decision-making process.
  
  Nope - you make your own decisions.


• 70. You Owe The Group.
  
  You don't owe us anything.


• 71. We Have The Panacea.
  
  Not hardly.


• 72. Progressive Indoctrination and Progressive Commitments
  
  I suppose that is yet to be seen. We would like people to try harder spreading reality.


• 73. Magical, Mystical, Unexplainable Workings
  
  We're a no magic religion. Sorry.


• 74. Trance-Inducing Practices
  
  We don't do weird.


• 75. New Identity -- Redefinition of Self -- Revision of Personal History
  
  Reality can be a profound change. But nothing is required by the Church of Reality. We don't give you a new name.


• 76. Membership Rivalry
  
  Not hardly.


• 77. True Believers
  
  Well, you don't get any more real than reality itself. So we're busted on this one.


• 78. Scapegoating and Excommunication
  
  We're too small to start throwing people out.


• 79. Promised Powers or Knowledge
  
  Well, if we work hard and develop the technology, almost anything is possible.


• 80. It's a con. You don't get the promised goodies.
  
  We don't make promises.


• 81. Hypocrisy
  
  Nope. Sacred Principle of Responsibility. If we screw up, we own it.


• 82. Denial of the truth. Reversal of reality. Rationalization and Denial.
  
  Nope, we want the truth.


• 83. Seeing Through Tinted Lenses
  
  Everyone is tainted by their own perspective. We try to look at the world as it really is. But we are limited by the lens of humanity.


• 84. You can't make it without the cult.
  
  You can find reality without us. We are just reality's pimp.


• 85. Enemy-making and Devaluing the Outsider
  
  Our job is to help "them" evolve in a positive direction. We are one planet. It's all us really.


• 86. The cult wants to own you.
  
  No. This cult wants you to own yourself.


• 87. Channeling or other occult, unchallengeable, sources of information.
  
  We are a no voodoo religion.


• 88. They Make You Dependent On The Group.
  
  I hope not - but if we put together a really good group, maybe that would be a good thing. But dependency and control is not in our goals.


• 89. Demands For Compliance With The Group
  
  We demand nothing.


• 90. Newcomers Need Fixing.
  
  Not at all.


• 91. Use of the Cognitive Dissonance Technique.
  
  Not into group rituals.


• 92. Grandiose existence. Bombastic, Grandiose Claims.
  
  Busted! I think the Church of Reality is the religion of the future and hope that reality defeats fiction-based religions.


• 93. Black And White Thinking
  
  We are a gray religion.


• 94. The use of heavy-duty mind control and rapid conversion techniques.
  
  Nope. We believe in freedom.


• 95. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who leaves the cult.
  
  Not even close.


• 96. Threats of bodily harm or death to someone who criticizes the cult.
  
  See previous answer.


• 97. Appropriation of all of the members' worldly wealth.
  
  Anyone want to sign over their wealth to us? Sure! But we aren't out to take it.


• 98. Making cult members work long hours for free.
  
  We don't make people do anything.


• 99. Total immersion and total isolation.
  
  Nope. We have no control.


• 100. Mass suicide.
  
  Not going to happen.


• Bibliography
  
  

Fictional religion is like a computer virus, infecting your mind and sucking the life out of you like a leach.

If your religion isn't reality, then you're just a slave to the cult mind. They control what you think. Reality gives you the freedom to be real.

If what you believe is real then there's nothing to fear about exploring reality the way it really is.

If what you believe is real, then we want to believe in it too. But if what you believe isn't real, then do you really want to stick with it?

If your God is afraid of reality then how almighty is he?

The average person rarely invents anything. All the cool stuff is invented by weird people.

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN DARWIN
(TO THE TUNE OF “WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS”)

What a friend we have in Darwin,
Some doubts and questions answered,
What a privilege to learn
Everything that man discovered!
Oh what peace we could find,
Needless bickering could end,
If everyone would look at
All the basis Darwin had.

Have we doubts and more questions?
Is there more to discover?
We should only be encouraged;
To let scientists give us answers.
Can we find those scientists 
That stand for truth and reality?
Darwin knew the truth was out there;
Darwin knew reality.

Are the religious so blinded,
Can they really not understand?
Precious Darwin still our hope;
The evidence there to see.
Do your friends question your ‘origins’ beliefs?
Open your mind to new thought.
What a friend we have in Darwin!
Please join us in reality.

by Gena Hendrix

1. Science can never prove that God exists.
2. Science will never prove that the Bible is true.
3. The true religion can never be proven by science.

1. Abortion - Women in the Church of Reality have the right to control their reproduction. We recognize that often birth control fails and that Abortion becomes a means of birth control of last resort.


2. Assisted Suicide - Ultimately the individual has the right to choose not to continue to live. This is especially true when a person is nearing the end of natural life and is faced with choosing how they will die. A person has the right to ask for and to receive assistance in termination their own life within the context of wisdom and sane policy to protect society from abuse.


3. Same Sex Relationships - The Church of Reality considers sex between consenting adults of legal age to be an issue of personal choice.

1. Murder
2. Rape
3. Stealing
4. Genocide
5. Human and Animal Sacrifice
6. Canibalism
7. Torture
8. Cruelty
9. Bigotry and Racism
10. Intolerance
11. Self Righteousness
12. Slavery
13. Starting Wars
14. Sex with Children
15. Religious Genital Mutilation
16. Religious Deception
17. Deceitfulness
18. Dishonesty
19. Cheating
20. Greed
21. Selfishness
22. Drug Addiction
23. Blind Faith
24. Abduction
25. Terrorism
26. Polluting the Environment
27. Driving Slow in the Fast Lanes

• Advocating for Reality - A reality based religion will advocate for reality by name. Reality will be part of their doctrine and part of their practice. Reality will be a dominate factor in their religion. They will encourage their members to follow reality above all else and that reality take precedent over their current doctrine. If a religion refuses to advocate for reality, it isn't a reality based religion.
  
  

  If you are a reality based religion then your shouldn't be afraid to put "Choose Reality" on your web site.

  A reality based religion shouldn't have any problem putting this web sticker on the front of their web site. This is an interesting test because religions who are not reality based are threatened by the promotion of reality. A non reality religion is diminished by the message of reality, where a reality based religion is enhanced by advocating reality. Reality based religions embrace reality, while others fear it.


• Question Reality - Faith based religions require you to believe without questioning doctrine. You are expected to suppress our reason and substitute an emotional process to support your beliefs. In the Church of Reality we believe that if God exists that God would not be afraid of reality and that God is strong enough to stand up to scrutiny and doubt. Realists believe that if God exists that he is a strong and mighty God and that reason won't drive him away. We therefore consider it a test of a religion's commitment to reality that they are not afraid of their beliefs being questioned and scrutinized. In the Church of Reality we have the Principle of Scrutiny and Doubt as one of our Sacred Principles. We assert that a reality based religion is required to embrace scrutiny.

1. The Principle of Positive Evolution
2. The Principle of Existence and Survival
3. The Principle of Exploration
4. The Principle of Curiosity
5. The Principle of Honesty and Integrity
6. The Principle of Freedom
7. The Principle of Peace
8. The Principle of Courage
9. The Principle of Patience and Persistence
10. The Principle of Environmentalism
11. The Principle of Compassion
12. The Principle of Determination and Defiance
13. The Principle of Communication
14. The Principle of Justice
15. The Principle of Inclusiveness
16. The Principle of Respect
17. The Principle of Scrutiny and Doubt
18. The Principle of Humility
19. The Principle of Reason
20. The Principle of Wisdom
21. The Principle of Personal Responsibility
22. The Principle of Bullshit
23. The principle of Activism and Maintenance
24. The Principle of Personal Privacy
25. The Principle of Historical Preservation
26. The Principle of Humor and Fun

We don't. Our claim to believe in reality the way it really is, actually is a goal. As we all know, no one knows everything about reality. So the Church of Reality is really a religious commitment to the pursuit of reality the way it really is. What we do is make reality important in our personal lives and to raise the importance of reality in society.

An important concept is that there is no "our reality" that the Church of Reality believes in that is either right or wrong. Our church doesn't usually declare what is real and what isn't. Our religion is a commitment to pursue reality wherever that leads us. So there is no "our reality" to get wrong. We are more properly judged in respect to whether our pursuit of objective reality is genuine. So - if we took a position on something and you can show us we are wrong, we are committed to changing our minds.

If we realize that we are wrong, we fix it. Our doctrine, which we call the Kernel, is always under development. We assume that the Kernel can always be improved. The Church of Reality has a dynamic doctrine rather than a static doctrine. We are a religion committed to change, but not just any change. We commit to Positive Evolution. We are evolving forward in the Sacred Direction. Making mistakes is just part of the evolutionary process. What is different about us as compared to most religions is that we fix our mistakes.

In pure science the universe is just stars exploding and rocks in space bumping into each other. In pure science whatever happens - happens. Nothing has any value. It doesn't matter to science if the human race thrives or becomes extinct. The Church of Reality has chosen a world view that our survival does matter and that we are to thrive and to become aware and to understand our reality. We have chosen through the Sacred Choices to move forward in a positive direction towards a better tomorrow. These choices are arbitrary choices and are therefore a religious choice. Other religions envision the future in destruction and that humanity is at its end. Our world view is that we are at the beginning of the Sacred Journey towards a tomorrow that is wondrous, and we have made a religious commitment to dedicate our lives to that goal.

There's one's own personal perception of reality, and there is one's personal life and thoughts. But then there's the "real world" or objective reality that we all live in and share. If reality was all personal, then perhaps the universe was created on October 10, 1955 - the day I was born - and the universe will end the day I die. Maybe the world is just an illusion and that you all don't really exist? Maybe my brain is in a jar in a laboratory somewhere and this all is just a computer generated illusion - that some day I'm going to wake up and be back home on my own planet and this all will be nothing more than a dream.

One illustration I like to make about personal reality and objective reality is this: suppose that a Buddhist who has a personal relationship with God and a Christian who has a personal relationship with God both jump off the Golden Gate Bridge at the same time, both believing that their God can make them fly. Which one will hit the water first? (In a vacuum)

Becoming a Realist involves giving up some of your personal beliefs and personal realities because real reality is different and the Church of Reality is about the way it really is - not what you want to believe in.

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

"Patriotism that is forced is a false patriotism just as loyalty that is coerced is the very antithesis of loyalty. We ought not impugn the loyalty of a citizen any more than we ought necessarily to praise the loyalty of a citizen who without conviction or meaning, and with mental reservation, recites the pledge by rote each morning. Surely patriotism and loyalty go deeper than that."

For a Realist to recite state sponsored pledges is an insult to the very freedoms the State supposedly stands for.

Like the tricks that the tobacco industry uses to make cigarettes as addictive as possible, religions have evolved techniques to make their religion as addictive as possible.

We don't have a God to tell us what to do. So we have to do the hard work and figure it out for ourselves.

We present a template rather than a set of rules.

Our focus is on the positive side.

If what you believe in is real, then Realism is not a threat to your religious beliefs.

Is Reality part of your life story? Where does Reality fit into your belief system?

Does the Universe have preferences? Is there things the Universe cares about? Is the Universe itself trying to accomplish something?

Evolution is a property of the universe. Humanity is a result of evolution. We are the result of what the universe does.

The universe evolved into us. We are the universe. The universe contemplates its own existence through us.

Our higher purpose is to continue the process that created us in the first place.

Is Reality God? If Reality isn't God then there is no God.

One day it may just be there and it will be too late to stop it.

We won't be able to pull the plug on it. It will be able to pull the plug on us.

The way AI turns out might depend on the way it emerges.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The Bible says, "Thou shalt not eat of the Tree of Knowledge". The Church of Reality says, "Who's hungry?"

We choose Evolution over Extinction. We commit to the progress of the human race towards a brighter tomorrow.

If not for Reality, I wouldn't be here.

Among all the thousands of religious choices, shouldn't reality be included?

Not everyone is a programmer - scientist - or researcher. You may be wondering - how do I donate to the Tree of Knowledge. You might be a fairly ordinary individual who has never invented anything nor come up with an idea that is significantly profound. But you can still contribute - and you can use your wallet to do it.

If you can't contribute to the Tree of Knowledge, you can donate money to people who are contributing. For example - you could donate to cancer research, and if they find a cure for cancer - your donation might have helped make that happen. You can donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation - a nonprofit civil liberties foundation that is working hard to protect the right of free expression on the Internet to help make sure the information keeps flowing. Civil liberties - freedom - and justice are all issues that are very important to the Tree of Knowledge and your contribution advances the human cause.

If you are using someone's shareware program or free software and they ask for a donation to support their work - send them some money. If these programmers don't get any donations then they might have to go out and get real jobs to support themselves and not have the time to write free programs.

Starting a web site and posting useful information is intellectual tithing. You might have a cure for the hiccups or grandma's fruit cake recipe. You might have a kool trick for doing something no one else has thought of - or something that a few people know and you want to share it with the world. When you post a web site - you're providing information to the entire planet. Or at least the part of the planet that has Internet access. You should be careful to make sure your information is both accurate and useful. Contributing misinformation adds chaos to the Tree of Knowledge and doesn't benefit anyone. Being intellectually responsible is important.

In the spirit of the Principle of Positive Evolution and to grow the Tree of Knowledge, it is our dharma to make the world a better place to live in. The quest for knowledge is a shared experience with each individual building upon the work of those who came before them. We form a collective mind that is based on the work of those who came before us and we contribute to toady's knowledge in the hope that knowledge will continue to grow in the future. We realize that in order to grow we need to take care of the basics of life and to take care of each other in a healthy productive society. It is therefore the dharma of the Church not only to pursue the understanding of reality the way it really is, but to create the kind of environment where that is possible.

A world of happy people who are well fed, who have access to education, to justice, to medical care, to housing, and all the other needs of basic living are more likely to grow the Tree of Knowledge than those who are oppressed, poor, hungry, sick, and homeless. We believe that people are better off building computers than fighting wars. So - making the world a better place is a necessary part of the understanding of understanding and it is why we encourage people to become /root and do tech support for the human race.

As time went on I kept coming up with new ideas. I think about this a lot. I have somewhat of a unique mind in that I'm a "big picture" type of guy, trying to fit it all into systems that interrelate. I think I have good pattern matching skills. In August of 2003 I decided that I really needed to start moving towards doing this full time and make the Church of Reality into a real religion. It was already becoming somewhat popular on the net - but I could see the world was moving further away from reality into a cult mind-set--a trend I found to be very disturbing. So I started the process of getting the IRS recognition. I applied for that in December of 2003 and a year later - I'm still waiting.

The IRS process really helped me develop my web site and concepts of reality as a church even further. In theory - the IRS doesn't care what your religion believes - but it has to really be a religion as opposed to some scam or someone living out their personal insanity. Religion is sort of like porn - you can't define it - but you know it when you see it (sometimes). So they ask questions to see if you can come up with some sort of answer. They want to know what you believe in. What do members do? Is there some sort of an oath involved? They asked a lot of what I considered to be really good and thought provoking questions that caused me to write many new pages. I worked on the Church of Reality web site for several months as I was working on the 501c3 application. It was during that time that I came up with the Sacred Principles and Sacred Choices.

The best way to win a war is to make sure war never happens in the first place. To that extent Realists are the first soldiers on the battlefield to make sure that the enemy never becomes the enemy in the first place. We are the ones who fight the war so that the war never needs to be fought. Our duty to the Principle of Positive Evolution is to move forward into a world where war is not part of the human experience.

To this end the Realist is involved in peace organizations who's charter is to avoid war from happening in the first place. This activity to resolve conflicts and to maintain the peace is the front line to winning war. The biggest military victories are not the ones that are won on the field of battle - but the ones that make sure we never end up in battle in the first place.

We live in a time when the body can be kept alive after the mind has died. Technology can make the line between life and death fuzzy, and we are sometimes faced with making tough choices concerning whether a person is really dead or alive. However, what is it that makes a person a person? Is the person still alive if even a few cells are still alive? Technically yes, but, in reality, no. It is the brain activity, specifically the higher brain functions, that define the line between life and death. In the Church of Reality, when you have lost consciousness, with no reasonable chance of recovery, you are dead. To exist as a living corpse is not considered being alive.

In the Church of Reality, you are your brain. It is your awareness that makes you who you are and from that awareness you experience life as a person. If you are brain dead but the body is kept alive artificially, then the body isn't really you.

We believe that death occurs at the point when the higher brain functions permanently end.

The Church of Reality also recognizes personal choice to help resolve issues when one is within the fuzzy line between life and death. Some people want to hang on as long as there is any chance at all. Some people want to be allowed to let go when the fight to stay alive becomes more painful than they can bear. Some people don't want to be alive if their mind is so damaged that they will have to live a hellish half-life should they be kept alive. A person might choose that half a life isn't enough. Others might decide that any hope is plenty to continue the fight for a recovery.

The simple answer is, because I have to eat. I would like to get this off the ground and I want to do this full-time. At some point in the near future I'm going to have to find something to do for a living as my software income is dwindling. If I do something else I can't do this. I think this is important and that it is worth paying me to make it happen. Your donation could turn this into a major religion. And as the only religion dedicated to the pursuit of reality, I think it's worth it. I think it will be good for the world and the human race. And you can contribute to help make it happen.

Are you tired of all these other religions collecting billions of dollars and using it to promote a description of the world that just isn't true? Would you like to live in a world where some people look at reality the way it really is? Do you think that there should be at least one religion dedicated to the real world? Perhaps you are a scientist, a computer programmer, or just someone who looks at the Bible and says to him/herself that there's no way that an onipotent being could have written something with this many errors. That if the Bible is the work of God then there's somthing wrong with God. So if you don't want Christians forcing creationism on your kid's school and you want to fund an alternative religion based on seeing reality the way it really is, then you need to write a check to the Church of Reality and I'll help make it happen.

Over the last 20 years Christians in particular have evolved to become much more agressive about inflicting their beliefs on everyone else. Their mission is not only to convert the world to Christianity, but to their particular flavor of Christianity. If everyone in the world were Christians, they would still be fighting among themselves over who are the "real Christians". And real Christians have always been ready to go to war and kill people over their beliefs.

If you're tired of Christians forcing their ideas on you and society in general and you want to see an alternative based on reality, then send me some money.

Christians are using their churches to funnel money into politics in order to force their views on society. They've practically ruined the Republican Party, turning it into a bunch of rabid religious nuts who are hell-bent on forcing their arbitrary moral standards on the rest of us. They want to control the schools so that they can force "Creation Science" on our children as well as other primitive mythological beliefs that have no basis in reality. They have no respect for other religions that have a different mythology, and they have even less respect for reality, and people who want to understand reality the way it really is.

It is our belief that religious oppression by Christians and other zealots infringe on our rights and our ability to do good science. Because Christians have a fetus obsession, scientists can't do fetal tissue research necessary to cure Parkinson disease or Alzheimers. Religions fear cloning research because we might be "playing God". Science is a threat to primitive religious beliefs because science tends to prove that holy books like the Bible are full of errors. Anything that disproves the Bible, in their view, has got to be evil. Therefore the Christians have taken an active stance against reality. And this threat to reality is one of the main things that motivated me to start this church. To defend the pursuit of reality from those who would oppress it.

If Jesus could see what Christians have evolved into, he'd be spinning is his grave.

Let's get real here. It's a little hard to look at the Hubble Telescope images that peer back in time and space 15 billion light years and still believe that the world was created in six days about 7000 years ago. If the universe is only 7000 years old, as the Bible says, then we wouldn't be able to see any objects in space that are more than 7000 light years away because the light wouldn't have got here yet. We couldn't see to the center of our own galaxy, let alone the billions of other galaxies in our universe. The Bible is a book of fiction. But it is being presented not only as fact, but that God himself directed it's writing. Simple logic proves that isn't so. If we assume that God is omnipotent and created the universe, we then can see that the Bible is clearly wrong on the origin of the universe, then we can only conclude that the Bible is not the word of God. Simple logic, but a lot on this planet have a mental block to understanding it.

Your generous donation will help start a religion dedicated to pursuing reality the way it really is instead of the continued spread of competing mythologies. By doing good science, we might actually be able to be immortal someday. But that will never happen if the Zealots take over and oppress good science. This church actively defends your right to be real.

Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler Magazine is a true hero and a saint. Larry Flynt has always stood up for free speech and free expression, often to the point of him landing in jail. Larry always has, and still is, being pursued by forces who would take away our liberties and freedoms. As depicted in the movie, "The People vs. Larry Flynt", Larry took the case of free speech to the United States Supreme Court and won his case against the Reverend Jerry Falwell who sued him over Hustler's fake ad indicating that Falwell had sex with his mother. If not for Larry Flynt's victory, the Church of Reality wouldn't be able to publish the truth on the web as we do today.

Recently, Larry Flynt has exposed the sexual trysts of famous "big fish" Republicans who pride themselves on being morally superior based on their mating habits. Larry has, at great personal expense, and out of a sense of civic duty, shown what hypocrites these holier than thou Republicans are. Larry has exposed the hypocrisy of putting the President, or anyone else for that matter, on trial for lying about getting a blow job in a society that is afraid to face the fact that if not for sex, we wouldn't be here.

Larry has throughout his life strived to expose reality for what it really is. And at great personal sacrifice has defended our rights to speak freely, especially about issues that society doesn't have the courage to face. His battle has resulted in his being shot by those who would silence the truth, and now he's in a wheelchair. Nonetheless, in spite of being shot, Larry Flynt continues to fight the good fight, to look at reality the way it really is, and therefore has achieved sainthood in the Church of Reality.

• Availability - That ever person of reproductive age, especially women because that's where birth actually occurs, should have free unrestricted access to birth control. We consider it an absolute right of a woman to control her own reproduction. Unrestricted access includes making contraception available to teenagers without the consent of the parents. When a person becomes old enough to reproduce it becomes their choice, not the choice of the parents, to avoid pregnancy.


• Research - The Church of Reality supports research to develop technology to support reproductive choices. This is not only for birth control research, but also to help people who want to have children to reproduce who could not otherwise reproduce without the new discoveries.


• Over Population - We in the Church of Reality understand that this planet can not support an unlimited number of people and that birth control is ethically imperative in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences of war, famine, and plagues that happen if we are not responsible.


• Abortion - Abortion is a choice and women have the right to make that choice.


• Education - The Church of Reality takes the position that everyone should receive reproductive education so that they can make the best choices possible with the best information available. This education needs to begin in school so kids can grow up knowing a lot more about sex than I did when I was growing up. This education should involve all aspects of life, not just sex and birth control, but birth, raising children, and good healthy family relationships.

We have the technology to track everything a person does and every place they go. We can create a system that totally enslaves every person on the planet. It is up to us to choose not to do that.

Our religions both have missions in relation to each other. Christians in general are supposed to convert us heathens to find Jesus - get saved - and become "born again". And we have plans for you too. Our mission is to evangelize reality. To promote the idea that what is real matters. We want to encourage you to think and to act responsibly. We want to make sure that you are denied seeing the end of the world in your lifetime. We see Christianity as an evolving religion and we want to help make sure that it evolves in a positive direction. We want tomorrow's Christians to be better than they are today. Because if our Christian neighbors are sane upstanding members of society - then we realists can explore reality the way we want and grow the Tree of Knowledge. If however Christians run America into the ground starting religious wars and blowing up the world with nuclear weapons and start stoning people for talking about evolution - then we can't practice our "faith".

So - how are we going to help Christianity evolve in a positive direction? By talking about reality. After all - if what Christians believe is real - this shouldn't be a problem. In fact - I would think that embracing reality would make Christians better Christians. So - I would like to throw out some questions for Christians to ask themselves, other Christians, and their religious leadership. We in the Church of Reality accept the principle of self scrutiny as a means for which we evaluate ourselves and stay on track. We assume that we are going to make mistakes - so our goal is to correct those mistakes as soon as possible. We think that self scrutiny is a good thing for all religions because don't we all get off track and don't we all want to get beck on track?

The Jews in Israel are both the victims and perpetrators of terrorism. Both sides believe God is on their side in spite of the fact that God has failed to take a public stand on his preferences as to you gets the property. In fact - God doesn't get involved in anything and if he (the god with a penis) exists, he doesn't care enough to get involved. This lack of involvement is interpreted as meaning that God is somewhat impotent and needs us puny little earthlings to act in his behalf. How the hell did God ever get along without us?

You would think that after World War II and the mass slaughter of Jews by the Nazis that the Jews would finally get it - but whoosh - right over their heads! Let me spell it out - Hey Jews! It's not OK to slaughter other people! If you think it's wrong to be persecuted - then it's it wrong to persecute others? Figure it out! You are not the chosen people - and it is not OK to commit terrorist acts against non-jews. You're no better than the fucking Arabs! If Jews are so fucking smart - then why are you stuck in the past?

As far as Jerusalem goes - these nothing holy about any place on earth. In fact this whole planet is just a speck of dust in the universe and it is more likely than not that we don't even rate as significant in the big picture. You want to do something holy? You want to do something to impress God - then learn how to live in peace with your neighbors! And the first step in doing that is to admit that you are NOT the chosen people!

I can understand where Jews are angry over terrorist acts committed against them. But I have looked at what is going on in the middle east and even though I am biased in favor of the Jews - it's pretty clear to me that there is an attitude of systematic ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and this is not only wrong - but it makes me ashamed to have ever identified myself as a Jew. The way I see it - if the Jews are the smarter party - and certainly the more powerful party - then they have the responsibility to take the initiative and forge a peace.

The knowledge tree of the Jews is frozen in time and is static. Judaism looks only backwards and there is no model for advancement of the Jewish knowledge tree - and because of that - Judaism is doomed to extinction. Judaism can be compared to a carefully preserved dead plant that slowly rots away over thousands of years. Jews like to consider themselves knowledgeable and wise and able to tackle deep philosophical questions. I therefore pose this question to all wise Jews everywhere. If you believe in something and it turns out that what you believe in is wrong - doesn't it make sense to abandon what is wrong - admit your mistake - and move on to what is right? How wise is a man who clings to false knowledge? Who among the Jews will stand up and defy the death of the Jewish Tree of Knowledge and create a new model for the advancement of wisdom? How can you claim to be the chosen people when your Tree of Knowledge is dead and your vision of the future is looking into the past? Think about it next Sabbath when you honor a commandment that has no basis in reality whatsoever.

God isn't powerful enough to save everyone, so only the "chosen few" make it in. The Jehovah's Witnesses have set the number at 144,000 people, and that's it. Only Christians get in, and then it's limited to only "True Christians". A True Christian is your personal flavor of Christianity and most all other Christians are not really Christians, but are really working for the Devil. Satan seems to have more influence here than God does. Satan is some fallen angel who somehow suckered God way back when and got power. I guess someone stupid enough to believe a death bed conversion can fall for anything, and isn't very bright. So Satan is misleading all but the chosen few who are True Christians and are going to Heaven.

This creates a dilemma. With all the flavors of Christianity out there, how does a person find the True Christians? I guess you're supposed to "know it in your heart" but there are a lot of Christians out there who are listening to God speak to their hearts and getting a lot of conflicting information. God is having a hard time getting his story consistent it would seem, or you have Satan out there pretending to be God, and, if you are fooled, God is going to punish you. Remember, God is one seriously pissed off dude and has no room for error!

So, Unlike other religions, like Jews and Buddhists, Christians believe that God has chosen them and therefore they are better than everyone. And because of that, they have no respect for anything other than their own limited and narrow perception of the world as their particular flavor of Christianity sees it.

Probably not at this time for all practical purposes. Unfortunately. If you have really good legal skills or money to pay a good lawyer, perhaps. We are working to change this. Legally we would likely prevail under RFRA however no one has yet done that and unless you're both brave and smart I would avoid getting caught with any illegal drug. It's not that you don't have a right to use pot, but that the government acting in it's own self interest has taken that right away from you. And since they have more guns than you have --- they have the power to impose their insanity upon the masses.

We in America live in a country where the common man on the street has a better understanding of constitutional law than our Supreme Court. Take for example their recent decision to allow the police to arrest people on charges that carry no jail term. They decided that you can be arrested for not wearing a seat belt even though the crime is punishable by fine only. This allows the cops to throw anyone in jail for any reason they want. You could be arrested for jaywalking! is it Constitutional just because the Supreme Court says it is? NO - it is not.

If anyone asks if you smoke pot -- just say no.

The reality is -- the Supreme Court can break the law and undermine the Constitution and get away with it. They are a branch of the government and often acts in it's own self-interest rather than in the interest of the government and the money that is behind those interests. They have the power --- and they have more guns --- but that doesn't make their decisions either right or constitutional. There is a difference between being right and having power.

There are a lot of selfish interests behind the prohibition of marijuana and other drugs. Drug addiction is a medical problem -- not a criminal problem. But the war on drugs has become a tool of the government to expand government control over the masses. The drug war brought us civil forfeiture laws and has led to America having the highest prison population in the world. Freethinking people are a threat to the institutions that oppress us and want to control us. Without the justification of the "War on Drugs" the government wouldn't have the excuses to try to read our email because they are looking for "Drug Dealers". But there really is no "War on Drugs" --- just a war on freedom --- using drugs as an excuse.

Just like the Mormons have to pretend they aren't into poligamy anymore to satisfy the state - we have to acknowledge that they have more guns - therefore we don't condone the use of drugs.

It is my hope that some day when Reality is more universally accepted that we will eliminate many stupid laws such us the prohibition on harmless substances such are pot. And the first step in that process is to continue to recognize and assert reality --- and demand that laws be passed based upon the principles of recognizing what is real.

1. The quality or state of being actual or true.
2. One, such as a person, an entity, or an event, that is actual: “the weight of history and political realities” (Benno C. Schmidt, Jr.).
3. The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence.
4. That which exists objectively and in fact: Your observations do not seem to be about reality.

In fact; actually.

Reality is that which still exists after you stop believing in it.

When it comes to praising the importance of reality and to verbalizing a commitment to reality as it really is, the Church of Reality comes in first place. No other religion has stated a commitment to reality as strongly and clearly as we have.

Fiction in - fiction out. If you base your belief system on fiction you will never get to reality.

Relativism, or relative reality, is reality that is based on your initial assumptions. It can never be more accurate than the presumptions you start with.

Blind Faith prohibits proof, scrutiny, doubt, evidence, verification, or any process of accountability, making the correction of errors nearly impossible.

Anything that can not be questioned is assumed to be untrustworthy.

The human need to be part of a group is far stronger than logic. Most people will sacrifice logic for social acceptance.

Realists live better lives because reality based thinking leads to better decisions on average than thinking that relies on fiction.

The word Reality does have healing powers. Every time you say "reality", the Sacred Message, you cause people to think about reality. And every time you think about reality it regenerates your mind making you a better person.

The reason that Atheists are law abiding productive members of society is because social structure is part of human evolution.

A free society is necessary for social progress. Social progress is necessary for positive evolution. Positive evolution is necessary for the exploration of reality.

We think the world would be better off if smart people were in charge.

Atheism and Altruism are a good fit because selflessness achieves our selfish goal of survival and help us thrive as a community.

Diversity increases cooperation because it creates a culture of respect and acceptance for people who are different, allowing a greater number of people to function collectively.

Disagreement can be a good thing. Being disagreeable - not so much.

The Philosophy of the Open Hand includes learning how to work with people who you have differences with.

I SAW DARWIN
(SING TO TUNE OF “I Saw the Light” )

I wondered where life could have begun
I couldn’t believe in any magical one
Then I came upon a theory to muse
Praise Darwin - he saw the clues!

I began to think! I began to think!
All of the facts they started to link
Now I’m so happy - reality to use
Praise Darwin - he saw the clues!

Just like a fool I wondered alone
Without reality my grasp was almost gone
Then I found reality was there for me to choose
Praise Darwin - he saw the clues!

Now that I know what’s real and I see
All of the wonder that surrounds me
I am so happy and I’m spreading the news
Praise Darwin - he saw the clues!

by Gena Hendrix

The problem with faith is that there is no way of testing to determine if what you have faith in is actually true.

The Church of Reality is one of the only religions that God hasn't endorsed.

God tells Christians to kill Muslims. God tells Muslims to kill Christians. Why can't God make up his mind?

1. Love
2. Respect
3. Charity
4. Altruism
5. Compassion
6. Generosity
7. Ecology
8. Thinking
9. Voting
10. Freedom
11. Responsibility
12. Individuality
13. Kindness

The short answer is no. The long answer is - if he comes out of hiding we will believe in him. As long as he remains the invisible guy in the sky - he doesn't meet the objective reality test. The longer answer can be found on our Does God Exist page.

An important point is that the term "God" doesn't refer to a single entity. There are thousands of gods out there and every individual has their own personal conception of God based on their own imagination. So even if the Church of Reality was to decide to accept a deity, we would have to identify which one is real out of millions of choices. So we are going to have to wait till a deity steps forward and identifies itself.

Nope - not at all. But I would be more afraid if I were a Theist. After all - what if you picked the wrong religion? Maybe the Muslims are right. Maybe the Mormons are right. What if it's the Jehovah's Witnesses. We believe in what's real. Burning in Hell forever over a mistaken opinion clearly isn't. Aren't you afraid of wasting your life believing in fiction if you are wrong? What would scare me more is that if this is our entire existence, maybe 75 years and then we are gone, I wouldn't want to waste it all worshiping a fictional deity.

Officially - the Church of Reality does not believe in an afterlife or pre life. If it is ever proven that there is an afterlife - we will believe in it. However - part of who we are survives in the Tree of Knowledge which represents the sum total of all human understanding. You might be remembered positively for something you accomplished or contributed - or negatively for something terrible you did - or - you might not be remembered at all. You might end up being forgotten. After the last person who knew you personally has died - will anyone remember you? Have you accomplished anything or contributed anything worth remembering?

For example - Albert Einstein is still with us because he contributed Relativity to the Tree. The "guy who invented the wheel" is still with us. The only afterlife that we know for sure is if we are remembered or if we accomplish something that becomes part of the Tree of Knowledge. In the Church of Reality - if you want an afterlife - you have to earn it.

If you turn your back on reality - you will be punished! Seriously though - people who take reality into consideration in their daily lives tend to make better decisions giving them access to opportunities and avoiding the pitfalls of those who turn their back on the real world. Reality can make your life better.

Not really. However - there are some things we hold as sacred and holy. We consider the Tree of Knowledge to be something that is holy to us. When we use the terms sacred and holy - it's because it is part of our lives and our commitment to the truth. We also consider Mother Earth to be sacred because this is where we evolved and we are dependent on it for our survival.

But - we don't worship anything - pray to anyone - or fear the wrath of deities striking us down for failing to worship them.

Not in the form of a deity. But the human race is interconnected through the Tree of Knowledge and we function as if humanity itself were a super organism that we are all a part of. In that respect humanity could be considered to be a superior being to us individually.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

• Church of Reality Introduction - Listen Now!
• Axioms of Church Doctrine - Listen Now!
• History of the Church of Reality - Listen Now!
• About Humanity - Listen Now!
• Why Atheists should convert to Realism - Listen Now!

Governments are artificial human constructs that exist for the sole purpost of serving the people and for no other reason. The government is always subservient to the people.

• Laws that prohibit women from having the same rights and privileges as men.


• Laws that impose the values of one religion on another.


• Government that recognizes fictional deities, or expresses a preference for one form of religion over another, or establishes a state religion.


• Government that gets involved in leading prayer.


• Government that oppresses people because of their sexual orientation.


• Government that prohibits sex between consenting adults.


• Government that demonizes or discriminates against Atheists.


• Government that denies women birth control, or that denies them access to abortions, or in any other way forces them to bear children or not bear children against their will.


• Government that denies death with dignity services, or government that would pressure the dying to kill themselves to save money.


• Government that prohibits the legitimate and responsible use of mind altering substances for the purpose of obtaining religious insight and inspiring creative thinking.


• Government that prohibits the individual from obtaining and using substances to treat medical conditions where the individual sincerely believes that the use of the prohibited substance has a medical benefit.


• Government that puts itself or corporations ahead of the needs of the people.

Because God has no consistent definition we can't reach the question of existence.

The Church of Reality awaits the point when the Theistic world comes up with a consistent definition of God.

1. A woman has a fundamental right to choose to terminate her pregnancy.
2. Everyone has a fundamental right to health and that the rights of the living take precedent over those of the unborn.
3. That women are fully equal to men in every way and that they are not subject to inferior social status as imposed by majority religions.
4. That medical decisions are a private affair and that they are between a patient and the doctor and are not to be used by the majority religions as a way of imposing its standards on people of other religions.
5. That our Principle of Compassion requires any of us who are doctors to disobey the law when the law puts the health of the patient at risk.
6. Laws created my the majority religions to enforce the values of their religion on members of other religions, impose a substantial government burden on our religion and violates our First Amendment rights under the Free Exercise of religion clause.

Pregnancy is not God's way of punishing women for being sluts.

The Cultural Identity of the Church of Reality is to be Good People.

• We are Good People - We aspire to be "good people" We see ourselves as productive members of society. We want to be the kind of people who everyone wants to be neighbors with. We want to be considered trustworthy. We want people to say, "Them Realists, they sure is nice folk." We want to be the kind of people that parents want their sons and daughters to get married to. We want to be the kind of people who, when elected to office, people say that all politicians are not crooks because of our responsible behavior. We want property values to go up because there are Realists in the neighborhood. One can debate as to what is good and what is bad but whatever good is, we want to be it. Our cultural identity is to be good people.


• Friendliness - Church of Reality members are generally friendly people. Since we want a world that is safe and secure, where the pursuit of reality will flourish, and we want people to embrace our love for reality, then we should be friendly people. We strive to be the kind of people that everyone would want as part of their communities. We are an easy-going culture.


• Being Positive - The Church of Reality is based on being positive. We are a religion that looks towards a brighter future and we have committed ourselves to making sure that we Evolve in a Positive Direction. We are the kind of people who solve problems. We look for the good side and that every encounter in life is an opportunity to learn something new. We see ourselves as being on the bright side of life.


• Common Sense and Wisdom - Common sense and wisdom are overused terms and no one knows what they really mean, but everyone wants them, and we do too. Common sense is having a firm grasp of the obvious and resisting the temptations to just go along to get along. Common sense means to apply reality to your decision making process and to rely on logic and reason. Wisdom is sort of advanced common sense. Taking the not so obvious and figuring out what's right. We are a clear thinking culture.


• Generosity - Our world view is the Philosophy of the Open Hand. The evolutionary success of humanity has been in our ability to be collective and help one another. We are generous with others and when we have needs, others are generous with us. We take care of each other and we are taken care of. Generosity allows us not only to survive but to thrive. We are all connected and interdependent and the more we give, the more we all have. The Church of Reality is an Altruistic culture.


• Helpfulness - We are a people who reach out our hands. We are cooperative. We volunteer to help do good things. We work to better the common good.


• Charitability - Realists are a charitable people. we donate to worthy causes. It reminds us that we are all in this together. That we are one planet and one people. We progress best when everyone progresses.


• Being Interested and Interesting - We are a religion of curious people. We want to know things. We want to know how everything works. We want to take things apart and put them back together, to build new things, to explore. We also value being interesting people. To be interesting is to give back to the interested because without interesting people there would be no one for the interested to be interested in.


• Smart - In the Church of Reality it's cool to be smart. We are a religion of thinkers. We explore reality with our minds. We like using logic and reason as our way of determining what is true and what isn't. We are innovative. We are the kind of people who solves problems. We find a way to make things work. To us every problem has a solution. We like to use our brains. We value education.


• Thinking - We are a culture of people who like to think about things. We like to think about what is and isn't real. We like to analyze, to comprehend, to understand everything. We want to know how stuff works. Our world view is that thinking is exercise for the mind, and that Realists keep their brains in good shape.


• Creativity - We are a creative and innovative culture that always seeks new and creative ways to accomplish things. We are a culture of builders, inventors, philosophers, artists, and musician.


• Openmindedness - Most every idea presented is worth thinking about. Even if it is clearly a bad idea to start with. If you think about it, there may be something in there that makes a good point. For example, if someone said, "Cannibalism - the solution to global warming.", you might instantly reject the idea. However if you think about it, you might get the real point about overpopulation. We are a culture that is not afraid to explore new ideas or to think about bad ideas for the purpose of seeing if there's anything good that can be extracted. Or to at least try to understand the person presenting the idea. By listening to and thinking about the ideas of others, we set an example and open the door to them to think about our ideas.


• Skepticism - The Church of Reality is a Show Me Religion. We aren't the kind of people who just believe what is written in some ancient book without evidence. Our world view is that truth is purified through Scrutiny and we question everything. The only thing that Realists just "accept" is that the pursuit of the understanding of reality as it really is has value.


• Enthusiasm - We try to bring some excitement into what we do. We are a people who are passionate about being Realists and seeing what we can accomplish.


• Visionary - We are a culture that is focused on making the future better for all the people of the world. We use our imagination to envision a better tomorrow and we figure out a plan to make it happen.


• Resourcefulness - We are a culture of people who are diligent. We make things happen. If we are faced with a problem, it is our job to find a solution. We don't accept that something can't be done. Our view is that we are still working on it and we'll eventually find a way to make it work. (Like the idea of starting a religion based on reality which many people believe isn't possible.) Impossible is just another word for challenge. If someone does the impossible, we might give them an ego treat.


• Honesty - Since the Church of Reality is about reality we have a higher requirement for honesty than most religions. Especially intellectual honesty. The pursuit of reality as it really is is like the disciplines of scientific principles and are designed to help us understand science. If you cheat when doing scientific research then you fail to get good scientific knowledge and discovery stops. The same is true for Realism. If we try to redefine the facts to fit what we want to believe, then we aren't trying to understand reality but rather justify what we want to believe in.
  
  A classic example is the biblical story that the world was created in six days. When you confront a believer about it they might say, "Well, a day to God might be 1000 years." That's not an honest argument because it's an attempt to undermine reality by taking liberties with definitions. For us in the Church of Reality that isn't honest. We accept the proven and reject the disproven. Our religion is meaningless if we start playing with definitions and other sort of trickery to avoid the truth. That's why our Sacred Principles include the Principle of Honesty and Integrity, the Principle of Reason, the principle of Wisdom, and the Principle of Bullshit.
  
  We believe that personal honesty is good too. Although everyone lies and sometimes you have to lie to get along in society, we feel that it is our role to lean strongly towards being honest people. We not only should tell the truth, but we should be prepared to listen to the truth from others. If we don't allow people to speak the truth and we punish them for doing so, then we shouldn't be surprised when they lie to us.


• Personal Integrity - Integrity is a broad concept that includes honesty. It also includes responsibility and activism. A person of Integrity is someone who you can count on to get the job done, to be there, and to be a person that others can count on. Integrity means doing what's right or refusing to do what's wrong. We are a culture of honorable people.


• Being Responsible - The Church of Reality is a religion about responsibility. We are what we do, not what we believe in. We take responsibility for our actions and we are mindful of the consequences of our actions. We avoid being reckless and irresponsible. We try to be dependable. We consider ourselves to be accountable for our actions.


• Being Respectful - We value being respectful of others. We see ourselves as a community that includes everyone and that we should get along in the world in a peaceful and productive manner. Our world view is that others are considered to be good people. We call this Original Virtue. People don't listen to you if you are disrespectful of them. We respect others by really listening to what they have to say and hope that if we listen to them then they will listen to us and we can have meaningful communication about reality. We try to be polite to people. We as Realists try to adopt a respectful attitude in the hopes that being respectful will become the social norm.


• Being Honorable - To be honorable is to live a life worthy of being honored. We are a people of principles. We have a personal mission in life. Our Life Story matters to us. We aspire to be ethical and moral people, upstanding members of the community, heros when heros are needed. We speak when it is wrong to be silent. We take the high road. We serve and uplift.


• Purposefulness - As Realists we see ourselves as doing more than just existing, that we are part of the solution rather than part of the problem. That even if we aren't a big player in the grand scheme of things, that we are at least in the game. That we are accomplishing something. We choose to live the kind of life that gives our life story some meaning.


• Equality - Women in the Church of Reality are fully equal to men. We don't force women into artificial roles, make women wear special clothing, or limit their role in society. Women are free in our culture. We respect the equal rights of others whether that are rich or poor, white or black, gay or straight, or born on a different side of a line that someone drew on a map. Our equality comes from the respect we show towards the equality of others.


• Humility - The ego can turn into a highly addictive and expensive habit. As compared to the vastness of the universe, how important are we? We redirect the ego into exploration and accomplishment. We tend to take pride in what we collectively accomplish rather than what we accomplish individually.
  
  Humility is our strength. it allows us to change. It allows us to admit it when we are wrong. Humility gives us the freedom to explore new ideas. It allows us to change our mind. To explore the universe because we aren't distracted by a false sense of self importance. It allows me to be me and we to be us.


• Compassion and Empathy - We care for one another. We try to put ourselves in the shoes of others so that we can understand how we would want to be treated in the same circumstances. We look at ourselves as being part of the greater we, where we realize that we are all on one planet and one people and what we allow to happen to other people is something that could happen to us.


• Awareness - We are a culture that likes to stay informed and be aware of what's going on in the world.


• Involvement - We are an active and involved culture. We are not the kind of people who sit around and let everyone else take care of the world. We are a hard working culture of people who make things happen. We are a culture that is active and motivated.


• Leadership - We aspire to be leaders rather than followers. To us, to be a leader means that we have taken the responsibility to think things through and to come up with a plan for action that is well thought out and based on realistic goals and expectations. It also means that we have developed the social skills to work well with others and create an environment of respect and teamwork. We don't always have to be the one in charge. But we consider it a positive trait to have the capability of being in charge and being a good leader. We think that people who put reality first are more likely to make better decisions than people who don't.


• Tollerance and Inclusiveness - We are a culture of people that reaches out to people who are different than ourselves. We realize that not everyone in the world is like us and we are all here on this planet together. We need not only to get along, but to thrive together. We create bridges, not barriers. We play nice with other people and expect other's to play nice with us. Our world view is inclusive and understanding in nature.


• Charm - We make our culture so likable that even people who hate us can't help but to like and admire us.


• Kindness and Gentleness - We are a kind and gentle culture that seeks to live our lives in joy and peace.


• Fairness, Ethics and Justice - We try to treat people the way we would want to be treated. By protecting the rights of others, our rights are protected. We try not to take more than our fair share and seek equitable solutions. We are a culture of ethical people who think that we can all get along better in a just society with opportunity for everyone..


• Forgiveness - Realists try not to hold a grudge forever. We try to get over it and move on.


• Gratitude - We try to show appreciation and thankfulness for what we have and what others give us.


• Individualism and Self Ownership - We are a culture where the individual thinks for him/herself. We think in terms of, "I am me. I am unique. This is who I am. This is my life. I am my own person. I make my own choices. I am writing my life story. This is who I want to be. These are my dreams. These are my goals. My preferences. My personality. My rights. My responsibilities. My family. My children. My problems. My dignity. My feelings. My property. My home. My data. My blog. My projects. I have my own skills. I have my own ideas. This is what I want to wear. I vote for whomever I want. It's my body. My medicine. My vision. My memories. My privacy. My religion. My politics. My computers. My history. My time. My routine. My schedule. My associates. My community. My role in society. My self respect. My personal values. My moral decisions. My food. My information. My identity. My self esteem. Stay out of my business. I make my own decisions. I have my own friends. I choose my own relationships. I choose my own life partners. I control my reproduction. I choose the form of my own death. I think my own thoughts. I control my own destiny. I own myself. My life is important to me. Don't tell me to stand up to authority." We are a culture that embraces personal liberty.


• Courage and Fortitude - If Realists are going to change the world and make tomorrow better than today, we have to have the courage to act. If we are part of a group that is about to do something wrong, then we don't just go along to get along. Sometimes reality requires that we make the hard choices to do what we know is the right thing to do. We are the kind of people who aspire to be the ones who others count on in an emergency, to have the courage make the right choices.


• Determination - There's nothing that we can't do if we put our mind to it. We take the position that every problem has a solution and that if we keep trying we can accomplish anything. The word impossible to us means challenge.


• Innovation - There's an old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." That saying doesn't apply to us. Realists are innovative. We are the kinds of people who invent stuff. We are the ones who come up with new ideas. Like this religion for example. If it works, we can make it work better. We improve things. Through innovation, we grow the Tree of Knowledge. Innovation is one of our gifts that we give out to children. As we enjoy the innovation of our ancestors, so we innovate for our children.


• Discipline - We are a culture that puts value on taking control of one's own life and not allowing our emotional impulses to rule our lives. The disciplined mind is not easily fooled. We do not let our egos cloud our judgment. We think things through carefully. We question ourselves to check for delusion or self deception.


• Our Legacy - Since the Church of Reality doesn't have an afterlife, all that remains after we are gone is our Life Story and what we have contributed to human culture in a way that is worth remembering. We want history to record that we did something useful with our lives and that our existence helped make the world a better place.


• Humor - Not all people are funny, if you are, that's a plus in the Church of Reality.

If it wasn't for Reality I wouldn't be here!

"If it's real, we believe in it!" evolves into "The pursuit of the understanding of reality by humans has value."

If we cease to exist then we are out of the game. Therefore the continuation of the existence of humanity is necessary.

Evolve or die! There are no other choices.

Evolution leads to a greater understanding of reality allowing the universe to contemplate itself through us.

1. We want AI to do the right thing.
2. We don't want AI to do the wrong thing.

I write my own code, therefore I am.

The new standard for the Church of Reality is to be so scientifically accurate that AI would accept it.

Think back 1000 years ago. Being human was quite different than it is today. They didn't have most everything that surrounds us today. Life was very different. Most people were involved in farming. Most of their energy went into eating and surviving. They didn't have electricity. They had to make their own clothes, their own crude homes, kill their own meat, grow their own crops. They only had the simplest of machines. No significant medical technology. When the plagues came - millions of people died. They didn't even have pain killers. Most people lived half as long then as today, if they were lucky. Most of their social contact was with people in their immediate physical space. They didn't have cars, trains, planes, telephones, radio, the Internet. Very few people then could even read.

Today things are quite different. You're reading about this over the Internet. We have instant world wide communication. Computers are common in households. We travel in outer space. We take pills for diseases that used to kill millions. We can transplant organs from one person to another. We measure time in nanoseconds. We now have massive factories, assembly lines, robots building robots - I could go on forever - but things are very different today than they used to be. Yet - genetically humans today and humans 1000 years ago are virtually identical. So what has changed? Why is humanity so different today than it was 1000 years ago - or even 100 years ago? The difference is in the Tree of Knowledge.

The Tree of Knowledge defines who we are as a species. It is what makes humans what we are today. 100 years from now humanity will be quite different than it is today and there will be a single thing that will make us different - the changes in the Tree of Knowledge. Will we be technologically advanced living in a peaceful and free world? Will the human race continue to grow and prosper? Or will we use our technology to create a horrible oppressive society that is dark and static where knowledge is controlled and reality suppressed? What we become will depend on how we structure our society - and how we structure our society is part of the Tree of Knowledge.

To grow and maintain the Tree of Knowledge is to contribute and improve humanity as a whole. If someone finds a cure for Cancer - that knowledge becomes part of the Tree of Knowledge and the people of the world become cancer free. Strengthening the tree of knowledge also improves humanity. Strengthening involves the removal and updating of false or otherwise outdated and useless information. For example, people used to think the world was flat. The idea that the world was round was a revolutionary idea and people had a hard time accepting it. Even to suggest that the world was round was to invite death or persecution. But what would the world have been like if we stuck to the flat world view? We wouldn't be watching satellite TV - that's for sure.

Even though we see ourselves as scientifically advanced and knowledgeable, we are not. There are a lot of things that a huge number of people believe in that are just plain wrong - obviously wrong - yet these world views continue to exist. For example - a huge number of people still believe that the world was created in 6 days and is about 7000 years old. If this were true - we wouldn't be able to see stars that were more than 7000 light years away. But we are seeing galaxies that are 10 billion light years away clearly proving that the universe is at least that old. But often there's a difference between what we want to believe and the way things really are.

True knowledge often has a price. Take the example of religions that have been around for thousands of years. The Jews (and Jewish derivatives - Christians) are an example of this. Judaism is an ancient religion and culture and Jews are some of the smartest and most successful people on the planet. Yet their religion is frozen in time and clings to the ancient rituals celebrating things that never happened. But if the Jews were to admit that stories like Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, and the Tower of Babel never happened, then it would undermine a huge part of their culture.

If the world wasn't created in 6 days for example, (God resting on the 7th) then what is the point of all the Jewish laws relating to the Sabbath? Do they strike it from the Ten Commandments as a mistake? Certainly they should in the spirit of honesty. But to do so would be to give up their ancient culture. And to Jews and Christians - their cultures - their tribes - are more important than experiencing the real world the way it really is. And when other things are more important than reality - then false information is kept in the Tree of Knowledge and we as a species are weakened by that.

For the Jews to grow their tree of knowledge and maintain their religious identity, they would have to have a modern day prophet who would redefine what it is to be a Jew in a modern context. Jews could dedicate their religion to the perfection of ethics and law for example and turn a backward looking religion into a forward looking religion. These religions could be modernized to contribute to the Tree of Knowledge and have a real purpose in the context of reality.

My point is that there are a lot of barriers to the process of correcting old and false information. Much of our culture and heritage is based on ancient world views that are ingrained into the narrative of our culture and not easily given up. It used to be that the entire universe consisted of the area of earth that had been explored and mapped and what a person could see looking up. We now know that this planet is but a spec of dust in a universe of trillions of galaxies. To accept that knowledge - we have to give up a lot of self importance and accept a worldview that maybe we are not as significant as we would like to believe. That is a difficult step - and a step that is still in the process of talking. And although it's obvious - it's a piece of knowledge with a price - and many of us are too proud to accept that.

Sharing and growing the Tree of Knowledge is one of the goals of the Church of reality. One way to do that is to host free online education on a variety of subjects. Entire online courses will be donated free of charge and the peoples of the world will be allowed access to the education free of charge. The smarter people are - the better they can explore reality together.

We want to attract the best teachers and the best programmers to create an interactive online school in order to deliver quality education to a huge number of people. In traditional classroom settings, a good teacher is limited by physical constraints to a small number of students per year. It also requires people to be in the same space and time location. An online school would break these barriers and allow an unlimited number of students in any location at any time to receive a quality educational experience which combines the best of a team of teachers and other professionals to deliver education efficiently and effectively.

Classes will be available under the GPL license which requires that anyone who improves the course has to contribute the improvements in the course back to the maintainers who created it. This will help ensure that the classes will grow in both numbers and quality.

The School of the Church of Reality will be available to public and private schools as well as for home schooling. Anyone of any age in any location will be able to learn. And - this will give people more of an opportunity to become educators. After a teacher retires, they can contribute a lifetime of teaching to the public and their knowledge and experience will be passed on long after they are gone.