File-sharing becomes a recognized religion in Sweden

Sweden has given official religious status to Church of Kopimism, a faith and philosophy based on file-sharing. The faith's foundational document, ""POwr, broccoli and Kopimi," is available as a .torrent file indexed on The Pirate Bay (natch). It exhorts followers to undertake 100 tasks to attain #g_d (a hashtagged, all-lower-case version of the observant Jewish tradition of writing God as "G_d").

001. Obtain the Internet.
002. Start using IRC.
003. Group and birth a site.
004. Experiment with research chemicals.
005. Design a three-step program.
006. Take a powerful stance for something positive and essential.
007. Regulate nothing.
008. Say that you have to move in two weeks, but stay for seven months. Come back a year later and do it all over again.
009. ROTFLOL.
010. Relax, you’re already halfway there.
011. Just kidding.
012. Don’t think outside the box. Build a box.
013. Support support.
014. Organize and go to parties and fairs.
015. Start 30–40 blogs about the same things.
016. Drain the private sector of coders, graphic artists and literati.
017. Create a prize that is awarded.
018. Express yourself often in the media, vaguely.
019. Spread all rumors.
020. Seek out and try carding, and travel by expensive trains. Don’t order sushi.
021. Start a radio station.
022. Everything you use, you can copy and give an arbitrary name, whether it’s a news portal, search engine or public service.
023. Buy a bus.
024. Install a MegaHAL.
025. Make sure that you are really good friends with people who can use Photoshop, HTML, databases, and the like.

As faith strictures go, these ones are actually pretty good. On the other hand, I'm not much of a believer in Gods, G_d or #g_d, so perhaps this isn't for me.

File-sharing religion goes legit in Sweden

• [beemoh]

  And don’t hashtags generally reject punctuation like underscores, anyway?

• [Blinde Schildpad]

  Har, har.

  Wait, why do governments ‘recognize’ religions again?

  • [jetfx]

    For tax purposes. It’s basically why governments do everything they do.

  • [Sagodjur]

    Because they’re both in the same business of controlling people under the guise of setting people free.

    If your religion needs to be recognized, you’re doing it wrong.

• [mskurnik]

  hehe Megahal for eggdrop :)

• [togi]

  ‘On the other hand, I’m not much of a believer in Gods, G_d or #g_d,’ … or lighthearted metaphor, either, it would seem.

• [gaiapunk]

  It’s about time! I can finally come out as a kopimist and perhaps now people will understand what we believe (oh, and #g_d isn’t really a central apsect whatsoever BTW). I would also encourage others like myself in the US to come out into the open and lets work together for official recongnition here in the states. Hey, if scientology is an officially recongnized religion why would anyone say that Kopimism would only be recongnized in Sweden, think about it….

  This made my day, I’ll see you at the temple:
  thepiratebay (dot) org

  In the name of Kopimi, happy sharing to you!

  • [Robert Sanchez]

    I am on the same page man 

    -Copy and Seed

• [Brian Easton]

  “#g_d” isn’t a hashtag, it’s an IRC channel.

• [BDiamond]

  Thou arrrrrrrrrrrrrrt blessed, ye scurvy knave. Here’s yer eyepatch.

• [kawayama]

  i downloaded the package, but could not find further references to broccoli. i has a sad.Wise words from the departingEat your greens, especially broccoliWear sensible shoes and always say “thank you”Especially for the things you never had

• [daen]

  Shurely, the 100 commandments should start from 000, not 001 …?

• [dagfooyo]

  #20 “… don’t order sushi.”
  Why is it that every religion eventually ends up forbidding fish?

• [Matthew Stone]

  This reminds me of the time Red Green tried to get Possum Lodge declared a religion by the Canadian government just so he could charge people to play Bingo and make a fortune.

  “Hey, it makes sense, doesn’t it?  We have weekly meetings, we have members, and we have certain unique beliefs that separate us from the rest of society.”
  “And society thanks you for that, but why, why do you have to be a religion?”
  “Because that makes us a registered non-profit organization, Harold.  Religions can do things that other clubs can’t.”

  “The government just has a few more questions about your new religion for their files.  Um… alrighty, they wanna know if you have a name for your new religion.  I suggested ‘God Help Us’.”

  “We’ve had a little… technicality on the lodge being an organized religion.  We’re gonna need to be a bit more organized, I guess.”
  “Ye-yeah!  Government says you’re not even a religion!  Says you’re not even a pagan ritual!”

  “I’ve excommunicated myself from this cult!”
  “No-no-no-no, you should’ve thought of that before you took your vows, young man.  Don’t worry Harold, I can help you through this, it’ll be fine.”
  “Oh Uncle Red, we’re not gonna be able to fake out these government people!”
  “Sure we are.  Harold, they’re from the tax department; they’ve never been to church either!”

  To be fair though, this sounds a lot better than Scientology.

• [Christian Poschmann]

  Copy and Seed all the things!

• [miatopia]

  Does this mean that if someone is brought is being sued in the USA for file sharing they can claim it as a religious practice and basically win the case? maybe I’m over simplifying but this definitely has a lot of great potential!! Way to go Sweden!

• [Kibo]

  Which step involves grepping the list for your own name?