Diary of the Church of Reality

Perkel to be Interviewed on Air America Radio

Good news on the radio interviews front. Mike Malloy of Air America Radio has agreed to interview me on Wednesday December 29th at 11:00pm East coast time (8:00 pacific time) about the Church of Reality. I will be on for 30 minutes (15 minutes less commercials) and will be reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners.

You all can tune in to Air America Radio at http://www.airamericaradio.com and listen to it live on the Internet.

I'm hoping that once I'm on this that others pick me up too. These things sometimes snowball. I'm generally very good in interviews - especially on radio where looks don't matter and I can be home in my PJs ranting to the world. And I will get to talk about reality and get people asking the sacred question.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

The Seven Sacred Missions

What does the Church of Reality do? What is it that we are about? Here is a quick overview of what we do using some of our own Terminology. These are the Seven Sacred Missions of the Church of Reality.

1. We believe in Reality - the way it really is! - If it's real - we believe in it. The Church of Reality is a Personal Commitment to the Truth. We Realists explore the universe together with our minds. We think about thinking. We wonder about wondering. We attempt to understand the Understanding of Understanding. We ponder the Great Questions. We are a curious people and we are bound together in our quest to know more.

2. We Spread the Sacred Message - Reality - Our mission is to promote reality in society. Every time we mention Reality we spread the Sacred Message. We are here to ask the Sacred Question - "What is Real?" in order to raise the status of Reality in society. We want people to consider reality when making important decisions. By spreading the Sacred Message we cause people to be Real in the Sacred Moment (which is Now). Our mission is to say "Reality" as many times as we can and to get other people to think about reality as often as we can. We introduce the Terminology of Reality into the Tree of Knowledge so that we have a common vocabularity to talk about reality in religious terms.

3. We Choose the Sacred Direction - Forward - The Sacred Direction is forward - onward and upward. Our Principle of Positive Evolution commits us to envision a future that is better than today. We are one planet and we are all in this together on our little ball in the universe. In order to answer the Sacred Question and explore our reality society must move forward. We take responsibility for our future and we commit to making tomorrow better than today.

4. We Honor the Tree of Knowledge - The Tree of Knowledge represents the sum total of all human understanding. It is what separates us from the animals. The Tree of Knowledge represents the soul of humanity. We are better than we were hundreds of years ago because our Tree of Knowledge has grown and if we continue to evolve in the Sacred Direction our Tree of Knowledge will continue to grow. It is through the tree that we explore reality as it really is and attempt to answer the Sacred Question - What is Real?

5. We Ask the Sacred Moral Question - What is Good? - The Sacred Moral Question is, "Is this a Good Thing?" What does "good" mean? That too is part of the Sacred Moral Question. We believe in the principle of positive evolution and the sacred direction as well as the other Sacred Principles as a foundation for determining right and wrong. We believe that right and wrong are important concepts that deserve to be carefully considered in realistic terms. Often reality is ignored and no one asks if the decisions that are being made are a good thing. We believe that when reality is ignored and no one asks if the decision is good that we end up with bad results. We as Realists are dedicated to Asking the Sacred Moral Question so that we make better choices so we can move in the sacred Direction

6. We Issue the Sacred Challenge - The Sacred Challenge is a challenge to other faiths and religions to ask themselves - "How do we know that what we believe is real?" The Sacred Challenge applies first and foremost to this church itself. Our Principle of Self Scrutiny demands that we constantly audit ourselves to make sure we are not deluding ourselves. We consider Reality to be a sacred thing and there are many other who claim their beliefs to be real when it just isn't. Many people want to be good moral people and are trying to "do what is right" but what they think is right has never been put to the reality test. Our message to people of other faiths is - question everything - challenging your beliefs is a good thing. We ask you to fully understand what exactly you do believe. We therefore ask other faiths to adopt the Principle of Self Scrutiny, to ask the Sacred Question, and to encourage your members to challenge your beliefs on the basis of if it is actually real. We require our members to scrutinze us. We challenge you to match us.

7. We make it Happen - We are a religion that is an activist religion. We don't just find problems - we solve problems. We are committed to coming up with solutions and to take responsibility to bring the concept into reality. We make sure that the job is done right. We are a community and we do the work to make community work. We go out and learn and we try to understand and we spend a lot of time thinking and we give of ourselves for the connon good of all people. In the Spirit of the Tree - our shared knowledge - we support sharing. It is our duty to look around and figure out how to make it all work.

Virus Alert

Dear Church of Reality Members,

There's a new virus spreading - I don't know what it is yet and it hasn't made the news. But I have observed several making it through the virus filter. The virus is an email attachment that clains to be a password file and has an attached document inside of a ZIP file.

If you are running windows you will see an attached file with a DOC.zip extension. Depending on tour windows settings you might not see the .zip on the end. So ......

Unless you are expecting the document and you look to see if its suspicious in any way - DO NOT OPEN THE FILE. If you are in doubt you can forward it to me.

Soon the virus definitions will update and the problem will be blocked.

Pass this warning on to as many of your friends as possible. Feel free to include it in your newsletter. And - you might want to do a special mailing about it.

There's a New Kid in Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

Working on a plan to promote reality

Dear Church of Reality Membership,

As you all know in last weeks election reality was a big loser in my opinion. I am very distressed with the results as it would appear that extremists are moving to take over America. More and more people are moving away from reality the way it really is and I am trying to come up with a specific plan to reverse that trend.

First - I would like to say that the idea of becoming a religious leader is not something I'm looking forward to. I would much rather spend my life writing spam filters and other useful software - but - as it turns out I'm a big picture kind of guy and it seems that I'm the one who needs to come up with a plan to move the Church of Reality beyond just being a website.

I have been thinking about this a LOT lately and I'm close to putting together a plan that I think is going to work. About 15 years ago I used to have a computer retail store called Computer Tyme and I was very successful with radio advertising. Additionally I used radio advertising to stop two sales tax issues in Springfield Missouri. So it's something that I know works.

For those of you who want some amusement - my old radio spots can be accessed from this link:

http://www.ctyme.com/ctymeads

In the next few weeks I'm going to write some spots and and have them produced. I hope to get several of them cut. The idea is to introduce Realism as a religion to the general public and point them to the web site where people cam make a donation. I'm thinking about starting off in the San Francisco and San Jose markets because I hope to reach more donors there. The idea is to be able to get enough donations to sustain the radio ad budget and have a permanent presence in the bay area and hopefully expand into other areas that really need it.

Once the ads are on the air it will hopefully grab the attention of the talk show hosts and the news media. here is this new church with a radical idea for a religion - like believing in what's real. The idea here is to get people to discuss it. I plan to design my spots to be sufficiently challenging to the religious community - to position Reality as competitive - and to get people to ask the Sacred Question - What is real?

There is a critical mass point where this makes it into the thought processes and takes on a life of it's own. The idea is to get everyone talking about reality - what is real - how do we know it? All I have to do - I think - is to break reality out of its shell and get it out there in a way that will spread in a self sustaining way.

I have done this plan twice before and it worked both times. In 1987 and 1992 in Springfield Missouri I was the opposition to a sales tax increase and I won both elections. What I did was to produce and buy a small amount of radio - then after running a few spots I called the three local TV stations to see if I was news. One of them interviewed me - and the next day the other two did as well. After being on 3 television stations the opposition felt threatened and they raised a bunch of money to oppose me. And ultimately it was their money and effort that informed the public that there was a controversial tax on the ballot and got people out to oppose it.

I think the same trick will work here. The idea is to get them talking about us - get them to oppose us - get them talking about how they relate to reality. And every time the word reality is said it ingrains itself into the group mind. I think the name Reality will act as an anti-cult message And I believe that we need to undermine the cults before they control the world.

Just today I signed up for a merchant account so people can now donate with a credit card. The donation page can be found at:

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

Someone give it a try and see if the Church of Reality can take a donation. I just sold a car and donated the money to the Church of Reality so I have a little stash of money to start this out with. We have $13,750 in the bank which isn't going to go far unless I am extremely efficient with it. So - if any of you like my radio plan and want to kick in some $$$ to help fund this project - I'd really appreciate it.

So - who likes this plan? And - who has some ideas for radio ads? Anyone want to get involved with this?

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality

Supreme Court to Consider 10 Commandments Case

The Supreme Court wants to consider if it is constitutional for government institutions to display the 10 Commandments of the Jewish and Christian religion. The Church of Reality does not endorse the 10 Commandments. We do agree with some of them to a limited extent. We are - for example - against murder and stealing. However - dedication to the invisible guy in the sky is not something supported in reality - unless God comes out of hiding.

When this case comes to trial I intend to file an amecus brief asking the court if the decision applies not only to the 10 Commandment - but also to the Sacred Principles of the Church of Reality.

I will argue that if you allow one religion access to the government then you have to allow it to all religions. If they try to pass it off as a historical document then I will argue the the Sacred Principles is the articulation of acient principles that predate the 10 Commandments.

CoR Mailing List Started

This is the first membership mailing of the Church of Reality - the religion I started besed on believing in everything that is real.

If you are getting this email it's because I added you to my Church of Reality mailing list. I'm starting to expand the Church of Reality web site and create some more useful content. If you don't want to be a member of this list - removal instructions are at the bottom of the page.

This list is an announce only list and I will keep the church spam down to a reasonable level.

It's time for me to make the Church of Reality a happening organization. I am still waiting for IRS approval - but the IRS is totally screwed up these days - like all other parts of the government - has fallen to almost dysfunctional. Bush has a lot of the IRS staff chasing terrorist funding and doesn't have the manpower to process not for profit orgs in a timely manner. It will probably take till 2005 before we get an answer on the 501(c)3 status. But - it's time to start moving to make something happen before then.

So - first thing is - spread the word. Here's the link to get people to join the list.

http://www.churchofreality.org/mailman/listinfo/membership

Feel free to pass this around and post this link on your web pages. I want to get as many interested people as possible.

With the election this year I am particularly frustrated with how much the masses can be persuaded to ignore reality. One of the goals of the Church of Reality is to raise reality to a higher level of consideration. Reality has become unimportant in the world and America has turned it's back of reality. I want to start a revolution to bring back reality into the daily lives of people and get them to ask the sacred question - "Is this Real?"

To that end this list is the first step in making that happen and the first mission is to grow this list. So - anything that any of you can do to help will be appreciated. After all - if they take away reality - what do we have left?

If for some reason any of you who I put in this list initially wants to unsubscribe - the information below will remove you from the list.

Thanks in Advance
Marc Perkel

IRS Approval Status

I talked to the IRS a few days ago about the approval process of this church. It's at the bottom of a pile in Washington and it will probably be 3 to 4 months before it gets looked at.

The guy I talked to was very nice and very frustrated. He said they have never been this backed up before. Some of it has to do with these new 527 political organizations that they have to process. And they are taking IRS staff and using them to audit not for profits to see if they are linked to terrorism. So - if you're just a church looking to get your approval - you're screwed.

So - the bottom line is - we are going to have to wait and let the process play out. But - I don't think we are being treated any more unfairly than anyone else. After all - the rest of the government is becomming more dysfunctional every day - so it doesn't surprise me that the IRS is having problems as well.

As to tax status. If this church is approved then the tax exemption status goes bech to the day we applied - which is December of 2003. So - anyone who donates money will be OK if the approval goes through. But - if it doesn'y go through - they didn't say they would lose the exemption - but that's kind of murky - and I would guess that it's likely you would. I think the issue as to wouldn't being that the process of approving me was so long that time is a factor - but I'm no expert on this. Bottom line is - if you give to the Church of Reality now - do it not counting on the exemption.

Having said that - it's time for me to stop waiting and get on with the process of building this organization. I need to accept that I have to transition into doing this full time not and get prepared for this to be my new gig. So - I just have to figure out how to start and move past doing what I would rather do - be a computer geek.

I have a plan in the works and I will soon post it here.

New Church of Reality Logos

OK - I have some new logos that have been submitted to become the Church of Reality logos. Looking for some feedback on what people think.

The halo image is very powerful. A halo is a symbol that says this object is holy - or scared. Which is what the Church of Reality is all about. So - "R" stands for reality - then the Halo over the R means Reality is Holy. Or in this case the belief in reality is holy. The dharma of the Church of Reality is to make Reality sacred. Thus putting a halo on reality symbolizes the purpose of the Church.

People have asked me - "Why are you degrading reality down to a religion?" And I can understand that. In pure science it doesn't matter if this planet gets sucked into a black hole or not. But we have made a subjective call that our survival is better than our extinction and that the progress of man towards a better understanding of reality is something that is important to us. Because this decision is subjective - it is a religious decision. It is what we choose to believe in. So we make reality a sacred thing and it forms the basis for our religious identity. We are Realists - practicing Realism - asking the sacred question - "What is Real".

The symbol - a halo over an R is something that I like. It's simple so people can draw it on things to compete with the cross and the cressent that other religions use.

I'd like to get some feedback on this and see what others think of the logos and if you have and better suggestions - let me know.

IRS is having a hard time deciding

I called the IRS yesterday and apparently they are having a hard time deciding whether or not to recognize the Church of Reality as a real church. I applied for 501(c)(3) status on December 3rd 2003 and it's not 8 months into a process that normally takes 3 months.

All I know at this point is that it stumped the normal process and that it has been sent to Washington where it is sitting in a queue waiting to be assigned to someone. And they have no idea at all when it will be processed. There is no one to call and no one to email about this. So - if you are the IRS and you are reading this - email me with a phone number and lets talk about whatever issues have you confused. I think you should at least let me know that's going on.

I have some concerns about the "special treatment" of our application. First - the IRS isn't supposed to make decisions on what is believed as long as the members sincerely believe in it. And - our Realists do sincerely believe reality is real. So it makes me wonder if they are thinking that we need to worship a mythological diety in order to be a religion. In other words - does the government require a religion to believe in the invisible guy in the sky? Well - I storngly suspect that if we did we would already have church status.

Officially the Church of Reality doesn't take a position on the existence of God. If God comes out of hiding and shows up somewhere in a public place then we will believe in him. Assuming that God is omnipotent and therefore can appear if he choses to - and he doesn't appear - that means that he wants to be hidden. It really is that simple. And who is God hiding from? Perhaps he is hiding from Realists like myself. And if God doesn't want people like me who are committed to logic and reason to find him - them I must be fulfilling God's will to not find him.

So if believing in reality doesn't meet the IRS requirements for a religion then it seems that in order to be a religion - you have to believe in a mythical diety. You have to give up reality to be a religion. I would think that other religions would have a problem with the idea that they are government certified because their beliefs are not real.

But - perhaps it's that the IRS can't distinguish between the Church of Reality and science. There is a big difference. In pure science it doesn't matter if the human race survives or not. In science - the universe is stars falling into black holes and rocks in space colliding. But we in the Church of Reality have made an arbetrary decision that our understanding has value and the the positive evolution of humanity and our survival is important. We have made arbetrary decisions separating right and wrong - good and bad. And that's what makes us a religion. In pure science there is no good and bad. Our seccess or our destruction is equal. It only matters if we give value to something and that's what the church of Reality does.

The Church of Reality also provides a moral framework for society and principles for which to judge our conduct. These principles set goals and establish the sacred direction - forward - as being better than backwards. It creates a religious identity for Realists to describe to people of other religions what their beliefs and values are.

So - I say to the IRS - we are as much or more of a religion than any other religion and that we deserve recognition as such.

How will this church avoid corruption

As some of you know - I am the First one of the Church of Reality and I'm working on an interesting question that many people are asking. The question - will the Church of Reality lose it's focus and become corrupted like all the other religions.

Isn't it inevitable that if the Church of Reality becomes successful that it has to become corrupted by its success? That's what most people believe - and - am am attempting to address this issue. The real question is - what can I do now to prevent it from happening. How is the Church of Reality different than other religions?

Other religions are based on mythology. Thus if one myth evolves into another myth it's really not a significant change. How does one argue that one myth is better than another myth? But the Church of Reality is dedicated to reality. So if the Church of Reality converts to mythology then that is a more fundamental form of change that from myth to myth.

Reality doesn't go away after you stop believing in it. So if the Church of Reality gets off course - it can always come back to reality. Reality is the solid rock - the lighthouse - and it is always there no matter if people believe in it or not.

I have a joke about if a Christian who believes he can fly and a Bhudist who believes he can fly both jump off a bridge at the same time - who will hit the water first? The point you see is gravity applies equally to all religions and belief doesn't change reality. So - there is reason and hope to believe that the Church of Reality is different in that it is a religion that is grounded in the real world and therefore has a way to repair itself and get back to it's roots.

Reality is like a rock - it's solid - it's real - and it can be found if someone get lost. All you have to do is let reality back into your heart and let it guide you back to realism.

But - that doesn't mean that it can't be corrupted. So - I'm working on a plan - some tests - so that these become automatic clues that the Church of Reality might be straying off course. And - I'm looking for suggestions on how to keep reality real - and not become RINO - Reality In Name Only.

So - for example. If the Church of Reality becomes about me - Marc Perkel - then it's off course. I am not a diety - I have no special "powers" and I'm just a guy with an idea. If this doesn't work out someone else - hopefully - will come and do it right. But reality is still there no matter what. So - if the Church of Reality starts worshiping me - it's off course.

Or - if you are being forced to believe in things that are not supported in logic or science - that's a bad sign. The Church of Reality is to be judges by it's fruits and not just on what is being preached. It has to produce results.

Of course - several of the Sacred Principles are specificly there to help prevent this and all the sacred principles were written with keeping the Church of Reality always tied to reality. The Principle of Self Scrutiny deals specifically and directly with the idea that this church is about Reality and should always be tested to make sure it's on course. The Principle of Bullshit declares that bullshit is always bullshit no matter how many people believe it. So - if the Church of Reality becomes a cult and starts forcing people to believe in bullshit - it's still bullshit. The Church of Reality doesn't change reality - reality changes the Church.

The Principle of Humility also addresses this issue. To be humble helps avoid various ego traps. For example - suppose this church take off big time and I become some big celebrity for starting it. It would be really tempting to start believing tha there's something special about me and let my ego separate me from reality. But the truth is and always will be that I am just some random guy with a briliant idea. If I hadn't thought of it - eventually someone else would have. And - whoever thought of it would be tempted to think they are special. This principle is in fact a message to myself and all my sucessors in case we get a little two self absorbed to put us back on track.

But - reality was there long before Marc Perkel existed (at least - I think so) and will be there long after Marc Perkel dies. Reality is not about me - it's about reality. And thus the Principle of Humility reminds us that we are just life forms of a spec of dust and our only significance is in relation to what we accomplish on our spec of dust.

Still no word from the IRS

Still waiting for the IRS to make a decision about if they consider the Church of Reality a real church. It's supposed to take 3 months and now it's 7 1/2 months and no word. Last time I called the IRS person said they were behind and didn't know when they were going to catch up.

I'm beginning to wonder if they are giving Christians preferential treatment and staling on non-christian applications. Something funny is going on at the IRS. Does anyone out there have any information on why they might be taking so long?

No word from the IRS

The process was supposed to take 3 months. It's now 7 months and I'm beginnig to wonder if they don't get around to approving non-christian churches these days. Makes me wonder if I were a church that worshiped Jesus if I would have an answer by now.

In theory the IRS isn't supposed to take a position about what the religious nelief is. But what they say they do and what they really do may be two different things. Especially when we have an anti-reality president in the whitehouse who is trying to force everyone to turn Christian.

Guide to War

I have written the Church of Reality's Guide to War. Unlike some might expect - the Church of Reality does not oppose all war. It does however oppose all unjust war and it requires every person to make a determination as to if the war is just or not. Our slogan is to think before you fight.

Realists are always the first ones on the battlefield. We are there before the war starts to make sure war never begins in the first place. Realists have won more wars than any other religion. But no one sings songs about the wars that never happened.

IRS Tax Status

I called the IRS today to find out what's going on and they said that it takes longer to process these days that it used to and that 4-6 months can be expected. It's been 6 months so I should hear something soon.

My Trademark on the Church of Reality has been initially approved and I just have to send in the final paperwork.

The Limitations of Omnipotence

There are things I can do that God can't. One example is that I can enjoy a movie with a surprise ending. God can do that because God can see the future and he already knows the end to all the movies that will ever be written. In fact God knows everything God is ever going to do. Kind of limiting to have no free will.

Gravity

If a Christian who believes his faith can make him fly and a Bhudist who believes his faith can make him fly are dropped off a bridge and hit the water at the same time - does that prove they both live in a vacuum?

The Holy Question of the Church of Reality

This church has the sacred question - "What is Real?" Now we have the Holy Question - "What is the human race going to me like 100 years from now?" This is the holy question because it causes the listener to wonder about the positive evolution of humanity.

So be it!

Putting Together a Plan

I'm working on a plan for the Church of Reality once we get our 501c3 tax exempt status. I am in the process of creating ideas to attract donations in order to get this church off the ground.

The first goal of the church is to get the name out there. And that can be done with advertising. So - I will be looking for donations targeted at this purpose. The plan will be to buy advertising efficiently in a way that exposes the public to the church name. The name is itself a message. The ads can be very short and targeted. The basic message will be:

1. Church of Reality
   
2. Slogan - "Welcome to the Real World" "If its real - we believe in it!"
   
3. http://www.churchofreality.org
   

To get the name out there is step one because it causes people to think - which is a good thing. it causes them to ask the Sacred Question - What is Real? And - causes them to wonder if their religion is real. It makes reality more imporetant. It introduces the reality factor - that things should be real. It is a very important first step.

Over the next several weeks I hope to get the ad copy produced. I'm working on the church symbol - which is likely to be a rip off of NASA's symbol. But it is a public symbol and NASA is about exploration - which is what the Church of Reality is about. So we honor NASA by using it's symbol.

Get back on point - I'm thinking about a multimedia campaign based on funding - I hope to buy radio spots - some print ads - billboards - and perhaps with the right funding - TV spots.

I want the name Church of Reality to become a household word. I want everyone in America and much of the word to have heard the name - have some vauge idea that it is a regigion based on believing in reality - and get people to ask the sacred question. And it would change the future of mankind to just get it to that point.

So - this is project number one. I am looking for Maintainers to make this happen. If you fund this - you will go down in history as the person(s) who made it happen. That's as close to immortality that I can offer - but unlike some religions - its a real offer.

So - I am looking for donations and ideas. I want to start with this project and I need a crew. So - who wants to get in on this?