Diary of the Church of Reality

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.