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.
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