Carole M. Cusack, Third Millennium Invented Religions and Politics: Anarchism, Grassroots Organisations, and Pro-Science Activism By Carole Cusack

https://www.academia.edu/164847742/Carole_M_Cusack_Third_Millennium_Invented_Religions_and_Politics_Anarchism_Grassroots_Organisations_and_Pro_Science_Activism?email_work_card=title Invented religions, which are based on popular cultural sources and announce their fictional status, emerged in the United States from the 1950s onwards. The earliest examples – like Discordianism and the Church of All Worlds – were countercultural, championing sexual freedom and anarchist politics. From 2000 new groups – which I termed “third millennium invented religions” – emerged. This lecture focuses on key later invented religions, analysing their political commitments and socially transformative practices. The Church of Stop Shopping was founded by ‘Reverend’ Billy Talen and his wife Savitri D in the wake of September 11 2001 and is a critique of consumer capitalism. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, founded by Bobby Henderson in 2005 is a pro-science, anti-creationism comic new religion that is deeply subversive to the American Christian right. The Missionary Church of Kopimism, founded by Isak Gerson in Sweden in 2012, advocates file sharing and giving out information freely as the highest good. The Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing was founded in Slovenia in 2013 as a protest against corruption in politics, and the government of Prime Minister Janez Janša in particular. These four invented religions are all strongly political and have engaged with major issues of the twenty-first century. This supports the position that these fictional movements are not frivolous or easily dismissible, but are relevant and capable of delivering meaning and a life path in the shifting changing fast-paced world of today. ...