File Sharing Religion: Church of Kopimism Officially Recognized In Sweden

Swedish authorities have officially recognized the Missionary Church of Kopimism, founded in 2010 on the belief that copying and sharing files over the Internet is a sacred act, as an official religion, TorrentFreak reports.

Chief Missionary Isak Gerson, who founded the Church of Kopimism last year as a 19-year-old philosophy student, lead the year-long effort to gain freedom of religion protection under the Swedish constitution.

With membership tripling from 1,000 to 3,000 in the last half of 2011, the church's followers -- known as "Kopimists"-- knew that the official recognition was essential if they wanted to continue practicing their religious system, which considers file-sharing to be a holy act akin to prayer or meditation.

A press release posted on the church's website explains their religious system:

For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members.

Being recognized by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of kopimi. Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution, says Isak Gerson, spiritual leader of the Church of Kopimism.

TorrentFreak pointed out that the decision of Swedish authorities to officially recognize the Church of Kopimism does not mean that all forms of file sharing are now legal. File sharing that involves copyright infringement, for example, remains illegal, though Gerson hopes that can change in the future.

"There's still a legal stigma around copying for many. A lot of people still worry about going to jail when copying and remixing. I hope in the name of Kopimi that this will change," Gerson told Torrentfreak.

Unfortunately for Gerson and other Kopimists, lawmakers around the world are pushing for anti-piracy legislation that would significantly limit Internet users' ability to download and share files.

A fierce debate over the constitutionality of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a U.S. bill introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith in late October which would give lawmakers the authority to shut down certain file sharing websites, has escalated over the past few months as the bill makes its way through Congress.

As such, Kopimists can probably expect to welcome many more followers in the coming year. Interested persons can learn more by signing up on the church's website.

Comments

[SteveSinCal]

11:04 PM on 04/14/2012

I saw a great Far Side cartoon years ago, and have never been able to locate it again that brilliantly pointed out the difference between a single wacko and an organized religion was nothing more than the number of people who believed.
If it was one person, he was insane.
If it was 10 people it was a commune.
If it was 100 people it was a cult.
if it was 1,000 or more, it was an official religion.
The only difference between the religion and the insane was the number who believed.
It brilliantly summed it up, much better than I can here.

[Reality always bites]

06:13 PM on 01/07/2012

Anyone concerned about piracy can forward pirate games to me anytime!

[ttsgw]

11:25 AM on 01/07/2012

Why is this article posted as Tech and not Religion?

[ttsgw]

10:19 AM on 01/07/2012

This is what can happen when religions fpr some reason has to be approved by the authorities. But it is great, is it not?

[heyokas-advocate]

10:27 AM on 01/06/2012

Oh, well, it looks like we're going to have to put Sweden on the list after Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea...

[Happy Kine]

10:19 PM on 01/05/2012

In Excelsious fukking dayo !

pardon my latin

[mikecofield]

04:11 PM on 01/05/2012

My new religion allows me and my followers to take from those who have created, be it financial, intellectual, or creative, and use it for our own purposes to be decided solely by us, with no regard or compensation for those whose efforts when into it's creation. For those "creators" are false gods unto themselves who believe that they should be able to use for their own purposes that which they created instead of sharing with those in need of their creation.

"It is far better to recieve without effort than to create by the sweat of one's own brow, for the creators have no real value, but are merely slaves to those of use wise enough to put forth no effort of our own"

The Book of Lacivious Chapter 1 Verse 1

[ttsgw]

10:21 AM on 01/07/2012

Just like the christians, according to the republicans, believe the rich shall be richer and the poor shall be poorer.

[ykk9]

03:13 PM on 01/05/2012

Copy and seed.

[GOP Lie Detector]

11:13 AM on 01/05/2012

Maybe this is the one "True" religion and the 10,000+ other religions are all lies?????

[onewhothinks]

11:01 AM on 01/05/2012

Okay, I can understand believing that you have rights with regards to what you can do on the internet. I probably would share some of those beliefs. I can also understand believing in a deity that is somehow responsible for apparent miracles. What I don't understand is the logical connections between the two that led to this religion.

Of course, I'm only assuming it has a deity because of the reference to a "Kopimi." I suppose that could just be a named concept, like yin and yang, but deities seem more common.

[GlassMask]

10:21 AM on 01/05/2012

Eh, there are plenty of worse religions out there. I'd like to see a major overhaul of copyright law, one where the creators rights are balanced with the consumers' rights. Something like 25 years for personal use, 35 for commercial. That way, you could download anything from 25 years ago and own a copy, but you'd have to wait an extra 10 years to sell a boxed set of it.
Disney's continual extension of copyright laws is crippling to the public domain. If you guys haven't made your money in the first 35 years, you're doing it wrong.

[JohnTheMac]

10:15 AM on 01/05/2012

One of the first things the printing press was used for was printing bibles, and those were always Open Source.

[Happy Kine]

10:23 PM on 01/05/2012

and the second thing the printing press was used for was porn, and that was often Open Sores....

[greekfish101]

08:42 AM on 01/05/2012

New criteria for establishing a new religion: People must actually believe in it,

I think they're just trying to get file sharing to be legal under religious protection laws

[Karl Wilder]

01:11 PM on 01/05/2012

They allow Jews, Muslims and really anyone to mutilate the sex organs of their male babies. Seriously unless we outlaw sexual mutilation file sharing seems benign.

[greekfish101]

11:22 PM on 01/05/2012

Judaism and Islam were not created to allow circumcision.

My point is that nobody actually believes Kopimism.

[Clamps]

07:16 AM on 01/05/2012

Hopefully Jason Kenney and his Office of Religious Freedom will work to protect the beliefs and practices of these brave missionaries.

[pioneerman01]

03:46 AM on 01/05/2012

Religion is just another form of cult.