Weird News Stories

Kopimism – The New File Sharing Religion

posted by Chris Valentine

Gotta love the Swedes. They strive for tolerance of all viewpoints, including religions like Kopimism. Well, what is Kopimism? It’s a new religion based around the concept of file sharing.

Church of Kopimism

The Church of Kopimism has a long, respected tradition going back to the ancient year of 2010. According to the church, 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.

The country of Sweden has now officially recognized Kopimism. They are the first.

The church considers CTRL-C and CTRL-V sacred symbols.

Kopimism Church Symbols

Kopimism Church Symbols (image from Gizmodo)

The Church’s spiritual leader and founder Isak Gerson said:

Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution.

Gerson is probably referring to the controversy surrounding the Pirate Bay, a Swedish torrent site.

Gerson, a philosophy student, has a personal web page that defines a Kopimist as a person who believes that all information should be freely distributed and unrestricted, opposes copyrights in all forms, and encourages piracy. The term comes from the root word Kopimi, which means “copy me.”

Isak Gerson

Isak Gerson, Founder of the "Church of Kopimism"

We wonder if Pastafarianism will finally be recognized now … we think the Swedish government is ready.

Sources: BBC, Gizmodo

Thanks to Todd B. for the story.

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