Sweden Formally Recognizes Piracy as Religion

[MrTub]

And I presume this song is their Holy Gospel; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBoOLR7WoN8

I can't tell if they did it because they were bored one Friday afternoon and thought "Why the hell not" or because they wanted to prove a point against religion in general, but it's a massive PHAIL for the Swedish government.

Political correctness where anyone and anything is welcomed and accepted gone too far.

Why is there such a fail for swedish government for not discriminating against a religion?

Because it's not a religion?! I don't care who or what or when or why or how categorises this as a religion, it's not a bloody religion.

My god. Don't tell me they've fooled you too as well as the good people of Sweden.

Meh. Im from Sweden.

And I think its as much as religion then any other religion in this world. So please tell me why it isnt a religion?

 

[geizr]

Pirates trying to justify their illicit actions by turning it into a religion?

That's just stupid.

 

[DonTsetsi]

Good job, I guess. Do they get tax-exempt status in Sweden as they do in many other countries? And if they do, how can I become a preacher?

 

[putowtin]

What do you call a pirate jazz musician?
A Kopi-cat

Today it's pirates, tomorrow it will be ninjas, where will it end?

with the battle of the century!

(Thank you, I'm here all week, tip your waitresses!)

 

[Innegativeion]

"religion" might be pushing it, but Information Cults are an established part of science fiction, so it doesn't entirely surprise me that they will eventually crop up in real life as technology advances.

Yeah... the whole thing strikes me as more of a 'philosophy' than a 'religion'.

Oh well, I suppose the only loss here is the time and effort of those involved. After all, religion doesn't relieve you from the law. They probably should have thought of that ahead of time.

 

[Denamic]

Pretty stupid.
Still, makes more sense than all other religions combined.

 

[Varya]

Eh, so what if they're a religion, piracy is still illegal. You can believe whatever you want, but you can't do whatever you want.

The thing is, as a religion, they can get stae funding, so while the state is against piracy, they must still suport it. The importance of this is lampshading how ridiculous it is that the state funds religions that have values that directly opose the values of the state.

Can they? I don't actually know how Swedish law works, so I couldn't say. But from your post you say that the state *can* give them funding, so I imply that the state doesn't have to. Since the Swedish government has battled with these guys for a long time, I'd guess that they don't plan to fund them.

Not sure on the details, but what I said was that the religious organisation can get money, not that the state can choose to give, don't try and fool me in to a gramatical connundrum, I study this at the university
I'm no expert at how the laws are written but they're entitled to some kind of funding, probably based on the number of members. This isn' a unique thing for Sweden, I'm pretty certain, many countries provide fundings for religions, atleast I think so.

 

[Arizona Kyle]

Ha ha, that's kind of funny... I guess?

I do have to wonder exactly what these fine folks hope to gain out of this arrangement though.

Easy, they think that it will allow them to share information without government involvement. It's pretty smart actually. Don't know how well it would work over there (I'm in the US) but since they can call it "expression of religion," they can call the religion card should the government go after their activities.

No, that won't work.

Sure, they can claim file sharing as a religious activity, but that doesn't automatically make it legal for them to break copyright law.

Or to put it another way, Orthodox Christians can baptise their babies all they like, but their priests would still get arrested for throwing other people's children in ponds.

Quote of the Day

*clap* *clap* *clap*

 

[BrownGaijin]

First the suicide roller coaster, then the two scientists that have found a way to make Swine Flu more contagious, and now this (Sigh)


Save me Jeebus.

 

[FoolKiller]

Ugh...

I'm not a fan of SOPA but these people just make me feel ashamed for humanity. Especially since Kopimism is pronounced foolishly. This just makes me ... ugh... I can't.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

This is win. Spread the word of the great Uploader! All hail the Holy Copy Paste button!

I hope this flies in the UK...

Son, we've yet to recognise Atheism officially.

Should... Atheism be recognized officially?

~signed one who's not trolling, just curious as to your reasons behind it.

That's another question entirely. We're still calling 30 different religions Christianity for a start without bothering to differentiate between Protestant, Catholic, Methodist, Adventist, Christian Scientist...

 

[platinawolf]

It does seem to me that the escapists once again misunderstood the truth. Kopimism isn't about piracy, its about knowledge being sacred and new knowledge is made by remixing old knowledge. Or as Newton said, standing on the shoulders of giants. If we arn't allowed to remix old knowledge our scientific community will collapse as everything will be hidden behind copyright's, as an example, just look at the patent trolling between Apple and Samsung.

 

[Twilight_guy]

.........Wha? ah, ow. I think I just blacked out from the stupidity of that story for a minute. When combine that much frozen stupid with that much troll at one time it become a powerful knock-out agent.

This is dumb. There is nothing else to say and this story doesn't deserve any more of my time.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

well you sound a little bitter, which is quite sad to me.

If the only way you can get a day off a year is by faking your religion, you'd be too.

Religions, as they stand, are a label that is wrongly used by fundamentalists to justify their own desires and governments to dish out monies, without looking at the differences between them, the good they can do and the evil they can do.

Before you even go near the Cult of Scientology.

Though the whole business is odd to me, seeing as how there is no such concept in America. One could argue that the state recognizes religious organizations by giving them tax exempt status, etc., but the fact we don't have a "Board of Religious Certification" or some odd thing speaks volumes about the cultural difference in how religion is treated in American versus Europe.

I'd be careful there; America has some religious taint that we've banished long ao. Televangelists never took hold here for that very reason.

I think people just need to recognise Religion as a Belief; not an excuse and certainly not as a target.

 

[Aprilgold]

Bah, next thing you know they'll be founding a "church" based on whatever fiction some strung-out pulp SF author couldn't get his editor to accept.

Isn't that religion in a nutshell anyway?

Doh well, at least its pretty kick ass that a religion is based on a aspect of technology without people being crazy.

 

[The Funslinger]

What would be wonderful is if everyone who put piracy as their religion on the census was fined for theft.