On Wed, 23 Feb 2000, Kelly Lynn Martin wrote:
> I would never be a member of any church which sought recognition with
> the state as a church, except for a church whose sole reason for
> existing is to obtain recognition from the state. IMO, the act of
> seeking recognition imposes hierarchy and patriarchy onto the
> organization simply because the state expects those things. There are
> better ways to obtain legal recognition of marriages (and the other
> state benefits of legal clergy) within your religious group, the
> easiest being getting all your members ordained by an ordination mill.
Recognition isn't all bad. It does allow a church the ability to do many
things important. Tax free contributions, marriage under law, etc. When
you get ordained by mail, you are `joining' another officially recognized
church. Catch22?
Personally. I am not religious. I simply am. I have many beleifs and they
are not bound into any simple package some might term a religion. Many of
my beliefs are (actually) a subtle melding of *NIX, Zen, and Christianity.
I'm always searching for others with similar belief structures or similar
ideas on how the world works.
Bad Mojo <RPS Figurehead, ThinkPad Pope, SysAdmin>
ICQ:4722638|AIM:BadMojo000|http://www.rps.net/mojo
"When I need to I hit people with the largest weapon I can find: the Earth."
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
