A Kopimist Archbishop for Quito?

Photograph: Espen Moe

Back in July the Times reported on a new religion which appears to be gaining a growing number of adherents in Sweden (“In Sweden, Taking File Sharing to Heart. And to Church,” NYT, 7/25/12). Kopimism, as the religion is called, derives according to the Times article “from a Swedish spelling of he words ‘copy me.’” The Times quotes Isak Gerson, “a philosophy student at Uppsala University who helped found the church in 2010” as saying “We have something similar to regular priests. We call them ops or operators and their task is to help people with things like meetings.” The Times piece goes on to describe Mr. Gerson as claiming to have "a permanent link to the divine through a Nokia smartphone.” The reaction to Kopimism by the powers that be might be equated with that of the Roman Empire towards Christianity (when martyrs used to be tossed into the lion’s den), though it’s nothing compared to the reaction to Sweden’s Pirate Party, which represents a more secular approach to the file sharing idea. The Times quotes one Gustav Nipe, a Kopimist, as calling the attempts by the Dutch and British to ban the Pirate Bay website “as a kind of inquisition—like burning people.” The advent of Kopimism makes one think back on some of the reasons for the founding of religion in general. For instance Judaism, which introduced monotheism, was a reaction to the worshipping of idols. Protestantism came about as a rebellion against the corrupt practice of pardon selling and so forth. Kopimists are in love with information which they feel should be shared freely. Julian Assange has been granted political asylum by the Ecuadorians. If he is ever allowed to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, it seems that he would be a good candidate to be the first Kopimist Archbishop of Quito.