exploremusic

Everyone has a view on file-sharing, whether it’s that it’s stealing, that it’s okay, or that it’s… sacred.

This is weird, but in 2010, Isak Gerson, a 19-year-old philosophy student in Sweden, founded something called The Missionary Church of Kopimism for those who view the sharing of files as a right, and after a couple of failed attempts, he got the church recognized by the authorities as an official religion.

Here’s what Gerson said: “I think that more people will have the courage to step out as Kopimists. Maybe not in the public, but at least to their close ones. 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.”

Okay, while I wouldn’t want to pick apart someone’s religious beliefs, I will point out that illegal file-sharing is still illegal—yes, in Sweden, too, I’m pretty sure.