Splat

Here's an bizarre court case over the copyright to "Church of the Creator." The plaintiff is a foundation that believes in unifying humankind. The defendent is the racist WCC.

<a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/021381P.pdf" target="_blank">http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/021381P.pdf</a>

&lt;mods-wasn't sure where to put this...&gt;

Toto

Interesting case. The racist World Church of the Creator argued that the First Amendment prohibited the other Church of the Creator from copyrighting that name, but the argument failed.

from the opinion:

TE-TA-MA TRUTH FOUNDATION—FAMILY OF URI, INC.,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
WORLD CHURCH OF THE CREATOR,
Defendant-Appellee.

The “Church of the Creator” and the “World Church of the Creator” have irreconcilable creeds. The Church of the Creator (the operating name of TE-TA-MA Truth Foundation—Family of URI, Inc.) believes in universal love and respect. Its Sacred Mandate reads:

CHURCH OF THE CREATOR ®
Supports the Family Unification of Mankind
In All Aspects Of The Whole.
We of Like Mind Join Harmoniously In
Oneness, Knowing That There Is Only
One Creator-Source.
The Many In One Dedicate Our Physical
Embodiments To The God Expression
In Form, Bringing Forth By Example
To This Planet Earth
Love, Light and Peace.
Therefore, Once Decreeing
DIVINE RIGHT ORDER ®
In All Thoughts – All Things, Our
Universe Automatically Aligns Into
Manifestation of Heaven On Earth.
Through The Priesthood of Melchizedek
We Are One In The Body Of Jesus Christ.
As Above So Below.

The Church’s web site &lt; <a href="http://www.churchofthecreator.org" target="_blank">http://www.churchofthecreator.org</a> &gt; provides additional details, including the text of the Divine Right Order. World Church of the Creator, by contrast, does not worship God but instead depicts the “white race” as the “Creator” and calls for the elimination of Jews, blacks, and what it labels “mud races.” Its slogan is: “Dedicated to the Survival, Expansion, and Advancement of the White Race”.

The World Church of the Creator’s beliefs are explicated more fully in Nature’s Eternal Religion, a book by its founder, Ben Klassen, and on its web site &lt; <a href="http://www.wcotc.com" target="_blank">http://www.wcotc.com</a> &gt;. The Church of the Creator is a recognized religious charity. The World Church of the Creator, as a racist group, is not entitled to that benefit, see Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983), and has had its charitable status revoked by both state and federal governments.

(Note the change from “Church of the Creator, Inc.” to “World Church of the Creator,” an unincorporated association. This is apparently part of a judgment-proofing strategy after a court held in 1994 that Klassen’s organization must pay damages for orchestrating a murder. Mansfield v. Pierce, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 17086 (4th Cir. July 27, 1998), supplies details. Klassen committed suicide in 1993, and Matt Hale became “Pontifex Maximus” of the reconstituted organization in 1996.)

Toto

More on the WCOTC:

<a href="http://crime.about.com/library/weekly/aa100900a.htm" target="_blank">Inside the Mind of a White Supremacist </a>

<a href="http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9873.htm" target="_blank">Positive Atheism gets WCOTC to state they are not "Atheists"</a>

I think this might do better in Misc Religious Discussions.

ex-idaho

OK if the WCOTC worship their race as their religion and they do not worship any "thing" then who is the creator?

Godless Dave

One can believe in a creator without worshipping it. That's what I would do were I to find out a creator existed.

Toto

They sound like evil Deists, since there was a God who created things, but then stepped back to let natural law work itself out. They think it is a law of Nature that the white race is superior.

I'm just glad they don't think of themselves as atheists.

Toto

<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/30/opinion/30KRIS.html" target="_blank">Hate, American Style</a>