We are Cultpunks. We affirm that belief systems, rituals, symbols, pilgrimages, tenets, holy days, shrines, festivals, taboos, mythologies and pantheons can and should be created as works of art. If so, then surely any sufficiently advanced magic is likewise indistinguishable from technology, and religions may usefully be considered as psychological technologies. Just like any other tech, … Read moreRead this first: “A Cultpunk Manifesto”
A short newsreel capturing extremely rare footage of the Kibbo Kift at work and play. A post-First World War utopian movement, the Kindred broke from the jingoism and militarism of the Scouts and established their own plan for the betterment of individual kinfolk and the future of their society. Among their many innovations were aesthetic … Read moreThe Kindred of the Kibbo Kift (1923)
In the 28 Days franchise, much of the world is laid to waste by an accidentally-released pathogen called the Rage Virus, which reduces human beings to almost mindless biting and eating machines. The third installment is set 28 years after the original movie and takes place in a radically re-wilded England. Nature has largely reclaimed … Read moreMemento Mori Religion in “28 Years Later”
Click here to listen to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Soul Search interview with Prof. Carole Cusack on the subject of invented religions.
The ISM.co website offers quick-n-eezy ordination in any or all of nearly 50 unusual Ministries, encompassing everything from Saganism (based upon the scientific worldview espoused by Carl Sagan) to Festivism (celebrating the nontheistic “Festivus for the rest of us” famously introduced via an episode of Seinfeld). According to the site: For centuries, religions have operated … Read moreISM – Independent Social Ministries
Click here for more information on this exhibition. “New Eden: Science Fiction Mythologies Transformed” offers fresh insights on science fiction, a genre built on envisioning alternative futures and imaginary realms. The lines connecting science fiction with Asian philosophy and mythologies are brought to light through the work of twenty-four Asian women artists and collectives. The … Read moreNew Eden: Science Fiction Mythologies Transformed (ArtScience Museum of Singapore, 21 Oct 2023 – 3 Mar 2024)
Thai/Australian ceramic artist Vipoo Srivilasa talks about his Shrine of Life exhibition housing five imaginary, secular deities representing the attributes of Love Equality, Spirituality, Security, Identity and Creativity.
A gallery of images from El Paso artist Ho Baron’s 2022-23 exhibition, Gods for Future Religions. According to Baron’s 2012 book on the same theme: The existing religions of the world will one day evolve into others or possibly disappear as people grow disillusioned, bored and tired of their same old myths. Lacking imagination, the … Read more“Gods for Future Religions”
The popular Andrewism solarpunk/anarchist YouTube channel offers an overview of religious history back to Animism, traveling through monotheism and arriving at Atheopaganism as an example of post-theistic, ecological religion.
Colin Campbell, the founder of Aretéanism, explains his secular religion inspired by the ancient Greek philosophical notion of areté (excellence).
A short indie documentary on the ecumenical Pagan Temple of Sekhmet, established adjacent to military testing sites in the Nevada Desert.