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I read an article recently. Someone shared it on Facebook and it caught my interest. Pastafarians can now legally get married in religious ceremonies. Bobby Henderson wrote the The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster which has turned into a religion, and he makes his claim to being a prophet; although, probably in a joking manner. You can download The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster here.

Henderson, the creator of the Church 

of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

This is on the heels of 'the greatest salesman in the world' J.R. Dobb's The Book of the Subgenius, which also caught on with the trendy pop-culture.  You can download The Book of the Subgenius here.

But, first came Malaclypse The Younger's Principia Discordia, and you can download the book here.

Malaclypse the Younger

And, there is The Book of Mu, which seems to be the most recent.

There were a lot of 'religious' texts that started as something different, but ended up as some kind of religious guidance. I've read these books and they all play on the absurdity prevalent in our lives and attempt to explain in some form or another, through parody or some form of explanation that is, probably unaware to the writers, a form of hyperrealism.

U.S. military soldiers can even claim their religion to be Jedi. I have heard from some in our ward that this is impossible, but I have seen it with my won eyes on the dog tags of a US army soldier stationed in Daegu. 

It makes sense. Die hard Star Wars, Star Trek, and Harry Potter fans find something spiritual in these works of fiction.

It is not that these guys set out to start a religion, but their ideas (absurd and fringe as they are) caught on with the trendy, post-modern world we live in nowadays. And, there have been those who purposefully wanted to start a religion for various reasons. There is the Church of All Worlds, which was founded by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, who uses fiction, like Harry Potter as a basis for his church. He even recently started the Grey School of Wizardry. 

You can even read Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible.

Anton LaVey

LaVey's ideas are most unsettling, because they are accurate reflections of the way the world is moving towards. And, he came up with these ideas in the sixties. All in all, he has been one of the most insanely precise predictor of where society is heading. 

Now, I am completely against censorship and everyone should have their say and be able to write what they want. And, I am a huge supporter of reading any material which may be against your belief system or may be part of a fringe philosophy. I mean, if your faith is tested by reading one of these books, you probably didn't have much faith to begin with. Anyway, it is my opinion (and not shared by too many Jack Mormons) that reading anti-Mormon literature can be helpful for one's faith by providing a much wider viewpoint of the overall belief system we are part of and the literature shows different perspectives which we need to be exposed to, especially if we are to hope for better Missionary Moments. Even reading the Mormon splinter group's various 'divine' texts is enlightening, like: The Book of Jeraneck and The Book of the Law of the Lord. 

There may be many who disagree with me about this, but I like to know what's out there, and it all (the fringe religious books, the LDS recommended literature, and the anti-Mormon books) helps me realize the benefits of the LDS Church and our place next to God better. And, it all has helped me have better Missionary Moments, because I can understand where others are coming from and so I can have a better conversation with them.