Do not be fooled by its unserious name. The United Church of Bacon, a church based in Las Vegas named after the beloved breakfast food, is a serious and legal organization dedicated to promoting skepticism, advancing secularism, and fostering equal rights.
The United Church of Bacon: A Religion Against Religions
Background
The United Church of Bacon was founded in 2010. It was the brainchild of decorated military veteran and self-proclaimed Bacon Prophet John Whiteside. The organization started as a concept among a group of friends. It became active in 2012 with the recruitment of new members.
At its heart is the intention to challenge religious discrimination against non-believers, promote church-state separation, and demand equal rights for everyone, regardless of faith.
It is registered as a non-profit organization that functions like any other religious institution in the United States. It can even perform legal marriages. Nevertheless, with more than 40000 members across the country as of 2023, it now has a status comparable to megachurches.
Mission and Core Beliefs
The values of the United Church of Bacon are expressed in its 8 Bacon Commandments. These include being skeptical, respecting boundaries, normalizing atheism and theism, having fun, doing good, being generous, praising bacon, and advocating for fair church taxation.
It specifically opposes supernatural claims and endorses skepticism and atheism. It also champions against the discrimination and marginalization of non-religious individuals.
The organization further contends that religions and specific religious institutions should not receive special legal privileges. It maintains that there is no inherent quality about people of faith or their groups that renders them superior to secular non-profit organizations.
Members believe in the separation of the church and the state and that faith-based arguments from one group have no business in government decisions that affect all of the people.
The United Church of Bacon is essentially an atheist and secularist parody of religious organizations. It is a religion against religions. This is where its central argument, which has underpinned its mission statement and core beliefs becomes intricate and clever.
It specifically highlights the absurdity of granting legal privileges to religious institutions and their strange beliefs by requesting legal status for an organization that reveres bacon.
Note that churches and other religious organizations benefit from numerous unfair privileges. These include exemptions from disclosing how they spend donated funds. Critics contend that this lack of accountability creates an environment conducive to exploitation.
All religious institutions in the U.S. are also automatically considered tax-exempt and are not required to file Form 1023. This extends to integrated auxiliaries and conventions.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act grants religious institutions broad protections. They are allowed to challenge government regulations that substantially burden their religious practices. This privilege applies even when those regulations apply generally to other entities.
Activities
Part of the mission of the United Church of Bacon is to raise funds and channel them into various healthcare advocacies, other secular non-profit organizations, and educational foundations. It has also worked with other nonprofits in both fundraising and public relations efforts.
It has raised millions of dollars since its inception in 2010. The funds have been donated to medical research like autism and cancer and. other secular charities. All expenditures are reported.
The organization also rallies behind other advocacies. It has been a vocal supporter of equal marriage and has been vocal in supporting LGBTQIA rights. The organization also conducts all kinds of traditional religious services like weddings, baptisms, and funerals.