From the Monarchy that brought you those zesty little Swedish Meatballs, IKEA, Greta Garbo, ABBA and the Ice Hotel, a new religion has surfaced– a religion that revolves around the sharing of free information (known in some circles as “piracy”).

What some critics are calling an abomination to the institution of religion and a blast against copyright laws could actually be a step in countering strongly opposed United States Internet policy in the making that threatens to mutiliate and vaporize a few of my favorite websites, just to name a few: Facebook and Twitter.

The Church of Kopimism was officially recognized by the Swedish government this Christmas and therefore members of this atypical religion exercise their holy right to file-sharing under protection of Swedish policy.

Their website, which has been slashdotted (pummeled by a monstrous increase in web traffic due to popular websites like the BBC and Mashable linking to The Church of Kopimism’s homepage) explains that the Church of Kopimism holds that “information is holy and copying is a sacrament.”

The “holy” value of information “multiples through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organization and its members.”

FYI Members of the church are referred to as “Kopimi” (pronounced “copy me”)

To be a Kopimi requires “no formal membership” however members are called to participate in “kopyactings – religious services – where the Kopimists share information with each other through copying and remix.”

According to Mashable, “They hold CTRL+C and CTRL+V, keyboard shortcuts for copying and pasting, to be sacred symbols of their religion. (We’re not making this stuff up.)”

The Swedish government’s formal acknowledgment of the Church of Kopimism provides all Kopimists with legal protections under Swede law as well as the potential to receive government funding.

This is huge considering the fate of Swedish torrent provider, The Pirate Bay, which was blown out of the water after illegally making copyrighted content available for all to seed.

Spiritual leader, Isak Gerson, explains that “Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution.”

Meanwhile across the pond the United States Government is setting up to crack down on the Internet and all the free information that comes with it.

There is of course, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), a bill that goes above and beyond boundaries to stop piracy. The bill is pitting industry top dogs against each-other: Disney, The Motion Picture Association of America, Recording Industry Association of America VS. Internet Heroes: Google, Twitter, eBay, Yahoo and Facebook.

On one side, SOPA would deliver copyright revenue and prevent piracy. However the stipulations are extraordinarily harsh. For example, if you created a video and behind you hung a  large poster of the magic kingdom with Cinderellas castle and the whole gang of characters all smiles and wide-eyed for the web-cam, that would be considered a felony.

SOPA, also known as the E-PARASITE Act, is being compared to the very Internet Censorship the United States Government has put a stop to in countries such as Iran and China.

According to Google+ post from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, “Whether you are a student in an Internet cafe in the developing world or a head of state of a wealthy nation, the knowledge of the world is at your fingertips.”

However, as Brin explains there is a battle with “multiple oppressive governments” to free the Internet and Google is at the mission’s forefront: “At various times notable Google websites have been blocked… For our own websites and for the Internet as a whole we have worked tirelessly to combat Internet censorship around the world alongside governments and NGO promoting free speech. Thus, imagine my astonishment when the newest threat to free speech has come from none other but the United States.”

Brin of course references SOPA which gives “the US government and copyright holders extraordinary powers including the ability to hijack DNS and censor search results (and this is even without so much as a proper court trial).”

In terms of freedom of speech and freedom of information– these days, you can’t have one without the other.

SOPA holds websites liable for user posted content. A few infringing links are enough to dispose of an entire website, meaning websites with high user engagement such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are most at risk.

Give me YouTube or give me death!

These measures along with many others, according to Brin, “would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world.”

However, seeing as the United States already sets precedents for Internet law around the world– I’d say the situation is a bit more than Brin could bare to articulate.

The official recognition of the Church of Kopimism is one step in the right direction to keep the Internet free.

After all, if the religion were to make its way over to the United States, free information and sharing would be protected under the first amendment which serves as the basis for the same religious freedom given to American Indians and their use of peyote.

Religion has proven to be a loophole in the past, although some may find the label of “religion” to be absolutely ludicrous (consider how the religions of the world would sound to a martian).

Regardless– whether or not the Internet is saved by Kopimism, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

If you are interested in fighting Internet censorship, HERE might be a good place to start.

Comment and let us know what you think– before it’s too late.