Welcome to the Dudeism.com forum

[cckeiser]

this is brilliant pad men, totally awesome and terrifying.......

Welcome to our nice quiet beach community dude. Terrifying? Oh you must mean meekon5...No, no, he's cool dude, he's cool...he will not harm you dude...unless you try and tell him what Dudeist should do... then he'll rip you a new one dude.

Pull up a rug...relax and enjoy. Smoke em if you got em.

I just get a little protective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAyh23l1mx4

LOL!

[Zen Dog]

Where's Hagman when you need him.

[meekon5]

Where's Hagman when you need him.

Is that like "Where's Wally" (or isn't it "Where's Waldo" in US?)?

[DigitalBuddha]

It's down there somewhere, lemme take a look. 

[milnie]

i think i have asked this before but at what point do we get recognised as a "proper" religion by the government (UK)? is there a set number of followers? and can we get special discompensation like Rastafarians for use of certain illegal substances in the exercising of our religion?

[meekon5]

i think i have asked this before but at what point do we get recognised as a "proper" religion by the government (UK)? is there a set number of followers? and can we get special discompensation like Rastafarians for use of certain illegal substances in the exercising of our religion?

No it needs the passing of legislation to "recognise" us as legitimate unfortunately.

The census thing is crap.

Officials from the Office for National Statistics pointed out that this merely means that it has been registered as a common answer to the "religion" question and that this does not confer on it the status of official recognition.

The Rasta thing is not proven, but lies in the same grounds as not arresting people who only have enough to use themselves and are not "dealing"

The smoking think is not a sacred rite, in Dudeism, it's not looked down on, but it's not a prescribed practice (like communion).

I've written before how the only reliable legal stance we have is with the Human rights act (both UN and EU) or UDHR (get your own copy here). Again there is a clause:

Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Problem lies with European Convention on Human Rights which states further:

Article 9
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
2. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

"subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law"

So in fact the Rasta's are not legally allowed to smoke their stuff but are not subject to arrest only by mutual agreement from the police.

Our own Human Rights Act 1998 is only an enabling act that allows individuals to sue under the act in English courts, rather than, as before, having to go to the European court of Human Rights (nothing to do with the EU economic group) to get a judgment.

In answer to your question:

i think i have asked this before but at what point do we get recognised as a "proper" religion by the government (UK)? is there a set number of followers? and can we get special discompensation like Rastafarians for use of certain illegal substances in the exercising of our religion?

When we have enough people to support a lobby group that can effect the tabling and passing of a bill of legislation to make us a recognised religion.

[Zen Dog]

M5,Daniel Hagman was one of Sharps (Sean Bean,being rude about the Cave Troll) Chosen Men.

IMO I think it would be poor day should Dudeism become a recognised religion.
That would be like,fitting us into a pigeonhole with all the other uptight types.
Is Taoism a recognised religion?I thought it was just like, a way of life.A perspective.
Religions 'believe' in things and have 'faith'.
I believe I'll have another beer.

[the d]

Hey, like uh uh what forum is this? mind if i do a jay?

[cckeiser]

Hey, like uh uh what forum is this? mind if i do a jay?

No problem dude...welcome and smoke em if you got em.

[milnie]

cheers Meekon. i think me query has been raised a few times in different threads but i forget which ones i have looked at. as ever you are a much appreciated font of knowledge and i doff my cap
D, spark in mate.

[Kit]

Hey Dudes,

Just thought I would stick my head in here and introduce myself. I'm a 54 year old graphic designer, guitar player and computer geek living in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.  The Valley of the Sun we call it. I'm in a little town southeast of Phoenix, goes by the name of Gilbert, AZ. The tools of my graphics trade are: CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, InkScape, Corel PHOTO-PAINT, Adobe Photoshop. I code both CSS and HTML with DreamWeaver.

My sonic sculpting tools are: Black Gibson Les Paul Custom, Dark Candy Apple Red Fender Stratocaster with a maple neck both of which have been extensively customized with EMG pickups, active electronics, Sperzel tuning keys, Teflon impregnated graphite nuts, et cetera. I also have a plain vanilla Washburn D10S acoustic guitar.

On the IT front I've been into computers since I was a teenager. I built my first computer an 8088 from a Heathkit/Zenith kit. My next one was a white box 286 with with an Intel Visual Edge Card with 16 MB of RAM on it so I could print 600 by 600 resolution on my normally 300 dpi res HP LaserJet. At the time I was using a PostScript emulator called Freedom of Press. With CorelDRAW 2 and Ventura Publisher I was able to do some pretty spiffy desktop publishing on the cheap. Unfortunately most people didn't believe you could do good desktop publishing on anything other than a Mac so I had a hard time.

That was many times many years ago. Now I can do all the same typography and graphics without half of that hardware and complexity.

I even have my guitars piped into my PC with a USB adapter that takes care of the AD/DA conversion. Any special effects I want the computer can synthesize them for me.

So mostly I spend my time reading, listening to audio books, listening to music, playing music, drawing on my computer, dithering with HTML code, chatting with people online (mostly IRC) and studying for school. I have my CompTIA A+ Certification and I'm in school for my Cisco Certified Network Associate degree (CCNA).

That and I go bowling in downtown Gilbert,AZ at the Brunswick Zone XL, Place is gianormous. I just go there to socialize and bowl but the place has everything from Lazer Tag to Pool Tables.
They even have a Pro Bowler shop so I can eventually get my own bag, ball, glove and shoes.
Get them to drill holes just for my little hands. That would be so cool to have a custom ball.

Anyway, that's my story for now.

Stay mellow and keep on rollin' Dudes.

[cckeiser]

Sounds Exhausting.

[Zen Dog]

So,this desert............................................

[UncleDude]

Hi Dudes!!!  Just a quick pause to touch face with ya'll. I'm a third shifter and never log in but read alot here. I might be back on a normal shift (2nd) sometime soon. I like my sleep and nothing personal too lazy to log in properly. So someday soon will be holding a thought provoking chat with everyone here.

[cckeiser]

Hi Dudes!!!  Just a quick pause to touch face with ya'll. I'm a third shifter and never log in but read alot here. I might be back on a normal shift (2nd) sometime soon. I like my sleep and nothing personal too lazy to log in properly. So someday soon will be holding a thought provoking chat with everyone here.

That sounds exhausting too!
Me...I'm retired and get up at the crack noon!
Welcome dude...smoke em if you got em!