Now that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have shown that sometimes “fake” news can be more credible than “real” news, it is time to show that a fake religion might work as well as some of the “real” religions in operation today.

The Church of Universal Soul is just such a religion. It does not claim to be a “true” faith. It is based on a hypothetical idea that, just as matter and energy can be interchangeable, energy and “spirit’ or “soul” can be interchangeable. Because of this, the entire universe can be said to be made up of spirit, either in the form of true spirit, energy (made of spirit), or matter (made up of energy). This is not a matter of belief, it is just a hypothesis that I made up, and doesn’t necessarily describe reality.

Since I have no experience to confirm this hypothesis, I feel that it is enough to act as if this were the case. If we imagine that we are all one, we will act in an appropriate manner, which is to say we will treat others as we would like to be treated. If we live this way, that experience might come to us eventually.

This hypothesis was created only to give the church a basis for existing, not because it is thought to be a true possibility. (Although there is no evidence that I know of that it is not true.) Since many fundamentalists are trying to say that secular humanism is a religion (when opposing the teaching of evolution, for example), I thought it best not to base a church on secular humanism, because they would claim that it proves their assertion. With this hypothesis, we can define our religion as secular spiritualism.

The main reason for the existence of the church is purely defensive. If we get enough members, we can work against the theocratization of our government. Since it is not a real religion, I can feel free to criticize other religions. If I claimed to be representing a true faith, I would have to give other religions the benefit of the doubt. My criticism will generally be in regards to the religions that trace themselves to the prophet Abraham, since they seem to be the source of most of the religious strife in the world today.

Just because it is fake doesn’t mean a religion is not useful. Musicians sometimes use a “fake book” to help them play along with songs that they don’t know. Instead of learning all the notes and phrases of a song, they can follow a simple chart of a tune and chord progression to improvise a part that fits in the song.

Think of this religion as a fake book for life. You can use it to find some general guidelines for living that will allow you to improvise a life in harmony with the world. This can be as easy or difficult as you choose to make it. A lot of songs can be played using only three simple chords, and there are just a few simple ideas necessary for harmonious living. These ideas are common to most religious faiths, and all of them promote feelings of love and compassion.

The “golden rule” is one of these. It is the idea that people should treat each other as they would like to be treated. If everyone lived according to this rule, there would be much less strife in the world. This is the definition of compassionate behavior.