A lot of people think of cults when they think about religion, but a cult and a religion are quite different. There are religious cults, but there are also cults that are not religious in nature and religions that are not cults. The key features that differentiate cults from non-cults are clear group inclusion/exclusion criteria and maladaptiveness. Penguinism lacks both of those conditions.

Penguinism does not promote the belief in a creator. Sq’wak did not create the universe, let alone all of reality. She is bound by natural order, and came into existence, much the same way that we did.

Penguinism lacks prophets because Sq’wak does not divinely inspire people. She does not and cannot take an active role. Instead, her influence is indirect, through shifting of probabilities of events occurring. This happens because of her interaction with the eternal dishwasher.

Numerous people are believed to have come close to perceiving the influence of Sq’wak on the world. These people include Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Jesus. Through meditation and practices like yoga, anyone can start to recognize her influence on the world.

We promote secularism in the sense that a government should neither promote nor oppose religion or non-religion. We do not however promote a world free of religion, nor do we promote a world full of religion. As was once said by the great thinkers, Bill and Ted, “be excellent to each other.” That is all that matters.

The First Church of Penguinism’s logo is based on Arp 142, which is a pair of galaxies, NGC 2936 and NGC 2937. NGC 2936 is sometimes known as the penguin galaxy. The galaxy is a spiral galaxy, like our own, but it is distorted by NGC 2937 nearby.

Interestingly, the combination of NGC 2936 and NGC 2937 seem a lot like a penguin and an egg, but we take it to symbolize Sq’wak and the eternal dishwasher.

She does not intervene directly, but she influences reality in other ways.

First off, Sq’wak is not all powerful, and her nature cannot override the rules that govern reality. But due to her connection with the eternal dishwasher, her essence, her desires, and her thoughts influence the evolution of the universe.

Basically, her existence alters various probabilities of events occurring. For instance, the emergence of certain forms in nature are affected by her existence. Our thoughts are influenced by her existence. Evolution is influenced by her existence.

Unfortunately, because we do not know exactly how everything is influenced, and because we do not have a way to test what the universe would be like without her will being connected to the eternal dishwasher, we cannot test this claim scientifically. We must take it on faith.

While Sq’wak is labeled, “The Divine Penguin” she is not actually a god, at least not as they are generally viewed. Here is why.

What is a god? That’s a very difficult question. There are a number of candidates for gods. There’s YHWH, who turns out to be a usurper deity. as discussed in the basics of Penguinism. There are the Greek and Roman gods. There are the Kami of Shinto. There’s the Buddha. Many of these things are called gods by some.

However, there are many times where believers reject the notion of godhood. The Buddha is considered a normal person who happened to achieve enlightenment, something that any of us could do. He is not viewed as a god by Buddhism. Similarly, the practitioners of Shinto do not view the Kami as gods. They are manifestations of a fundamental force known as Musubi. Sq’wak is the same. She is not a god, in the sense that we usually view the world. She is a product of nature herself. She is confined by the fundamental laws of nature.

Therefore Sq’wak should not be viewed of as a god, in the sense of a being which has agency and ability to violate natural law, but rather a being, which is closer to the fundamental essence of nature. In this way, Penguinism is an atheistic religion, much like Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto, etc.

At the moment, there is no unified text for Penguinism. However, we do plan on releasing a compendium of material, as it accumulates. The working title is “The Penguinomicon.”

That’s a hard question to answer, in reality. The goal of Penguinism is to bring to light certain scientific ideas surrounding religion, and provide commentary on fundamentalist views. In order for Penguinism to actually become a religion, it would require those who actually believe the tenets of Penguinism.

For a more scientific answer, assuming that we had some followers, see the full article on the topic here.

No. There is often some confusion about taxation of religious organizations. An organization is tax exempt, if it qualifies as a 501(c)(3) charity, regardless of its religiosity. Therefore a religious institution is not necessarily tax exempt. That being said, because it isn’t necessary to actually be a religious organization, it is possible that in the future, we will apply for tax exempt status, if we decide to fully dedicate resources to charitable causes.

Alternatively, we may seek Public Benefit Corp status, which is a new type of corporation where the primary focus is on a mission for the benefit of the public, rather than profit or wealth maximization of the shareholders. Our mission is along the lines of “the promotion of open science, secularism, and a peaceful relationship between science and religion.”

The First Church of Penguinism is the very first institution promoting Penguinism. While Penguinism is largely a work of humor, The First Church of Penguinism has as its goal the promotion of science and secularism, a peaceful relationship between secular and religious groups, cooperation between science and religion, and sustainability. We also oppose fundamentalism and bigotry, in all of its forms, whether religious or non-religious.