Church of Body Modification

The Church of Body Modification is a non-theistic religion with approximately 3,500 members in the United States. The church practices body modification in order to "strengthen the bond between mind, body, and soul" and to experience the divine.

The core belief of the Church of Body Modification is to create a strong spiritual bond between the mind, body and soul. To ensure a strong connection, the Church uses both ancient and modern body modification rituals to show its faith and allow its members to bring the three branches of life into harmony. The Church practices various types of body modification, such as piercings, tattoos, scarification, corsetry, hook pulling, hair dying, reconstructive and cosmetic surgery, fasting, and firewalking. It states that anything that pushes the flesh to its limits can be included in their list of rituals. The end goal is to live spiritually complete lives. There is no deity involved. The Church itself helps educate individuals on the various body modification rites. In its Vision Statement, the Church says it hopes to one day be able to practice their rituals without restriction in a world that doesn’t have prejudice against them.

Members of other religions are welcomed into the Church of Body Modification. Since there is no physical location for the Church, home rituals are usually prevalent. There are monthly online classes for members. It does not gain new members from promotion, but solely through attraction to its ideals.

We will always respect our bodies.

We believe it is our right to explore our world, both physical and supernatural, through spiritual body modification.

We promise to always grow as individuals through body modification and what it can teach us about who we are and what we can do.

We vow to share our experiences openly and honestly in order to promote growth in mind, body, and soul.

We honor all forms of body modification and those who choose to practice in safe and consensual ways.

We also promise to respect those who do not choose body modification.

We support all that join us in our mission and help those seeking us in need of spiritual guidance.

We strive to share a positive message with everyone we encounter, in order to act as positive role models for future generations in the body modification community. We always uphold basic codes of ethics and encourage others to do the same.

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Wikipedia