society

Katya Alexandrova

“Save the planet - kill yourself”: Church of Euthanasia against everyone

[photo: “Save the planet, kill yourself” has become the main slogan of the Church of Euthanasia, an organization inspired by Chris Korda’s dream. Followers of the Church believe that overpopulation of the planet by humans is to blame for all environmental ills - global warming, water and air pollution, extinction of species. / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

“Hello, dear reader. In case you are not yet a member of the Church, I will take this opportunity to explain our theology. The Church has four key principles, or “pillars,” and these are—drumroll please—suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy. You may wonder why we support such things. What do they have in common? Of course, they are all great entertainment, but the real answer is that they help reduce the population.”

This letter from the editor opens the first issue of Snuff It magazine, the official publication of the Church of Euthanasia, which calls itself a non-profit educational organization “dedicated to restoring the balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth.” Church members disrupted anti-abortion demonstrations, fried plastic babies, organized the Unabomber's presidential campaign, and even appeared on television. They did all this, guided by the only commandment of the Church: “Do not multiply.” We'll figure out why euthanasians call for giving up children, whether it's necessary to kill yourself to save the planet, and what techno, dadaism and September 11 have to do with it.

Content
It's better never to be
Blood and soil
“Eat a queer fetus for Jesus”
“The Power of Confusion and Ambiguity”
“Unabomber for President!”
Post-post

“What would you do if the person you loved said he wanted to join a cult that supported suicide, cannibalism and even eating the flesh of aborted babies?” asks Jerry Springer, the popular American talk show host.

Three people enter the studio: a woman with a neat black bob waving a globe on a string, a man in priestly robes with a cross on which a soft toy is crucified, and a man in a balaclava and a skeleton costume. The audience claps and whistles.

“Name four things you believe in, four principles of your philosophy,” Springer asks.

“The four pillars of the Church, you already know them, are suicide, abortion, cannibalism and sodomy,” the woman answers.

There is laughter in the audience.

- And this is faith?..

- Yes. This is an organized religion.

It's better never to be

“Great Spirit, I pray for extinction. Let my species become extinct, and vanish from the Earth. Let my loins be barren, Let my seed not sprout, Let the race of men fall like leaves. Let my fields grow wild, Let my fences crumble, Let my cities turn to dust, and become forests. Let the grass drink my blood; Let my body be food for worms. Great Spirit, let me die, that the Earth may live.” Chris Korda prays for a “good death.”

[photo: Chris Korda, founder of the Church of Euthanasia]

One morning in 1992, she woke up from a restless sleep to the sound of her own voice repeating: “Save the planet - kill yourself.” In a dream, a Creature appeared to her - an alien intelligence that spoke on behalf of the inhabitants of the Earth from other dimensions. The creature warned: the planet's ecosystem is falling into decay, and the authorities are hiding it. “Why do your leaders lie to you and you believe them?” it asked.

The phrase “Save the planet - kill yourself” became the main slogan of the Church of Euthanasia, an organization inspired by Korda’s dream. At the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York, Korda handed out stickers with the slogan to delegates and subsequently began putting them on police cars. In 1994, she released an album of the same name, released on the Kevorkian Records label. In the title track, a robotic voice recounts the words of the Creature over upbeat dance music.

Followers of the Church believe that overpopulation of the planet by humans is to blame for all environmental ills - global warming, water and air pollution, extinction of species.

Epidemics are not effective enough, and wars cause too much damage to nature - therefore euthanasians consider voluntary methods of population reduction to be the most practical (and ethical): those “four pillars”. Speaking about cannibalism, the Church indicates that one can only eat the already dead, and by sodomy it means “any sexual act not intended for reproduction.”

The idea that humanity should stop reproducing is not new. Back in 1851, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote: “Imagine if the act of conception were not a need and not accompanied by sexual pleasure, but were a matter of pure rational reflection; Would humanity continue to exist? Would not each, on the contrary, have so much compassion for the next generation that he would not choose to free him from the burden of existence - or, at least, would refuse to take upon himself the cold-blooded coercion of it?

In the twentieth century, the Norwegian philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe discussed the fallibility of human existence in his essay “The Last Messiah”: “Here is one victory and one crown, one salvation and one solution. Know yourself—be sterile and leave behind you the earth in silence.”

Various concepts that oppose reproduction are united by the term “antinatalism.” One of the prominent representatives of modern antinatalism is the South African philosopher David Benatar, who in his book “Better Never to Be: On the Harm of Being Born” formulated the main arguments against childbearing.

When a person is born, he suffers. Suffering is stronger than joy: it is longer lasting and more intense. Chronic pain exists, chronic pleasure does not. And a person cannot give consent to all this. If we consider causing harm wrong, why do we condemn our children to illness and hardship?

While some anti-natalists are motivated by such philanthropic arguments, others are more concerned with the harm humanity causes to the environment. Followers of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) believe that the Earth will breathe a sigh of relief when not a single person remains on it.

The name is quite eloquent: the goal of this environmental movement is the extinction of humanity through voluntary cessation of reproduction under the slogan “Live happily ever after and die out.” The VHEMT website says the movement “presents a promising alternative to the mindless exploitation and global destruction of the earth's ecology.” According to his followers, the extinction of just one species - homo sapiens - will prevent the extinction of millions of others. VHEMT founder Les. U. Knight (his pseudonym Les U. Knight is consonant with the phrase let’s unite - “let’s unite”) in his youth voluntarily had a vasectomy.

[photo: In the VHEMT logo, the 180° inverted Earth symbolizes the need for change in attitudes and actions, as well as the plight of the planetary ecosystem. “V” (abbreviation of English Voluntary) means the priority of voluntariness.]

For many people, the idea of human extinction will cause logical regrets: after all, civilization, culture, and art will disappear along with us. “I'm more worried that there will soon be no large carnivorous mammals left. “Shakespeare's plays and Einstein's works are no match for the tiger,” says Knight.

However, compared to the Church of Euthanasia, VHEMT’s ideas sound quite moderate: there is no talk of suicide or cannibalism.

Not only ecologists from VHEMT are concerned about the growth of the Earth's population, but also the unknown customers of the Georgia Tablets, a monument that appeared in 1980 in the American city of Elberton. Inscriptions in twelve languages, including Russian, were engraved on six granite slabs. Ten philosophical principles called for birth control, reducing the planet's population to 500 million people and “not being a cancer for the Earth.” For some time, on top of the Russian-language text there was a crooked inscription in white paint: “Fuck you. We want to live.”

[photo: Georgia Tablets is a monument that appeared in 1980 in the American city of Elberton. Inscriptions in twelve languages, including Russian, were engraved on six granite slabs. Ten philosophical principles called for birth control, reducing the planet's population to 500 million people and “not being a cancer for the Earth.” / View of the monument from the north. English text on the left, Russian on the right, Babylonian on top.]

On July 6, 2022, one of the Tablets was blown up, after which local authorities completely demolished the monument. Probably, both Russian tourists and unknown bombers did not like the commandments.

Blood and soil

Although the environmental agenda today is usually associated with left-wing political ideas, along with left-wing activists, eco-fascists - supporters of eugenics and opponents of migration - are excited about the overpopulation of the Earth. Ecofascists believe in selective population reduction (and, if necessary, genocide) and believe that immigrants do not care about the nature of the countries they move to, and therefore borders should be closed to them.

Ecofascism is based on the ideas of the 18th century English scientist Thomas Malthus. His demographic theory states that population increases in geometric progression, while production increases in arithmetic progression. If population growth is not curbed, sooner or later there will not be enough resources for everyone and famine will begin. Malthus's ideas had a great influence on Charles Darwin, and Darwin's ideas, in turn, on supporters of Malthusianism.

This is how social Darwinism arose - a pseudoscientific theory according to which in society, as in nature, the strongest must survive. The “strongest” often means the “more advanced” race. The poor, the sick, members of ethnic minorities - their right to life and procreation is called into question.

From these ideas grew eugenics, forced sterilization and, ultimately, the mass murder of the “unworthy.” You don’t have to look far for examples: the Holocaust and the T-4 program of Nazi Germany, forced sterilization of blacks and indigenous people in the United States, Swedish eugenics laws, repealed only in the 1970s. A less bloody application of Malthusian ideas in practice is the Chinese “one family, one child” policy.

[image: Photo of Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski taken the day after his arrest. For two decades, he sent bombs to universities and airports in an effort to draw attention to what he saw as the disastrous consequences of the industrial revolution. Kaczynski believed that humanity should abandon the technologies that enslave it, and he himself lived in a cabin in the forest without electricity or sewerage.]

Another eco-fascist icon is Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski (remember that name!). For two decades, he sent bombs to universities and airports in an effort to draw attention to what he saw as the disastrous consequences of the industrial revolution. Kaczynski believed that humanity should abandon the technologies that enslave it, and he himself lived in a hut in the forest without electricity or sewerage. In his manifesto “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the Unabomber also criticized contemporary “leftists”—socialists, feminists, LGBT activists and animal rights activists—which could not but please the ecofascists. They did not take into account only one factor: Kaczynski did not like “right-wingers” any less. “A true anti-technology movement rejects any form of racism or ethnocentrism,” he wrote from prison, where he served a life sentence until his death in 2023.

Although most ecofascist activism is shitposting on Twitter (algiz runes and solstice greetings are interspersed with criticism of multiculturalism and anti-Semitic statements), some have gone on a real warpath with modern society.

Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011 attacks, was concerned about global overpopulation. In his manifesto, he proposed reducing the global population to 2.5 billion people by reducing the population of the global south. Finnish shooter Pekka-Erik Auvinen, who killed 8 people in his school, adhered to the ideas of social Darwinism. In his “Natural Selector Manifesto,” he declared “total war on humanity,” which threatened other species, and declared that he would purge society of the weakest “subhumans.” Auvinen was a fan of the Unabomber and Pentti Linkola, a Finnish eco-fascist who advocated reducing the world's population and returning to a pre-industrial way of life. Linkola supported the Kaczynski attacks (as well as the September 11 attacks) and stated that he was not against epidemics that reduce the number of people. “The worst enemy of life is too much life: an overabundance of human lives,” he said.

Linkola followed the “lifeboat” principle: if you put too many people in a lifeboat, everyone will drown - so someone has to be left behind.

Brenton Tarrant, who opened fire in mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch and killed 51 people, directly called himself an eco-fascist. His follower Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, blamed immigrants for environmental destruction and called for “reducing the number of people in America” in a manifesto published on the image board 8chan. In his opinion, the path to environmental sustainability lies through genocide: it is impossible to force people to produce and consume less - which means they must be destroyed.

Many people are concerned about the growing popularity of ecofascism. For example, the head of the faction “A Just Russia - Patriots - For Truth” Sergei Mironov. In his opinion, ecofascism “promotes a religion of child abandonment.” “The architects of the new misanthropic religion, of course, do not care about the environment. All these new trends have their ultimate goal - to make the ordinary inhabitant of the planet the most dependent, controlled, weak-willed, unassuming human unit. Without love, without family, without ambition, without the right to choose your own path. They will write down for you how long you should live, who you should work with, how much carbon dioxide you should produce... This is the slow murder of a person within a person. Suicide... #reaction #Europe,” he wrote in his Telegram channel. It’s scary to imagine what would have happened if Sergei Mikhailovich had found out about the Church of Euthanasia.

“Eat a queer fetus for Jesus”

April 30, 1993. Anti-animal experiment activists gathered near Boston University to march to Harvard Square. Among them were several people holding signs saying “Stop Animal Testing,” “Boycott Gillette,” and “Save the Whales.” As they approach Kenmore Square, one of them tears down the poster, revealing a two-metre tall wooden cross from which dangle naked dolls with bloody fingers and mouths. A stuffed rabbit is crucified on a cross. The march reaches Kenmore Square. Harmless posters were torn down. Below them are inscriptions: “Kill your embryo, not your pet,” “Eat people, not animals,” “Save the planet, kill yourself.” Under these slogans the procession of the Church of Euthanasia proudly moves: Reverend Chris, Pastor Kim, Sister Catherine, Sister Laura and Brother Dennis. According to them, “more than half of the marchers supported the Church and lost respect for their organizers” after the procession was kicked out of the march.

[photo: As they approach Kenmore Square, one of the activists tears down a poster, revealing a two-meter wooden cross from which hang naked dolls with bloody fingers and mouths. A stuffed rabbit is crucified on a cross. The march reaches Kenmore Square. Harmless posters were torn down. Below them are inscriptions: “Kill your embryo, not your pet,” “Eat people, not animals,” “Save the planet, kill yourself.” Under these slogans the procession of the Church of Euthanasia proudly moves: Reverend Chris, Pastor Kim, Sister Catherine, Sister Laura and Brother Dennis. / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

Unlike ecofascists, euthanasians are egalitarian. They do not support social Darwinism, mass murder, eugenics, genocide or racism. Everyone should give up childbearing, regardless of race, gender or sexual identity. “The planet is a living, breathing organism that can defend itself when necessary. The Church hopes to avoid the suffering that would result if people en masse begin to see the light and begin to perceive themselves as a species, and not as individuals belonging to races or nation-states,” the Church’s website says.

Korda calls the main goal of the Church to achieve a balance between people and other living beings: “Our mission is to convince people to never have children. Humans are the cause of mass extinction, and non-reproduction is the only ethically justifiable position. To exclude oneself from the gene pool is the absolute personification of the idea of limits to growth.”

“The Limits to Growth” is the title of a report released by the Club of Rome in 1972. Its authors modeled human development scenarios in the context of population growth and resource depletion to determine the limits of civilization's demographic and economic growth. In their opinion, if measures are not taken to limit the birth rate, by 2050 humanity will reach a peak population (10-12 billion), and then sharply decrease to 1-3 billion against the backdrop of hunger and falling living standards. To avoid this, it is proposed to actively control birth rates and reduce environmental pollution.

According to Korda, modern humanity has “declared war on the future”: by consuming all resources now, it leaves nothing for future generations and violates “intergenerational justice.”

Korda clarifies that abstinence from childbearing is mandatory for all church members, but following the “four pillars” is everyone’s personal choice: “If we talk about suicide... The word “euthanasia” literally means “good death” in ancient Greek, and the Hippocratic Oath obliges doctors to ensure a good death as well as a good life. Everyone deserves the right to the freedom to die when they want, painlessly and with dignity, and also deserves help with it if necessary. And if you disdain cannibalism, become vegetarians.”

In an interview, Korda commented on cannibalism quite provocatively: “Every year 50,000 people die in car accidents, and if we’re lucky, we use a couple of their organs. Perfectly normal meat is buried in the ground or burned. And it should go straight to McDonald's. The United States spends enormous amounts of energy so that its citizens can eat as much meat as they want. This is simply stupid. But the Church is realistic. We don't expect Americans to stop eating meat any more than we expect them to stop ejaculating. If they have to eat meat, let's make sure it's human meat.”

September 13, 1993. At dawn, the two climb down from a billboard along the Massachusetts Turnpike and look contentedly at their work before running away. Hanging over an advertisement for a science museum is a black banner that reads, “SAVE THE PLANET KILL YOURSELF,” in bold white letters. It ripples slightly in the wind. Over the next 36 hours, hundreds of thousands of drivers, stuck in traffic jams, will look out the window at “pure Dadaism.”

[photo: September 13, 1993. At dawn, the two climb down from a billboard along the Massachusetts Turnpike and look contentedly at their work before running away. Hanging over an advertisement for a science museum is a black banner that reads, “SAVE THE PLANET KILL YOURSELF,” in bold white letters. It ripples slightly in the wind. Over the next 36 hours, hundreds of thousands of drivers, stuck in traffic jams, will look out the window at “pure Dadaism.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

To become a member of the Church, it is enough to take a lifelong vow of non-reproduction. For having a child you will be excommunicated from the Church. Although it is not necessary to kill oneself, those who commit suicide are automatically canonized. “Feel free to bequeath your property to us,” the Church adds flirtatiously.

Now the Church has two saints: the popularizer of euthanasia, American doctor Jack Kevorkian (he was charged with second-degree murder for performing euthanasia and spent more than eight years in prison) and Margaret Sanger, founder of the American Birth Control League and the International Family Planning Association - and also a supporter of eugenics, strict immigration policies, sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities and representatives of certain races and ethnic groups (blacks, Jews, Slavs). “Although her views on genetic fitness seem intolerant by modern standards, she was not a racist; her enemies used falsified statements to discredit her,” the Church defends its saint.

There is one known suicide involving the use of Church resources: in 2003, a 52-year-old woman from St. Louis committed suicide following instructions posted on the Church website.

The authors of the instructions were threatened with legal proceedings. It was removed from the site.

Snuff It also published a letter from a reader who reported his intention to commit suicide after sending the letter. He left a donation of $150 to the Church for the development of a “suicide hotline” and thanked them for their support. “Not that you’ve convinced me, but I appreciate the camaraderie,” he wrote.

“Suicide Helpline: Helping you every step of the way! Already helped thousands! What about you? Call: 976-HELP” - was displayed on one of the Boston billboards for some time. The idea was simple: people would call a number and listen to pre-recorded voice messages with “helpful tips on how to kill yourself without making a mess or inconveniencing other people.” Callers would pay by the minute, and the money would go to the Church. “It’s a pity that the number didn’t work,” Korda complains.

[photo: Suicide Hotline: Helping You Every Step of the Way! Already helped thousands! What about you? Call: 976-HELP” - was displayed on one of the Boston billboards for some time. The idea was simple: people would call a number and listen to pre-recorded voice messages with “helpful tips on how to kill yourself without making a mess or inconveniencing other people.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

1996. Abortion Clinic in Boston. Pro-life activists from the group “Operation Rescue” stand with signs reading “Abortion is murder.” Opposite them is also a group with posters. Reverend Korda holds a doll with a blood red skull glued to its head. Behind her is a huge black banner with the words “Eat a Queer Fetus For Jesus” written in large white letters. Dozens of posters rise above the crowd: “Fuck Breeding”, “Fetuses Are For Scraping”, “Depressed? Commit Spermicide”, “Make Love, Not Babies”, “If You Love the Earth, Tie Your Tubes”, “Feeling Maternal? Adopt” and “Sperm-Free Cunts For the Earth.” Pastor Kim, dressed as a Catholic pastor, holds a sign that reads: “Sex is good. Pedophile Priests Forever,” which depicts a boy with a pink cross taped over his genitals. On the Church’s website, photographs from the action are posted with the caption: “Euthanasians - 1, Christians - 0.”

[photo: Reverend Korda holding a doll with a blood-red skull glued to its head. Behind her is a huge black banner with the words “Eat a Queer Fetus For Jesus” written in large white letters. Dozens of posters rise above the crowd: “Fuck Breeding”, “Fetuses Are For Scraping”, “Depressed? Commit Spermicide”, “Make Love, Not Babies”, “If You Love the Earth, Tie Your Tubes”, “Feeling Maternal? Adopt” and “Sperm-Free Cunts For the Earth.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

According to a survey conducted by the Church, the average subscriber to its resources looks like this: a 23-year-old vegetarian man who holds anarchist views and spends 37 hours a week on the computer. He loves Blade Runner, Akira, Stanley Kubrick and Star Wars and believes euthanasia should be legalized. Female subscribers had an average of two abortions. 25% of subscribers have attempted suicide.

Among the materials on the site are news about eating aborted babies in China, instructions for cutting up a human body, a pamphlet about the benefits of urine therapy, manifestos of Valerie Solanas and the Unabomber, as well as Korda’s nudes and the pornographic video I Like to Watch for her song.

I Like to Watch “explores the connections between the 9/11 attacks, professional sports and pornography.” The four-minute video, accompanied by electronic music, intersperses footage of a terrorist attack, sports competitions and cumshots. At the end of the clip, the masturbating actor wipes away his sperm with an American flag. “I enjoyed watching the towers fall, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in it, but very few people had the temerity to admit it publicly. Stockhausen called it the greatest work of art ever, but missed the sexual dimension. The unmistakably phallic symbol of American power has been feminized and limp. At the time, I called it forced transsexual surgery, and I still think so,” Korda shares.

[photo: “This is the sperm of all the male members of the Church of Euthanasia,” one of the brothers in a clown wig and a false red nose chants into the loudspeaker. Another protester is wearing a four-meter hot pink penis suit. “I’m really sorry we had to come to this,” Korda says, unscrewing the lid of the jar and pouring its contents onto the ground. “What do we do with sperm? - asks Chris. “We’re killing her!” She takes out a package of Gynol II, a contraceptive gel, and pours it over the puddle. / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

1998 Entrance to the sperm bank. Reverend Korda, wearing a little black dress, waves a small jar. “This is the sperm of all the male members of the Church of Euthanasia,” one of the brothers wearing a clown wig and a false red nose chants into the loudspeaker. Another protester is wearing a four-meter hot pink penis suit. “I’m really sorry we had to come to this,” Korda says, unscrewing the lid of the jar and pouring its contents onto the ground. “What do we do with sperm? - asks Chris. “We’re killing her!” She takes out a package of Gynol II, a contraceptive gel, and pours it over the puddle. The crowd cheers in support. “The Reverend is committing spermicide!” - exclaims the clown.

Reverend Chris, in addition to managing the affairs of the Church, writes code and techno music - in 2003 she even performed in Moscow at the Megapolis festival “Pulse”. Her projects include fractal rendering, 3D ceramic design software, and a 1970s color organ simulator. “I love working with computers because they have superpowers, meaning they can do things that I could never do. I started programming in college and it quickly became obvious that I had a talent,” says Chris.

She is vegan and has identified as a transgender woman since 1991. Korda wears bob wigs of different colors - black, white, blue - with neat bangs, mini-dresses and the usual pendant with a star. She calls herself an “existentialist and scientific pragmatist.”

She cites the day she read the New York Times headline, “Scientists Predict Irreversible Global Warming,” as the turning point for her to start the Church. She was 10 years old.

But why the church? “The Church of Euthanasia is a church because ethics is the sphere of religion. Whether or not people should destroy their own future is an ethical question, not a scientific one,” explains Chris. At the same time, the Church does not deify or romanticize nature: “The Earth is a stone rushing through the immensity of space, and we inhabit only a small zone of biological activity on its surface. We are apex predators and depend on countless other organisms for our survival. If we cannot coexist with them, evolution will continue without us.”

[photo: The Church's last public demonstration was at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization conference in 2000. While other environmental activists were protesting against genetic engineering, the Church came to express support: if biotechnology destroys humanity, this will fit well with its plans. “Human extinction while it is still possible,” read the poster the euthanasians came with. / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

The Church's last public demonstration was at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization conference in 2000. While other environmental activists were protesting against genetic engineering, the Church came to express support: if biotechnology destroys humanity, this will fit well with its plans. “Human extinction while it is still possible,” read the poster the euthanasians came with. According to Korda, protest organizers beat up Church activists.

[photo: Chris calls his favorite event “fetal barbecue” (church participants grilled toy babies): “We did it at the largest pro-life demonstration in New England, which was led by the Archbishop of the Boston Catholic Church. The archbishop put pressure on the administrator of the park [where the demonstration took place], who lost his composure and began to strangle one of our photographers.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

“After the attacks of September 11, 2001, anti-terrorism laws essentially criminalized protesting—even in liberal Boston. The risk of attack from angry passers-by has also increased sharply,” Korda explains why the Church stopped its performances in the 2000s. Chris calls his favorite event “fetal barbecue” (church participants grilled toy babies): “We did it at the largest pro-life demonstration in New England, which was led by the archbishop of the Boston Catholic Church. The Archbishop put pressure on the administrator of the park [where the demonstration took place], who lost his composure and began to strangle one of our photographers. As luck would have it, we had a second photographer take pictures of the attack and publish them in a Boston newspaper, prompting a lawsuit.”

“The Power of Confusion and Ambiguity”

Perhaps the main question that arises after meeting the Church of Euthanasia is: “Are they serious?”

“The Church of Euthanasia is first and foremost art, or rather neo-Dadaism. In general, I am in favor of saving human civilization, as far as this is still achievable. One of the main reasons why a civilization is valuable is the extremely varied and interesting art it produces. People who don't take art seriously are hardly worthy of salvation. The Church of Euthanasia is also an extraordinary cultural achievement: name another anti-humanist religion! And to dismiss it as a joke shows an appalling ignorance of the history of modern thought,” Korda explains in an interview.

She calls the effect that the Church's actions had on people “a force of confusion and ambiguity.”

“The first of the trends, Dadaism does not oppose life aesthetically, but tears apart all the concepts of ethics, culture and inner life, which are only clothing for weak muscles,” says the Dadaist manifesto. This avant-garde movement in art originated in Switzerland during the First World War and challenged the bourgeois morality of its time. Absurdism, irrationality, cynicism, disappointment and denial of any ethical and aesthetic foundations are the basis of the Dada movement. Having existed for only a few years, Dadaism nevertheless had a great influence on the further development of art - surrealism, expressionism and postmodernism. One of the brightest representatives of the movement, Marcel Duchamp, forever changed the idea of what could be art by exhibiting an inverted urinal as an artistic object. “The Church of Euthanasia often borrows tactics from Dadaism. The philosophy is that confusing people is the only way to overcome their reluctance to face the facts,” Korda explains, and confirms that the Church “definitely tested the limits of free speech.”

[photo: “The Church of Euthanasia often borrows tactics from Dadaism. The philosophy is that confusing people is the only way to overcome their reluctance to face the facts,” Korda explains, and confirms that the Church “definitely tested the limits of free speech.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

In the 2002 short film “Thank You for Not Breeding,” about the Church and VHEMT, Korda explains clearly whether the Church is serious: “I think the idea that people will withdraw themselves is absurd. That is, it is very entertaining, and an effective way to shock and radicalize a certain group of people who would not succumb to the more extravagant propaganda of the Church of Euthanasia. It's very cool, but I can't take it seriously. That would be hopelessly naive. At Les [Yu. Knight] is better at convincing people that he is serious, that he has ideas that can work. I think the Church gave up on this some time ago. I don’t think anyone takes our agenda seriously. The Church has a more extravagant approach. You go to the site, and what immediately catches your eye is suicide, abortion, cannibalism, sodomy. We don't try to play by the rules. It is difficult to accuse the Church of naivety if we have no goals. Unless we're actually trying to save the planet. Unless we have this illusion of our own greatness that many activist groups have. All we do is express something. In this sense, we have more connections with Dada than with anything else.

Before we had the first and only commandment, it was simply “Save the planet - kill yourself” as an expression of Dadaism. As a way to show people something that will completely confuse them. We are in the business of reducing things to the most absurd dimension - and this is quite easy, because everything is already absurd. We just point it out and say, “Look, this doesn't make any sense.” I think this is our new contribution to overpopulation awareness, if such a thing exists. We are simply expanding the spectrum to include absurdism and anti-humanism.

The goal of the Church is to break down the walls, at least for a short time, by showing people something so unimaginable and completely unacceptable that they cannot categorize it or even perceive it.

The best thing that can happen at a Church event is for someone to come up and say, “What the fuck are you doing?” What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What kind of poster is this? What does it mean to “eat a queer embryo for Jesus”? What are you talking about? You can’t do that!” And we, of course, will say: “But we just did that.” So I think in some weird absurdist sense we inspire people. They feel: “Well, I can’t change the world, but I can definitely figure out how to piss everyone off.”

[photo: “The best thing that can happen at a Church event is for someone to come up and say, “What the fuck are you doing?” What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What kind of poster is this? What does it mean to “eat a queer embryo for Jesus”? What are you talking about? You can’t do that!’ And we, of course, will say: ‘But we just did that.’” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

The Church is good at “pissing off” things. Their fame even reached the magazine of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church “Orthodox View”. Its author, the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods (SPBU) Valentin Lukiyanik, calls the Church an absurd phenomenon (perhaps Korda would not argue), and the Creature - demons, and writes: “Has man really come to the edge beyond which an abyss opens before him? devilish non-existence to such an extent that he becomes an adherent of a truly inhuman idea - to kill himself to save... no, not the one who has a living soul, but the planet, the Earth, which was created for a human master, a God-like man, a master over creation.”

The resource “Russian People's Line” is not far behind: “In the early 90s, a “church of euthanasia” was created in the United States. Why is such a seemingly marginal sect mentioned here? Yes, because it is not at all marginal in terms of its resources. For example, it receives strong advertising in the Western media, and its ideas are already being put into practice... The “Church of Euthanasia” is gradually popularizing in society completely prohibitive mortal sins: suicide, after which there is no salvation for the soul; sodomy, for which God burned entire cities; abortion is infanticide; cannibalism is a violation of the ancient ban on eating human flesh, a terrible sin, after which the offender often even loses his mind. There is no doubt that this sect, like others like it, played and is playing an important role in the gradual recognition of such sins, murderous in all respects, as the norm. As always, such ideas have already begun to be accepted by “particularly advanced” Protestants. Of course, not everything, but the process has begun...”

“Unabomber for President!”

“Victory belongs to the spoiler,” was the slogan of Ted Kaczynski’s presidential campaign, which was organized in 1995 by Chris Korda and another Church member, Lydia Eccles. They were supported by anarchists, punks, environmental activists, pacifists and anarcho-primitivists.

“If you boycott the elections, you will be seen as apathetic or, worse, happy with the situation. If you vote for the mainstream lesser evil that does not truly represent your views, you will validate the existing political system and bury your vote. Either way, you'll be wasting your vote. To vote for the Unabomber is to vote and boycott at the same time. This is at least a voice against the electoral farce. It can only be regarded as an absolute protest, ridicule or rejection of “all of the above” on the political menu. You can cast your anarchic vote, which you are happy with, and send the message that the presidential election is a fraud,” Eccles campaigned.

Although Church members openly acknowledged that one reason to vote for Kaczynski was “entertainment value,” they insisted that the presidential campaign is no joke: “Obviously, if he is elected, he will not be able to perform his duties. But we seek to steal and win the election, turning it into a referendum on the alienation, poverty and triviality of our daily lives in a technological civilization, and to expose the suicidal denial of the socio-ecological catastrophe taking place right now.”

According to Korda, the Unabomber campaign offered “a vision of an alternative society, built very differently from the industrial society we have spent the last 400 years building. This society will not, like today's, be built around the idea of subordinating nature to the needs of technological expansion and domination, but will be rather... a more utopian society in which man can build relationships with other creatures living on the planet, and in which we will have a less corporate view to Earth.”

Bill Clinton won the 1996 election. The euthanasians had something to say: “Don’t blame us—we voted for the Unabomber!”

Post-post

In 2019, the Church changed its anger to mercy. In the fifth issue of Snuff It magazine, the editors announced a transition to a new ideology - “post-anti-humanism.” Misanthropy is a thing of the past; From now on, the Church calls to “pity people, not hate”, to become more rational and altruistic, and also declares that our civilization is still worth saving.

“The catastrophes that the Church predicted in the 1990s have already happened. There is no point in punishing humanity now: the damage has already been done and is irreversible in any reasonable time. Instead, we must prepare ourselves emotionally and psychologically for the trauma that is definitely coming. If we're lucky and geoengineering works, we'll spend the next century moving our cities further offshore,” Korda explains of the sudden change in tone.

When asked about the future of civilization, she answers succinctly: “It won’t exist if we continue to behave the way we are now.”

The commandment “Do not multiply” remains the same, but slogans about the extinction of humanity are a thing of the past. “We are, first and foremost, ‘saving the Earth’ for our own sake, so that the cultural odyssey into which we have invested so much time and energy can continue. Our goal is more than survival: it is to survive with dignity, holding to our hard-won principles and truths. If we save the Earth at all, we save it for future generations to realize our ambitions of building a wiser, more enlightened society,” Korda writes with unexpected compassion for humanity.

[photo: The commandment “Do not multiply” remains the same, but slogans about the extinction of humanity are a thing of the past. “We are, first and foremost, ‘saving the Earth’ for our own sake, so that the cultural odyssey into which we have invested so much time and energy can continue. Our goal is more than survival: it is to survive with dignity, holding to our hard-won principles and truths.” / Source: churchofeuthanasia.org]

Now she is increasingly preoccupied with themes of death and grief—“preparing not only for my own death, but also for the likely destruction of my work, along with everything I participated in and fought for. The preservation of civilization and its achievements is almost certainly a mirage, and it is a very personal tragedy for me because I have invested so much time and energy in civilization - and especially because, unlike many, I will not leave behind children and I have no religious faith. that would comfort me,” Korda shares in the latest episode of Snuff It. “I’m obsessed with the idea of immortality, driven by the fear that all this effort might have been in vain and that we were standing on the shoulders of giants for no reason.” I feel the word “extinction” on a very personal level. For me, its central meaning is erasure. I've talked before about the horror of erasing species from Earth's hard drive, but now my personal information will be erased along with everything that has ever inspired me. My heroes and ideological predecessors also found themselves on the chopping block, physically long dead and achieving quasi-immortality only thanks to the fragile storage systems of civilization. It horrifies me to realize that The Matrix was actually a best-case scenario in which the achievements of civilization were at least preserved, if only in the form of data, and that the likely outcome is much more prosaic: our entire history, reduced to just a thin layer of rock, forgotten, unloved and unknown.”

This issue of Snuff It also contains a very personal note from Korda about the death of her mother, which flows into discussions about the “ephemerality of existence.” “Life can be hell, but it can also be joyful. First of all, it's short. You'll understand it better as time passes, Chris shares. - Knowledge, friendship, love, trust - all this is worth being deserved. Common goals such as peace, justice, equality, solidarity, the future are all worth fighting for. And all this is just a small part of what can be achieved if you have a thirst for life.”

It can be said that from a “suicide cult,” as it was dubbed on the Jerry Springer show, the Church in recent years has turned into a cult of life.

Korda is confident that the Church's peak activity has not yet arrived: “The Church of Euthanasia is spreading like a virus, and now it has more members than ever because its relevance has only grown since its founding in 1992.”

“So wise up fast It's not too late Respect the future Don't procreate More mouths to feed Is the last thing we need How dare you breed It's nothing but greed No doubt your kids Will thank you well For turning Earth Into living hell Your precious spawn Will end up drowned When they hear your name They'll spit on the ground So face the facts And take a lifetime vow Of non-procreation Do it right now Because the clock's running out And the world's in pain And making more babies Is fucking insane” - a mechanical voice sings over a minimalist beat.

The timer on the Church website is ticking: 8,031,069,273. 8,031,069,291. 8,031,069,470. 8,031,069,512.

Katya Alexandrova
January 24, 2024

The preceding is a translation. The original language is here.