Aptly named the Church of Body Modification, this real, recognized religion is attended by people around the country, and even the world. Taken directly from the Church's website, uscobm.com, their mission statement is "The Church’s mission is to educate, inspire, and to help lead our members along a path of spiritual body modification. As members of the Church of Body Modification, we aim to practice our body modification rituals with purpose, to unify our mind, body, and soul, and to connect with our higher power." If you have the time, browse the FAQ's and references on the website as well, there is a great deal of information there on body modification, piercing, tattoos, etc from a spiritual perspective, as well as answers to some really honest questions about the faith. One in particular, that I wondered myself, was if the Church believed in God? The answer was, "To answer simply, yes. However, the full answer goes much deeper. Though some members will use the term “God”, many members prefer other terms such as: “Universal Truth”, “the Almighty”, “Goddess”, “Divine Being”, and others." This tells me that this is probably a monotheist ideology with different personal interpretations of the "god" that manifest him/her self.
Now, on to my initial question, is it religious enough? I got this question from an article I found after looking into the Church of Body Modification. The article was about a girl who was suspended from high school for a nose piercing, which was against dress code, even though she claimed it was a religious exemption and should be within her First Amendment rights. As many of us are aware, the First Amendment protects those of us in school or the workplace from discrimination or negative consequences if we participate in any observance of our religious beliefs. For example, I am Catholic and as par too my religious practice, I don't work on Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday). That is my right, and there would be legal ramifications if my place of employment tried to tell me I would lose my job for observing my religious practice of complete prayer and fasting on this holy day. In the same sense, items of clothing like a hijab or turban are allowable, even if your school or workplace forbids hats or headgear of any kind. But back to our teen and her nose ring. In this situation in North Carolina, the school suspended Ariana Iacono for a lengthy amount of time, because of her nose piercing. Iacono and her mother were current and participating members of the Church of Body Modification, but because it was a small and relatively new religious entity, it was dismissed as not a "real" religion. This brought about questions regarding what level of belief and practice is involved in showing that your belief is "real" enough, and turned into a court battle between the School District and the Iaconos, the local ACLU chapter, and the President and Ministers of the Church of Body Modification.
According to this article on Fox (http://www.foxnews.com), the case was settled and Ariana was allowed back into school, nose ring and all, and the District was rewording its dress code verbiage to account for the changes in times, and changes in terminology.
I guess this story, among many others, shows that religion, no matter how big or small, no matter how weird or strange, is open to the the interpretation of the believer, not the outsider. Every religion was once "weird" or small to someone else, and many of these faiths come with practices we fail to always understand and embrace. That doesn't make them wrong, or invalid, or unworthy of recognition. It is up to the believer to stand up for themselves, their practices, and their beliefs.
Websites cited (link in text):
http://uscobm.com
http://www.foxnews.com
Image from:
http://www.foxnews.com
