The Church of Metaversalism was founded in September 2007 by Member #0, a.k.a. The Rev. Dr. Thanos Q. "Elohim" Endrizzi.  His reason for creating the church was his belief that humanity sorely needs a new kind of belief system for the 21st century, a "meta-religion" that helps to satisfy people's desire for hope and meaning, while encouraging them to still maintain their common sense and rationality.  The church's precepts are designed to provide rational grounds for an inclusive world-view that can encompass many different religions to some extent, and to illustrate how some degree of belief in the existence of a God (or gods) and an afterlife can be reconciled with a rational philosophy based on modern physics and mathematics.  The core beliefs of Metaversalism do not stray beyond what can be rationally argued for, although over time, if the church is successful, certainly many splinter groups may form which may augment it with their own additional beliefs.  But the core beliefs of metaversalism form a sort of common ground, a level playing field on which many beliefs can find a foothold.  It is hoped that the foundations of Metaversalism can help to bring together and unify scientists, atheists, and members of all the world's religions, and help to foster a more peaceful and progressive future for all humanity.

Benefits of Church Membership

• Membership in the Church is free of charge at this time.  To join, please message Dr. Thanos on Facebook or Twitter, or email join@metaversalism.com.  (However, if you were recruited by an existing member, please let them take care of setting up your membership.)
• You can feel good that you are helping to promote an honest religion that provides common ground for people of all faiths (and no faith).
• You do not have to give up your existing religious beliefs (if any) to join Metaversalism; you only have to accept the rational understanding that those beliefs may well hold true only in a tiny fraction of universes like ours.  You can accept this fact at a cognitive level, while still choosing to act "on faith" as if your old religious beliefs really are true, in this universe - since you may believe that the universe is better off for your acting this way, and that you will be more likely to end up with your preferred God in the afterlife if you do.  But, accepting Metaversalism can also help you to better appreciate and respect the beliefs of people of other faiths.
• Each member of the Church of Metaversalism is assigned a unique Member Number, in the order of joining.  If Metaversalism becomes the next great world religion, small member numbers will be a badge of honor.  Get yours today!
• Each member of the Church receives a free lifetime email address @metaversalism.com, and can access webmail and other Church resources via the member Portal page.
• Donations to the church will be tax-deductible, as soon as we receive our tax-exempt status.
• Members can proudly display their Church affiliation with T-shirts that are already available at our web store.
• Membership does not presently require any service activities, but we do request that, to help promote the church, each member should please try to recruit at least one new member a week.   If each member meets this recruiting goal, virtually everyone on Earth will be a Church member in about seven months.  (Due to the power of exponential growth.)

Figure 1.  Hypothetical growth in Church membership, as of 9/10/2007, if each member recruits 1 new member each week.

Present Status of the Church 

As of this writing (7/30/2009), The Church has 15 members.  Dr. Thanos intends to create a non-profit organization in the near future to establish the Church as a legal entity, after which he will file for tax-exempt status.  After this, the Church can begin accepting tax-deductible donations from interested donors.  We are also planning to construct a virtual educational/outreach chapel in Second Life.  Volunteer builders would be greatly appreciated.

History of the Church

• September 8, 2007 - Metaversalism.com created.
• September 10, 2007 - Church page and other pages created. Members #1 and #2 joined.
• September 11, 2007 - Week 1 recruitment drive kicked off.  Goal: 3 new members by next Tuesday.  Members #3-6 joined.  Goal exceeded in the first day of the membership drive.  The Church is now "more than doubling in size every day."
  

Figure 2.  Actual membership growth since the Church's founding.  Note that the Church more than doubled in size after only the first day of its membership drive!

• April 6, 2008 - After experiencing a seven-month drought in new membership recruitment, the Church has gained three new members (#7-#9) over the weekend.  The Church now has ten members, including the Founder.   We now also have a team site, squidoo lens, and an online store selling a bumper sticker and a poster.

Figure 3.  After our early exponential-growth phase, our membership plateaued for seven months while our Lord Thanos was otherwise occupied, but now it is beginning to grow again.

• February 27, 2009 - After another hiatus, church activity has started up again.  There are now 15 members.