“Belief is the enemy [sic] Paranormal phenomena are so widespread, so diversified, and so sporadic yet so persistent that separating and studying any single element is not only a waste of time but will automatically lead to the development of belief. Once you have established a belief, the phenomenon adjusts its manifestations to support that belief and thereby escalate it.” – John Keel

“H. P. Lovecraft, described them as being ‘coter-minous with all space and coexistent with all time’, a succinctly reasonable supposition. If these terrible forces spring from what might be described as a slip of God’s pen, then there is no reason why they should not be as all-pervading as the maker’s whole creational environment. All the earthly evidence points in this direction, while the unearthly evidence still awaits its correlation; the cosmic battleground continues to remain as a glowing backcloth to this elemental struggle between burgeoning life and the death forces, which of course are far from ‘dead’ in themselves.” – Anthony Roberts & Geoff Gilbertson

“Any given man sees only a tiny portion of the total truth, and very often, in fact almost … perpetually, he deliberately deceives himself about that little precious fragment as well.” – Phillip K. Dick

Beliefs are funny things, they are often challenged, proven untrue and persist despite evidence to the contrary. There is no possible way to fully describe, articulate or run circumspect the ideals, hopes and beliefs of members within the Pirate Church without missing something crucial or leaving out an important detail. Perhaps, it is better to describe the members themselves.

Still, it’s not our way to disclose habits about the people who choose to associate – the membership roll of the Pirate Church is closed, only the mockingly called Reverend Captain knows the names.

I would be remiss to leave out some points to help be a compass in this discussion. As you may have figured out, some of the pages on this public facing site are private. Even then, we do not disclose more than is needed to be online. Like most of our ‘type’ we speak in riddles, symbols and parables. Speaking of parables, some members are deeply Christian, some are not and a few are both. Some believe in magic, others are deeply opposed to the practice. When these opposites are brought together, a bit of truth comes to the surface. This we know.

While a good number of our ‘crew’ served in the military or government, what they saw and experienced there helped to elucidate the need to grasp a deeper understanding of what those experiences meant. Our ‘beliefs’ stem from the foundational philosophies of the two brothers who inspired the Pirate Church. Each member of the Collins family has their own approach to God. However, there is a very obvious wall of evidence that something else is here other than God.

This we know. We came to our understanding of the Universe as it is through daring to step away from societal norms in order to seek this knowledge. We apply this information willingly. And due to the nature of society itself, it is both wise and prudent to be silent about it.

We do not think that the big reveal is God is some analog of Satan, Lucifer or Mithras – in all the myriad that those forms may appear to the seeker.

So yes, we believe in God, a Good God, most likely unified from divergent parts, maybe not, but the Creator none-the-less. Are there many Gods, this we do not know. We simply know that whatever the Creator God is, that particular God is good, wholesome and particularly disposed to the maintenance, providence and welfare of Man’s soul/spirit.

Without ‘spilling the beans’, there are more than one story of a member using the name of Jesus to deal with some exceedingly pestiferous circumstance. I’ve even heard Buddha used once or twice, and possibly Krishna. More than a few members call on Thor for these situations.

Bill Hicks, come here …

The Pirate Church does not dictate one’s core beliefs, but … and there is the but, once a particular curtain has been drawn back, most folks decide that it might be a safe idea to have some type of reverence for a Good God. So, if there is a belief in the Pirate Church, it’s that we all hold some ‘belief’ in a Good God.

Why?

Well, because …

Evil is real.

So good versus bad right? No, not really, but kinda … and kinda not …

This is not to say that there are no gradients, spectrum or gray areas – there are plenty of those. The Pirate Church itself doesn’t damn you for your vices. Vices help to get you through, just don’t let them become a crutch, an addiction or something you can’t set aside during ZomboApoc.

Part of the reason I decided to add this page was because a prospective member wanted to make sure that they weren’t joining a cult. While I think a spiritual ‘church’ partially based on Heinleinian Libertarianism and Radical Individuality could hardly be a cult, can you blame them for asking for this proof upfront? So no, we are probably far from a cult, however, you will learn a lot about cults from us. We specialize in knowing a lot about them.

So who are ‘we’ (as in the Royal We) for? (I know, bad English).

The Pirate Church is for the individual looking for support during their spiritual research, journeys and experiences. It’s for the person that doesn’t want to be called ‘crazy’, dismissed or laughed at when they want to share something they have seen. The Pirate Church is for good people out on the edge of reality that want to be able to pick up the phone late at night to call ‘someone’ that ‘gets it’.

That’s exactly who the Pirate Church is for , we are here for ‘those people’… we are also here for a good time.

A real good time; life’s a ride, enjoy it.

Cheers.