Essay by Eric Worrall
“I thought, if you can get elected as president of the United States, then I can found my own religion”
How Trump inspired this queer-centred, climate change religion
By Isabella Michie and Amber Ma
Overwhelmed with grief from the Black Summer fires, renowned artist Deborah Kelly was searching for something to believe in.
Mainstream faiths did not align with her values, so she decided to create her own.
Inspiration came from an unlikely source: Donald Trump.
“I thought, if you can get elected as president of the United States, then I can found my own religion,” Deborah tells ABC TV’s Compass.
And so, in 2020, Deborah embarked on her biggest artistic — and spiritual — project yet.
She developed a religion, called Creation, grounded in queer inclusion, insurrection, science fiction and climate change activism.
…
Indeed, Creation started as a parody, a mocking of the establishment, but it quickly morphed into something deeper.
Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/compass-trump-inspired-queer-art-religion/105187592
…
What can I say? Every time I start thinking the climate movement couldn’t possibly get any weirder, someone comes along and proves there is no bottom to that basket.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Elect Michael Mann Pope?
I think you have to be over 75 for that job.
Pope Plus X 1903 – 1914 – 11 years
Pope Benedict XV 1914 – 1922 – 8 years
Pope Plus XI 1922 – 1939 – 17 years
Pope Plus XII 1939 – 1958 – 19 years
Pope Paul VI 1958 – 1978 – 20 years
Pope John Paul II 1978 – 2005 – 27 years (pope longevity was increasing but…)
Pope Benedict 2005 – 2013 – 8 years
Pope Francis 2013 – 2025 – 12 years
You need to be old enough that you can’t hold the position for more than 25 years or so.
Cardinals have to be under 75 to vote for Pope, not that a candidate has to be over that age.
Yes, I know- it was a joke. 🙂
Seems this is a US presidential candidate requirement, of late
I find it disturbing, being 75. At this age I’m just going with the flow. I’d hate to have super serious responsibilities. (actually, this is nothing new for me 🙂 )
Perhaps requirement can be waived for Hollywood actors.
He already thinks he is.
He likely believes he’s higher than the pope
I gave this 5 Stars just based on the comedy content… Just when you think the Loons on the Left couldn’t get any crazier, they take it to a higher level… maybe they can build a church in Wakanda
Forget Turtles, it’s Loons, all the way down.
They just love to add an “11” to dial things up
Climate activism as part of a religion… with science fiction and queerism.
How very far-loony-left of them/they.
Any sort of religion mixed with science fiction brings to mind Scientology….Great, that’s all we need is another goofy quasi religion!
My ex had been a Scientologist, and they claimed to have the ultimate truth on psychology.
Well, L. Ron Hubbard is the poster boy for “If you get down on your day job, start a religion.”
I was inclined to call it a Pastafarian heresy at first, but an illegitimate offspring Scientology seems closer and that would also fit with my dabbling in Stefnishism: I have been accused of burning incense at the alters of Fineline (God of engineers), Zeemov (God of automation and building contractors), M’Kaphre (Goddess of Dragons)…
I tried several L. Ron Hubbard books way back when. Couldn’t finish a one of them. Lousy writer. Back to Heinlein and Asimov and a few others. Keith Laumer – “Retief” for comedy.
Agreed. Hubbard’s switch from pulp writer to supreme guru seems to have been strictly business. And while quite a bit of his fiction seems to have been well regarded at the time, very few people appear to be reading it with any relish now. When I picked up a used copy of “Final Blackout” (generally considered his best SF) censored years ago, I wasn’t all that impressed either. It’s hiding deep in the archives and I don’t expect to reread it any time soon. Heinlein may have had him in mind when he had Jubal Harshaw remark (in Stranger…) that religion was an ideal field for a con artist. So many con artists have used religion for a mask however, that he couldn’t have been talking about just Hubbard.
On the other hand, Laumer did write a pile of good serious stuff, but his “Reteif” stories are in their own class: Seems like every other word is some sort of word play, and I’m likely undercounting. 😉 😉
“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”
his exact words.
Those Hollywood creative types born again hippies and alphabet soup folks will lap it up.
The global reach and power of Donald J Trump knows no bounds and speaking of e-motion mirthiness The Australian reports the usual great leap forward with lithium batteries headed- 520km in 5 minutes: Chinese giant CATL unveils Shenxing EV battery
which elicited a plethora of rational skepticism re fickles grid capacity and cost like the following commenter rnickey mouse–
Wow!
So 520km range in 5 minutes.
At a conservative 20kWh/100km, that battery will suck 104kWh in that 5 minutes.
To do that, it will draw 728kW from the grid.
Assuming a 600V DC charger, that’s 1,300 Amps of current.
That will require 2 x 2,400 mm² cables (+’ve & -‘ve) PER charging outlet.
Assuming a 5m charging cable, that would weigh 230kg and have a diameter of at least 200mm.
You couldn’t even pick that up let alone plug it into your car.
Call my broker, I want to buy copper mine stocks and 3 nuclear power stations.
I did similar calculations when I first heard of this Chinese “breakthrough” and completely confirm your math.
Einstein:
“Two things are infinite: The universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Of course he said it in German, so it is often slightly misstated. It is interesting that stupidity has the ability to grow similar to the entropy of the universe. He probably just didn’t get around to developing any equations for it. Obviously something to do with the number of random paths available to the human imagination and some “gullibility wave function”….
One that came from my German family loosely translated was “We get too soon old, too late smart.” Should have added– the first, certain, the second, not so sure. Sei luftig–geht es nicht! is the only part I always remember in the one about the joke of life.
My German grandfather would often say that…sometimes with a sigh, sometimes with a smack on the butt.
She’s certifiable. But then, they all are, to one degree or another.
An old saying comes to mind.
There is a limit to good taste, but no limit to bad taste.
Maybe it applies in some form.
Not a Real religion in the Religious sense.
More a Cult in a Cultish
sensemanner…(makes no sense)As I sometimes told students academics need to be allowed wide latitude until they try to run things. Am recycling lots of old papers, etc. and this erupted. Don’t remember where it came from, certainly last century and probably Anonymous?
PUBLISH OR PERISH IS THE RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM OF ACADEMIA:
It has its high PRIESTS
It has its holy SCRIPTURE
It even has its places of WORSHIP
And it certainly has its COMMANDMENTS
It’s not like Harvard was a theological institution first and foremost from the start. Oh wait.
I’m not surprised the other side has nothing meaningful to offer so why not this crackpot.
Maybe they should call it the “First Tranny Church of the Boiling Globe”.
Ouch! But clever.
Or “World Tranny Fundamentalism”? (WTF?, for short.)
Those who seek truth shall find it.
The rest just make shit up.
Cardinal Miliband?
He does believe he can control the weather by forcing the great unwashed into submission
— L. Ron Hubbard
Proving, once again, how wrong Hubbard could be. There are a lot of rich science fiction authors who didn’t have to start a religion.
Maybe if he had been a better SF writer…
We thought they had hit the bottom but then there was a knock from below and they had to investigate even deeper?
Anyone can form their own religion at anytime. Not a problem, been done many times in history before now.
The problem is getting other people to sign up to your beliefs. History also shows that this can be very messy when handled poorly.
Jim Jones!
This parodies the old expression, “There’s a limit to good taste, but no limit to bad taste.”
Does it come with free Kool aid?
I await the fervent Christians, Moslems, Jews, and others to come forward and proclaim global warming is “God’s Will” and humans cannot countermand divine actions.
I also think anyone claiming to be trans anything should find the Book of Job as required reading.
I am all for freedom of speech and expression, but not in favour of free publicity for intellectual cripples like these folk, with nothing of value to teach others.
.
In earlier years, if you liked freak shows, you bought circus tickets. Geoff S
Mad.
So what she wants is to take the laurels of Lobsta Girl¹?
⁽¹⁾ if you need to look it up, make sure your brain bleach is within arm’s reach first.