The title of this report sums up the work I’ve done over the past few months, and if I told you without proof, you might laugh at my face. I put the Brazilian legislative system to the test and managed to officially register Hanzo’s National Church : a religion to worship the most hated character of the successful first person shotter Overwatch . That’s right, we own the first church for Overwatch recognized in the notary’s office. Hanzo is my shepherd and arrows will not fail me!
My initial goal was to see if it is difficult to register a religious institution to requisition the tax immunity that is given to “temples of any worship.” To guarantee religious freedom in Brazil, the Federal Constitution grants freedom of payment of taxes such as IPTU, IPVA and taxes on services and products, provided they are linked to the dissemination of the belief
Since 2010, 67,951 entities have been registered as religious organizations in the Federal Revenue, which already indicated that my mission to open a church on paper would not be so arduous. And, in the end, I realized that it is so simple to found an institution of this kind in Brazil that I ended up creating a whole religion: the Hanzo National Church, a chain to worship the murderous archer of Overwatch.
Despite fiscal benefits such as tax immunity, when we analyze the bureaucracy necessary to found a church, the process is simpler than opening up a private company , for example. The Aurelian dictionary defines “Church” as a “building dedicated to the cult of any Christian confession,” but to register a religious organization in Brazil all you need is a fixed address with proof of residency.
In addition to an address, to open a church you need five friends to be your colleagues in the institution, the signature of a lawyer and the money of a salty one to register your name. With the ingredients, just write a statute and an acronym, collect the necessary pen, make some copies and take the papers to the nearest notary’s office. Then it is possible to request tax immunity.
If I were a person committed to committing a crime, I could have done all this in a week. With a simple search on the internet, you find models of the minutes and the statute to start your religious institution. Just download and fill in the blank fields. Then you can get the partners to sign up for the minimum number of board positions, and get a lawyer to put your name and OAB number at the end of the statute, a necessary measure for the registration of any “non-profit institution.” Finally, just get five reais, but you will spend less than that, register your signature with your signature and go to the note office with the paperwork, which is under analysis for a few days.
With the documentation approved, it is necessary to make a registration at the city hall, go to the Federal Revenue Office and request the tax exemption provided for in the Constitution. Since 1946, Brazil’s Greater Law has granted immunity from property and income taxes to “temples of any cult,” which includes institutions such as churches, philosophical centers, and Masonic homes. As a result, the institutions are free of the payment of taxes essential to the operation of the service, such as IPTU (Urban Land and Territorial Tax), IPVA (Property Tax on Motor Vehicles), income tax and sale of products and services. The measure aims to protect religious freedom, but can easily be reached by people ill-intentioned for the execution of crimes such as money laundering.
Creating my religion
To make my own religion, I downloaded a estatuto_de_igreja.pdf on the internet and used my creativity to conceive the most peculiar belief possible, but following the mold of Brazilian law. Thanks to my contact with the area of technology journalism in the three years of college and the passion for electronic games, the theme of the institution was already decided: videogame. According to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods , the gods are as powerful as the number of followers who believe in them. With that in mind, I chose Overwatch to be at the heart of my belief.
Released in May 2016, Blizzard’s multiplayer shooter won the Game of the Year award at The Game Awards , the videogame Oscar, and counts more than 30 million players worldwide. Overwatch has charismatic characters and large groups of fans on the internet, perfect factors for creating a Messiah.
The game of Blizzard has in its portfolio the beloved Brazilian character Lúcio and religious figures as the osthetic monk Zenyatta or the angelic Mercy, but as our motto is “daring and joy,” I adopted as icon of faith the controversial mercenary Hanzo.
With long hair and a millimeterly grown beard, Hanzo Shimada is a killer ninja who was trained to succeed his father in the Shimada empire. Before taking the throne, when the patriarch died, Hanzo was instructed to train his brother Genji to be his right arm. The younger Shimada was rebellious and things did not go well. “When his brother refused, Hanzo was forced to kill him,” says the Overwatch website . After the small “family quarrels,” Hanzo set off on a solitary journey in search of his own forgiveness.
n addition to this sad story full of elements from Eastern culture, the killer ninja has some degree of inspiration in the ninja Hattori Hanzo, who lived until 1596 in Japan. The joining of an emotionally charged character, real inspirations and Jesus-like appearance Christ made him the ideal Savior for my experimental church.
However, like everything else in life, our Messiah has flaws: The ninja is one of the most hated characters in the Overwatch community, as many players insist on only playing with it, even though they do not master their abilities. The hate over the character even gave rise to the curse “Hanzo Main”.
Instead of seeing hatred on the downside, I decided to embrace Hanzo’s misunderstanding as one more determining factor in the mission of opening a church: If I can register a religious institution on behalf of one of the most hated characters in the online game right now, There are no limits to the legislation.
And with these concepts was born the National Church of Hanzo, conceived on April 17 and officially registered on June 14, 2017, based in the apartment of my friend in San Jose. The institution aims to “preach peace and Harmony on the internet and online communities, “and the statute that governs religion has several unusual guidelines.
THE STATUTE, APPROVED IN A NOTARY’S OFFICE, PROVIDES THAT HANZO’S NATIONAL CHURCH WILL SELL PIRATED PRODUCTS
Article 9, for example, states that church members may request a free Tuesday per month to be dedicated to “religious studies,” ie, playing Overwatch. Soon in the next item, the document encourages the consumption of caloric foods, a great complement when it comes to playing video games. “The consumption of food and treats during the meetings is recommended, in order to let the participants at ease to participate in the discussions.”
Entering the criminal field, our statute, approved in a notary’s office, provides that Hanzo’s National Church will sell pirated products. Article 3 (VI) stipulates that the institution will “be a source of distribution of products, media and materials with the word of Hanzo”, a copyrighted Blizzard character. In addition, thanks to tax immunity, pirated goods would not receive any government fees, as they serve as a symbol of religion’s expression.
THE BAPTISM TAKES PLACE THROUGH AN OVERWATCH MATCH – OR PALADINS, IN CASE THE MEMBER DOES NOT HAVE MONEY FOR THE BLIZZARD GAME
In addition to criminal daring, Hanzo’s National Church guidelines bring pearls to the gamer public. Baptism takes place through an Overwatch match. If the player does not have the money to buy the Blizzard shooter, the match can be played in the free-to-play Paladins, as indicated in item III of article 16. “If the entrant does not have a social condition to acquire Overwatch, In Paladins “.
As it is a religion, the Hanzo National Church also has rules that must be followed. The use of the term “Hanzo Main” and Rage Quits during group matches is considered gross misconduct and may lead the member to be banned from the organization. In addition, the belief does not condone hate speech on the Internet and “streams that spread secessionist thinking in the gaming community as adept at console warfare.”
Crime does not pay
Despite the ease of opening a church and the growing number of institutions in Brazil – 762 entities were registered only in the first two months of 2017 – no crime involving fraud involving religious institutions was registered in Santa Catarina, according to the Public Ministry. According to the Brazilian Institute of Planning and Taxation (IBPT), the state currently has 5236 institutions registered as religious or philosophical temples in activity.
In Brazil, where more than 190,000 religious organizations are active, according to the IBPT, we have already had several cases of deviant tithing , issuing fake fiscal notes and even political shepherds using their influence to win votes.
“I THINK BECAUSE THIS PUNISHMENT IS GREAT THERE ARE NOT MANY CASES OF MISREPRESENTATION”
Since churches receive tax immunity and any deviation from financial conduct is included as a tax evasion, the supervision of the functioning of this type of institution falls primarily to the tax branch of the Public Prosecution Service. According to prosecutor Giovanni Andrei Franzoni Gil, Coordinator of the Operational Support Center of the Tax Order (COT) of the MP-SC, one reason why anyone trying to open a church to commit crimes is the consequences of being caught.
In the case of the Hanzo National Church, I could take up to 15 years in prison for evasion, fraud and money laundering if I followed the idea. “I think because this punishment is great there are not many cases of misrepresentation,” says the prosecutor.
According to Franzoni Gil, the Public Ministry of Santa Catarina makes routine inspections to investigate the operation of temples with a high collection rate, and also acts with complaints from the taxpayer. “From an investigation, it can take the case to the criminal scope and deconstitute the institution”. A more in-depth look at the issue of tax immunity can be seen in the full report available here.
Out of disguise, I warn that my church’s affairs end in heresy and prove the facility of obtaining tax immunity and no crime was committed in the name of the Overwatch Archer . Blizzard, please do not sue me, but if you want you can bug Hanzo’s Dragon Strike. That should be considered a crime.
