Badu Park Fraternity of Religion
 The emblem of the BPFR | |
| Abbreviation | BPFR |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Cult of Japitty |
| Predecessor | The Society for the Appreciation of Japittyism |
| Formation | 2020 |
| Founder | Dr. Sebastian Carter |
| Type | Religious Fraternity |
| Purpose | Religious Enlightenment |
| Headquarters | Badu Park Fraternity of Religion Safe House dubbed "the Lodge" |
| Location |
|
Region served | Inner West, Sydney, Australia |
Membership | 12 (suspected but unverified) |
Grandmaster | Dr. Sebastian Carter (2020) Nathaniel Parker (2020 - present) |
High Priest | Tobias Morgan |
Recruiter | Lucas Whitfield |
Parent organization | Sebastian Carter Religious Charity Fund |
| Subsidiaries | Badu Park Terrorists Sports Team |
| Affiliations | Dick Smith Holy Warfare Brigade |
Formerly called | The Society for the Appreciation of Japittyism |
The Badu Park Fraternity of Religion, formerly the Society for the Appreciation of Japittyism, and derogatorily known as the Cult of Japitty is a religious organisation that adheres to Japittyism, while distancing themselves from the traditional and canonized belief system of the religion held by the Orthodox Rite by adopting an extreme and unquestioning interpretation if Japittyism, often pertaining to cult like activities in the interest of the religion. The group is lead by Grandmaster Nathaniel Parker, who is a controversial figure suspected of criminal activity, and was founded by Dr. Sebastian Carter. The group has been denounced by the Orthodox Rite as illegitimate and has since gone underground due to the increasing pressure from groups such as the Orthodox Rite, operating from their safe house in St. Peters. The group is associated with the Dick Smith Holy Warfare Brigade, and shares its facilities with them.
History
The Badu Park Fraternity of Religion was founded on 3 December 2020 by Senior Postgraduate Sebastian Carter, 4 days after the establishment of the Badu Park University of Theology and Cooking, being the first and only fraternity to be founded at the university. Sebastian Carter had received a Master's degree in theology at Macquarie University in 2019, and after spending some time searching for a religion that accommodated his socialist ideals, he found Badu Park, and its de facto religion, Japittyism. He was immediately encapsulated, and enrolled at the Badu Park University of Theology and Cooking for his "doctorate" in theology, which was an illegitimate 3 day course about the basic beliefs of Japittyism.
During his doctorate, he established the Society for the Appreciation of Japittyism (SAJ), which was intended to be a non-profit student organisation aimed at spreading the good word of Japitty Cumquat. He proclaimed himself "Grandmaster" and inducted fellow student, Nathaniel Parker, who was an undergraduate doing a Bachelor's degree in cooking, which is an 8 month course about the history, preparation, application and religious interpretation of the traditional Badu Parkian dish, Wet Pasta (which is just uncooked pasta soaked in cold, often dirty used water). Nathaniel also exhibited more extreme interpretations of Japittyism, which concerned Dr. Carter, who was significantly more moderate in his beliefs. During this time, Carter established a parent organisation to gain funding for the society, dubbed the Sebastian Carter Religious Charity Fund, and its sole purpose was to gain funding to further advance the society. After graduating and getting his doctorate, Dr. Sebastian Carter passed on the position of Grandmaster to the only other member at the time, Nathaniel Parker, which proved detrimental to the state of the organisation, as Nathaniel would impart his radical interpretation of Japittyism on the group, fundamentally transforming it.
Reforms Under Nathaniel Parker's Leadership
Nathaniel Parker, now the Grandmaster of the Society for the Appreciation of Japittyism, introduced rapid reform, renaming the group the "Badu Park Fraternity of Religion" or BPFR, modelling the new organisation off of the United States Ivy League Universities' secret societies. His first reform was to introduce an invitation only policy, which transformed the group from an openly available student body resembling a "fan group" of sorts, to a private club, reserved for the most esteemed members of the university. Along with this invitation only policy, Parker developed an initiation ritual, which served to bond the members to the organisation, and to further push the fraternity towards being a secret society. The next reforms were to introduce a hierarchical system of membership, which again transforms it from a social group to a structured religious organisation. A document was obtained and published by the Xahastan Ministry of Information, depicting the hierarchy, among other highly guarded secrets of the organisation, some of which were redacted for purposes of security. The hierarchy is as follows:
- Initiate (lowest rank, at which all new members start as)
- Intermediate (second rank, most members are intermediates)
- Master (highest rank, reserved for the most dedicated members)
Introduction of Extreme Ideology
The final step in the reformation of the fraternity was to introduce the more extreme interpretation of Japittyism that Nathaniel adopted, developing the Fraternity into a cult of sorts. This was not taken well by many of the members, who left the organisation after it became more extreme. However, for the many radical members of the group, this only strengthened their allegiance to the fraternity, giving rise to the group's terrorist behaviour.
Reception
The new reforms led to a wave of negative reception in regards to the group. Perhaps the most damning of which came from the founder of the organisation, Dr. Sebastian Carter. Carter was appalled with Nathaniel's reforms, taking what was intended to be a harmless social group dedicated to Japittyism, and transforming it into a dangerous cult, damaging the reputation of the group forever. Carter has since denounced the group, being a devout member of the Orthodox Rite, he strengthened his ties with the church in defiance of the fraternity's extreme ideology. However, during this time, Carter noticed that the Orthodox Rite was also somewhat of a cult, being led by the highly narcissistic Reverend George Lachman, and eventually, he left the religion entirely, converting to Buddhism, cutting all ties with Badu Park.
Attempts at Expansion
The Fraternity was restricted to operations in the Badu Park University of Theology and Cooking, however Nathaniel wanted a larger presence in tertiary institutions across the Inner West. Nathaniel decided to get his recruiter, Lucas Whitfield, to enroll at the University of Sydney for a Bachelor of Arts degree, and was successful. Ultimately, Lucas managed to establish a stronger presence at Sydney University than Nathaniel was able to at Badu Park, and thus, Nathaniel made the investment to develop strong roots near Sydney University, and established the Clubhouse in Camperdown.
Nathaniel Parker's Departure from University
Nathaniel Parker graduated from the Badu Park University of Theology and Cooking on 18 August 2021, however he maintained his role as leader of the group. While most members reduce their involvement in the group after graduating university, Nathaniel's involvement as leader remained steady, and possibly even increased. Nathaniel remains leader of the group, managing its properties and practices. It is rumoured that he is attempting to buy an island to move the group to, however this claim is unverified and lacks foundational evidence. It is more likely that he will attempt to grow the organisation's influence in tertiary education.
Facilities
The Badu Park Fraternity of Religion owns and manages 3 buildings including their headquarters, the "Lodge", which is a safe house in St Peters, Sydney. The buildings owned by the fraternity are not open to the public, and require membership in the fraternity to gain entry, and the location of the buildings is also kept secret and only known by members. Because of this, the police struggle to search the properties and often fail to get a warrant due to insufficient suspicion of criminal activity, and thus, the fraternity is able to withhold extremely sensitive information from groups such as the Xahastan Ministry of Information. The properties were acquired using the funds gathered by the Sebastian Carter Religious Charity Fund.
The Lodge
The Lodge, also known as the Badu Park Fraternity of Religion Safe House, is the headquarters for the fraternity, and it's location is kept secret, and only given to members. While the exact location of the safe house is unknown, the Xahastan Ministry of Information has managed to narrow down it's location to the suburb of St Peters, and also have a record of likely addresses. While the group's activities inside the Lodge are unknown, the Orthodox Rite has been given multiple reports of meetings taking place within the safe house pertaining to the assassination of Reverend George Lachman, although this is not confirmed, and is likely to be propaganda developed by Lachman and his associates in order to get the group shut down. While not much is known about the interior of the Lodge, it is suspected to have a meeting room for logistical and ritualistic meetings to occur, as well as archives of Badu Parkian documents of both religious and political significance. The Dick Smith Holy Warfare Brigade also operates from this property, and likely possesses an armory inside. The building is utilised as the underground hub of the organisation, and protects its members and their activities from discovery. The Lodge is also a residence for Nathaniel, and other Fraternity Masters.
The Clubhouse
The "Clubhouse", also called the "Frat House" is the fraternity's on-campus building for matters pertaining to their university presence. While mostly used as a space for members to congregate while on campus, it has been utilised as a space for initiations, as the contents of the Clubhouse are non-sensitive, they are not under the threat of discovery by groups such as the Orthodox Rite, or the Xahastan Ministry of Information. The Clubhouse, while serving the purpose of being the "on-campus" meeting house, it is actually not on any university campus, but instead close by. Again, the exact address of the Clubhouse is unknown, however there is a rough estimate of it being somewhere in Camperdown, as it is near the University of Sydney, as the vast majority of members study there, instead of at the Badu Park University of Theology and Cooking. While the nature of the Clubhouse is unknown, it is suspected to be the largest of the fraternity's buildings, most likely being a 2 story terrace. The Clubhouse is rumoured to have a dining hall, as well as a bar, however this is unconfirmed.
The Church
While the group has undertones of being a social club, they still maintain a heavy emphasis on religious values, and have a building dedicated to religious worship. The Church is the converted former home of Nathaniel Parker, and possesses a main hall for congregations, as well as a meeting room for non-religious meetings. The Church is also used by the Dick Smith Holy Warfare Brigade. The Church is not an officially ordained church of the Orthodox Rite and is not recognised as a legitimate congregation, but instead, operates separately. The Church congregations are lead by High Priest Tobias Morgan.
Beliefs
While the Badu Park Fraternity of Religion adheres to Japittyism, they adopt an extreme interpretation of the religion. The traditional Japittyist belief is that aliens brought Japitty to earth as a prophet, and his words must be followed exactly, with no exceptions. The second major belief of Japittyism is that the area that comprises the Inner West is the 'holy land' and that Japitty is destine to create and rule a large 'caliphate' in this area and wipe out all other micronations in the area and convert them to Japittyism.
The core belief of the Badu Park Fraternity of Religion is that the "holy land" is not limited to the Inner West, but it includes Katoomba as well. The Badu Park Fraternity of Religion is often considered an extremist group. The ultimate goal of the Badu Park Fraternity of Religion is that Japitty must bury a grapefruit on the grounds of the Katoomba Police Station while playing the Badu Park National Anthem in order to trigger the "apocalypse" which is just a 20% off sale at Annandale IGA, specifically for canned vegetables. The BPFR will do everything necessary to ensure that this religious ideal is fulfilled.
Controversy
Their belief system is controversial, as leader of the Orthodox Rite, Reverend George Lachman, denies that these beliefs are legitimate and refuses to allow them to be canonized. This has lead to the fraternity vandalising church property including the Temple of Japitty, as well as engaging in violent riots and clashes with believers in the Orthodox Rite.
University Presence
The Badu Park Fraternity of Religion maintains a strong university presence, and manages many elements of university life, including co curricular activities such as sport, as it owns and manages the Badu Park university sports team, the Badu Park Terrorists.
Badu Park Terrorists Sports Team
The Badu Park Terrorists are the pan-university sports team in Badu Park, representing all Badu Park tertiary level educational institutions in organised sports. The main sport they play is university level quidditch, which is a sport played by university students based off of the fictional sport played by wizards in the children's book series, Harry Potter, and is currently one of the most popular co curricular activities. They also play soccer, rugby, and ice hockey. They are not allowed in any other university sports leagues as they are not considered a legitimate university sports team.
Competitive Performance
The Terrorists are top of the division in quidditch, but have come last in every other form of sport they play. Japitty Cumquat has labelled the team an absolute failure. The team is considered the worst of all university level sports teams. Because of how poorly they play, many members of the team have been assaulted by other university students.