...A Time to Pull the Plug

While the Pope plays Goliath, Chris Korda of Somerville, Massachusetts, is trying to squeeze into David's loincloth. The self-anointed Reverend Korda heads the Church of Euthanasia, a group with an arresting millennial mission: to reduce mankind's impact on the planet by persuading mankind to reduce itself. Where the Roman Catholic Church exhorts us to "be fruitful," Korda's Advice--as proclaimed in Snuff It, her church's new quarterly epistle--is "Save the Planet: Kill Yourself."

Korda, who declines to reveal her age or non-suicide-urging day job, seems to mean it. "The single greatest obstacle to population reduction," she says, "is the widespread acceptance of American 'cultural' values: production, consumption, and entertainment." She and a small but tireless band of misanthropic supporters (whose ranks include Beyond Beef author Jeremy Rifkin) are certainly serious about their commitment to population control. Last spring they crashed an antivivisection rally in Harvard Square, carrying signs that read: "Kill Your Fetus--Not Your Pet."

On the prosuicide front, Korda has no plans to off herself just yet, but urges others to do so. Snuff It promises that any new church member who takes the no-return plunge will "automatically become a saint, without additional paperwork."