[oldfogey]

• The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
• It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.
• The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.
  The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently sinful.

..and, for anyone who thinks my views are anti-Christian, have a look at:
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008241.html

[WetShrub]

I grok Robert Heinlein.

http://www.wegrokit.com/stranger_in_a_strange_land.htm

[jaim]

Originally Posted by oldfogey

• The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.
• It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.
• The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.
  The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently sinful.

..and, for anyone who thinks my views are anti-Christian, have a look at:
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/008241.html

I thought those views were of Robert Heinlien not yours. But I agree with them. Humans seem to need to believe in something to fill the holes in their understanding of their world. But when organized religion gets a foothold it doesn't bode well for those who don't agree with the crowd.

[sheepofblue]

Originally Posted by jaim

I thought those views were of Robert Heinlien not yours. But I agree with them. Humans seem to need to believe in something to fill the holes in their understanding of their world. But when organized religion gets a foothold it doesn't bode well for those who don't agree with the crowd.

About like when it has no foothold (communism)

EDIT: sorry my mistake communism is much more efficient at killing people

[phobiaphobe]

Who says you can't be communist and religious?

[sheepofblue]

Originally Posted by phobiaphobe

Who says you can't be communist and religious?

"There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience."

From the The Communist Manifesto

[phobiaphobe]

Well you've got me there. But then, in practice it's really nothing like it is in theory. Weren't a whole hell of a lot of Soviets Catholics? And certainly a good portion of today's Chinese are probably religious too.

[sheepofblue]

Originally Posted by phobiaphobe

Well you've got me there. But then, in practice it's really nothing like it is in theory. Weren't a whole hell of a lot of Soviets Catholics? And certainly a good portion of today's Chinese are probably religious too.

belonging to the Russian Catholic Orthodox Church was a Churches were heavily regulated.

The chinese just rounded up a bunch of Christians for jail recently. The Roman Catholic Church is underground in China as the 'official' version must swear to the Communist overlords. Cuba is one of the few exceptions I know of. To some goggling and you will be amazed at the communists fear and hatred of religion.

[phobiaphobe]

Originally Posted by sheepofblue

.... The Roman Catholic Church is underground in China ...

Kind of like a cult?

[CBRVFR]

Heinlein was pissed that another overrated pulpist got away with creating his own religion. You get the feeling that Arthur Clarke, Heinlein, and L.Ron Hubbard were sitting around complaining about the 'per-word' rate they were getting to write 10 novels a year, and had a conversation about which of them could make up the most inane bullshit and get people to buy into it.

Guess who won?

[phobiaphobe]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

...
Guess who won?

Hubbard.

[BDA116]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Heinlein was pissed that another overrated pulpist got away with creating his own religion. You get the feeling that Arthur Clarke, Heinlein, and L.Ron Hubbard were sitting around complaining about the 'per-word' rate they were getting to write 10 novels a year, and had a conversation about which of them could make up the most inane bullshit and get people to buy into it.

Guess who won?

Tom Cruise is gonna put a hex on you.

[phobiaphobe]

Originally Posted by BDA116

Tom Cruise is gonna put a hex on you.

:ROTFL: Have you seen that video clip where the guy pretends to be a journalist looking for a red carpet interview and squirts him in the face with a watergun? Friggin hilarious.

Here we go:

link

[BDA116]

My favorite one is where he gets asked - at a War of The Worlds press conference with Spielberg at his side - about the significance of Spielberg's change to the story.

Slight spoiler for WotW for anyone that hasn't seen it yet (not worth seeing anyway): Spielberg's version had the aliens already actually here on the planet, just in a dormant state for many years.
Cruise was a bit upset when the guy asked him if he had any input or how it resonated with his Scientology beliefs.

[tigerblade]

Hmm...looks promising...

http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/

[abtech]

Originally Posted by CBRVFR

Heinlein was pissed that another overrated pulpist got away with creating his own religion. You get the feeling that Arthur Clarke, Heinlein, and L.Ron Hubbard were sitting around complaining about the 'per-word' rate they were getting to write 10 novels a year, and had a conversation about which of them could make up the most inane bullshit and get people to buy into it.

Guess who won?

Put down your pens ladies and gentleman, We have a winner!

[BDA116]

Found it.
Watch the video in this link, it's a hoot:
http://www.ifilm.com/player/?ifilmId=2674470&pg=default&skin=default&refsite=d efault&mediaSize=default&context=product&launchVal =1&data=null&realId=2674470&bw=300&mt=WMP

[Sunbert]

From www.scientology-lies.com
Do Scientologists believe in space aliens?
Scientology does teach that many of our problems are caused by the spirits of space aliens that are stuck to our bodies. However, that teaching is considered confidential and is only taught to Scientologists who have reached a certain level, known in Scientology as OT III - so a lot of Scientologists are actually unaware that this is an important Scientology teaching.

What, exactly, does Scientology say about space aliens?
In the materials for OT III (Operating Thetan level 3), L. Ron Hubbard writes that, 75 million years ago, the head of the Galactic Federation, made up of 76 planets, was a being named Xenu. Faced with an overpopulation problem, he brought beings to this planet, blew them up with hydrogen bombs, and packaged them. Their spirits now infest our bodies: he says "One's body is a mass of individual thetans stuck to oneself or to the body." Scientologists at this level try to rid themselves of these thetans (spirits) by helping each one to remember the painful experiences of being blown up like that.
There are other Scientology teachings that relate to space aliens. The book "Have You Lived Before This Life?", described in Scientology advertisements as "a cold-blooded account of your last years", contains dozens of case histories of memories experienced by Scientologists, some of which include adventures in outer space.
Even the glossary in Scientology's What Is Scientology? contains a definition for the phrase "space opera", which, according to Scientology, relates to periods on "the whole track" (that is, our whole history, going back through many lives and millions of years), and it contains "space travel, spaceships, spacemen" and so on.

[Sunbert]

Well, I'm obviously having a slow day. Here's a good story about our friend Xenu.

[phobiaphobe]

Originally Posted by Sunbert

From www.scientology-lies.com
Do Scientologists believe in space aliens?
Scientology does teach that many of our problems are caused by the spirits of space aliens that are stuck to our bodies. However, that teaching is considered confidential and is only taught to Scientologists who have reached a certain level, known in Scientology as OT III - so a lot of Scientologists are actually unaware that this is an important Scientology teaching.

What, exactly, does Scientology say about space aliens?
In the materials for OT III (Operating Thetan level 3), L. Ron Hubbard writes that, 75 million years ago, the head of the Galactic Federation, made up of 76 planets, was a being named Xenu. Faced with an overpopulation problem, he brought beings to this planet, blew them up with hydrogen bombs, and packaged them. Their spirits now infest our bodies: he says "One's body is a mass of individual thetans stuck to oneself or to the body." Scientologists at this level try to rid themselves of these thetans (spirits) by helping each one to remember the painful experiences of being blown up like that.
There are other Scientology teachings that relate to space aliens. The book "Have You Lived Before This Life?", described in Scientology advertisements as "a cold-blooded account of your last years", contains dozens of case histories of memories experienced by Scientologists, some of which include adventures in outer space.
Even the glossary in Scientology's What Is Scientology? contains a definition for the phrase "space opera", which, according to Scientology, relates to periods on "the whole track" (that is, our whole history, going back through many lives and millions of years), and it contains "space travel, spaceships, spacemen" and so on.

Is that **** for real?