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Post by Shyft Trakia-Vorga VahtiDahl on Oct 16, 2008 22:36:37 GMT -6
I've been doing some reading on Robert Heinlein, the hard science fiction writer who apparently coined the term 'multiple personality solipsism'. Apparently he has a religious group (called 'The Church of All Worlds) who follow a religion that he invented!
It's not any thing to do with MPS, but it is a faith that he invented for the sake of the plot in one of his books. People took it seriously and made it real. It's a small organization, but its been around for fifty years. Whether Robert Heinlein cared for the religion or not, it must have made him feel pretty cool to know that he had produced a religion that had been accepted by the country (it was 'the first Earth religion to obtain full United States recognition as a church', so states Wikipedia).
That got me to thinking. What does it take for an idea to be embraced as a religion? Made me think about Scientology, which also was taken from science fiction work. Hubbard laughed about how easy it was to bring about, but there must have been a lot of complication. There had to be more than just writing a book and asking for money. Right?
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Post by 11111 on Oct 18, 2008 0:46:50 GMT -6
I hope that all it takes is a book and some money. Because if that is the case, then we are set!
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Post by kaian on Nov 23, 2008 22:15:12 GMT -6
Yeah, I agree. I feel that many sci-fi or fantasy readers in particular would be more willing to believe something read in a book or seen in a movie; such a huge draw of the genre is escapism and making "anything possible." I'll bet that people looking to find alternatives to normal, everyday life would be more likely to base their lives around something they'd RATHER have be true, even if it is some kind of crazy cult. Most religions I read about in sci-fi and fantasy series seem to just be variations on existing religions or mythology archetypes, so it'd be really easy to switch your worship from one system or deity to another, right?
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Post by Shyft Trakia-Vorga VahtiDahl on Jan 14, 2009 20:52:00 GMT -6
Yeah. I want to know what they'll bite and what they won't, though, and who bites. I bet that there are plenty of seemingly normal people with no thing else that stands out about them are willing to join a cult some day, if it seems intriguing to them.
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futurefed
Human
All Praise Raptor Jesus
Posts: 29
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Post by futurefed on Feb 18, 2009 0:18:03 GMT -6
I grew up reading Sci-Fi and Heinlein was always my favorite. Joe Haldeman is good times too. I'm curious as to how you figure Heinlein to be a "hard science fiction writer." Have you read anything of his, or did you just take that from the wiki article that claims him as such. :)
Anyways, "The Church of all Worlds" has its name taken from the book "Stranger in a Strange Land" but is completely different from the religion mentioned in the book. It would seem that it is the bastard child of the CAW from the book and Neo Paganism. It was started by Richard Christie, not Heinlein.
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Now that I got that off my chest... It is surprisingly hard to find out what it takes to make a state recognized religion. We should all get on that though...
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Post by Shyft Trakia-Vorga VahtiDahl on Feb 18, 2009 10:00:55 GMT -6
I've figured Heinlein to be a writer of hard science fiction based on what I've read about him and his stories- on Wikipedia and else where. Some places actually stated it, other places merely implied. Why do you ask? I read fiction super slow and am fairly shitty with time management, so I haven't gotten around to reading much more than excerpts from his stories. I've looked at the Virginia Edition (a complete collection of his set in forty six volumes and bound in leather), which would make sure that I had my hands on all of the reading material... but I don't have fifteen hundred dollars to part with (I also have a bit of a collection obsession [we're learning so much about me in this post!]).
So the name of that religion was taken from the book but the actual terms of the faith were not. That seems like kind of a rip off. Do you think that the real life religion would have started without influence from Stranger in a Strange Land? And I know that Heinlein did not begin the religion, but I meant to believe that he was partially responsible for it, because he wrote the original ideas in to his book.
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Yeah. I can honestly say that I would feel completely guiltless profiting off of a million people wanting me to tell them what the path to enlightenment or heaven is. The way I see it: if we are able to design a method for making it so, we deserve to reap the rewards. That shit seems hard.
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Post by vaalea13 on Feb 21, 2009 19:40:56 GMT -6
In all honesty, I view all religions as cults. But that's just me speaking from my personal belief that most people would be just as happy and spiritually fulfilled drinking poisoned koolaid as they would eucharist wine. :-)
A lot of the religions labelled today as cults have very practical ideas and practices. Most practice relgious tolerance and place an emphasis on increased social, political, and environmental awareness. These things are all good things. And there are plenty of things other relgions offer. Sadly, I think all of the good things religions offer are often overshadowed by the bad things.
Either way, cults need to have an appeal to the people who weren't "successful" in other religions, and many of them offer that to their followers.
I don't think it would be difficult to start a cult. I really don't. If you give people something VERY appealing, they're going to respond to it. And if you put it in a context that appeals to people's logic, well, you can do just about anything.
I dunno. I need to think on it more, but thought I'd post this before I forgot.
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Post by Shyft Trakia-Vorga VahtiDahl on Feb 22, 2009 14:08:53 GMT -6
Well, cult and religion mean pretty much the same thing. Cult is used by people who follow religions that differ from what ever is in question, usually.
And yeah. The biggest wonder for me is how do you create some thing new that can compete with every thing else? And then, I suppose, how do you spread it? Marketing? Put up posters and hand out fliers or some shit?
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Post by vaalea13 on Feb 22, 2009 19:08:56 GMT -6
well. you get your ideas together, form your system, and then start with marketing. You create a crazy cool website and some crazy fliers, posters, and etc. Maybe ads in the phone book, newspaper, tv.....all kinds of stuff like that. Go out and speak on your cult's behalf, etc. It would take off.
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Post by kaian on Dec 12, 2009 15:05:12 GMT -6
You'd also need a very charismatic leader, or at least spokesperson. So Shyft is out... kidding.
You'd need someone with presence, someone who takes the spotlight, someone who directs strongly yet effortlessly.
Someone like... PJ.
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