quote: Alfred Nobel invented explosives that helped kill a lot of people, but we still give out Nobel Peace Prizes.
Yes. That's the kind of thing that the Republic of Inarticulate Babblerdom New World Order is about. (But, more on paper..the killing bit...and the awards bit...)
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Thinking that participating in this competition could cause you to succumb to a religion you aren’t interested in is absurd. In fact, thinking that you are even contributing to a religion that is harmful to its members is also absurd. It's scientology not Jonestown.
It seems to me that people who are so paranoid and leary towards organized religion, likely have internal struggles they have yet to come to terms with. Likely they are not quite at peace with their staunch conviction that doing absolutely nothing, could possibly be the real answer.
Lets face it. What are the chances that there is nothing in existence that is greater than your own personal opinion and wisdom?
RaymondT, I'm sure you understand that a writers board is going to be a source of much, high minded opinion. Writers of course believe they have a voice that ought to be heard and the profession has no room for shyness. Clearly you started to feel a little battered and if I contributed to that I do apologize.
It wasn't so much your post. I think you were trying to be funny in your own way. That's cool. That didn't batter me as much as some earlier posts in this thread, which is really why I responded.
High-minded opinions are great and I welcome them. I also understand questions about WOTF/Hubbard/Scientology and those not in the know find the connection odd or weird.
That is why in an earlier thread I gave information about it and if there are other actual, sincere questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
quote:Thank you for posting, RaymondT. If anyone wants to apologize, they are welcome to. Otherwise, maybe this topic has run its course?
I will apologize for everyone here. I don't think anyone would intentionally and openly degrade someones religious choice. Especially not on a personal level.
There are some very sound practices from what I remember reading through the book of S years ago. It seems to be greatly based on psychology.
I do however feel this subject always runs awry, and perhaps it has run its course.
I propose to the mercy of the official concensus that
" If one has any doubt to the relationship between the WOTF and the COS, and these doubts are in deep conflict with your beliefs, then it is your moral obligation to not submit to the contest."
I don't think the answer to that question will ever surface in this forum.
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I'm not sure what the word is for being against organised religion in all its forms, yet at the same time spiritual at a personal level. Neither agnosticism, aetheism nor secularism fully capture it. (And I suppose if it did have a name it would be organised, which would be contradictory.) Whatever it is, it's neither paranoid nor absurd.
I think--I hope--an independent belief system deserves as much (or as little) respect here as an organised one.
I don't accept the "official consensus", nor that there is a need for one. There's no doubt at all that WOTF and CoS are related--however distantly--through the publisher Galaxy, nor that WOTF thereby contributes to getting Scientology's message across to potential converts.
Whether that connection is strong enough to matter is a moral judgment for individuals to make. Neither their opinion nor their decision should be demeaned as absurd, paranoid or pompous. It's certainly not an indicator of internal struggles they have yet to come to terms with. I am perfectly comfortable with my beliefs and if I need help analysing them, I'll ask for it.
If my criticisms have caused offence, I apologise--and I'll do that for myself, if you please.
While I did not mean to offend, I did wish to question why WOTF allows itself to be associated with a single organised religion. To criticise the association is not to criticise Scientology. I believe strongly in separating organised religions--all of them--from the organisation of anything else, because they will naturally seek to gain converts from everything they touch. It would matter just as much if WOTF were associated with any other publisher exclusively devoted to a single religion, be it Roman Catholic, Church of England, Jewish, Muslim, or Pagan.
I'm disappointed that WOTF fails the open, inclusive ethos I've always associated with SF. It narrows the field by excluding those who morally object to its association with one religion. (The number of "those" is impossible to quantify, for there is apparently no forum where it can be openly discussed.)
Galaxy offers a publishing service. WOTF could resolve the issue by using an independent publisher instead. Dissolving the association with Galaxy would avoid the risk of offending competition winners and Scientologists with discussions like this.
If there's a parallel timeline where WOTF is entirely dissociated from organised religion, could someone tell me please?
He invented dynamite to blast rock in construction work. His intentions were peaceful. He did not intend to kill people and was dismayed when his invention was used as a weapon on a massive scale. That's why he started the Peace Prizes.
I don't think L Ron invented WOTF to somehow make up for Scientology, for he wasn't dismayed by its success. Thus, there's no parallel.
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Of course, Alfred Nobel posthumously founded the Nobel Prizes with his profits from dynamite...but these days they hand them out to the likes of Al "Global Warming" Gore, and one of the judges once said in public that they were giving Jimmy Carter the Peace Price just to spite George W. Bush. (I couldn't take them seriously after I heard that.)
Organizations evolve. Scientology may evolve into a respectable religion---I doubt it, but only time will tell. And for the time being I plan to stay away from them and all their works.
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