X-Message-Number: 22989
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 00:59:39 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Religious Angle

Randy Wicker, #22976:

...
>In my opinion, those who believe in cryonics have embraced a belief
>system that clearly can be considered a religion, a religion based on a 
>disbelief
>and resistance to death.
>...
>The time has come to establish cryonics as a religious institution
>and to fight for the right to practice what we believe.


My feeling (seconded by the majority in cryonics I think) is that cryonics 
is a type of medical practice that need not and should not be regarded as a 
"religion," in and of itself. _However_, it is also my feeling that a 
religious institution could well incorporate cryonics as something it 
endorses and requires of its members. This has been done, with the Society 
for Venturism, but more work needs to be done to get our literature in 
shape to better press our claims and possibly win some concessions from the 
mainstream. (My last posting covered one avenue I am now trying to pursue 
in this direction, not the only one.) I am not a legal expert but it is 
clear that rights and legal protections can be won on religious grounds. On 
the other hand, you can't get anything you want this way, so some thought 
would need to be put into making a case that will be accepted as 
legitimately religious. One difficulty could be that most cryonicists in my 
experience are not believers in a supernatural power, but the courts appear 
to be lenient over such matters, and I am optimistic overall. One 
particular reason for optimism is that the Society for Venturism was 
recognized by the IRS years ago as a religious organization. What mainly 
seems to have turned the trick back then, interestingly enough, was not 
anything purporting to be a specifically religious tract but Ettinger's 
_Prospect of Immortality_.

(BTW Randy, I am looking into the issues you raised the other day about 
cell storage at Alcor, and hope to have something to report soon.)

Mike Perry

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