X-Message-Number: 7981
Subject: don't waste time on the religious
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 13:30:40 -0500
From: "Perry E. Metzger" <>

> From: Dave Pizer <>
> 
> I believe that there is a better chance for getting religious people 
> interested in cryonics by going through the church than by going direct to 
> the lay persons.  I just don't know how to do it  -  yet.

I sincerely doubt this, on the basis that most religions are highly
deathist.

Frankly, I find a lot of the shock in the media about the recent
suicides of the "Heaven's Gate" folks surprising.

I noted the following insanity in the New York Times.

1) Shock that they all wore identical "odd" clothes and had funny
   haircuts. An article on the following page had a picture of a bunch
   of monks (you know, guys with funny haircuts wearing medieval
   robes?) I won't even start on priests and others in the catholic
   hierarchy, Hassidic Jews, etc...
2) Shock that so many seemingly rational people "gave up their worldly
   goods" and ran off to seek spiritual enlightenment. (Hmmm... did I
   mention 'monks' a moment ago?)
3) Shock that people would believe that their bodies were just
   shells, and that they would be received by the aliens after their
   deaths. Not that all the "mainstream" religions you can name don't
   believe in immortal souls going off somewhere after death, right?
   This last weekend was easter, wasn't it, the celebration of Jesus's
   "resurrection", right?

Nothing about the "Heaven's Gate" folks was utterly unheard of. Not
even the ritual castrations -- St. Oregon was doing that millenia ago.

Lets face it -- the key problem is that most of society believes in
totally irrational belief systems.

Trying to convince religious people to go for cryonics is a complete
contradiction with the key desire of most of these people to seek
"heaven" after death. It may be sad and insane, but its socially
sanctioned. I wouldn't waste my time on it.

Perry

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