🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <327d0946.43774785@news.xroads.com>, lsg@xroads.com wrote:

> On 27 Oct 96 02:42:49 GMT "Sweet J" <jgalusha@ionet.net> wrote in
> az.general:
> 
>   > Scientology is an elitist business posing as a religion with
>   > our-favorite-martyr/author -Heinlein as some sort of psuedochrist. My
>   > question is, if I write good science fiction, can I get enough gullible
>   > rich people to worship me?
> 
> If one criterion for worshiping you is getting your facts wrong, then
> yes, probably.  Robert Heinlein had nothing whatsoever to do with
> Scientology, as I suspect you're going to hear from others.

Actually, according to one rumor I've heard, Scientology was started as
the result of a bet between several science fiction authors. The story
goes that Heinlein, Hubbard, and a couple of others were at a writer's
convention, and the topic came up of how to make the most money writing
science fiction. Heinlein made the claim that starting a new religion
would rake in the most bucks, and someone else made a bet with Hubbard
that he couldn't do it.

Heinlein probably thought that Scientology was one of the more amusing
religions on the planet (see his thoughts on religion, "Grumbles from the
Grave," and also various quotations from "Stranger in a Strange Land.")
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