John, not making fun of you in any way, but I decided I had to share this anecdote, since it seems along the same plane:
My uncle is in the Church of Scientology. Now, I don't know if scientology itself is a decent concept with certain aspects being innovative or if they stole concepts from other religions, or whatever. I *will* say that the Church, meaning I guess the infrastructure, is one STEAMING load. I won't get into the argument of whether a lot of religions are like that (their churches being corrupt) or not, I'm saying that the Church of Scientology (the structure, not the concepts, now) is a big pile of poop. I'd rather not get into specifics, but lets say they've destroyed my uncle's life just as much as any cult could have (I will allow that it could be a *local* problem, though I highly doubt it, and even if so, it still on the weight of the church to explain).
That off my chest, here's the anecdote:
My uncle was arguing with another guy from his church (scientology) about God knows what, probably about some Hubbard book. The argument grows, and the people in the room (including me) were getting steadily uneasy.
Then my uncle says, "THAT'S IT! YOU WANNA SETTLE THIS, WE'LL SETTLE THIS! YOU GET YOUR MASTER TO TEACH YOU TO LEAVE YOUR BODY, I'LL LEAVE MINE, AND I'LL MEET YOU ANY TIME ANY PLACE, AND WE'LL SETTLE THIS!"
That was one of the scarrier yet funnier moments I've ever witnessed in my life.
I'm sorry if I've insulted any members of Scientology. I think your religion has interesting concepts, like I said, but the actual church is incredibly cultish.
-Ramon http://razor.ramon.com
