X-Message-Number: 10550
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 11:30:43 -0700 (PDT)
From: "David W. Harker" <>
Subject: Religion is not the enemy

 writes:

<snip>

>I begin to believe that religion is the fundamental obstacle to mass
>popularity of the cryonics movement. We are in direct conflict with the
>principle function of religion, being the emotional comfort of providing
>purpose during life and continuity of self after life.

I suspect that many cryonicists might disagree by citing the often stated
position that cryonics is compatible with any religious belief system.
However, I for one do feel you are near target on this.  More precisely,
however, being infected by the death meme is the fundamental obstacle.  An
atheist would state that religion is merely the "placebo" most commonly used
to "treat" the unpleasant symptoms associated with this infection.  The true
enemy of cryonics is the death meme, which must somehow be banished from our
collective consciousness.

In the meantime, however, cryonicists (even atheistic ones) are probably
wise to encourage "religious tolerance".  Suspended cryonicists probably
have a better chance of being reanimated if the movement is viewed as a life
extension experiment rather than as the "pseudoreligious" refuge of the
atheistic population... eh?

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