X-Message-Number: 11769
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 17:43:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: "B. F. Shelton" <>
Subject: Re: Pascal, Shelton, recruiting the religious

On Sun, 16 May 1999, Mr. Ettinger wrote:


> First, I doubt that any cynical financial interest of church elders dominates
> the thinking or policies of any religion or denomination.

These organizations are generally not run by "church elders," but by
boards who hire executives and administrators just like any other
business.  There are a few who make such positions appear to be synonymous
with religious titles, but guess what would happen to one of the senior
ones who decided it was time to make cryonics a part of the ageing
ritual...

> The upshot: I am more optimistic than Mr. Shelton about the potential for 
> help from people with strong religious beliefs. In any case it costs very 
> little, as the old song goes, to "accentuate the positive, eliminate the 
> negative."

The examples you mentioned are a clear minority of religiously-oriented
folks who have gotten their minds together on the possible compatibility
of religion and cryonics.  Whether they "go to church" or not, most
religious people seem to have a very dedicated view of life which involves
the inevitability of death, with only their particular religious beliefs
to save them, whatever that might mean.  Now that I think about it, this
could easily explain a lot of why the "masses" have not jumped on the
cryonics bandwagon - (1) most people have some kind of religious
background such as the above, which at the least subliminally
influences their thinking, and (2) these basic ideas in their heads
usually keep them from even thinking seriously about an alternative to
death other than the unphysical one provided by their religion.  The great
folks you mentioned have clearly gotten past that.  How most would, let us
know. This would be a positive, not a negative, thing, for cryonics
promotion.

B.F.

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