X-Message-Number: 15566
From: 
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 13:37:06 EST
Subject: Religion

On another list, someone again raised the notion that religion is the enemy 
of immortalism and cryonics. This is a mistake.

First of all, the Cryonics Institute has a substantial minority of religious 
people, Christians and Jews, and so do the other organizations. We don't know 
exactly how many, because we don't ask them, but one can make a rough guess 
from conversations and correspondence. That is fact, not theory.

Another fact is that clergymen, Christians and Jews, who have written about 
cryonics, or have been asked directly, have mostly tended to be neutral, 
sometimes even favorable. On one occasion a Roman Catholic priest, with the 
approval of his bishop, consecrated a cryostat. Another priest helped us 
persuade hospital personnel to cooperate with a case. A Lutheran theologian, 
asked by someone who was thinking about joining, said he saw no problem as 
long as the intent was not to defy God but just to extend and improve life. 

Further, it is a mistake to think that the main pull of religion is the 
promise of eternal life in the hereafter. Not all religions promise that. 
Some religions don't even have a deity. "Religion" is basically mostly a 
mixture of fellowship and dedication, with yearnings for exaltation or 
transcendence.  Communism was a religion to many people.

It is another mistake to worry about science vs. religion. Religion (in the 
main stream) has always adapted and come to terms with science, and will 
continue to do so. 

Perceiving religion as enemy of immortalism, or of cryonics, is neither 
necessary nor fruitful. Some people are always tempted to bash what they see 
as the logical failings of various religions; this temptation should be 
resisted, at least in the context of cryonics and immortalism. 

Robert Ettinger
Cryonics Institute
Immortalist Society
http://www.cryonics.org

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