X-Message-Number: 26407
From: "Joe Waynick" <>
Subject: "Cryonics Has No Beef With Religion" - WRONG?
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 12:08:18 -0700

Oh boy, here we go. I propose another argument. It goes like this:

1.      Some cryonicists promise people immortality based on beliefs of
faith in science being able to resuscitate them and restore them to good
health in the future.

2.      These cryonicists may be wrong. It may turn out that
irreversible brain damage occurs much sooner than commonly believed and
once death occurs, there is no coming back.

3.      People who are told this (#1) may believe in it so much that
they take what small estate they have and instead of leaving it for
their family, use it to pay for cryonics.

4.      They also reject God and religion and turn away from any real
chance of achieving eternal life.

5.      People who want eternal life reject God because they believe in
#12, and therefore think that is all they need.

    Conclusion: People who want eternal life die because of what
cryonicists promised. Therefore, cryonicists must be stopped!!!

    Dave, this is not a perfect example of a conflict. It is a perfect
example of intolerance - by cryonicists with an irrational fear and
hatred of religion!

    For a group of people who scream at the first sign of religious
intolerance, we seem to be a highly intolerant group ourselves. This is
the worst kind of hypocrisy I can think of. If someone wants to choose
religion, why is it our responsibility to file lawsuits to stop them
because we think cryonics is a better way? Can you imagine what would
happen to us if every church in the country decided to file a lawsuit
against Alcor because they believed (falsely) we are encouraging people
to reject God? Are you really so naive as to think we could win such a
fight? Do you want to be remembered as the guy who destroyed cryonics?

    The fact is, you can not possibly know that cryonics is going to
work with any more surety than people of faith can know God exists.
Believe what you want, but it is foolish and inescapably hypocritical to
attempt to deny others their right to believe what they choose to
believe by misusing the court system.

    And your comparison of Christians with Nazis is reprehensible! How
many times are you willing to insult persons of faith within the
cryonics community in order to express your contempt for religion? Not
to mention the arrogant assumption that you alone (or was it cryonicists
in general) know the "truth" and everyone else (I assume you mean people
of faith) believe "lies." Dave, this is really over the top, even for
your strongly held opinions. You must see that no good can possibly come
of this approach.

    One thing on which we do agree is that we should no longer remain
silent. If cryonicists really want to do something to improve the world
then they should stop hiding behind the veil of "confidentiality." They
should get more involved with their organization and promote cryonics as
a worthwhile scientific endeavor in its own right, without subjecting
others with hateful attacks simply because they believe differently. You
will find this approach far more effective than attacking the beliefs of
others.

 

Joe Waynick, CEO/President, Alcor Life Extension Foundation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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