X-Message-Number: 4015
From:  (Brian Wowk)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Church of Cryonics
Date: 14 Mar 1995 23:21:58 GMT
Message-ID: <3k58em$>
References: <>

	The public relations wisdom of presenting cryonics as a "religion"
is questionable.  Remember that most people (including cryonicists)
already have their own religion, be it Christianity, Humanism, Extropianism,
Venturism, or whatever.  As a purely speculative medical procedure, cryonics
is compatible with (not in competition with) any religion that values
individual human life.

	Most cryonics organizations are already tax exempt (501(c)3) or
have tax exempt sister organizations through which tax-deductable
donations can be made.  ERS dues cannot be made tax-deductable in
any scheme, religous or otherwise, because they are a fee-for-service
not a general donation.

	Thanks anyway for your interesting observations.  I assure you
these religion analogies have not been lost on the cryonics community.
More than anything else, I find comparisons to religion a persistent
source of frustration.  You surely must realize that there is a very
basic incompatibility between trying to present an idea as scientific
on the one hand, and yet religious on the other.  You can't have it
both ways.  I have chosen mine.

Brian Wowk,
CryoCare director

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