(March 20, 2012 at 2:18 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote:(March 20, 2012 at 1:44 am)Faith No More Wrote: I don't know how much truth there is to it, but my dad has always claimed that L. Ron Hubbard made a bet with someone that he could start a religion and get people to follow it.
Legend has it that the bet was with Robert Heinlein. I don't think there's evidence to support it - though there does seem to be plenty of anecdotal evidence regarding the claim that LRH was in it for the money.
Scientology is a religion that specifically and actively recruited celebrities with deep pockets and is a very insular community. There is no doubt in my mind that LRH knew it was bullshit and started the religion with the intention of becoming rich and famous. Well, mission accomplished.
Joseph Smith too, for that matter. He certainly comes across as "sane" enough to have possibly not bought his own bullshit. The only difference is that Joseph Smith was "martyred" for his cause wich at least opens the discussion a bit more than LRH. At any rate, he was a successful salesman.
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything." -Friedrich Nietzsche
"All thinking men are atheists." -Ernest Hemmingway
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire
"All thinking men are atheists." -Ernest Hemmingway
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." -Voltaire
