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STRANGER

In _Stranger in a Strange Land_
Heinlein writes about a new
religion loosely based on many
other religions, but centered      One of the more
around some sexual ceremonies.     notable tenents:
Orgies for the inner circle.
                                      "Thou art God."

The book was very popular           A fairly neat little philosophy:
in sixties.  Among the              Intelligence, consciousness, anything
various social experiments          that can understand the statement
of the time, a version of           "Thou art God." is defined as godlike.
this religion was actually
tried out by some people.
It doesn't seem to have
caught on, though I suppose         Heinlein publically refused to be
some people may practice it         associated with this religion,
to this day.                        evidentally consciously choosing
                                    not to follow in the footsteps of
                                    his friend L. Ron Hubbard.

In the novel, the religion has problems,
but _only_ external problems.  The
masses are outraged, the powers that be
are threatened, so there is an all out
attack on the faithful.  The main             (Perhaps Heinlein's reason
character is stoned to death.                  for not playing the new
("Look at me... I am a son of man.")           religion game?)

Among the insiders, there are no
attacks of jealousy.  No power          (Christ without a Judas?)
plays.  No disgruntled betrayals.


In the real world, the various
experiments with "alternate
lifestyles" of the sixties saw          It's been pointed out to me that here
relatively little of the extreme        I seem to have forgotten about the
degree of hostile opposition that       "war on drugs"; the harrassment of
Heinlein predicted.                     long-hairs; and the threat of jail
                                        for draft-dodging and political
Instead, they all seemed to fizzle      demonstrations.
out due to internal pressures...
because of the imperfections built            It's a point.
into the experimenters?
                                              Nevertheless, I stand by my own
Like it or not, you carry your                point: the opposition within is
culture with you, wired into your             stronger than the opposition
consciousness...                              without.


       Thou art Mrs. Grundy.        



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