Any Raëlians here?

[Mr Karl]

well, I don't like having my picture taken either

[toxicat]

mini-Raël: http://jyte.com/profile/claimid.com/rael

[toxicat]

anti-Raël: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Anti-Rael/

[Raza]

And that's whats depressing to me. People get seduced by the power and start falling into traps and holes like "I know best", "We're right you're all wrong", "I'm the leader these people need me to tell them what to do", "GOD WILLS IT!" etc.

I think religion would exist at its best when completely removed from politics (no religious leaders/theocracy in government). The priest/priestess whatever would exist as an adviser, counselor and teacher for those that wanted to listen and learn. But he/she would be allowed no governing ability. I'd also limit the amount of money a "priest" would be allowed to take. Those 50 million dollar mega churches that receive tons of "charity money" which instead of goign to help people is then pumped into the "priests" mansion, fleet of private vehicles, his wife's 20 thousand dollar dress and the upkeep on..well.. a 50 million dollar sized church. Its sick.

It'd be beyond arrogant to think I understand or know what religion would be good for better then the 3000+ years of history but thats what I would do.

Those are all real problems, but still only the most obvious ones on account of their scale. Religion is 'spirituality' that is passed on from person to person through social mechanics, rather than invented by the individual for themselves. Since spirituality does not deal with objective, provable facts there is absolutely no benefit to spreading it in this fashion, whereas the downsides are considerable on any level, including small communities or even families and circles of friends.

At best, spirituality is a personal psychological aid, a construct of curiosity that deals with ideas so far removed from tangible reality that while they are never useful in achieving anything external to you, you may benefit emotionally or (less likely) intellectually from the act of thinking them through. Even this use has as much potential for bad as it does for good though, and both that negative potential and likelihood of people misapplying their spiritual beliefs in attempts to achieve practical ends are multiplied manifold when curiosity and intellectual exploration are replaced with dogma and external validation.

[toxicat]

Cosplay Raël: http://raelianews.org/news.php?item.349.1