Great blog you have going!

Just a quick correction about when you started judging for the Writers’ Contest. “Then I emailed my votes to Author Services…” Back then, in the mid- to late-1980′s you probably either called AJ with your judging results or mailed back the judging form that was sent to you with the stories. Email came much later. L, WOTF FAN

It’s entirely possible to be both a religion and arguably a criminal enterprise. Look at the official Catholic policy of protecting accused pedophiles and hiding accusations of child rape until 20 years after the victim reaches adulthood – a policy written by the current pope himself. The Catholic church certainly has a profit motive.
Crime syndicate.

And I’m not picking on the Catholic church to single them out, it’s just that they happen to be particularly powerful and great power gives you opportunity to abuse it. There are horror stories that can be told about the Amish, who have about as positive a public image as a religion can get.

Don’t look at one religion and claim it doesn’t qualify because of its crimes while overlooking the crimes of others and your own.

It’s a free country and people can believe as they wish. This isn’t to say that the children of scientologykids don’t have legitimate issues with the church.

The contest is not separate from the church, but the awards appear to be arrived at independently. There is no stigma attached to winning.

It reminds me of the sponsors of artists in centuries past. Someone has to bankroll these things, and how they got their money isn’t always snow white. If Rembrandt or Michelangelo refused patronage and starved rather than take tainted money, would the world have lost the art?

Thanks for the thoughtful article!

Monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys.

I have no fixed abode in terms of religious belief and find “religion” a fascinating subject. Thank you for sharing!

Scientology certainly is a subject that draws a crowd.