Here's what Neil DeGrasse Tyson had to say about Scientology's status as a religion or a cult: "Religions, if you analyze them, who is to say that one religion is rational and another isn’t? It looks like the older those thoughts have been around, the likelier it is to be declared a religion. If you’ve been around 1,000 years you’re a religion, and if you’ve been around 100 years, you’re a cult. That’s how people want to divide the kingdom."
Tyson continues: "Religions have edited themselves over the years to fit the times, so I’m not going to sit here and say Scientology is an illegitimate religion and other religions are legitimate religions. They’re all based on belief systems. Look at Mormonism! There are ideas that are as space-exotic within Mormonism as there are within Scientology, and it’s more accepted because it’s a little older than Scientology is, so are we just more accepting of something that’s older?"That is the question, as an Atheist observing and dissecting multiple world religions, all belief systems seem crazy and even cultish so are we more accepting of a faith based on how old it is? It would seem so. Mormons and Scientology are branded as cults yet older religions with ideas and beliefs just as crazy and irrational to an Atheist are respected because they are thousands of years older.It's important to ponder what Tyson has to say because he is an unbiased observer of religions because he subscribes to none of them and he does not typically disregard the beliefs of billions of people. He seems to respect them all, which seems like a really crazy belief system these days.The thing is that in return for our beliefs being respected or in order to improve the chances of our beliefs being respected, we must respect the beliefs of others. That is not the same as worshiping other Gods or adhering to other faith systems. Respect goes a long way. And it comes back to us if we truly give it.Including all people is better than excluding others in an elitist fashion isn't it? Truth is always subversive and dangerous, it always demands that we suspended disbelief in order to accept it.Which means when others of differing faiths share their truth with us we may want to call them crazy but we have plenty of crazy in our faith so it is unfair to demean others who simply believe differently than we do just as it is wrong to judge others who sin differently than we do, we both still sin. And we both may be crazy and we both may even be wrong. We believe we are right but we don't know for certain because if we did we would have proof and not faith and then we would lose one of the greatest gifts of the gospel. We would do better to share the Kingdom than to divide the Kingdom. The Kingdom is for all of us.
