Church of Humanity

[pmckean]

I was browsing another forum this morning - not a skeptics board, I should add, when I came across a discussion on the 'Church of Humanity'.

http://www.churchofhumanity.org

This is a UK organisation set up by a Gloucestershire marketeer, David Abingdon. Here are a few of his other URLs:

http://www.quantumorgrecruitment.com/
http://www.quantumization.com/
http://www.quantumwebs.com/
http://www.quantumorg.com/

The Church of Humanity is calling itself a new religion, its aim 'the relentless and rational pursuit of ultimate truth for the benefit of all humanity.' It's achieving these lofty goals through the sale of PDF ebooks peddling the... wait for it... Law of Attraction, also known as The Secret, Cosmic Ordering or wishing.

As usual, it's all dressed up with meaningless pseudoscience and references to the word 'Quantum' a lot.

It's a slick site, and was being taken seriously in the forum I visited today. Some posters seemed to be falling for it, and seemed fairly certain of its sincerity.

What really incensed me was the use of quotes from prominent scientists and thinkers, including Carl Sagan, to help sell the concept. Somehow, I doubt they would have done that had Sagan still been alive.

I strongly suspect that David Abingdon has set the site up for the purposes of wealth generation. His, of course.

I'm reminded of the words of one L. Ron Hubbard in 1949:

"l'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is."

[sinclairmcevoy]

Lots of quotes, from Sagan to Gandhi to Planck. That's all I wished to read. Wealth generation, that's a nice way to put it. Shameless. By the way pmckean, did you check the Sherry Shriner site? Dradequate posted a link to it. Makes me wonder......

[pmckean]

I've had a look at the Sherry Shriner site, and it's truly mental. And she probably is too. At least if she's insane, she's sincere.

The Church of Humanity website is a very well-produced website. Really professional, high-budget stuff. Abingdon, the svengali behind this, has clearly got others on board to help administer the site.

I find that kind of greed and cynicism far more chilling than the harmless, paranoid delusions of a religious nutcase like Sherry.

All of the above, I must add (for legal reasons) is simply my opinion, and you should make up your own mind.

Here's the comments of a genuine poster on the board I visited today (which is for online Scrabble, and not connected with religion!):

"I clicked into their site and found something I have been looking for, for most of my life. It is a new movement very recently started and one I can totally identify with."

"...my inner fire went out a long time ago and I too have been looking for a way to re-kindle it. Not being at all religious, but believing in the power of Nature and all that encompasses, I have been looking for something to fill the void in my life for a long time. I believe I have found it in the Church of Humanities."

Good grief. It's a "movement", now... one that accepts donations, too, as well as selling ebooks via their on-line store.

I must check on the legal status of the organisation. Is it a limited company, a registered charity or just a brand of The Quantum Organization Ltd?