Fosterites

[celticdragonfly]

It's amazing, sometimes, to see how Heinlein utterly nails things that have come about long after he wrote them. In _Friday_, for example, he did a great job of describing what it's like to surf the internet, and how easily you get sidetracked onto tangents.

Well, today Karl gave me an article link - and I realized wow, Heinlein really nailed it with the Fosterites in _Stranger in a Strange Land_.

The article is here, go take a look, it's about the Radiant megachurch.

Log in info from Bugmenot -
Account #1
vxg3313
sairam786

I think the first is the username, the second the password.

Okay, the Fosterites had the slot machines, this place has Xboxes, a reasonable substitution. And Heinlein wrote about the bar - but since then really the social drink has changed a lot from alcohol towards coffee drinks, and sure enough, they have the drive through latte stand. (With Starbuck trained employees. "Always look for that happy holy seal of approval ... our sponsors support us; they deserve your support.") Mentions the distinction between the inner and outer churches, discouraging friends outside the church, the emphasis on being happy. The music description, the video screens, oh man, it's the Fosterites.

(Me, I'm with Jubal. "If people must go to church, why the devil couldn't they be dignified about it?")

Comments

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Dang. That's really bloody creepy.

Really, really creepy.

(Brrrrr)

[miari.livejournal.com]

Ah, but do they have "kiss" tattoos and strippers?

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Maybe they'll work their way up to that.

But overall I think Heinlein really hit the feel of it.

[miari.livejournal.com]

It is quite spooky, what you described. *shudder*

"I'm with Jubal"

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

(Me, I'm with Jubal. "If people must go to church, why the devil couldn't they be dignified about it?")

I suspect that's because Jesus wasn't. Open air preaching. Prostitutes. Even, faugh!tax collectors.

Re: "I'm with Jubal"

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

I think you can have all those things without being Fosterite undignified.

I remember my father, who was president of a small congregation when I was growing up (and a lay reader, and a Sunday school teacher, etc, and Mom was organist). He wouldn't have had problems with any of those. But with grace and dignity.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Just can't help wondering:

"2,000, the generally agreed-upon threshold for megachurch status"

Who agrees on this? Is there some secret comittee somewhere?

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Is there some secret comittee somewhere?

Okay, now I'm really scared.

[hopeful]maybe they're talking about zoning committees or something?[/hopeful]

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Apparently some guy named Scott Thumma picked the number as an arbitrary point for his PhD dissertation and everybody's been quoting it since. Best I can tell he needed a cut-off to let him run a statistical analysis, and nobody's come up with a better number since.