New Age Movement Reconciliation

 New Age Movement Reconciliation


In years past I have been extremely critical of the New Age Movement, especially that of Scientology. However, in the spirit of Inter-Faith Dialog along with further personal research on matters of Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science, I am willing to retract some of my harshest criticisms and concede Scientology does meet all the criteria of an actual religion.


I am a Christian Baptist. My religious identity is firmly rooted in the Christian Baptist Establishment. I am a descendant of the Christian Baptist Separatists of the 1620 Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. My stepfather founded what is now Skyline Baptist Church. I was baptized by the Reverend Danny Clegg at the Front Royal Baptist Temple. I have read the entire King James Study Bible authorized by Liberty Baptist College and University. Christian Baptists played an important role in securing Religious Freedoms of the First Amendment.


I also have distant ancestry of the Seneca Native American Peoples and I hold a B.A. Philosophy from Virginia Tech. My faith and beliefs have always been extremely liberal by the very conservative traditional Evangelical and Fundamentalist standards. Like many others of my generation, it was extremely difficult to reconcile the differences of Baptist Faith traditions with the great advancements in science and technology of the 20th century. Consequently, I applied a more Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Science approach to such matters.


The highly contested issue and topic of Abortion and Pregnancy Termination is a good example. The Holy Bible does not deal directly with the subject of abortion. The issue of abortion was not debated in ancient and medieval times because any kind of artificial termination of a pregnancy was extremely dangerous to both the female and unborn child. In ancient and medieval times it was far safer to let the pregnancy go to full term. Advances in modern medical science, however, has made abortion a relatively safe and simple medical procedure, greatly complicating the moral and ethical debate of such a medical procedure. It is topics such as abortion where I was forced to apply a more Philosophy of Religion analysis.


There are many other such topics in modern science that present very serious challenges to the more traditional understanding and approach to Christian Fundamentalism. Transmigration of the soul using quantum computing and other technologies, genetic memory, artificial intelligence and the singularity debate, and the many aspects of consciousness awareness are all extremely difficult to reconcile with traditional Baptist faith traditions. By far, the most difficult to reconcile are the Origin stories and various Apocalyptic prophesies, namely, the Big Bang Theory, Theory of Evolution, the application of nuclear power and weapons, and Ecology Nature Conservation. Modern science and technology has presented an almost insurmountable barrier between science and religion, that was not seen in ancient and medieval times.


Therefore, in the spirit of Inter-Faith Dialog and congenial Philosophical Debate, I am willing to retract some of my previous comments pertaining to the New Age Movement, and, in particular, Scientology. Scientology, as founded by L. Ron Hubbard, meets all the criteria of an established religion. I hope and pray we can explore the new frontiers of science, technology, and religion together in peace and reconciliation.




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