The controversy in Germany over whether Tom Cruise should be allowed to play Claus von Stauffenberg one the key conspirators in 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler in his new film is an interesting twist on how we make distinctions between different types of belief.
The business of classification (as any biologist knows) relies on making judgements about similarities and differences the philosophical and logical nuts and bolts of which are explored by Bertrand_Russel and A.N.Whitehead and the Theory of Logical Types
The German authorities originally claimed that Cruise should be barred from filming the role in Germany because he was an adherent to Scientology which they described as..."a cult that masquerades as a church to make money" (yahoo news)
Now, how many of you reading this (regardless of your views pro/against) find the distinction interesting, as there seems to be an implied acceptance that if I categorise 'my belief system, religion' as OK and it collects money then 'that's fine' whereas if I classify 'your belief system, religion' to be not even a 'cult' (which would be bad enough) but a money making corporation then that is totally unacceptable.
All I can say is, it's a good job Mr Cruise doesn't work for a bank...which despite worshipping the cult of cash, they even worse, masquerade as 'service organisations' to make money...
This leaves me puzzling over where the difference lies between a Religion and a Cult, and Belief and Knowledge... perhaps it's all in our heads?
