Has the Truth Movement become a religion?

Has the Truth Movement of 9/11 become a religion? At first glance the question appears to be a joke. But let us seriously examine and openly discuss the question.

A religion in the most basic of terms is a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor (passion) and faith . Often times on ATS, a forum that strives for decorum, some fairly far fetched theories are defended with great passion that often degenerates into seething attacks for those that disagree. Dedicated Truth movement sites are far, far worse in the personal attacks.

An organized religion has leaders and followers. Promotion brings more leaders and followers by conversion of non-believers usually by followers and new converts. Promotion in the Truth Movement is in the form of videos that prove the person’s belief in a particular. The strength of debate from the faithful usually depends on level of indoctrination and natural ability to argue. For the skeptic, the material is debunked sometimes rather convincingly but the promoter is not dissuaded from the belief of what they believe to be true. Their faith despite debate is unshaken unless their faith was weak from the beginning.

Religions have embodiments of good and evil. In the case of the Truth Movement the Bush Administration figures heavily as evil. As yet there is no clear god figure but many names are given high reverence and credence. The NIST report, a product of the Bush Administration, is commonly viewed as a book of lies much like the Satanic Bible of Anton LeVay.

In the Christian faith, the Armageddon heralds in the seven years of Tribulation at the end of which Jesus returns and issues the final defeat of Lucifer/Satan. While by no means a dogma of the Truth Movement , it is somewhat ironic that seven years after the event a new president will be elected that will replace G.W. Bush as president. Some in the Truth Movement feel that Bush will try to retain his power (over the world).

So if the Truth Movement (or Truthism) is indeed a religion, why is there different versions of the beliefs already. Unlike a well established religion that has had time to develop, consolidate and unify dogma, Truthism has many factions or denominations. This should become more uniform in tome provided the religion does not die out. Evidence of this can be found in the Gnostics, Greek Orthodox and Roman Orthodox in the establishment of Christianity as well as many other sects that died out and are mostly forgotten today.

It is a rarity to find patrons of different religions within a religion. The large majority of Truthists are admittedly atheist, agnostic or “just spiritual, not religious”. With a large member base free of conflicting dogma, indoctrination of articles of faith are more easily adopted to fill the void of a structured belief system. With these thoughts in mind is it hard to imagine a Jack Chick comic decrying youtube videos as a gateway to a New Age Satanism?

So I ask, has the Truth Movement of 9/11 become a religion?

You can call anything a religion if you like, the characteristics can be quite broad.

But I got a question for you:

Is the official story on 911 in danger of becoming the following;

1. urban legend
2. a myth
3. science fiction
4. propaganda
5. heresay
6. fantastical story

which?

Let's don't label. Present the arguments for both sides, I say, hell, let's don't even *HAVE* a "truth movement", for the truth should be self-evident and does not need a "movement".

Originally posted by denythestatusquo
You can call anything a religion if you like, the characteristics can be quite broad.

But I got a question for you:

Is the official story on 911 in danger of becoming the following;

1. urban legend
2. a myth
3. science fiction
4. propaganda
5. heresay
6. fantastical story

which?

The belief of an idea despite number of people believing does not make everything a religion. A position of the issue of illegal immigration for example would be hard pressed to be called a religion despite how strongly the position is held. Although your position in the matter could be influenced by religious ideas like turn the other cheek or love thy neighbor.

To answer your question I have seen the official story called fiction, fantasy, a competing theory of conspiracy and propaganda used to justify war to the American people. I have also heard the offical story called absolutely false and was fabricated to pacify sheeple, which would be a pretty good case for heresay.

So I guess it would depend on level of indoctrination as what a person's view of the official story is. But please note that in order to debate if it is or is not a religion I have to try to remain neutral as to which version of events are reality. To do that I have to give equal credence to holograms as boxcutters, despite my personal opinion of what happened. So I can not answer your question directly if I think the official story is in danger and maintain neutrality. To do so would cloud the debate with my personal bias.