Tonight I’m off to a meeting of AMORC (opens new window) - the Ancient Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis. It occurred to me the other day that there’s an old idea (opens new window) which might be appropriate here. I’m sure many of you have heard of the guideline that the more a country’s name stresses that it is democratic, the less likely it is to actually resemble a democracy. Take the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) or the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Laos) as examples. I wonder whether the same rule might hold for cult groups. For example, the Order of Oriental Templars (OTO) is not related to either the Orient or Templars (it was invented in the 20th century by German occultists), The Church of Scientology is not really a church (it’s just a tax dodge) and the Unification Church (Moonies) didn’t unify the Christian church. So I have a sneaking suspicion that the Ancient Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis is probably going to turn out to be neither Ancient nor Mystical.

Anyway, I’d like to ask everyone to do me a favour. If you don’t hear from me in three weeks, please email Craig, the chair of the NZ Skeptics, at chair@skeptics.nz and let him know that I’ve either been sucked in by the cult or been kidnapped by them, and that he needs to send a rescue mission to extricate me. Thanks!