Give L.Ron some credit...he was a science fiction writer above all other things. The guy could have easily written Star Trek episodes or been one of the best science writers of the century...and instead...he gleefully started a whacked up religion as a joke...and it just never did stop. No fool today could mount this kind of episode and hope to carry it on. Look around...most of these guys all get into tax trouble today or their members end up committing suicide. L.Ron was years ahead of his time.
Given where L Ron is today, I think he would like to have a "do over."
On a bet actually not just as a joke.
."..he gleefully started a whacked up religion"
Well he isn't the only one. And I won't name names, or I will be flamed.
Yup! Favorite sci-fi book of all time is Battlefield Earth, and I have read hundreds (thousands?) of sci-fi novels. Still, the fact that he came up with such a scam is mind-boggling.