The Family Children of God by insidersChildren of God Family International
Home Chat Boards Articles COG History COG Publications People Resources Search site map
exFamily.org > chatboards > genX > archives > post #19936

Supporting Will to Life

Posted by Seriously Sold Out Systemite on April 11, 2005 at 09:48:01

I've sorted out some of my confusion about the difference between Jim LaMattery's project with the FBI investigation and the Will to Life foundation, which does not appear to be a project in which Jim is directly involved.

Jim has aligned himself as a Christian through postings on NDN, whereas Will to Life does not appear to be a religiously oriented organization. I am assuming this because Will to Life states on its website that it is based on the philosophy of Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher who is considered a secular humanist.

According to the Will to Life website, "In his classic Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche explained a concept that he called, will to power. Nietzsche believed that there is a fundamental drive within all living beings to break free of anything that is suppressing them in order to obtain complete control of their life. Thus, the will to power is the basic drive which motivates us to seek freedom from oppression, and ultimately leads us to express our individuality. Nietzsche explained that this drive to succeed, or will to power, is synonymous with the will to life."

Two conclusions:
1) Supporting Will to Life does not mean you are supporting Jim LaMattery's FBI Investigation or a Jim LaMattery "agenda" (I'm not assuming Jim has an agenda, but some people have raised this possibility, so I have made reference to it.)

2) Supporting Will to Life does not mean you are supporting a Christian-oriented organization. Some of the individuals working to develop Will to Life may be Christians, but the stated philosophy of of Will to Life is not inherently religious.

As a Christian who is also a humanist, I have no problem supporting other humanists. The nature of humanitarian outreach and the promotion of human dignity and individual rights is inherently a humanist endeavor. I could also argue that humanism is at the very heart of the Gospel, but I'm not posting on Journeys. Needless to say, embracing humanist philosophy does not automatically make you an atheist or agnostic.

I support the mission of Will to Life. However, it would help a great deal if Will to Life developers laid out their operating principles and shared values so that potential supporters could figure out HOW to contribute to the development and work of this foundation beyond sending a donation that is not currently tax deductible.

Among other things, it's still not clear to me how the mission and service population of Will to Life differs from that of Safe Passage Foundation. I'm not suggesting that the two organizations necessarily have to differ in their mission & service population, but there is a problem of resource dependence that both organizations share.