Originally Posted by hottoddy

I definitely Grok Stranger! It's a classic. I definitely need to re-read it, but remember it had some powerful messages about religion and the powers of cult.

Heinlein was a contemporary of L. Ron Hubbard. It is widely believed that Hubbard and Heinlein made a bet in a bar one night either that Hubbard could not create a religion, or to see which of the two could create a religion first. I think Heinlein could have easily turned Stranger into a Scientology-like religion if he wanted.