Re: Is Esperanto a Religion?

[Aupmanyav]

The Ba'hai want one language to bring us together, for instance.

.. under the Bahai Umbrella and so do christians and muslims.

[St Giordano Bruno]

Ce n'est pas une religion

[LikelyToBreak]

I don't know if Esperanto is a religion or not.  I always liked the concept though.  Except, Esperanto was devised by one man, a hundred years ago.  A notable achievement to be sure, but I don't think one man or woman can devise a complete language for universal acceptance.  

For instance, they seem to use accent marks. Which are a pain to type, unless you have a keyboard for them.  And what a Pole may consider easy to pronounce, a Japanese person may find really hard.  If there was an international committee, which could come together and create a universal language, I think the results might be better.  It seems there are only about 2 million speakers of Esperanto now.  A drop in the bucket as it were.  A universal language developed at and used in the UN might be a good idea.  But, then the UN never has been particularly fond of good ideas.  

Still, I can see how it could be a religion.  They have a founder to worship.  A secret language to talk to each other in.  Plenty of study material.  And most important of all, they can lord it over the rest of the world who don't know their special language as ignorant savages, needing to be converted.

[aitm]

I always thought it was lousy coffee.