That makes sense, phodreaw. You and M-Dan I think nail it with why Al's so direct. If Blazinov is low lying fruit then the first stab at access should succeed. If he's less corruptible Al probably had Plans B, C, and D at the ready.

Mutual gratification
I love that full exchange.

Telegraph snooping
"I'm less enamored of Al's attempts to use E.B. and Merrick to get at the contents of Blazinov's telegrams. He'll use this to great effect throughout the rest of the series (in fact, he does so as soon as in these episodes), but there's something so direct and non-Machiavellian about it that I kind…

Prefixes and Suffixes that scream modernity
I don't like this i- and e- nonsense. I remember the days when if you wanted to sound modern you used: -tron, tele-, intelli-, and -tek.

Moralising? From someone that quotes G.K. Chesterton, should I take that as a compliment?

"When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing, they believe in anything" - G.K. Chesterton.

"they can't even answer the big questions that religion is supposed to answer."

"Do you really think Hubbard once believed in Xenu? "

Emperor, I wasn't the one that said Scientology had a more accurate timeline.

You have to wonder, if you take Christianity and remove Adam and Eve, the myths, and the Jesus stories (!!!) then what exactly do you have left? The Golden Rule? Buddhism? Straight up secular moral philosophy? Because secular moral philosophy scholars exist already (A.C. Grayling for example).

"make something that you might not even recognize as Christian."

I'll take Catherine Bell's tits over anything U2 has ever done. Well, everything except Achtung Baby.

"but it's not actually WRITTEN into their doctrines that they blackmail people."

@Jenny

"But not every religion goes around promoting guilt, blackmailing, and stealing money."

"Steely, your pals aren't very good debaters, are they?"

"A "religion" that tells their believers that the death of their child is their own fault, blackmails them into staying when they want to leave, and seeks to take their money and not account where it goes"

Clearly fake religions are the ones that were unfortunate enough to start during times where we had things like telegraphs, cameras, and easy access to historical data. We can tell they are false.

Putting snark aside, it's pretty crazy how, when I ask the same question to my religious friends (Why is Scientology ridiculous, but Islam/Judaism/Christianity aren't?) the answer boils down to: Modern religions are false because we have EVIDENCE they were made up. Ancient religions are in the clear because we have…

Sugartits and Lavoris have it right. It's all very simple.