Derrick Stormblessed asked Lawrence Wright:

Last year, I read your book Going Clear and also The Looming Tower. I became fascinated with how cults lure people to believe. In hindsight, do you think there are other belief systems that you think could be worse? And what do you think about the TV adaptation of the looming tower? I wish you all the best and I'm looking forward to your new book. Oohh Last question, are you an atheist?

Lawrence Wright People tend to forget about Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that followed a blind yoga instructor. That sounds like a joke, but there were 50,000 adherents and many of them were scientists and engineers. They experimented with toxins and biological weapons. They actually killed people with sarin gas on Tokyo subways, which was supposed to be a prelude to depopulating the earth. It could have been far worse than al-Qaeda. As for the television adaptation, I was one of the producers. I wanted to make sure it honored the sacrifice of so many people on 9/11 and paid tribute to those who fought against the terrorists.

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