Editing Stranger in a Strange Land (section)

==Influence==
The book significantly influenced modern culture in a variety of ways.

===Church of All Worlds===
A central element of the second half of the novel is the religious movement founded by Smith, the "Church of All Worlds", an initiatory [[Western esotericism|mystery religion]] blending elements of [[paganism]] and [[Christian revival|revivalism]], with psychic training and instruction in the Martian language. In 1968, [[Oberon Zell-Ravenheart]] (then Tim Zell) founded the [[Church of All Worlds]], a [[Neopagan]] religious organization modeled in many ways after the fictional organization in the novel.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cusack |first=Carole M. |date=2009 |title=Science Fiction as Scripture: Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and the Church of All Worlds |url=https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/LA/article/view/5002 |journal=Literature & Aesthetics |language=en |volume=19 |issue=2 |issn=2200-0437}}</ref> The spiritual path included several ideas from the book, including [[polyamory]], non-mainstream family structures, social libertarianism, water-sharing rituals, an acceptance of all religious paths by a single tradition, and the use of several terms such as "grok", "Thou art God", and "Never Thirst".

Heinlein objected to Zell's lumping him with other writers such as [[Ayn Rand]] and [[Robert Rimmer]]; Heinlein felt that those writers used their art for propaganda purposes, while he simply asked questions of the reader, expecting each reader to answer for him- or herself. He wrote to Zell in a letter: "... each reader gets something different out of the book because he himself supplies the answers. If I managed to shake him loose from some prejudice, preconception or unexamined assumption, that was all I intended to do."<ref>William H. Patterson Jr., 2014, ''Robert A. Heinlein In Dialogue with His Century'', Vol. 2,  pg. 597</ref>

Though Heinlein was neither a member nor a promoter of the Church, it was formed including frequent correspondence between Zell and Heinlein, and Heinlein was a paid subscriber to the Church's magazine ''[[Green Egg]]''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} This Church still exists as a [[501(c)(3)]] recognized religious organization incorporated in California, with membership worldwide, and it remains an active part of the neopagan community.<ref>{{cite web|title=What is the Church of All Worlds?|last=Iacchus|first=(CAW Priest)|website=Church of All Worlds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125052344/http://www.caw.org/index.php?module=Pages&func=display&pageid=3|archive-date=25 November 2011|url=http://www.caw.org/index.php?module=Pages&func=display&pageid=3|access-date=24 February 2009}}</ref>

===Grok===
The word "[[grok]]", coined in the novel, made its way into the English language. In Heinlein's invented Martian language, "grok" literally means "to drink" and figuratively means "to comprehend", "to love", and "to be one with". The word rapidly became common parlance among science fiction fans, hippies, and later computer programmers<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-grok.html|title=grok &#124; Logstash Reference [5.4] &#124; Elastic|website=www.elastic.co|language=en-us|access-date=2017-05-08|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501025548/https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-grok.html|archive-date=2017-05-01}}</ref> and hackers,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/grok.html |title=grok |work=The Jargon File |version=4.4.7 |date=December 29, 2003 |editor-first=Eric S. |editor-last=Raymond |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220015653/http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/grok.html |archive-date=December 20, 2017 }}</ref> and has since entered the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.<ref>{{cite news|work=Oxford English Dictionary|title=Grok|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/grok|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116231005/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/grok|archive-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>

===Fair Witness===
The profession of Fair Witness, invented for the novel, has been cited in such varied contexts as environmentalism,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Willard |first1=Daniel E. |title=Ecologists, Environmental Litigation, and Forensic Ecology |journal=Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=14–18 |jstor=20166224 |year=1980 |doi=10.2307/20166224 |s2cid=128702372 }}</ref> psychology,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Erard |first1=Robert E. |title=If It Walks Like a Duck: a Case of Confirmatory Bias |journal=Psychological Injury and Law |date=September 2016 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=275–277 |doi=10.1007/s12207-016-9262-6 |s2cid=148049120 }}</ref> technology,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martellaro |first1=John |title=Google Glass, SciFi, Robert Heinlein & the Fair Witness Effect |url=https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/google-glass-scifi-robert-heinlein-the-fair-witness-effecthas |website=The Mac Observer |access-date=2 May 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> digital signatures,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gripman |first1=David L. |title=Electronic Document Certification: A Primer on the Technology Behind Digital Signatures |journal=The John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law |date=Spring 1999 |volume=17 |issue=3 |url=https://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp=&context=jitpl&amp=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.bing.com%252Fsearch%253Fq%253Delectronic%252Bdocument%252Bcertification%25253A%252Ba%252Bprimer%252Bon%252Bthe%252Btechnology%252Bbehind%252Bdigital%252Bsignatures%2526form%253DEDGNTT%2526qs%253DPF%2526cvid%253D17c712898d134677b5473f1751d7831f%2526refig%253D8793be932ffc4d76ebdddd425603366d%2526cc%253DUS%2526setlang%253Den-US%2526elv%253DAY3%252521uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfNcbaunDJ7P0tNvbkRtw8BQF9xvnUOGSPov3eg2gnoFgtafsINIQNa4%252521Yh0%252AZpiHMBieCB2Ntnd7Z9m8u3ST3AQ#search=%22electronic%20document%20certification%3A%20primer%20technology%20behind%20digital%20signatures%22 |access-date=2019-05-02 |archive-date=2020-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200501123900/https://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&amp=&context=jitpl&amp=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.bing.com%252Fsearch%253Fq%253Delectronic%252Bdocument%252Bcertification%25253A%252Ba%252Bprimer%252Bon%252Bthe%252Btechnology%252Bbehind%252Bdigital%252Bsignatures%2526form%253DEDGNTT%2526qs%253DPF%2526cvid%253D17c712898d134677b5473f1751d7831f%2526refig%253D8793be932ffc4d76ebdddd425603366d%2526cc%253DUS%2526setlang%253Den-US%2526elv%253DAY3%252521uAY7tbNNZGZ2yiGNjfNcbaunDJ7P0tNvbkRtw8BQF9xvnUOGSPov3eg2gnoFgtafsINIQNa4%252521Yh0%252AZpiHMBieCB2Ntnd7Z9m8u3ST3AQ#search=%22electronic%20document%20certification%3A%20primer%20technology%20behind%20digital%20signatures%22 |url-status=live }}</ref> and science,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stoskopf |first1=M. K. |title=Observation and Cogitation: How Serendipity Provides the Building Blocks of Scientific Discovery |journal=ILAR Journal |date=2005 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=332–337 |doi=10.1093/ilar.46.4.332 |pmid=16179740 |doi-access=free }}</ref> as well as in books on leadership<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Erika |title=Leading So People Will Follow |date=2012 |publisher=Jossey-Bass |isbn=978-1118379875 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IHETyO3NOogC&q=%22fair+witness%22&pg=PA92 |access-date=2020-10-28 |archive-date=2022-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823005458/https://books.google.com/books?id=IHETyO3NOogC&q=%22fair+witness%22&pg=PA92 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Sufism]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bayman |first1=Henry |title=The Station of No Station: Open Secrets of the Sufis |date=2001 |publisher=North Atlantic Books |isbn=978-1556432408 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S6yx_XkW7wwC&q=%22fair+witness%22&pg=PA6 |access-date=2020-10-28 |archive-date=2022-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823005458/https://books.google.com/books?id=S6yx_XkW7wwC&q=%22fair+witness%22&pg=PA6 |url-status=live }}</ref> A Fair Witness is an individual trained to observe events and report exactly what is seen and heard, making no extrapolations or assumptions. While wearing the Fair Witness uniform of a white robe, they are presumed to be observing and opining in their professional capacity.<ref name="still">{{cite journal |last1=Still |first1=Julie M. |title=Librarian as Fair Witness: A Comparison of Heinlein's Futuristic Occupation and Today's Evolving Information Professional |journal=LIBRES Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal |date=March 2011 |volume=21 |issue=1 |url=https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.ntu.edu.sg/dist/8/644/files/2014/06/Vol21_I1_Still_EssOp_LIBRES21n1.pdf |access-date=2019-05-02 |archive-date=2018-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425175438/https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.ntu.edu.sg/dist/8/644/files/2014/06/Vol21_I1_Still_EssOp_LIBRES21n1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Works that refer to the Fair Witness emphasize the profession's impartiality, integrity, objectivity, and reliability.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=Ross |title=Transversality and the Role of the Library as Fair Witness |journal=The Library Quarterly |date=April 2005 |volume=75 |issue=2|pages=169–189 |doi=10.1086/431332 |s2cid=143659992 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Erika |title=Be Bad First: Get Good at Things Fast to Stay Ready for the Future |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1629561080}}</ref>

An example from the book illustrates the role of Fair Witness when Anne is asked what color a house is. She answers, "It's white on this side." The character Jubal then explains, "You see? It doesn't occur to Anne to infer that the other side is white, too. All the King's horses couldn't force her to commit herself... unless she went there and looked – and even then she wouldn't assume that it stayed white after she left."<ref name="still" />

===Waterbed===
''Stranger in a Strange Land'' contains an early description of the [[waterbed]]. An inventor who attempted to patent the waterbed was initially refused on the grounds that Heinlein's description in ''Stranger in a Strange Land'' constituted [[prior art]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Carson | first=B.M. | title=The Law of Libraries and Archives | publisher=Scarecrow Press | year=2006 | isbn=978-1-4616-7310-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CtU4BXPPAQC&pg=PA75 | access-date=January 3, 2025 | page=75}}</ref>