Great comments everyone. Many people mentioned are a good deal more altruistic and perhaps better role models in some ways than the examples I given, which is good to see. I drew mine from a more introspective look at how/who influenced me personally, but all is good.
The way I look at this is, humans are all we have to draw any sentient influence from. Oubliette hit the nail on the head with respect to authoritarian groups not approving of such, since they don't want any person or concept threatening their influence. This is the real reason the WT labels such as "creature worship".
Wasa/Rebel8 - Jimmy Carter was a very underrated and under-appreciated president.
d4g