PB

We don't have much proof of the inventions of the other religions.

Old L. Ron wrote a story about an unsuccessful science fiction author who starts a cult in order to dupe people out of large sums of money. A decade later, L. Ron, still unsuccessful, starts a cult...

They are all born out of imagination unsupported by evidence! The ONLY DIFFERENCE between the creation of Scientology & any other religion/mythology regardless of its age is you are alive to see the religion of Scientology's creation. Had you been around for the creation of any of the other world's religions/mythologies with your 21st Century knowledge of the world they too would look just as ridiculous, if not more.

I imagine as philosophy is also a wholly imaginary human construct, it too will look rather ridiculous from a perspective far in the future...

For millenia humans have made all of these guesses about how the mind works and how we think about things. Only now are we beginning to have some insight about our minds work. Reality as we know it only exists in this bag of neurons inside our skulls. There is no such thing as philosophy, only biology. And since biology is only chemistry then it turns out our thoughts, emotions, appreciation of beauty, all of that is chemical processes inside out heads.

This is either liberating or depressing. Cheers!

at a gathering after the end of WWII that he was going to do it.

But as time passes, the factual record means less and less. That applies to the origins of any religion.

. . . was the Scientology of the second century AD.

Consider that there are no secular records, outside demonstrated forgeries, (meaning that Christians were willing to lie to spread the faith) that collaborate even the existence of Jesus, or any of the other principal people in the Gospel, or any of the purported momentous events surrounding the crucifixion. Other than Herod and Pilate, who are hardly the main people. That only starts to describe the problem. And there were people there who would seen them and recorded them, whose records about it even Christian book-burners would have liked to keep. And these facts only scratch the surface of the factual troubles with Christianity.

Spot on. L. Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

because if they weren't fiction writers before they wrote a religion, they are now.

No small planes.

just to shut her up.

Confined on boats for 'programming' or 'reprogramming' or whatever they do, was just creepy. And as far as money, I think they've always been very wealthy.

Don't they have some private landing fields at some of their properties? An unbelieveable amount of money. Ever so often they buy ad space on youtube. Now the Mormons are doing that, too.

I've only known one member.

As corrupt and paranoid as Hubbard was, he was NOTHING like this guy. Forced abortions, forced imprisonments, beating employees, etc.

Read "Inside Scientology" if you get a chance. Terrific book, and it does a great job explaining all of this.

I simply don't get the appeal. I read part of 'Inside Scientology' and those people for and against, were intense. Lawsuits, intimidation, but the group kept going.

Those thousand-yearscontracts, etc. I just don't get it. I wonder if they are relaed to the Raelians or Urantia groups. I've met some of the Urantia people.

They still post on youtube but I just slide by them. Too heavy for me.

Or even gods. Quite a few actors, etc. are born into it. It's really crazy. It reminds me of the FLDS: a really lawless criminal syndicate. At least everyone knows the Mafia is bad.

Which keeps them in the "church".

Whenever one starts to feel down on Scientology, they suddenly have a "breakthrough". Or are otherwise reassured that they are better than everyone else.

That of any other organized religion...The followers are no different than the followers of any other organized religion as they are victims of the corrupt leadership & especially of their own willingness to believe in crap with no evidence just so they can feel more important than others who don't belong to their special group. It really is sad to those who take the time to think about it...Especially living in an age where most people, especially in the West, have the tools available to them to know better.

Scientology is freaking CRAZY!!!!

A virgin birth? Resurrection from the dead? Reincarnation? Transubstantiation? Magic Underwear?

Scientology is just newer. It's just as stupid and crazy as every other religion.

Do they run soup kitchens?
Do they shelter the homeless?
Do they collect for charities that help anyone other than their leaders?
Do they urge their members to fight injustice?


Correct me, please, if I'm wrong, but Scientology sounds like an utterly selfish "religion" that cares for nobody except their big-name stars and their wealthy leadership.

Ha! What a farce it all is!

Thank you, thank you.

(They'll HEAR you!)

Geez.

and start packing heat. Those crazy fanatics don't take criticism or 'disloyalty' sitting down. SG

I looked into Scientology back in the mid-seventies. I still have friends who are lifelong Scientologists. The religion is all about the precise definining and understanding Hubbard's exact words.

anywhere in my neighborhood, let alone have one as a friend.

I'm afraid I must refuse to qualify this crazy cult as a "religion".

Here in France, they have been prosecuted for defrauding the public and forced to curtail their recruiting activities. SG

as a religion."

I see where you're coming from and I wish the U.S. shared France's insight regarding Scientology.

Scientology status by country:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_status_by_country

Between Scientology and any other organized religion...Other than we are alive to see the creation of Scientology. Had you been alive during the early days of Christianity with the same 21st century knowledge you would probably think Scientology was harmless.

to equate Hubbard's sci-fi scribblings with, for example, the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism, the Pali Canon of Buddhism, or the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, is just silly. SG

Equating Scientology with Christianity reveals a deep ignorance - yours.

Yes

Of the Bronze age goatherds who fell for Christianity. Their ignorance was profound.

But today, there's no excuse.... for Scientology OR Christianity.

And also research Scientology more. Scientology is, literally, a Crime Syndicate, and was created to be nothing more than a cash cow.

This is a *huge* series of slams, on the level of Luther's schism with the Catholic church.

Only LRH had that authority.

Amazing that this has been going on. It's a cult. A modern day, ultra rich, legal cult. With movie stars, not just Cruise, but other we have seen in so many films, their names are household words. They've had a lot of influence and now I wonder how those films affected the mass consciousness. If they were brainwashing, I don't know.

Because Cruise and the others say, they 'are masters of the mind.' Which is fine if you can handle yourself, but not others. I don't care what religious beliefs someone has if they're pacifist and don't harm others. If someone wants to worship a tree or the sun, etc., be my guest. Not my belief system, but whatever.

Perhaps this no different than other religions as far a money and power and control. And mind control at that. But others gnerally let you leave, they may shun you or make life difficult, but to keep a person prisoner for months and more?

It's disturbing that these people aren't in jail. Are they being protected by the first amendment?

The auditing process is all about the revelation of one's deep, dark secrets - and the auditors take notes that are kept on file forever

I was brought up by agnostics who felt religion was childish, but I know people in it. We don't live in a theocracy. Not yet.

Most modern day abusers are arrested or sued out of existence. My question was why aren't these people being treated that way. It doesn't really matter, perhaps they are simply the 1%.

Enjoy the day. EOM.

I have only read one account, by one person that said she was not
allowed to leave the ship.

It is absolutely expected and practiced in many religious and cultural situations in the world today.

It's an everyday thing in the Sea Org, and they also imprison people for years in punishment compounds. They also intimidate and threaten people into staying and doing things, including forced abortions and physical and mental torture. They ARE a crime syndicate.

And, the situation in your post isn't even Lisa McPherson, who is the best known of their murders.

Is there a Scientology/English – English/Scientology dictionary we can get for translations?

From one wog to another; thanks!

No complaints about it all being utter bull shit????

The others seem minor compared to that.

Crazy huh.

Secondly the word clergy when red feeing to them ruffles my feathers

:rotf:

Who knows. Next they'll be saying he's a liar, unlike Elron.

The warped world believers in any religion see never ceases to amaze me, especially the fun house distortions they accept about their founders/leaders.

So, Scientology might schism and perhaps, fall into sectarian violence? Wouldn't that make it a real religion, then?

The intent, as I read it, was that LRH seemed totally mellow... in comparison. The author had enough years with Sea Org to know how shit went down....

It's a bit akin to somebody in North Korea saying "Hey, I've been a loyal comrade for 20 years, but this new guy seems controlling and psychotic!".

Too bad Jeb Bush in Florida sucks up to them so much or they would have faced millions in lawsuit losses.

Replace "Scientology Cult" with OWS, I don't think we want to go there.

That's why he started the cult. Significantly, Wall Street and its multi-billion dollar businesses are situated on land owned by Trinity Church and exempt from certain state/local taxes for that reason. Therefore, we do want to "go there".

Not only shouldn't they have tax-exempt status, they should be brought up on RICO charges.

OWS is tax exempt?????

if s/he had said ought to be taxed, I'd take no issue.

Of Christianity with the same 21st century knowledge/morals you would think Scientology was harmless...The utter brutality Christianity used to create its enormous footprint on the world makes Scientology look benign.

Scientology has gotten away with its crimes while its owners are laughing away counting their money.

This internecine holy war is right on schedule.

They can get grumpy what with being trapped in a volcano for so long.

Nothing this outfit does is going to make any sense to me, so I don't know what I was expecting.

Barking mad, the lot of 'em.

...and have for years. God knows how I got on those mailing lists (the mail comes from several different origins). It's all slick and professional magazines, promotional material, etc. But the sheer volume over the last four or five years has been phenomenal. The folks at the PO must think I'm a lunatic!

Just another faith based (money) religion, practicing what it preaches. The fact that these leaders are grifters doesn’t surprise me; it’s the gullible followers I wonder about.

It's like trying to charge people five bucks to tell them population of Zimbabwe. Why would they do it when they can google it for free?