All cons.

Don't forget to include all the religions.

All cons.

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Weird.

Jerry Seinfeld admitted in 2007 that he studied Scientology for a brief time. "I did some Scientology courses about 30 years ago," Seinfeld, 58, told Access Hollywood. "The only thing that bothers me about people knowing that is that it is not my complete wacko resume. It's just one aspect!"

"I didn't do very much. I don't know that much. I just did a little but I liked it," he said.

Why did he stop? "I don't know . . . I was kind of flitting from thing to thing. I was interested in exploring."

Miscavige belongs in prison.

.... is a serious CULT. No? Glad she's making her escape.

show biz, which isn't allowed unless there is "really big news."

You can hit the alert button if it bothers you and the hosts will discuss it.

To me it boggles the mind how people get caught up in all this stupid dogma. But, that's just me.

but in the 70s, I ran into someone who was involved in a group called EST. I applied for a job at a convenience store while going to college and they required me to take a lie detector test. The independent contractor administering the test had me sit in the back of her van where she had her equipment. The test was over in about 15 minutes. But the lady didn't stop asking me question after question, trying to make various rhetorical points. She wanted to recruit me to attend some kind of seminar as a member of EST. She wouldn't move or let me get up out of the back of the van. I didn't want to get angry and throw her aside and I sat through a couple of hours of this while she tried to make me a convert. She was more persistent than the Mormons who come to the door or the Hare Krishnas at airports. Finally I just brushed past her and removed her hand from my arm. I'm not the group joining kind.

She told me it helped her become more assertive in life. It was their infamous "no bathroom breaks for anyone" training seminar that she participated in back in the 70's. She never pursued EST as a vocation, though, and went on to other life experiences.

Talk about pushy, it's all he ever talked about, especially the bit about trying to persuade me to pony up $$$ for an "introductory seminar."
I gathered that the basic philosophy was a variation on Ayn Rand--"me me me", everything in life seen through a filter of "how can this advance MY goals" with a total disregard for anyone else. I ended up parting ways with this friend after he discarded his loving and supportive wife because she was "standing in his way" with some of her own ambitions that didn't 100% match his. Cult of selfishness. Sounds like Republicans!

Good on Leah for dropping out of this mind-wrecking, money-grubbing CULT. What's she been up to these days after The King of Queens besides CBS's make-work, The View ripoff daytime talk show?

Depending on the control factor it may be useful as far as providing an environment to be social. If they need it.

At thousands of dollars for some courses it immediately became obvious to me when somebody tried to convert me that it was a money making scam.

Unfortunately, the parts that are good are not original and the parts that are original are not good. Hubbard just took some parts of General Semantics and built on them.

If you see a Scientology practicing celebrity who seems happy it's probably because that's what they are getting, minus the theology.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_semantics

and they did the Queen of Babalon ritual together, 1947 I think. It is said in some circles that they left a portal open.

I personally don't have a problem with O.T.O, per se, but I do have a problem with the rituals. I've met some really cool people who practice.

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

Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) ('Order of the Temple of the East' or 'Order of Oriental Templars') is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century. English author and occultist Aleister Crowley has become the best-known member of the order.

She became a member in the early 90s, around the time my grandfather died. He owned multiple gas station, some restaurants, and other properties. The family consisted of four children(now 3 an uncle died), and my aunt was the only one that was adamant about selling everything. Massive amounts of turmoil embroiled my family, but eventually my grandmother who had been left with everything according to the will. Decided that the fighting had been enough, and she gave my aunt a fifth of everything.

After that my aunt moved to Australia, and we did not hear from her for 15yrs. Sometime in 2006 she showed up at my grandmother's house with a husband and a new cousin. It did not last long, and eventually she left. We haven't heard from her since. My grandmother claimed that she wanted large amounts of money. She claimed it was owed to her, because it was revealed to her that in the 80s when she needed surgery as teen. That the doctors and my grandparents did horrible things to her while she was unconscious. They helped her relive her ordeal, cope with the mess of it all.

Mostly I feel bad for my grandmother, who for intensive purposes lost a daughter.

Scientology is well behind the big three Western religions (aka the get of Abraham), but it can be VERY vicious to anyone that threatens to reveal secrets. Check out "operation clambake."

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Wish I could remember which son of a bitch it was.

This is an indisputable fact

There is no excuse for anyone with internet access to be involved in a toxic role playing game like Scientology.

That is a genuine question.

it still does a LOT of damage. Granted, I am in Tampa, and get sick and tired of hearing people bitch about the fact they have taken over Clearwater. My response is "if the Catholic or Baptists did that, you would be loving it." However,that does not take away from the fact that these folks get very nasty when someone might tell on them.

They make money off of you by compelling you to advance through the ranks. If you climb up pretty high you too can now harangue newcomers into buying more advanced courses.

Quitting involves visits and tons of phone calls by the disappointed people assigned to milk you. I helped babysit a friend's brother as he tried to gain some distance from them. It was no big deal, just being there so the guy on the phone could be told there would be a welcoming committee.

Enlightenment shouldn't need a hard sell.

Amway doesn't have the ethics or morals to be in business, it is a scam. For more information about the Amway Tool Scam, visit www.stoptheamwaytoolscam.wordpress.com and forward the link to every non-IBO you know, so they don’t get scammed.

None of those were created in the 20th century by a science-fiction writer. Does that make it worse? Hard to say, but am pretty sure it was created as a way to make money and am pretty sure that was not the basis for the others.

While you're at it, Google "Scientology Fair Game".

My answer to your question is, "Yes." Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have all had thousands of years to demonstrate the vileness of their followers. Scientology has been around less than a century and has its vileness built right in to its dogma.

It's hard to believe that anyone high in the Scientology hierarchy has any regard for their fellow humans, while in most other religions they do actually believe in a god that they want a loving relationship with, and they want others to have. The purpose of Scientology is to take money off the gullible who are drawn in.

and echo the poster below regarding the "fair game" policy.

I don't have a lot of use for any religion, but Scientology seems to have been constructed as a vehicle for evil rather than evolving into one.

The use of isolation tactics for members and the blatant way they suck the coffers of the them bone dry lead me to label them as a cult more so than mainstream religions, which have similar transgressions committed on a much smaller scale.

There do seem to be some disturbing components of Scientology that make it especially unpleasant, such as those related to money and the difficulty in getting out.

I will say, however, that Christianity and Judaism do their fair share of trying to get money from their adherents, and Islam does make it a major sin to leave the faith (punishable by death, theoretically).

It's a difference in degrees in my opinion.

<ascending soapbox>
To me, religion is like a tool used to help construct an understanding of a possible higher being. If I want to build a fence, I get my tools out and build a fence. I may pull the tools out from time to time and use them to fix a warped board or replace a damaged piece, but there is no reason to just sit there and hammer away at the fence daily or weekly unless the fence was built in a flawed manner. There are many tools/religions I can use to build my fence/understanding, and some people are very capable of building these without tools or outside help. Other people don't see the use for a fence and that's ok also. I think when the tool becomes more important than the goal, you have made an error in judgment.
<descending soapbox>

Thank you for a thought-provoking exchange.

Good analogy.

I may be wrong but I do not believe Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were created for the sole purpose of fucking it's followers out of as much money as possible and doing it by using the least amount of resources possible.

You can subscribe to most brands of mythology without being mentally and financially raped, Scientology is not one of them.

Scientology does not seem to be particular keen on recruiting broke people.

But I confess that I do not know much about it.

...no more or less valid than all of the other "religions"..it preys on human weakness and insecurity whilst making fantastical claims of an eternal afterlife and more...

It's ALL bullshit...

this is a brilliant expose done by the Tampa Bay Times a few years ago. It is a wonderful 3 part read. I highly recommend it.

Scientology: The Truth Rundown, Part 1 of 3 in a special report on the Church of Scientology

http://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology-the-truth-rundown-part-1-of-3-in-a-special-report-on-the/1012148

How many scientologists does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to change the bulb and one to tell Tom Cruise light bulbs cost $15,000.

Jehovah's Witnesses do the same thing, disfellowship members who disagree with them and then tell the rest of the congregation to not even speak with these people, to shun them. It keeps those who have doubts from talking with those who saw through the BS and left.

Any religious group that uses "shunning" tactics, and break up families are false religions to say the least. Sadly there are to many gullible people who get involved with scientologists, JW's and other groups that enforce their "unique" beliefs with an iron fist, and fear tactics.

you forgot the 100 or so Scientology staff members/slaves who have to cater to Tom Cruise's every want and need, in order to keep him interested it Scientology.

until he found out he could get tax exemption if he called it a religion.

Hopefully this gutter-dwelling supposed "religion" becomes a thing of the past sooner rather than later. They seem to be slowly falling apart.

The little troll Miscavige belongs behind bars, and the Rape- I mean Sea-Org's leaders should be there too.

It's long past due for the end if this wacky cult that exists for no other reason than to worship a scumbag fugitive hack who couldn't write his way out of a soggy paper bag.

I can see him saying, "Hey, watch this. I'll make up a f-ed up 'religion' and see how many tools I can get to give me money."

Hubbard said something to the effect that he was tired of working for peanuts as a hack science-fiction writer and that he wanted to go where the real money is: starting a religion.

science fiction readers that he made up Scientology as a gag, just to prove that he could make up a religion and get people to believe in it. That was almost 50 years ago. I remember going to downtown Clearwater back then and seeing the guards posted outside the Harrison Hotel (which Scientology had bought) and reading articles in the newspaper about the takeover.