Are there any Scientologists in here?

What do you guys believe in? What is the "crux" of Scientology? I've tried to read up on it, but I either
don't have time, or don't really get it. Help me understand what Scientology is (In 3 paragraphs or less
if possible). Thanks so much.

However I fail to see how scientology is any sillier than any other religion.

looks like the tin-can phones we made as kids..... Pretty damn silly.

I've been to Shinto rituals. Some guy stands there and chants and shakes party favors at you.

I've been to Catholic services. That whole thing with the wafer and wine thing is... disturbing in a canibalistic sort of way. There are snake handlers, people speaking in tongues, faith healing, creationism, geocentrism, and that whole Amish thing. Even if you manage to find a flavor of Christianity that doesn't have any of the above-mentioned wierdness, you're still talking about people who believe in a creation story that involves a talking snake.

A talking snake.

Look at pretty much any religion and you find stuff like that. I really don't see the difference between "normal" religions and scientology. At least from my perspective, they're all just as silly.

Why is it different if the inventor is a science fiction writer?

of man. However, Scientology has never been faith-based, and started out as "Dianetics",
a psychobabble self-help cult. I used to have the original book.

Most religions started out as a cult just to make someone money. Some of them started out as merely a tool of control wielded by the state. You're making a distinction where none exists.

Most of these posts are rather humerous and not intended to debate the dysfunctionality of all religions.
At least I'm discussing without sniping about or at you.

Statements beginning “You are” “You don’t” “You should”, etc., are like poking a finger in someone’s face.

While discussing such issues, I don’t even usually think of snarking back at someone like, for example: “Look, Tom, I don’t give a mouse’s pink-butt how much money you have. Scientology is a cult, even worse, it is a pyramid scheme. Now stop, or I’ll put a spell on you.” But, I didn’t say that.


p.s. Please free Katie.

If you choose to read into that statement motivations and emotions such as dismissiveness, that is your problem, not mine.

As long as we're indulging in armchair psychoanalysis, I'd say you're upset that I don't agree with you and are just looking for random excuses to pick a fight.

It is a huge money-making scheme even scarier than Amway... seriously. Lots of good sources online... this fits Bonewit's "characterisics of a cult" to a T.

The only difference is other religions have been around a lot longer so they have gained some measure of legitimacy. It's all the same lack of rational thought to me whether it is the bible - old & new, koran, karma, scientology, mormons, etc.

HOWEVER, Scientologists have taken the lack of critical thinking to the highest level possible without offing themselves with the next comets passing...but we can hope :)

as was the whole creation story.
and the church didn't control our money, jobs, where we lived, etc. as the scientolgists do.
i'm an agnostic, but compared to scientologists, catholics are harmless. sheesh, get real.
broad brush much?

Sorry couldn't resist.

Fucking slam dunk. Xenu...ahaahahahha

along with the Mormon episode are two of the best. They pretty much cover everything about the two religions in suprisingly accurate detail.

Although, they were nicer to the Mormons when they had the kid at the end say "Maybe we do believe strange things, but we are good people and thats all that matters" or something to that effect, which I thought was a nice touch.

...my mormon bf LOOOOOOVED that episode (ok, so he's relapsed mormon, but still) because it was so true!! :rofl:

Hope it wins! lol

:rofl:

:spray:

I can't help it. You are so freaking funny.


:hi:

:hi:

I will try to be a little more discreet. You are a hoot, though. You always make me LOL.


:hi:

"...the best way would be to start his own religion."

-L. Ron Hubbard.

Really.

Anything else you want to know? It's probably at http://www.xenu.net

Lord knows theres been enough posts ABOUT him.

That's what it's all about anyway, right?

1. You are dysfunctional and fucked up

2. because of brainwashed alien ghosts called thetans who are haunting your brain (really!)

3. but scientology can help you fix it

4. for a whole fucking lot of money.

It's really not much stupider than any other religion except that they're much more shameless about #4 than even the Benny Hinn wing of Christianity.

Any new pics?

Essentially you (being a prospective joiner of Scientology or a lower level member) are "infected" with Thetans, which are alien ghosts from another galaxy. In order to free yourself of the Thetans, you need to give all your worldly possessions to the Church and go have these personality test/evaluation sessions where they reprogram you to be a Thetan-free person.

You also need to do all sorts of detoxification programs and take a bunch of weird voodoo-like potions (all of which contains wormwood - which has hallucinogenic properties and is known to increase susceptibility to suggestion) combine that with white noise generators everywhere in their compounds and businesses along with some other strange devices....

Lastly, you get a uniform and walk around in groups, convincing others that they should join.

nearly spit my wine. :)

:hi:

I know about the wormwood thing because I worked for a Scientologist run "Herbal Medicine" store which had all sorts of detox programs. Everything in the store had wormwood oil in it and I quit after I was told I was required to taste test all their products.

Fuck that.

If anyone is going to screw up my brain chem it's gonna be me!

Toxic to the brain over the longterm causing hallucinations and general insanity.

and where can i get some?

It's legal because US drug laws are completely nonsensical. While you can't purchase absinthe in the US, customs will allow you to bring back two bottles on the plane, just like it was any other liquor. I've ordered La Fee off the internet with no problem and flown back with it twice (I took some back from England and my parents brought some back from France for me).

Anyway, according to The Erowid's Wormwood Vault, Artemisia absinthium is a silvery-green perennial herb growing up to 1.5 meters tall which contains the volatile oil thujone. It is added to distilled ethanol to create absinthe. Its effects alone are not well understood. So I don't think it would have the same effect, unless it's distilled with alcohol. However, it's long-term neurotoxic effects would probably still apply.

Absinthe is also pretty misunderstood in terms of it's actual effects. It doesn't cause hallucinations, except under excessive long-term use. It's definitely a different buzz that regular alcohol though. You're drunk, but you also feel a sense of clarity and creativity. It seems to have somewhat of a simulant effect. It's interesting stuff. If you try it out though, don't get the Czech kind, it's bitter swill.

Hypocrites. :eyes:

As shown by Tom "You're Glib" Cruise.

It is very, very harmful.

A $cientologist, that is. :scared:

Seriously, you dumb fucks follow a "religion" invented by a mediocre (I'm being generous, mind you) sci-fi author.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Stop that. That is unfair and insulting. Most religions are fundamentally dumb, so lay off. It's how a person lives his life that is important. There are plenty of good and decent Scientologists and that is pretty insulting.

Sure, I have issues with just about every organized religion, but the Scientologists are the most ridiculous. L Ron (meat body) Hubbard even had the sick humor to include the word "science" in his silly invention.

Sure, other religions are plenty kooky. Of course, other religions don't REQUIRE that you donate a ton of cash (or volunteer to work, gratis, in their offices) in order to reach salvation.

It is nice to have some sort of proof, however, that for all their money and talent, an awful lot of celebrities are moron. Thankfully the Kabbalah fad has passed (Kabbalah being an honest-to-god faith that probably deserved a more serious class of adherent than Paris Hilton).

I'm a fan of sci-fi. I enjoy bashing Hubbard because his stories were shit.

You need to be what's called OTIII before you can learn this & IIRC, that means you've spent about $100,000 on auditing, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68WBSM0-_HE

when you are ready, of course.

you are much too insane to be prepared for the true knowledge.

continue to pay me and I will evaluate whether you are ready.

resistance is futile.

you will pay me, unless you are part of the 5% percentage of people that don't believe stuff I just make up.

if you do not pay me, you are oppressing my religion.

please sign this billion year contract.

ignore everyone that tells you things that I don't agree with! please disconnect from family and friends.

tell me all of your secrets. i'd never use this detailed file of your personal pain and "crimes" against you! of course not!

remember, no one is your friend - if they ask you to challenge me. OBEY!

also, the stuff I just make up is a trade secret. do not reveal the secrets of the universe, lest I release the hounds . . . and the lawyers . . . and Travolta.

That is all.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

In sum, Scientology is a pyramid scheme in which the lowly pay ever increasing amounts of money, indenture themselves to scientology, and have a damned time leaving.

If there's one thing we can ALL agree on...Democrat or Republican, gay or straight, man or woman, black or white, Christian or heathen...

It's that Scientology is one fucked up belief system. Give me a born-again fundy any day of the week. At least using their own religious text to refute them isn't going to cost me $50,000 for the privilege of looking at it...

L. Ron Hubbard. BAD BAD BAD BAD science fiction. Idiots with too much time and money and not enough common sense.

a character actor in Hollywood. Scientologists love the $$ celebrities bring them, and they were anxious to get this couple involved. They invited them for a weekend cruise aboard a yacht out of LA Harbor to "introduce" them to scientology. At the last minute the husband opted out, but the wife and her teenage daughter showed up. Apparently it was all very high pressure and creepy. By the end of the first evening, the woman was literally scared and asked the scientology people to please take her back to the dock. They refused, and she and her daughter ended up jumping overboard and swimming to safety. It must have been a frightening experience in order to make them take drastic measures!

I think the Operation Clambake website would be a good place to start to get at the specifics. It's a lot of science fiction masquerading as a "religion" in order to get tax-exempt status.

In the early stages you are desensitized to things that make you uncomfortable.

For example, if the word c*** or n***** makes you uncomfortable, you will repeat these words over and over again until you no longer have an emotional attachment to them. It's something you can do with any word... repeat it over and over again until it's just a sound with no meaning. They also do this with emotions. They'll ask you if you ever killed someone, and if the idea makes you uncomfortable, then you will repeat the thought over and over again until you are detached from it.

This is why Scientology gets so many people at the beginning, especially actors and actresses. These initial exercises turn people into robots seemingly in total control of their emotions, and that seems like a neat trick to most people, so they want to learn more neat tricks.

They hate psychologists and psychiatrists.

That plus everything people have said above. :shrug:

Coulter...Coulter...Coulter...Coulter...
Coulter...Coulter...Coulter...Coulter...

Dammit, I still feel dirty saying it. Scientology doesn't work.

L Ron was totally psychotic.

As still shown through specific Scientology tenets.

Is that all the shit on their website totally substantiates all the things people say about them. :P

www.scientology.org

I happened to visit the Church of Scientology in Austin, TX. I saw a placard outside for a "free IQ and personality test" and thought, why not?

I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'm probably not the dumbest, either. But the test showed that, of fifteen or twenty personality traits, the only one for which I did not (according to the test) require immediate, emergency assistance, was intelligence, with which I would (according to the test) require assistance in the near future.

Anyway, I was ushered into a room with a counsellor who introduced me to the many and fair glories of Scientology, though--significantly--he never actually used that word. I enjoy a good theological donnybrook now and again, so we chatted enjoyably for an hour and a half, after which I was allowed to leave because, I suspect, they determined that I was dirt-poor and therefore had nothing to contribute to the Church's philosophy.

During that ninety minutes, the counsellor (who was "Cleared," to use the terminology) opened and smoked an entire pack of Marlboro reds.

I'm not a smoker, but I've had friends who smoke. Still, I'd never seen a feat of such dedicated pulmonary self-destruction.

If I hadn't thought that they were whackos when I entered the building, I certainly would have by the time I left...

You would have to butt-fuck and shotgun a pack to get twenty cigs down in ninety minutes. No...damn...way.

Granted I was drunk and kept losing my cigarettes I had just lit a second ago....

I found one behind my ear. :D

At any rate, I assure you that it occurred. Perhaps the meeting was slightly longer than 90 minutes, but definitely no longer than two hours.

He opened the cellophane while I was sitting there, and he crushed the box into the garbage can when he was done.

To my knowledge no shotgun was present, and I don't recall any butt-fucking.

But this was a "Cleared" Scientologist, after all.

I did drive by Hill Cummorah last week, the place where Joseph Smith found the angel Moroni and the golden tablets. Just since we're talkin' bout wierd religions. Ah hell, they're all wierd.

Everybody knows that aliens designed life on earth and that we'll live forever in cloned bodies!

http://www.rael.org/rael_content/intro.php?elan=English :crazy:

and say, "Poor little clams. Snap, snap, snap". They get enraged
and have to get rid of more body thetans. :evilgrin:
I also ask them, "Isn't that the guy that wrote 'Runaway Robot'?"

Derby and I used to have dinner with Sprague DeCamp and his wife
a couple of times a year. He and other great SF writers got together
regularly. Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, others,
and El Ron. Sprague said that L. Ron Hubbard was the most evil man
he ever met. Not one of them trusted him with their wives. El Ron
told Sprague that working for a dime a word was bullshit and
postulated that inventing a religion was the way to get rich.
So, he did. The other writers in the group regarded him with
nothing but disdain and loathing.

He's a very well known, very well-respected Druid. He was ADF's Archdruid for a long time. He knows his stuff about comparative religion and abusive cults -- even mainstream ones -- having experienced many different religious experiences. He does NOT differentiate on any "one true faith" crap... he could care less if people worship a petrified hamburger bun... to him, it's all about how the hierarchy treats people.


http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html

*******QUOTE*******
http://www.xenu.net/clam_faq.html

Operation Clambake presents:

The Clam FAQ

Warning! Top Secret Clam facts are about to be exposed.
This may cause jaw pain and extreme cases of
uncontrolled laughter.

.... The clam's big problem was that there was a conflict between the hinge that wanted to open and the hinge that wanted to close. It was easy to restimulate the engram caused by the defeat of the weaker hinge, Hubbard pronounced, by asking a pre-clear to imagine a clam on a beach opening and closing its shell very rapidly and at the same time making an opening and closing motion with thumb and forefinger. This gesture, he said, would upset large numbers of people.

'By the way,' he warned, 'your discussion of these incidents with the uninitiated in Scientology can cause havoc. Should you describe the "clam" to some one , you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain. Once such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days.'

Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Does your jaw ache, dear reader?
Bwahahahhahahahaha! ....


********UNQUOTE*******

And I will be sixty years old this year.

What is wrong with a seemingly intelligent human being such as John Travolta? I've seen him on Inside Actor's Studio and he comes off as a very smart and intuitive man. Why on earth would he invest himself in such absolute baloney? And forget the argument that all religions are baloney. Most people who adhere to a belief do so for a variety of reasons but mainly because of teachings from a very early age and the formation of a faith and belief system. And the majority of the great religions of this world are steeped in history and art and music and literature and tradition. But this stuff sounds like it is just based on very bad science fiction.

Is the brainwashing so intense in the early stages, or do they just zero in on people who are horribly needy spiritually?

:shrug:

It's a religion. They are all like that. It's someone else's business, not mine. If you think Travolta is fairly intelligent, maybe it's your view of scientology or of religiosity that needs adjusting. Maybe Travolta sees more of Scientology than you do, not less.

I'm a Democrat and an atheist. If I held it against people that they followed religions I thought of as weird and brainwashing, I'd have no friends. Not even many atheists or scientists.