Scientology

[UK Skins Fan]

Well, that's exactly the kind of trick they were pulling, that resulted in the BBC guy losing the plot in the clip I posted.

These guys refuse to accept any criticism at all, and completely misrepresent any questioning of their faith as an attack on them. The programme that the BBC was making was supposed to be a balanced report, and they interviewed people like Kirsty Alley in order to get their side. But the celebs all pulled out of the programme, leaving the BBC to portray only one side.

It'll come back to bite them though, because the editor of the documentary said that it hadn't been their intention to produce a complete inside-out study of scientology, but that they might have to do that now. When they do that, you can bet they'll be looking under some rocks that Tom Cruise and Co won't enjoy.

[UK Skins Fan]

Yeah - it doesn't make any more sense to me than following the works of Tolkien and pronouncing Aragorn as the one true king...

Maybe I'm too quick to judge, but I generally prefer to assume that people are crazy until/unless they prove to me otherwise.

Whoah, slow down ... are you saying Aragorn is NOT the true king? Oh my gosh, I had this feeling I was still in the running

Lordy - you're not Aragorn's long lost sister Wendy, are you?

Go on - say something in Elvish.

Dartho guin Beriain. Rych le ad tolthathon.

I'm happy to confirm that this does work in Welsh too. I phoned a Chinese restaurant in Rhyll this morning, and successfully ordered some egg fried rice and Szechuan chicken, using exactly that phrase.

[Fios]

Yeah - it doesn't make any more sense to me than following the works of Tolkien and pronouncing Aragorn as the one true king...

Maybe I'm too quick to judge, but I generally prefer to assume that people are crazy until/unless they prove to me otherwise.

Whoah, slow down ... are you saying Aragorn is NOT the true king? Oh my gosh, I had this feeling I was still in the running

Lordy - you're not Aragorn's long lost sister Wendy, are you?

Go on - say something in Elvish.

Dartho guin Beriain. Rych le ad tolthathon.

I'm happy to confirm that this does work in Welsh too. I phoned a Chinese restaurant in Rhyll this morning, and successfully ordered some egg fried rice and Szechuan chicken, using exactly that phrase.

mmmmmmmmm, egg fried rice

[NikiH]

Travolta was recently crying about a BBC report that tried investigating Scientology and ended up having Scientologist following them around and intimidating them.

Youtube video is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o79v1D_ ... ed&search=

Say what you want about Scientology and Cruise but leave Vinnie Barbareno out of this!!!

[SkinsFreak]

I just watched the five part series and have to say that I wish I hadn't. I am completely disgusted and can't believe anyone would accept this as some form of religion, especially when your "leader" acts in that manner. What a joke!

Well, that's exactly the kind of trick they were pulling, that resulted in the BBC guy losing the plot in the clip I posted.

These guys refuse to accept any criticism at all, and completely misrepresent any questioning of their faith as an attack on them. The programme that the BBC was making was supposed to be a balanced report, and they interviewed people like Kirsty Alley in order to get their side. But the celebs all pulled out of the programme, leaving the BBC to portray only one side.

It'll come back to bite them though, because the editor of the documentary said that it hadn't been their intention to produce a complete inside-out study of scientology, but that they might have to do that now. When they do that, you can bet they'll be looking under some rocks that Tom Cruise and Co won't enjoy.

I hope they keep with it. I would also hope that perhaps an American journalist as well, would expose them for the frauds they are.

How can humans be so easily misled, brainwashed and manipulated? It's truly baffling people can be such followers.

[Fios]

How can humans be so easily misled, brainwashed and manipulated? It's truly baffling people can be such followers.

Yet Dallas Cowboys fans continue to exist and, god forbid, procreate. It's truly a mystery, albeit a particularly retarded one.

[Countertrey]

On a related note, I was in a meeting yesterday, when our psychiatrist admitted to erring in ordering a particular medication for one of our patients, resulting in him being a little more "hyper" than usual.

I asked her if she was trying out to be the new "Poster Shrink" for the Church of Scientology. She's usually pretty witty in reply, but all she could do was stammer and laugh.

[skinsfan#33]

What I know of Scientology is that it is a gag, a farce, a work of fiction made up by a fictional writer. L Ron Hubbert made up "this pretend religion" to sale books. He even said that it wasn't real.

Further, he is on record as saying if he ever wanted to make real money, he'd start a religion. His own son says the man was nuts.

What is the single riches organization in the world?

What group is responsible for more deaths than any in the history of mankind?

What group staged a false war in the mid east (twice) just to retain control of mid-evil Europe and is primarily responsible for the Arab hatred of the west?


Answer to all thre is the Catholic Church!

By the way I'm a non-practicing Catholic.

[jazzskins]

What is the single riches organization in the world?

What group is responsible for more deaths than any in the history of mankind?

What group staged a false war in the mid east (twice) just to retain control of mid-evil Europe and is primarily responsible for the Arab hatred of the west?


Answer to all thre is the Catholic Church!

By the way I'm a non-practicing Catholic.

Now, thats an organization that you don't want to cross!

[Irn-Bru]

I'm not going to defend the Catholic Church of every historical age on every point, but I've got to at least ask some questions.

What is the single riches organization in the world?

The United States federal government has 9 trillion accrued in debt (but controls the assets of that debt, and doesn't show signs of paying it off) and collects 3 trillion each year in taxes and fees. They also own 21% of the surface area of this country -- there quite literally isn't enough U.S. currency in circulation to purchase all of those assets from them. (But don't worry, the federal reserve can simply print some more).

Are you saying the Catholic church is wealthier than that? (Any links or statistics?) Because holy. . .that's a lot of wealth if what you're saying is true.

What group is responsible for more deaths than any in the history of mankind?

Wow, "group" is quite ill-defined there. But I'll roll with the punch.

I do know that the 20th century has often been cited as being bloodier than all of the previous 19 centuries combined -- and that includes anyone the Catholic church had killed as well as anyone killed by anyone else.

So, the Catholic church must have been pretty busy bombing (2 nuclear bombs over major cities!), raping, and pillaging all over Europe, Russia, and Asia, right? Even if we separate these wars and slaughters into sets of death tolls assigned to groups. . .I think you'd find that the Nazis, Russian Communists, and Maoist China's death tolls each individually make even the most liberal estimates of the Catholic church's crusades dwindle significantly. (I'd be willing to bet that the U.S. federal government has a higher kill toll, as well. )

What group staged a false war in the mid east (twice)

Ooh! America! 1991 and 2003. . .

just to retain control of mid-evil Europe and is primarily responsible for the Arab hatred of the west?

Oh, sorry. Wrong time period.

So, the church is "primarily responsible for the Arab hatred of the west"? Did you pull our your hatred-meter to make that judgment? How many Arabs, if questioned, would indicate both that (a) they hate the west AND (b) the primary cause is the crusades?

Somehow I think you'd get a different answer if you were to poll the actual people in those countries. . .

[crazyhorse1]

For no reason that I can imagine, I received a huge box of books by and about Scientology and Hubbard from the Scientology nuts. The retail value of the books, which were totally unsolicited, was/is in the hundreds of dollars.
I was astonished, but even more so as I read the stuff, which was wierdly enjoyable. My deduction: Cruise and Trevolta are total morons, as well as nuts. The religion is as lunatic and as obviously a put on as any I've ever heard of. Really Falwell and Robertson country, akin to Mormanism, and as simple minded generally as any lunatic fantasy Christians, Muslim's, and Jews have ever come up with specifically.

I think we'd better grow up in relation to religion. There's no reason to respect nonsense and be silent about harmful or utterly stupid faith-based absurdies and fairy tales. I think by now that most thinking people can see how dangerous they can be.

[UK Skins Fan]

Well, I've just finished watching the documentary itself, and have to conclude that we are dealing with a bunch of total crackpots here. It saddens me that people can allow themselves to be led down this path, and it makes me angry that others profit from it.

And the UK base of this cult is just 35 miles from my home.

[Dishgeek]

The Church of Scientology is a money-making scam. Hubbard tried it as a self-help scheme at first, and the FDA landed on him like a ton of bricks. That's when he decided to make it into a "religion." This had the additional advantage of getting the IRS off his back, too.

It's an incredibly evil and powerful organization, to the point where I don't post these words without some trepidation. They are to my knowledge the only entity that has ever successfully censored the Usenet. They also fought the IRS and won. I wouldn't trifle with them.

From a purely theological standpoint I find their beliefs interesting because they have a devil (Xenu), but no god. The goal of Scientology is to make the believer like a god. Towards the end of his life, when he was clearly off the deep end, Hubbard claimed he could leave his body and fly around looking at things.

Operation Clambake and Xenu.net are good links. I also like Professor Touretzky's page on scientology:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/index.html