for some reason, i really liked this - fictionology!

[Nev]

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4119

I don't know much about Scientology, but this seems pretty damn funny.

[SineSwiper]

You should read Xenu.net, then. Scientology makes me wish that we could detonate nuclear weapons on our own soil.

[SineSwiper]

This says it all:

"Scientology is rooted in strict scientific principles, such as the measurement of engrams in the brain by the E-Meter," Kurz said. "Scientology uses strictly scientific methodologies to undo the damage done 75 million years ago by the Galactic Confederation's evil warlord Xenu—we offer our preclear followers procedures to erase overts in the reactive mind. Conversely, Fictionology is essentially just a bunch of make-believe nonsense."

[Julius Seeker]

Scientology is just some wack cult that stupid hollywood stars formed and don't take seriously.

[Kupek]

Scientology is just some wack cult that stupid hollywood stars formed and don't take seriously.

They take it seriously.

[SineSwiper]

They take it EXTREMELY seriously, and it's not just for celebrities. That's the problem: a extremely expensive cult that brainwashes people into giving them as much money as possible, while sucking the life and emotion out of their existance.

One could argue that Christianity does the same thing, but we are talking about some serious brainwashing, and every step in their 12-step program costs a lot of money. They use pseudo-science to further their brainwashing. ("Hey, if I don't understand it, it must be true.") Their members say the most bullshit things to back up their claims.

Actual quote from Tom Cruise in a recent interview:

Cruise: I'm a helper. For instance, I myself have helped hundreds of people get off drugs. In Scientology, we have the only successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. It's called Narconon.

SPIEGEL: That's not correct. Yours is never mentioned among the recognized detox programs. Independent experts warn against it because it is rooted in pseudo science.

Cruise: You don't understand what I am saying. It's a statistically proven fact that there is only one successful drug rehabilitation program in the world. Period.

SPIEGEL: With all due respect, we doubt that.

Germany, France, and a few other countries have BANNED Scientology as a dangerous cult. Only the US and Australia have given it religious status.

[Nev]

Wheeee!

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

Seriously, that's more fun than any one person should have in his lifetime, though it worries me that this kind of thing is taken seriously.

[Zeus]

Scientology is just some wack cult that stupid hollywood stars formed and don't take seriously.

....and to get tax breaks

[Nev]

Oh! Oh! I read <i>this</i> one the other day... (on the subject of Scientology and taxes)

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

[SineSwiper]

Older article, but very good one from TIME: http://www.xenu.net/archive/media/time910605.html

The chart on the middle of the page gives you a good look at what their levels are and how much they cost: http://www.xenu.net/archive/media/time-pg3-4b.html

Also keep in mind that the CoS also tried to sue Google into removing Xenu.net from its search engine.

[SineSwiper]

The now-disembodied victims' souls, which Hubbard called thetans, were blown into the air by the blast. They were captured by Xenu's forces using an "electronic ribbon" ("which also was a type of standing wave") and sucked into "vacuum zones" around the world. The hundreds of billions of captured thetans were taken to a type of cinema, where they were forced to watch a "three-D, super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. This implanted what Hubbard termed "various misleading data" (collectively termed the R6 implant) into the memories of the hapless thetans, "which has to do with God, the Devil, space opera, etcetera". This included all world religions, with Hubbard specifically attributing Roman Catholicism and the image of the Crucifixion to the influence of Xenu. The interior decoration of "all modern theaters" is also said by Hubbard to be due to an unconscious recollection of Xenu's implants.

This guy is fucking crazy. Of course, by the time these people get to hear this story, they've already gone through several thousand dollars, and their emotional/mental state is legally in a state of insanity.

[Nev]

Well, of course he is. But maybe it'll make some people happy. They didn't seem to have been successful in infiltrating the federal government, so I'm not too worried.

I mean, hell, I swear I haven't laughed as hard as I did this morning in a looooong time, so in a way it kind of even made me happy. I suppose we could all do with spreading the word about it a little more so people know what they're up against.

(Mental briefly wonders what on Earth he is doing defending the Scientologists...)

[SineSwiper]

There is a difference between being happy because you really are in a better position in life, and being artifically happy, like the high of a drug. Anybody who is actually happy from their cult fits in the latter category. Of course, the other 90% are confused, mentally unstable, and completely broke.

Slightly unrelated, I think Scientology has some common links with LaVeyian Satanism, though I have some respect with Satanism, even if it isn't for me. At least Satanism is up front about its goals to Spite Thy Enemies and don't be stupid. However, the idea of removing one's enemies is probably due to their influences with Crowley on both ends:

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

Hell, they are actually trying to get rid of tax breaks for churchs, unlike Scientology.

[Nev]

I'm going to have to read that when I get time - sounds interesting.

[Nev]

Briefly on the topic of religious tolerance - I agree with your estimation of Scientology...and especially if all this Xenu crap is really doctrine I think they're nuts, unbalanced, and probably a bit dangerous. But I think the benefits of the principle of religious tolerance as currently practiced in the U.S. may outweigh the costs of having a bunch of looney tunes around who believe that the souls of 178,000,000,000 murdered extraterrestrials are stuck to my psyche (and everyone else's) like peanut butter.

It's a subject I really ought to put more thought into, but I know of two historical cases of the introduction of religious tolerance - back in ancient Persia with Cyrus, and the founding of the U.S. - and in both cases, religious tolerance seems to have been a good experiment for those who tried it.

I'm leaning more towards actual atheism - in the formal sense, which I would regard as a belief system in its own right - every day - but when it comes down to it, I cannot prove that the Christians are wrong about the resurrection of Christ. I can point out the complete lack of reliable evidence of resurrection until I'm blue in the face, but I have no direct experience or evidence in this regard, and I think me trying to say to them "I think it's harmful for you to believe in this stuff" is just as bad as them saying to me "You're a sinner if you don't accept Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior." It's an example of trying to force someone to believe something, and ultimately I just have no control over that. Besides which - though I'm more and more atheist-leaning - there are things in my life and ways I've felt that defy all sorts of conventional explanation, and I'm not about to dismiss those out of hand, which I think is just as dangerous as believing in things out of hand. I don't really have time to get into all of those right now, but there have been some, such as the 2004 tsunami, when I dreamed about rushing waves of water at pretty much the exact time it was happening on the other side of the frickin' world. THAT one especially bothers me as someone who's extremely skeptical of parapsychic phenomena, but I didn't make it up.

I think the idea of religious tolerance may actually help to foster creativity by allowing people of a wide variety of beliefs the freedom to explore these beliefs. I would be grateful of more historical examples on this subject if anyone has them.