Scientology: Cult of greed in divine garb

[norml]

Date : 2005-06-10
Scientology: Cult of greed in divine garb
By Janaka Perera – Asian Tribune



Colombo, 10 June, (Asiantribune.com): Sri Lankans did not invite Scientologist to come to Sri Lanka and or sought their support and assistance. They came and saw the situation after tsunami favorable to them and in the pretext of helping the affected people; they started exploiting the human misery and began to proselytize Sri Lankans. Shame on them - said Venerable Medagama Dhammanda of the Asgiriya Chapter, Kandy.

The Venerable Medagama Dhammanda of, has challenged Scientologists to refute allegations made against them in Sri Lanka.

Having extensively investigated their activities here, he said that these cultists and other dubious NGOs rode on the crest of the December 26 tsunami. No government authority or any other reputed organization had either invited them here or solicited their assistance. It is they who had seized the unexpected opportunity, to expand their questionable activities under cover of engaging in social service. If they are sincere about their charitable intentions, he pointed out; they should stick to such work instead of craftily trying to wean away Buddhists and Hindus from their traditional religious beliefs. Charity demands nothing in return - neither political nor religious conversions, he said.



snip



He told the Asian Tribune that a favorite tactic Scientologists used for luring people into their fold was to hypnotize depressed and downhearted people.




snip




http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=14696

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Yep, this proves it

Scientology has gone mainstream, taking on the tactics of mainstream fundamentalist protestant religions.

There is one advantage, though: you get a very sophisticated battery tester when you join.

:evilgrin:

--p!

[jobycom]

2. Sounds like a pretty standard religion to me, then

Not complaining about anyone's beliefs, but organized religion is always greedy, and proselytizing religions frequently show up uninvited and "hypnotize" (accurate word) the depressed and downhearted.

Just my humble atheist observation.

[ET Awful]

6. Scientology is much worse.

by a very large margin.

[jobycom]

9. I keep hearing that, but I don't believe it

I know a lot of fundamentalists. I'd hang with scientologists bouncing off couches and making dumb sci-fi films any day.

[ET Awful]

11. Then you don't know anything about Scientology.

Do a search on the case of Lisa McPherson.

After you're done with that, read everything at www.clambake.org

When you've finished that, Read Tory's website at http://www.torymagoo.org/ She was in the cult for over 20 years. She knows her shit pretty well.

If you think all Scientologists do is bounce of couches and make crappy movies, you are sadly ill-informed.

[jobycom]

13. Yeah, that must be it.

I've seen your links. They are as cult-like as Scientology itself.

I'll flip it back at you. If you think that fundamentalist Christians are better than Scientologists, then you don't know anything about fundamentalism.

[ET Awful]

15. Once again spoken like someone who knows NOTHING about

Scientology.

Well done, you've proven that you don't want to be educated.

As to me, my grandmother is as fundie as they get, as is my aunt. I work with fundies constantly, and have known several Scientologists.

As someone with extensive experience with both, I can tell you for certain that Scientology is much worse.

I'm happy that you can form opinions based on no experience.

LOL . . . So, in your opinion, showing the actual acts of Scientology is as cultlike as Scientology itself? I see, so knowing the facts surrounding the death of Lisa McPherson who was MURDERED BY SCIENTOLOGY is cultlike? Hmmm. Knowing that they actually prosecuted (and gained a conviction) against a man for jokingly saying he was going to launch a "Tom Cruise Missile" at them is cultlike? Knowing that (unlike fundies), they won't even let you read their "scriptures" until you invested thousands in the cult is cultlike?

[jobycom]

16. Ah, but since you know everything about me

your opinions are based on experience. Now I get it.

Here's what you don't get. I'm not defending Scientology. I'm condemning other religions. You see a difference. I don't. And I have known Scientologists and I have read your links and others like them, and I do know what I'm talking about. From the outside they all look the same.

A friend of mine is a Fundie. They donate all of their free time and money to their Church. They have pulled their kids out of public school because schools teach "bad science," and they send them to a school founded by their church. They pay tuition, of course. This school teaches them that Evolution, and environmentalism and most history is bunk, that a divine being created the Earth and laid down a set of laws that they must follow without question. To question means they will wind up in Hell. There is a great conspiracy led by the Devil to brainwash the minds of everyone who disagrees with them, and thus the majority of people in the world (myself included) are the Devil's minions, and to believe or even listen to anything these minions say is to condemn your eternal soul. This church and others like it set up organizations to influence governments around the world. They also set up clinics to "help" alcoholics, drug addicts, and depressed or mentally ill people in general, and then convince them to join their organization. They especially target youths who are more susceptible to suggestive hypnosis. They believe in things like Armageddon, the Apocolypse, the Rapture--if any of those don't sound as goofy as thetans or the Sea Org (spelling?) then you are too close.

[ET Awful]

21. Quick, how much does your fundie friend pay for a bible?

If they pay less than $500,000 to get a Bible which contains all of their holy texts, they're already a step ahead of Scientologists.

Quick, how many fundies do you know of that were locked in a room until they literally went insane and were found naked in the middle of the road where they collapsed and later died of dehydration (not to mention massive numbers of bedsores and bug bites)?

Quick, how many of the people that they sign up for their "clinics" are also injected with potentially lethal doses of niacin?

What's that you say? None? That's what I thought.

[jobycom]

28. You don't read the news much, do you?

Yes, I know of fundies who have died because their religion prevented them from seeking medical help. I know of a kid here in Austin beaten until his kideys ruptured by a preacher who thought he wasn't trying hard enough in school. I know of fundies in Louisiana who were raping children and saying it was acceptable. I know of a Fundie who drove a truck full of explosives up to a federal building and killed almost two hundred people. I know of a fundie who drowned seven kids in a bathtub because her religion convinced her it was the only way to save them.

I could go on quite a while.

[philosophie_en_rose]

25. Fundie versus Sea Org

At the worst, fundamentalist organizations prey on the willing. Bennie Hinn will take your money to build new heights of toupee. Jan Crouch will get another pink outfit. They'll tell you that you're going to hell. They'll pressure you, condemn you, and shun you. Speaking very broadly, fundies are con artists.

Scientologists are not just a fringe cult. They don't just bilk people out of money; they create life-long debt and indentured servitude. It's much more insidious than mainstream religion. It convinces people that they are INSANE and that only paying for courses (or indentured servitude for courses) will save their lives.

Scientology tears families apart. I hate sanctimonious preaching. I don't like to hear that fundies are "praying for me." However, I would rather have that than lose family members that are forced to "disconnect."

How is Scientology not like fundamentalists?

1) Confessions - the strictest Catholic priest might condemn your sins, but they won't be used against you later. Scientologists believe that it's ethical to hurt people with information entrusted to them.

2) Money - you can give your life savings to Joyce Meyer, but you owe a lifetime of future earnings to Scientologists. If you join their staff and leave, you actually owe them. They don't pay you.

3) Charity - Scientologists don't do anything for free. They sent a "free" copy of some book to a local library. The letter with the book stated that they had to return the book if it wasn't used or would be charged for the "free" book.

[norml]

10. There are differences. Unitarians aren't Southern Baptists.

Some sects are more evil, and cult like than others. Scientology is an evil cult that steals people's lives and money. It deserves to be exposed for what it is. I enjoy studying religions. I like yoga (which is not really a religion) best. Just my humble observation as a believer in coincidence, the unified whole, and the interconnectivity of all things.

[jobycom]

12. Yeah, I can give you that one.

I study religions, too, or did when I was in grad school. I guess I should compare cults to cults, and not religions to religions, since Scientology so far is more of a cult--I'm not using that term in the popular, media-judgemental definition, but more of a clinical definition.

Unitarians are a good cult of a larger religion, for instance. Southern Baptists are an evil cult of a larger religion. I don't see Scientology as evil, just manipulative and shady.

[nuxvomica]

14. To me, the major difference between a cult and a religion is

that religions tolerate discussion and dissent and cults do not. There's a lot of theological discussion within the major Abrahamic religions and probably within the Eastern religions, about which I am not very familiar, as well but you don't hear of any within Scientology or Dominionism.

[jobycom]

18. I wasn't using the word "cult" like that

It's one of those words that has a dozen meanings and even more connotations, and I understand your usage of it.

Because of my background, I use it more clinically to mean an organized devotion to a specific ideal or belief, often within a larger religion. There is no value judgement in the word. Not saying that's the only right way to use it, just that that's what I mean when I say cult. Thus, Scientology is a cult, whereas Christianity or Islam or Buddhism or paganism are religions. Within each of those religions are cults. Fundamentalism is a cult of Christianity, as in Unitarianism. This is not a negative description, just a classification.

Scientology is a cult without a larger religion.

In the more common use of the word, I'd still call Scientology and Fundamentalism cults, but not Unitarianism, for instance. I just don't use the word that way, because I studied religions and tend to use more neutral language to describe them.

Cults even inn my usage don't really allow a lot of dissension, since the definition is of a group of people devoted to one ideal or belief, and disagreement with that belief usually means you aren't part of that cult. Thus the larger religions allow various theological interpretations of beliefs.

Anyway, I'm not disagreeing with anything in your post, I'm just explaining my use of the word.

[nuxvomica]

20. Actually, I was responding to your use of the term "religion"

But I am coming from the standpoint of someone who was raised Catholic from K through college graduation and lost my best friend because of Scientology so I'm still trying to understand the distinctions. It's gotten more difficult with the turn Catholicism has taken lately. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. :-)

[Rich Hunt]

26. thank you

You nailed it. I wish everyone who talks as if all religions are the same would see this.

[Sean Reynolds]

19. The difference.....

Most organized religions don't FORCE you to pay if you want to belong to the religion.

Scientology does:

http://www.xenu.net/archive/media/time-pg3-4b.html

[jrthin]

3. Basically, they behaved

like all the other christians who showed up to "help".

[Swede]

4. Scientologists aren't Christians.

Did you even read the article?

[mr blur]

7. Agreed, it's not even a religion

It's a cult. To have a religion you need a divine being. Scientology just had a very greedy hack SF writer and a whole load of gullible people.

[Swede]

8. Yep,it's science fiction,and not very good science fiction.

Nuclear explosions,volcanoes etc. L Ron Hubbard was a second rate,no a third rate SF writer.

[LiviaOlivia]

24. and

Francis Ford Coppola told George Lucas: L. Ron Hubbard was a LOUSY science-fiction writer and started a huge religion. You've created the BIGGEST science-fiction saga ever -- Why not create the Church of the Force and make billions?

[jrthin]

22. I didn't say they

were Christians. I said they BEHAVED just like the christians who showed up.

[Chovexani]

5. Obligatory link to Operation Clambake.

http://www.xenu.net

[bridgit]

17. cult of personality in greedy divine garb

:thumbsdown:

[democracyindanger]

23. Here's a good laugh

I once worked at a place that had outgrown it's office building, so they were going to rent the top floor of a two story building across the street for extra space. The first floor was a Scientology office. The 2d floor had its own entrance, but it could easily be confused for the Scientology door. So one proposal was to name the part of the office that was going to move, "Freaks" and create a big sign with an arrow pointed to the entrance.

Then there's the story about the guy who was arrested for driving a remote control model tank into another Scientology office, same city.

[libodem]

27. ewwwwwh

yuck