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Quote by: Isherwood  When it comes to religion, absurd beliefs and the desire to control everyone else and silence their critics is pretty much the norm. Scientology only seems extreme because it's a fairly recent invention. Other theologies are just as strange, but after a couple of thousand years we've started to accept them as reasonable. They aren't. None of them are. |
Have you watched any of the videos I posted? How can you say that most religions employ the same tactic?
I certainly don't remember any examples of atheists, for example, being cussed out and shoved around by beligerrent Christians, nor do I see them going to their critics' houses and handing out bald-faced lies about what horrible bigots and child molestors they are.
Scientology is hundreds of times more extreme then most current religious institutions. They've had their own secret service, their own navy(where their leader, L. Ron Hubbard, pretty much had sex with his brainwashed teen groupies), and have many front organizations that are completely dishonest as to their ties to their religion, such as their "Council of Concerned Businessmen", their "Human Rights" group, and thier orginization dedicated to classifying critics as members of hate groups in order to use such accusations in court. They literally have(or, so they claim, had) a list of "suppressive persons", dangerous people that scientologists must hurt in every way they possibly can by ANY means; and it was a commandment. When somone leaves the church and criticizes it afterwards, they are COMPLETELY removed from the church, and anyone who attempts to contact them will be kicked out as well. I could go on for hours about how these people run, but I think you get the point.
Edit: For fucks sake, they've trademarked their religious documents and charge hundreds of thosands of dollars for merely pieces of it. Many of their "therapies" literally use some cold-war era brainwashing techniques on their subjects, and they keep lists of the confessions of their members. Scientology, unlike Christianity, seems to be COMPLETELY composed on the orginizational level of corrupt institutions that cynically want nothing more than a quick buck. There are nice people who are scientologists, don't get me wrong, but the religion has a completely corrupt group in charge of it, who apologize for nothign and harbors no true sympathy towards their devotees.
If you're wondering why I'm so passionate about this, it's because I live near Clearwater, and have a friend who was raised as a scientologist and later left the church. Her parents immediately severed contact with her with some coaxing by the church due to her current status as a picketer, causing her to sink further into depression. Fuck scientology.