mr_brooks

Me? I'm a memeber of the First Church of Christ, Computer Programmer. (points for the reference)

As for me, I'm a member of the First Congregational Church of Rodney. (bonus points for that reference!)

ZehnKatzen

Is Scientology more or less absurd than magic eyeglasses, transubstantiation, or speaking in tongues? No, but rather more amusing on the whole.

victheremin

The full, authorized text can be found here:

[members.chello.nl]

It is absolutely essential reading for anyone "interested" in Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard.

To this day I still receive mildly-harassing literature and mysterious phone calls just because once, in 1989, I happened to visit the local church and inquire about the religion.

-JC

JusticeCourtland

tezby

Now Tom Cruise can finally understand why he's just sort of felt 'above everyone' his whole life. And, he can buy a seat in heaven, you know 'just in case.'

RoboBabs

Annalee Newitz

quirked

Stephanie A Fox

I think you are the one who should read some history. It is well documented that Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (aka Constantine I) was the one who introduced Christianity to the Roman Empire. Specifically, he stopped the prosecution of Christians in the "Edict of Milan" which was signed along with Licinius.

I know it is hard to believe that christianity is just an invention of the Arabs. But the fact is that its claims are as crazy as the ones by scientology. Sorry to bother you.

xtracto

neosurrealist

Progressing along the genetic time-track, evolution arrived at the sloth, which `had bad times falling out of trees', the ape and the famous Piltdown Man, which was the cause of a multitude of engrams, ranging from obsessions about biting to family problems. These could be traced back to the fact that `the Piltdown teeth were enormous and he was quite careless as to whom and what he bit.' Indeed, so careless was the Piltdown Man, Hubbard recorded, that he was sometimes guilty of `eating one's wife and other somewhat illogical activities'.

(Unfortunately for Hubbard, just twelve months after *The History of Man* was published, the supposed fossil remains of primitive man found in gravel on Piltdown Common in the south of England were exposed as a hoax. The Piltdown Man had never existed. Hubbard was describing engrams caused by GEs occupying a fictitious early life form dreamed up in 1912 by Charles Dawson, the English amateur archaeologist responsible for the Piltdown fraud. )

[www.clambake.org]

anonjimmy

Nice rhetoric there. You really managed to digg up a lot of very appropiate talking points for Scientology. Just by jumping into it, you happened to stumble upon a lot of em.. yeah..

"How dod they dod that? That whold statement sounds really whiny to me. If a person can't take the heat from a group of people who supposedly believe in the dark alien lord Zenu, then those people are pretty S.O.L. on dealing with anything in life."

You are right. Yes, that seems really whiny, not to withstand harassment and psychological warfare. Whiners!

united legal eagles

You said that: "Scientology itself is an organization that feels it's above the law in many countries and regularly uses intimidation, threats, blackmail and many other tactics in the name of their organization."

I'm not sure how they feel that they are above the law. If a Scientologist kills somebody, he or she, after convicted, will go to jail. If the Church of Scientology is found guilty of encouraging its members to kill people who are against the organisation or former members of the group, then the Church itself will be under criminal investigation. If the Church of Scientology actually robs people without their consent then the Church will be investigated. Scientologists do not control the government or anything like that.

Nobody attacks Hindus for believing in 20,000 plus different gods. And I'm sure that Hindus donate in order to build Hindu shrines and temples. The Hindu religion was probably started by somebody who people at the time were convinced was a fraud. Christianity was created by somebody who people today are still convinced was a fraud. I would guess that all religions are this way. It's all in the eye of the beholder. If people are dumb enough to give of their money and time to the Church of Scientology, then I see nothing wrong with the Scientologists accepting their money. Are we going to make a law that says that "dumb people" aren't allowed to spend their money on "dumb things?"

Tepoz, you also said that: "The organization even goes out of its way to make sure former followers lives are a living hell." How dod they dod that? That whold statement sounds really whiny to me. If a person can't take the heat from a group of people who supposedly believe in the dark alien lord Zenu, then those people are pretty S.O.L. on dealing with anything in life.

Tepoz, last thing & I'll let you respond. You said that the: "Number one rule of a cult? Not being allowed to question and being made a target if you do." The word cult is a ridiculous use of a term that at one point had no negative connotation at all but is now used in ad hominem attacks on a wide variety of religious groups.

ZeusKingOfTheGods

Of course - you can choose not to have any religion. I don't support harrassment of atheists or agnostics, either.

I just don't see anything about 'anonymous' that makes me think anything positive about them. There's another organization that used to hide behind anonymity to attack a despised minority religion in the US - it was the Klan, attacking the Roman Catholics.

Doesn't seem to me that that's the sort of behaviorally similar company anyone with good intentions would want to keep.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

Me? I'm a memeber of the First Church of Christ, Computer Programmer. (points for the reference)

Marcus

[en.wikipedia.org]

Tepoz

spacedcowboy

It's not that the religion is strange, (no one has a problem with Carlos Santana's beliefs), it's that Scientology itself is an organization that feels it's above the law in many countries and regularly uses intimidation, threats, blackmail and many other tactics in the name of their organization. The organization even goes out of its way to make sure former followers lives are a living hell. Number one rule of a cult? Not being allowed to question and being made a target if you do.

Tepoz

All that I'm saying is that we all have faith in many things whether it be religion or science. And to some degree, those things are fantastical. I once met a politician who was asked how old he thought the Earth was. Of course this question was a trap, given in order to see if he was some kind of a "crazy fundamental" Christian who thought that the world was only 6000 years old. His response as to the age of the Earth was that he didn't know and that he didn't care. And really, how important is something like that which could totally be disproven tomorrow?

Scientologists might seem crazy, and maybe they are, but so what? Let people choose who to follow, what to follow, and where to follow it. If people are "dumb" enough to believe some of the things that Scientology supposedly teaches, then let them be at bliss believing something that seems ridiculous to the the rest of us. I don't know much about Scientology other than what South Park said about it - and I'm sure that South Park is a hugely reliable source that didn't leave out any important details for the Scientologists - but if Scientology makes somebody a better person, I'm all for it.

ZeusKingOfTheGods

Anonymous isn't everyone, merely the subset of everyone that gets off on persecuting a particular despised minority.

Scientology is silly, but it's no worse than lots of other religions. Here in the US, peoples' desire to participate in silly religions without interference is constitutionally protected...

People might listen to you folks more seriously, if you weren't such jerks.
-Kle.

Klebert L. Hall

How long until the CoS sues io9 for all the thetans in the universe?

P.s. Try to find a copy of an OT summit somewhere. They're weeks of enjoyment

greggdetroit

Kind of strange to think that one of the coolest space travel laboratories ever was founded by a dude who, with L Ron Hubbard um... "at his side", was into things like attempting to summon demons with ritualized sex magic, but it just keeps getting weirder still.

You can read all about it in Parson's Biography "Sex and Rockets"

Dug

gus

uberfu

Christianity is around ONLY because some Roman Emperor [Constantine] decided to use it as the "official" religion of the Roman Empire at a time when there were dozens and dozens of religions [see Roman Gods]_ Constantine recognized that the Empire wason the verge of breaking apart into chaos and purposely chose a Pagan Religion [Christianity] at the time and used it as a tool to solidify and re-unite the Roman Empire for the next 1000 years [give or take]_ And because of that one moment in history Western Civilization as we know it happened_

So tetracycloide's: request is not all that far fetched_ The only difference between Scientology and Christianity is that Christianity had 200+ years to cultivate_

uberfu

and notably, my link to THIS site: [www.xenu.net]

Scientology is a CULT which is the outgrowth of the idiotic quasi-psychological 'DIANETICS' which L. Ron Hubbard created on a BET, with Nehemiah Jordan, that he could 'found a religion that would make him a million bucks.' He did, it grew, and, like something out of H. P. Lovecraft, it continued to grow and mutate long after his death.

Know who the first ones to arrive on the campus of Virginia Tech were, after the shootings? Bingo: The church of Scientology set up a PAVILION to suck-in the grieving and defenseless. Because only those who are traumatized or weak-minded are suceptible to their particular brand of bullshit.

It has ruined far more lives than it has helped. There is almost no difference between Scientologists and 'Moonies,' or any of the other idiot cults that have sprung up in this country and others, wherever there are stupid and gullible people to exploit and rip off, including the branch Davidians or Jim Jones' 'People's Temple.'

Religion is and has always been THE major stumbling block in the path of social and scientific progress in the world, primarily because the concept of 'faith' signifies an automatic switching off of the higher cognitive functions such as objective reasoning and speculation...or the ability to question. Faith proclaims knowledge and intelligence are 'unnecessary,' since with FAITH, we subjugate our free wills to a higher power. This is what enables a gang of thugs and grifters like the Scientologists to gain a foothold in people's minds and in our culture. Present them with a 'plausible' theology to explain the unknown, cultivate a numinous atmosphere rife with 'secrets' and 'inner teachings,' and you'll pull 'em in, in DROVES.

There is a sucker born every minute.
David Hannum, referring to P.T. Barnum's rip-off of his own original act.

A fool and his money are soon parted.
Thomas Tusser, English Farmer and Writer. 1524-1580

The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.
Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 - 1890)

Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense.
Carl Sagan (1934 - 1996)

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.
Karl Marx (1818 - 1883), Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.
Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988), Time Enough for Love (1972)

Religion is for those who don't want to go to Hell. Spirituality is for those of us who have already been through it.
Anonymous

RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

Hekkashesh

In fact, it is more likely that the earth is quite a bit younger than this chart and is the product of a quantum mechanical observation from a parallel dimension.

neosurrealist

edosan

Hart

Stephanie A Fox

I guess the universe is really circular, they had rollercoasters and spaceships that look like now obsolete aircraft...

DocGratis

WordMan

DavidMacsandwich

Gargle

Even if you use the Continental Europe and/or Traditional British scale (which I just learned about on wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]), it still doesn't work out.

russty

tezby

Go Like Hell Machine

richtaur

Lieutenant 030

danny

danbloom

Grey_Area

CmdrHunt

PriorMarcus

But what about the clowns? Loud noises and gorillas are one thing, but there has to be a place in there for those damned clowns!

92BuickLeSabre

Annalee Newitz

axiomatic

capntim

AmishJohn

Annalee Newitz

emptee_head

Annalee Newitz

Shouldn't some zealot be here telling us that this is a comparison of sci-fi vs. sci-fi?

Could a Linux or Apple zealot please stand up and play the role of x-tian zealot just for this once?

pretty please?!?!?!

axiomatic

Frozen-Tex

s0crates82

finwar

BlacklistedJoe

EBone

OlinIshame

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

comp_wiz101

Plague

Bancho

Gann

extracrispy

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

My bad.

Bancho

fostina1

So, what did these Thetans actually do to earn all these indignities? Are they like the red-headed stepchildren to the universe?

Bancho

Invasion time bitches!

Tenno

Mr. Praline

CmdrHunt

CmdrHunt

Annalee Newitz

Annalee Newitz

SuperUnison

Miranda Kali

Citizen Kang

Or, the ever famous brain washing while the thetan is lulled to near sleep while riding a roller coaster. the lies are whispered into the left ear of the thetan, then they are exposed to flashing lights, loud sounds, etc.

jdw242b

Those fuckers, they've already seen "AVATAR"!!!!

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

Dr. Spaceman, Esq.

Gyrus

Citizen Kang

tetracycloide

Annalee Newitz

Princess Sparkle Pony

moff

moff

Sturm Truppen

darthsodomizer

Gyrus

Garrison Dean, King Awesome

Tim Faulkner

Annalee Newitz

tetracycloide