Scientology

[Kinoko]

Is anyone here a Scientologist? I have some questions

[Nikolas]

You could ask, straight away you know...

I was execting a somewhate bigger post from you...

anyhow, I"m not so I'm off now.

seeya!

[Pesty]

Don't be ridiculous. Nerds don't have enough money to be scientologists. You might as well be asking "Is anyone here a MILLIONAIRE? And if so, will you send Pesty thousands of monies?"

[Kinoko]

I don't wanna ask and get a bunch of people who arent scientologists giving me answers, I guess. I've already had plenty of discussions from people who aren't scientologists but I would honestly like to hear from someone who is. I guess I just want to know the what and why of it all, and what they think of the controversy.

Pesty: True, but maybe some of us are closet millionaires?

[Phemar]

Isaac Hayes is a scientologist

[HillBilly]

http://www.xenu.net/

I think this covers pretty much everything you need to know about Scientology. If you want to see some letters from scientologists, scroll to the bottom of the FAQ.

[TheYak]

I'm guessing you're asking this because you'd like to find out why someone would believe the abso-fuckin-lutely ridiculous stuff they do?  Or, maybe trying to determine how much information about Scientology outside of the group is misinformation?  Or, some crazy hybrid of the two from which you hope to determine that it's a nutty pseudo-religion whose members have no effing clue about it? 

I'm been on my own train of thought about it recently.  There are more difficult things to believe, but finding it possible that any person capable of thought would believe the crap about Xenu, Thetans, galactic federations, e-meters, et al, from a guy who had said at one point that (paraphrasing) the easiest route to success was to form your own religion. 
That said, I'm wondering if the draw is more that a person gets to join a secret society-esque organization, gain esteem from its members as well as some free publicity, all the while contributing to a pyramid scheme that eventually puts one in a very secure financial position using non-taxable dollars.  Since many countries have laws against pyramid schemes and similarly-constructed scams, the easiest way around that (in the US, at least) it to take the same thing and make it a religion.

Tom Cruise's membership - not so surprising.  Jason Lee's?  A little taken aback by that one.

(Oh, yeah.. link-wise, in case you haven't seen it every-damned-where already, Clambake.org.

[Radiant]

http://www.xenu.net/

And also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology.

Note that Scientology is considered a religion only in the United States. Other countries generally consider it (1) a commercial organisation, or (2) a dangerous sect. Indeed it is forbidden in some countries.

[Helm]

Kinoko, I wholeheartedly suggest you become a scientologist, it's going to be fun and it'll work for you very well.

[Darth Mandarb]

Scientology cracks me up.

They don't believe in modern medicine.  However, I would be willing to bet ANY ammount of money that if (God forbid) Kelly Preston was to get cancer John Travolta would be speding top dollar for the most up to date medicines to cure her.  It's just silly.

Also ... if I become a scientologist, can I become a whiny ass wussy like Tom Cruise?

[wine] South Park made fun of me ** boo hoo ** they called me gay and made fun of scientology ... if you show that episode ever again I won't promote M:I 3 [/wine]

If he's so afraid of people finding out he's puttin' from the rough, perhaps he shouldn't act like such a fag.

I respect the rights of those that practice scientology to practice it as they wish.  However, I think it's hooey.  Granted; I don't know a lot about it.  From what I have seen, read, and learned ... it's hooey.  Seems more like a cult to me (and indeed, as Radient said, in some countries outside the US, that might just be the case.)

[ildu]

I didn't read all of the posts, but I just want to point out that the 'religion' is way different for celebrities than it is for normal members. Also, the quest to recruit celebrities was officially a big issue for scientology some time ago, and it has worked out very well for them. The goal was to get through to important channels that people would listen to, i.e. celebrities. The wealth they possess is also incredible. The religion has 8 million members and each member has needed to pay an entrance fee and donations. Add that up with the multi-million donations from billionaires and movie stars and you have quite a lot of cash. I don't think Scientology would spread to other countries or at least very enthusiastically, if that was the goal. If you think about, the US is the perfect place for the religion to thrive. It's a large population that has been turned into exhibitionists by the pop culture that holds a very important role in the american lifestyle. People feel lonely and unappreciated so they need a certain league to be part of. Nevertheless, this is something that is true all over the world with every religion, sect or even organization. But in a country as highly developed as the US, the trend manifests itself in quite an alarming way.

One funny thing is they have an underground bunker in the desert that holds the writings of L. Ron Hubbard carved on enormous titanium plaques. The idea is that if the masses don't take in scientology and stick to the supposedly 'false' fields of science and psychiatry, the world will end. So once the world has ended and not destroyed the planet, new inhabitants, or aliens, can come in and adopt scientology as their religion.

Something I've noticed from the member lists is that these people tend to be mostly excentric and sensitive artists, and they hardly ever are considered intellectuals in society. Tom Cruise, Beck and Moby, for example, all seem a bit off. It seems that the ideal of it is to find a new purpose in life and to escape the decadent mainstream, which is often Hollywood. The intellectual aspect probably comes from the fact that a majority of who we consider intelligent and wise people throughout history have consistently been agnostic, or at least skeptical and wary of religion. Jason Lee actually surprised me as well. I've followed his career both as a skateboarder and as an actor since the beginning of the 90's and I find it really weird that he would go into scientology. Then again, he is a struggling actor and an artist.

Scientology has the potential of going bad, but I don't see it growing a lot in the future. The media has been pounding on it for a while now and it's been labelled as a deceitful and dangerous sect for exploiting unstable people, which it probably deserves. But like any religion, I respect it only for the social work they do. They do actually go into crisis areas to help out and that's very respectable. Still I don't condone the brainwashing. Until they really try to take power or do something equally undignified, I won't rise to the barricades. The US government being as corrupt as it is, and the Scientology hotshots having as deep pockets as they do, I am worried that they might heavily interfere in the government.

[Kinoko]

I guess I was just hoping there was some normal-ish person who believed in it, so I could ask them why and stuff. No biggie.

I've been watching lots of funny clips on it on youtube lately, and recently, they took them all down (on the weboage), then yesterday or so, put them back up because people kicked up a stink about it (I think).

Interesting

[Radiant]

If you are unable to find a normal-ish person who believes in it, you can draw your own conclusions from that fact.

[Paper Carnival]

Oh no, he's not going to promote Mission Impossible 3! Now what are we gonna do? :o that's serious blackmail there... Because you know, Mission Impossible 3 is actually worth seeing, unlike South Park :...

I think the fact that Scientology involves an evil dictator called Xenu who lived before earth is logical proof that the religion is, in fact, fake. Xenu sounds like something only a fiction writer could think (pun intended), because Xenu is such an original impressive name that comes from Greek word "xenos" and variations of it are often used in science fiction (and other) fiction stories. And even if it's completely coincidential I really doubt that in the pre-Teegeeack-life years it would be considered as impressive and fitting for an alien dictator and somehow I feel like Hubbard just came up with the name "Xenu" because it sounds impressive.

[Squinky]

http://newgrounds.com/portal/view/263120

[LimpingFish]

I don't see what's so hard to believe about Scientology.

Aliens, 3000 year war, mankind on the brink of...

Oh, wait...That's Battlefield Earth.

[Radiant]

Xenu is such an original impressive name that comes from Greek word "xenos" and variations of it are often used in science fiction (and other) fiction stories.

Well, of course Xenu predates the ancient Greeks by a few millennia, so they must have taken the name from him! Maybe Plato was a Scientologist...

[DGMacphee]

I guess I was just hoping there was some normal-ish person who believed in it, so I could ask them why and stuff. No biggie.

In all honesty, I doubt you'd even get a reasonable answer from a scientologist.

[Pumaman]

I guess I was just hoping there was some normal-ish person who believed in it, so I could ask them why and stuff.

Why, are you trying to get their members to desert for the Super Adventure Club?

[Andail]

Secret sects don't really need credible or well articulated myths and scriptures, they exist because it's cool to belong to an exclusive sect.
Read Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco to dig deeper into the psychology of sectism.
Or The DaVinci code, if you want to read a mainstream popcorn version of the same concept.