Scientology!

[A-Schwarzenegger]

Fascinating New Yorker exposure of Scientology
& the resignation of Paul Haggis, a former big wheel
in the organization, and the screenwriter/director of Crash,
Million Dollar Baby, etc.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright

[hlthe2b]

1. I heard an interview with him today... NPR Fresh Air...

Relating the entire house of cards of lies from L. Ron Hubbard's own BIO that was used to promote dianetics

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r

[Drale]

3. If theres anyone crazier then Christine O'Donnell or Glen Beck

its these guys. I really feel sorry for the people they sucker into joining their cult.

[customerserviceguy]

5. The only difference between O'Donnell and Beck

is how long the made-up religion they espouse has been around. With Beck, it's within what might be considered modern times. With Scientology, it's within the last fifty years.

[Zax2me]

11. Could have sworn

This was a scientology thread.
Nice steal.
Wanna try Islam?
Didn't think so.
Surprise surprise.

[arcane1]

37. Yes.

Islam is just as full of shit as the rest of them.

[markpkessinger]

4. Another superb exposé worth reading...

I think one of the best exposés ever published about Scientology was the one by Richard Behar, published in Time (May 6, 1991, p. 50). You can read it here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html .

But the publication of that article came at considerable personal cost to the author. A friend of mine knows Mr. Behar and his wife, and has said that ever since that article was published all those years ago, they have been the recipients of non-stop death threats, to the point that they have had to move frequently (sometimes multiple moves in a single year). Yet each time, despite making every effort to keep their address and phone information private, whoever is making the threats seems to be able to find it out and begin the threats anew. They are truly a scary organization.

[Boojatta]

9. Is that a typo in the fourth paragraph?

In recent years hundreds of longtime Scientology adherents -- many charging that they were mentally of physically abused -- have quit the church and criticized it at their own risk.

I would suspect that they were mentally or physically abused. Of course, we all make mistakes, especially if there's only one hour available to edit after posting.

[markpkessinger]

10. It's a typo on the site to which I linked, not MY typo!

I merely linked to a site where the article can be read -- I didn't type it, so why are you suggesting I should correct it, when I couldn't if I wanted to?

[Boojatta]

14. I responded to your post because your post provided the link.

I presume that the writer and proofreader were two different people. I have no idea of whether or not the typist was one of those two people or a third person.

[markpkessinger]

15. But I didn't claim to be either the writer or proofreader...

...and is it up to you to perform the role of editorial police?

[markpkessinger]

18. Not to belabor the point, but . . .

It seems as if you are unclear as to the mechanics of how hyperlinks work. A link is merely a web address with some underlying code that tells your browser to connect to the server identified in the link, and to the specific material on that server. One can insert a link to any publicly viewable website. Rarely is it the case that a person providing a link to something on a third-party site in a comment, on a site such as this one, would be the same person who typed the material on the third-party server (unless it were a link to that person's own site or blog). You mentioned the 1-hour editing window, but that only applies to the content of the message I am posting, not the content of links to material on publicly available websites. That's why I found it so strange that you would raise the issue of a typo on an article I merely linked to -- it makes no sense.

[dhill926]

6. good. stop them before they buy up all of hollywood......

not to mention the lives they ruin.

[Luminous Animal]

7. That was a long but good article.

Thanks!

[catzies]

28. The New Yorker's pieces are know for their exhaustive depth of reporting. A rarity nowadays. n/t

[obxhead]

8. Why not.

It's just as likely to be as real as all the others to choose from. ;)

[pnwmom]

12. The others don't cost you a half million or more

to get through the program.

And I haven't heard of any other major religions in this country that are operating slave labor camps, have you?

I knew a woman who joined Scientology thirty years ago. In her late 70's, she was finally kicked out -- with nothing, not even Social Security -- because she wasn't healthy enough to work for them anymore. She went home and her ex-husband took her back into his home, where she died a couple of years later.

Scientology isn't like other religions.

[obxhead]

19. I'll agree that Scientology cost more money for the individual member

but refuse to say it's worse than the others.

We're fighting in 2 wars because a Christian had to go fight some evil Muslims. Those wars will have costs that run into the trillions at a cost of 10's of thousands to each and every one of us. I don't even get to choose what that religion has cost me.

Millions have died and will die in the future because of the more popular and acceptable religions. What is the monetary value of each of those lives?

While Scientology has brutal and life destroying ways it is really not all that different from the other religions. A promise to receive something after death when you can get no refund if it does not operate as advertised.

[originalpckelly]

22. No.

Scientology is NOT a religion. It's a criminal conspiracy masquerading as a religion.

For many years they didn't even call themselves a "church". If you were more into science, they'd tailor their message to you that they were a scientific organization. L. Ron Hubbard was a nuclear engineer in that version of their BS, and he'd discovered some great new science.

Only if you were more spiritual would they use that slant. Eventually, however, they stopped the science stuff and moved toward religion, recognizing the tax benefits of it.

[pnwmom]

24. Right. They became a "religion" as opposed to the "science" of "Dianetics"

when they realized the tax benefits of doing so.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. A 'real' religion is anything that calls itself a religion.

There is no other objective definition.

[originalpckelly]

41. I think when it's just a criminal conspiracy masquerading as a religion...

then it's not a religion.

[Warren DeMontague]

46. You mean like the Vatican? nt

[pnwmom]

23. You think that if a Scientologist were President we'd be fighting no wars?

Yeah, right.

:sarcasm:

You didn't address my previous point. Scientologists are operating what amounts to slave labor camps in this country. No other religion does that.

[obxhead]

47. Yeah, not a single one of the slave owners of Americas past

were religious in any way. Not a single Christian, Jew, Muslim, or any other religion in the whole entire world treats people as slaves.

Your thinking that only Scientology followers had, or do have slaves, is complete nonsense and not worthy of the argument.

There ya go, answered as demanded.

[KamaAina]

27. It's the only church* I've ever seen with a "Help Wanted" sign in its window

seriesly.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. It's not a contest, but look at the Vatican's history with Child Abusing Priests.

The fact of the matter is, invisible sky-beings, arks, magical underwear and the like are no less ridiculous than galactic overlords tossing people into volcanoes. The difference is, Scientology is more recent.

Saying "they're all bullshit" isn't cutting Scientology any sort of a break.

[Stevenmarc]

13. Who wouldn't want to believe a religion pulled out of a sci-fi writers ass

With a business model like a Nigerian Email scam

[immoderate]

43. All religion is the product of sci-fi writers.

They just called them something different then. :)


--imm

[defendandprotect]

16. He's been with them 35 years -- !!! And only beginning to question it all now!!??

[pnwmom]

25. The article is an interesting read because it addresses

that kind of question . . . how the craziest beliefs are kept out of the early stages. How he'd been a Scientologist for years, making connections with people and moving up through the levels, before he had a chance to read the materials that made him start to question everything.

Before the "scripture" got onto the Internet, even most Scientologists -- if they hadn't reached the highest levels -- didn't know how nutty the belief system was.

[defendandprotect]

31. Same thing many said about the CIA ... at some level it's believable .. after 35 years NOT!

Whenever we engage with hiearchies of power we have to be suspicious --

and certainly Scientology is a hierarchy of power.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slackmaster]

20. Highly recommended!

:kick:

[CJvR]

21. SCIFI Religion.

If you have to take up a SCIFI religion pick Jedi it is cheaper and, as long as you stay clear of the dark side, better for you.

[bemildred]

26. LRon started his own religion to get rich. And it worked. nt

[defendandprotect]

32. Well, he started a money-making cult -- later it became a "religion" ...

to become free from taxes -- and only after a long waged war vs the IRS here --

which suddenly collapsed at some point in Scientology's favor.

Looked like a very threatening situation -- or corrupt inner co-option/influence at IRS.

Lots of info on that on internet -- most organizations which have contested Scientology

have been threatened and many dropped their investigations!!

[bemildred]

39. All religions start out as cults. nt

[defendandprotect]

48. All religions ARE cults ... however Scientology wasn't approved by IRS as a "religion" ...

nor do I think they described themselves as a religion prior to

their appeal to IRS for exemption from taxes as "religion."

[Mosby]

53. many start out as sects.

Not cults.

[drmeow]

33. I heard he did it on a bet. nt

[bemildred]

38. I've heard that too.

Or he got the idea that way. But he won the bet.

[defendandprotect]

49. Think he also got a lot of his ideas from fascism ...

[drmeow]

34. Let's find a way

to sic Al Qaeda on Scientology and vise versa!

[Dash87]

35. What a bunch of nuts.

[Initech]

36. What a lovely organization.

:sarcasm:

Not really, they make PETA look like upstanding citizens by comparison.

[Permanut]

40. Boy, dictator Xenu ain't gonna be happy about this...

and Paul Haggis can just forget about getting anything from the Galactic Federation!

[Cetacea]

42. They are right about one thing

Shock treatment causes permanent brain damage. Hearing otherwise well educated people repeat the mantra that "we don't know how it works" is sickening and just as bad as stating that we are in some alien wars. And it's a multi-billion dollar industry with few regulations...

[RandomThoughts]

44. I am not in a war.

I am showing that a war is going on, and it is pretty stupid. Since it does not make sense.

I am however due beer and travel money, and someone needs to correct that.


Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg8cDmi7-U8

[tammywammy]

45. clambake.org - full of interesting Scientology facts

clambake.org

[BlueIris]

51. I like Ex-Scientology Kids, though it's not for sissy pants.

http://exscientologykids.com/

Some heartbreaking stuff in there.

[tammywammy]

55. I had the link wrong.

It's Operation Clambake at xenu.net

[blogslut]

50. So glad this got bumped!

I read all 26 pages. Interesting article - not so much for me because I pretty much read all this stuff in other places but, it was nice to see such a serious treatment in a national publication.

[guardian]

52. K & R n/t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

54. I wonder if the new Scientology tv ad campaign was started to combat this. I had a customer who had

been a Scientologist for over 30 years. His then fiance was also a member for almost as long. She worked in the top offices there and discovered something that proved the organization was a scam. They both left the "church". From there on in, all of my customer's family, devout Scientologists(one is very high profile), turned their back on him.