Why the Hatred Towards Scientology?

I was walking down the street in 'the city' one day, and I walked past the Scientology office. Meanwhile two guys were walking out, having a discussion. "So I've transferred the $10,000." "Ah, good" said the other one. All spoken so casually as if they were exchanging lunch money in the playground.
 
I think a big part of it is that they're such an easy target. It's the same with mocking popular bands or celebrities. It's a way to express your bitterness and anger in a socially acceptable way.

That said, scientology is also very creepy. There were comparisons made to monks and priests, but (except for extreme sects) they're still allowed to talk to family and friends outside the religion. When people go to mass, they might be expected to give a little, but not to have more and more money leeched off of them. You can't have any doubts or fears about the belief system and then there's full out mental torture when a member proves to be a negative influence. Not to mention the harassment when someone speaks out against it.

Now that I'm writing this, I think Scientology is less like Christianity and more like Apple.
 
I remember as a kid...12 or so watching various after school specials about cults. Even back then I couldn't figure out the difference between a cult an any religion I had ever heard of.

I remember watching one once where the family had decided to intervene to get their son back but first discussed it with their church who had a task force in place to do just that. I still remember thinking when someone would do that for each of them.
 
Because most of society has agreed to shun and mock it. It's convenient and I won't catch flack for talking shit about it.
 
Its mythology is seemingly devoid of symbolic emphasis or importance.

Its social practices are business oriented rather than welfare oriented.

It's a privately oriented mystery religion that withholds its tenets (tenets that are essentially worthless and merely represent tiers of a pyramid scheme) behind a paywall rather than a freely accessible public institution.
 
Is this a rhetorical question? I guess people tend to distrust blatant mind control cults. As for non blatant ones, they don't seem to mind as much. Scientology does seem like a scapegoat though. Imagine if they were found guilty of a major pedophilia coverup. Not that anything like that could ever occur within an organized religion. That would just be crazy.
 
Pretty much all religions were ridiculed when first arose. They all had to go through a period of being recently invented making it more obvious at the time that someone must made it up.

Obviously, humans are extremely gullible when it comes to this topic. It seems that a large number of people can be convinced of anything so long as it makes them feel better and we can all be convinced of things if we are taught them growing up.

We are living through the invention stage so we are more cynical. When we're dead and the only people alive are those that have been hearing about it all their lives it will lose most of its stigma.

Scientology is equally valid as any other religion and was set up for the same reasons. Money and power in exchange for making you feel better.
 
I'm glad that comments like "they're weird" came up, because that's just the thing - how are they any weirder than other religions?

Money - okay, it's a new religion with few followers. They are aggressively trying to spread all over the world, like most other religions. When Islam and Christianity did the same, they put humongous taxes on their local populations. How are they any different? Because people think it's OK to be taxed, but not to be charged for courses?

Again, it seems like people enjoy bullying Scientology because they're the new kid on the religion block, and it's easy to point fingers at them because there's so few of them. Look at your own philosophies before you claim that other ways of living are weird or stupid.
 
I'm glad that comments like "they're weird" came up, because that's just the thing - how are they any weirder than other religions?

Money - okay, it's a new religion with few followers. They are aggressively trying to spread all over the world, like most other religions. When Islam and Christianity did the same, they put humongous taxes on their local populations. How are they any different? Because people think it's OK to be taxed, but not to be charged for courses?

Again, it seems like people enjoy bullying Scientology because they're the new kid on the religion block, and it's easy to point fingers at them because there's so few of them. Look at your own philosophies before you claim that other ways of living are weird or stupid.

Did you convert to Scientology or what man?
(inquiring minds want to know!)

What are your own personal feelings about it?
 
Maybe scientology will become relevant with news of a savior curicified and then absent a real medical diagnosis seems to come back from the dead?
 
Did you convert to Scientology or what man?
(inquiring minds want to know!)

What are your own personal feelings about it?

I don't know. It seems like a religion to me. The people that casually practice it, or treat it casually at least, are just like anyone else. It's the extremists that ruin it for everyone else.
 
There's been such terrible tragedies to come out from Scientology, sure. People denied psychiatric help when they clearly needed it. Families broken up due to disconnection.

... But how about all of the people killed in the name of the three world religions? What about all of the families torn up due to conversions to new religions? The people killed in exorcisms?

I think you've somewhat answered your own question here.

Attacking Scientology is misplaced anger unless it has directly affected you and perhaps a misuse of time, but people do it because it feels like it is a battle they can possibly win. The battle of the big three religions has been going strong for so long and is so embedded in everything that it is an impossible fight to win.

Scientology also appears more absurd because we have actual proof that it was created as a scam. The big three theoretically could have been created in a similar manner and likely were but much of the proof of this has been lost in the ages. The same thing could happen with Scientology, though that is less likely due to the invention of the internet. At this point in time it is still a winnable fight. We can preserve its falsities and expose them. Ancient religions are more difficult to expose in this way, and people are less receptive to discoveries because there is a level of deniability as well as a need to belong in society, of which a very large portion belongs to one of these ancient religions. If you don't feel like you belong to one of those, Scientology is waiting to scoop you up. Cults prey on people who want badly to belong and cannot find a place.
 
Documents stolen from room in parliament

published 1996-12-01

Documents for a "sensitive" parliamentary motion were stolen in May from Barbro Westerholm's office of the Liberal Party in the parliament, report TV 4's The News.

The bill was about what Barbro Westerholm calls "destructive movements", such as the Church of Scientology.

Among the stolen documents were letters from defectors from Scientology.

- I look very seriously at what happened. There is someone who is very afraid of what I might have in my room, says Westerholm.

Parliamentary Security does not exclude the possibility of an insider crime.

http://www.dn.se/arkiv/politik/handlingar-stals-ur-riksdagsrum/



Scientology Bible public - again

published 1998-06-19

Niclas Lindstrand

The Supreme Administrative Court rebuffs the government when it comes to the so-called Scientologist Bible. It is a public document and should be made public. The principle of freedom of information precedes copyright and Secrecy Act does not apply to, concludes the Administrative Court.

- We are extremely disappointed, says Tarja Wulto, Director of Communications for the Church of Scientology in Stockholm. There are international agreements on copyright for unpublished works and our writings fall under the agreements. But we should not leave the case without taking it to the European Court in Strasbourg or Geneva, whatever, so that we get our rights.

The texts OT (Operating Thetan) and NOT (?) belong to Scientology's most secret writings. They were written by founder L. Ron Hubbard, and to read them requires many expensive courses should be studied first.

US authorities had put pressure on Sweden when the Scientologist Bible was submitted to parliament and became widely available there to the public. Among other things, the United States threatened to report Sweden to the World Trade Organisation.

The government declassified thereafter the scriptures and several other agencies followed suit. The government referred to the rules of confidentiality for information concerning Sweden's relations with other states.

- The allegations that we violated international commitments calmed down after that, says Justice Minister Laila Freivalds. What happens now I do not know, it has not been sufficient time. We have left the basic problem but hope that the inquiry was appointed in April to be able to solve it.

For an act to classified with regard to relations with another country requires it to be the actual content of the act that may damage relations. And it is not the content of the Scientologist Bible that is the problem, according to government law, but that Swedish law makes it public.

The US government equates the Church of Scientology with other commercial companies.

- A US legal entity, in this case a church, get their legitimate copyright violated daily by the Swedish Government, says Tony Holm at the US Embassy in Stockholm to SVT's News.

- It is Sweden's obligation to solve the problem. We are prepared to show patience, and we have also shown in 2.5 years, but at some point we must find a solution. We thought we had one but the court has brought us back to square one again. We wonder how the Swedish government now thinking processes.

Asked whether Sweden risks blacklisting of trade relations between the countries responding Tony Holm:

- Blacklisting is not the right term. But Sweden has landed on the US trade authority's list of those who violated US intellectual property worldwide. And it's not flattering.

Facts / Scientologist Bible

+ Scriptures was submitted by the parliament and the government by a private person, so that they could be read by anyone. Scientologists protested. The government Unclassified criticized hard and notified to the Constitutional Committee. Both KU and parliament, however, has ruled that the government made the right, albeit with a dissenting opinion from the Left and Green parties.

+ The Attorney General and Administrative Court of Appeal has previously said no to that document would be released. It was the decision that was appealed and led to the Supreme Court's ruling in the case.

http://www.dn.se/arkiv/inrikes/scientologbibeln-offentlig-igen/



Here are two newspaper articles from a Swedish paper showing what happened when a man sent the 'Scientology Bible' to the Swedish parliament. I am not exactly sure what that refers to in English. I translated the articles with Google Translate and made some refinements of my own.

All documents sent to governmental agencies and produced by governmental agencies in Sweden are made public and not classified. Only documents that are to do with defence or containing private information of citizens are classified. So the Scientology Bible was available for anyone to read in the Swedish parliament.

The Church of Scientology sent its own gorillas to read the Bible. Most in parliament slots were filled by them to make access difficult. Pages were ripped out. One politician had a burglary in her office in parliament.

Diplomatic relations with Uncle Sam broke down because of this affair. The Church of Scientology is a commercial company, so the Bible is a commercial secret. Commercial secrets must remain secret, in their view.

The guy who sent the bible was tried in court. He won the first trial but then in a higher court he lost the case.

These religious maniacs - if Scientology is a religion at all - are willing to do anything to make people's lives a hell. And rip them off money. That is what psychopathic religion is all about.
 
This was taking place between 1996 and 1998.
 
lion-and-lamb-lie-down-together.jpg


Now I believe in world peace :)

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A wolf in sheep's clothing trying to eat a lion.
 
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