In the face of the enormous interest and critical acclaim for Alex Gibney’s Going Clear documentary, Scientology is in panic mode. So, they do what they have always done in times of disaster: fall back on trying to gain sympathy by claiming to be the object of bigotry and religious persecution.
In typical arrogant Miscavige style, he refused to cooperate in making the film, not agreeing to an interview and making sure nobody else under his spell did either. It was a strategy he has used plenty of times in the past. And once the reporting is done, the whining begins: “they only looked at one side of the story,” “they ignored all our information.” It’s the “victim of the media” card. But that tactic seems to be losing traction. People have caught on to the game and realize scientology tries to manipulate the media far more than it manipulates them. Not many fall into that category, but scientology has managed to scratch and claw its way into such an unenviable position.
Neither do people find the scientology “dead agent” smears convincing. In fact, they are more often than not seen today as proof that the central contentions of the “critics” and media (and this new movie will be the ultimate in this regard) are born out by the the church responses.
So, what do they do next? What they ALWAYS do when things spiraled into true catastrophe mode.
Pull out the “religious persecution card.”
So, it’s no surprise to see a new edition of Freedom magazine exclusively devoted to “Religion: Why You Should Care.”
The pervasive message is that all religions are “attacked” (so, of course you are supposed to understand why scientology is “attacked”) and that all religions do good for society, and scientology is one of them, ergo we too do good.
It is truly the weakest defense scientology has to the scathing criticisms it faces, as most people do NOT consider it a religion. And the film will only reinforce that view. Personally, I happen to think scientology, as a subject, is as much a religion as any other belief system (and it IS a belief system), but that isn’t the point of this posting.
One of the Freedom articles is especially instructive for two reasons:
First, it seeks to position scientology as being a benefit to the world by including it in generalized statements of how religions benefit society. It’s the “boys are smarter than girls, I am a boy, therefore I am smarter than all girls” rationale. Unfortunately, if you know the subject, it brings into stark contrast the second point.
HOW dishonest scientology can be. The implication that a day without scientology would be a day without the benefits provided by “religions” (really “churches”) is ridiculous, arrogant and hypocritical as you will see below.
Following is their article with my comments interspersed in red.
What would a day without religion look like?
We have all heard the statistics about how an increasing number of Americans profess no specific religious affiliation, even if they may still identify as spiritual.
Given this reality, it’s instructive to ponder what it might look like were there to be a day without religion in the United States—if a temporary blip in the universe suddenly resulted in religion somehow not existing for a 24-hour period. Would it even be all that noticeable?
Answer: Yes.
Here are the ways that being suddenly religion-less for a single day would matter in our lives:
Very Young Children Would Be a Lot Less Secure and Cared For:
Somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of babies and toddlers are in childcare or preschool in a church, synagogue or other place of worship. Without religion, those kids would go uncared-for that day. Or mom or dad would have to stay home from work.
Show me a scientology pre-school program in ANY church (other than possibly for people ON services) and I will watch every David Miscavige international event back to back strapped to a chair with a feeding tube. My son goes to a Catholic Church Day Care facility/preschool, virtually every church has one. If anyone could get past the security guards at the front door of the Ft Harrison to inquire about their child care program they would be laughed out of the lobby.
We Would Be Less Likely to Take Adequate Care of Ourselves:
Surveys reveal that those who regularly attend religious services are considerably more inclined to get preventive medical care in advance of becoming ill. In other words, those who nurture their spirit tend to do the same with their physical being.
This is the exact opposite with scientologists. They believe all physical conditions have mental causes. Thus, their inclination is to “get auditing” or “find their PTS item” until LONG after they should have gotten preventive medical care.
We Would Experience a serious Economic Impact:
Some 19 percent of higher education institutions in the United States bear a religious (Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Jesuit, Methodist and so on) affiliation—including such schools as Boston College, DePauw University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Notre Dame. Were faith itself to disappear for even a single day, the results could be economically catastrophic. These campuses enroll more than 2 million students, employ upward of 600,000 faculty and staff, and have operating budgets of more than $35 billion. Translated, even 24 hours without religious colleges and universities would have a staggering impact on America’s bottom line.
Indeed, We Would Probably Be a Lot Less Well:
We know that the routine of attending services and hanging out with our friends during faith-based activities drives a state of well-being that lowers blood pressure, slows the advance of heart disease, and in general leaves us feeling healthier than if we spent the same time plastered on a couch watching television.
Well, IF that happened in scientology organizations this could be true. Instead, people experience constant high pressure sales techniques. Being in a scientology organization is an extremely stressful experience unless you have virtually unlimited funds.
We Would Encounter Diminished Hospital Access:
Some 20 percent of hospital beds in America are found at medical facilities with a religious affiliation. That would be an awful lot of people beset by illness lacking any means of finding acute care.
Not a single hospital bed anywhere is “affiliated with” or “funded by” scientology.
We Would Exercise Considerably Less Compassion:
All of the faith-based charities that raise money for the homeless, for famine relief, for families on the brink, for children at risk, and so many other humanitarian and philanthropic works would grind to a halt for 24 very difficult hours should religion disappear. That would mean no help whatsoever for many people in need and vast holes in the social safety net.
Scientology provides no “social safety net” for anyone. The best they can come up with is some small “disaster relief” effort with just enough people in gaudy t-shirts to capture some close up video shots of them handing out WTH booklets or giving “assists” to be used for more fundraising.
We Would Lack the Comfort Tools to Soothe Those in Spiritual Need:
When approaching those who have endured a traumatic experience or event, no reassuring spiritual counseling could be offered to lend support and solace in a deeper, more divine way. We might instead be limited to tendering the bereft such platitudes as, “Hopefully things will improve for you soon. Good luck. We will wish the best for you” sans any sacred context.
Maybe. One of the more intangible benefit of this list is perhaps something scientology provides to its internal public. It requires someone to “minister” which scientology does in return for payment, so perhaps not so much after all….
We Would Be a Lot Lonelier and More Melancholy:
Surveys show that spiritually committed people are twice as likely to say they are very happy. Being part of a regular group such as those found at churches and temples leaves human beings happier, social creatures that we are. We crave contact and deep connection. Without religion that one day, we would be more isolated and quite likely would be miserable.
Again, they conflate religion with church and “groups.” Not the same thing. And I am sure scientologists would say they are “very happy.” They will be minimally sent to Ethics and Qual and most likely sec checked if they don’t. But deep down inside, the vast majority have learned to steer clear of any organized meeting of scientologists as they ONLY gather in order to try and squeeze more money out of those who are stupid enough to show up. This is the not the stuff of happiness. Getting together with other scientologists in the church is stressful.
We Would Feel a Lot Worse About Ourselves Personally—and More Anxious, Too:
If surveys have taught us nothing else, they reveal that the sense of belonging to a larger culture itself builds confidence and self-esteem (of 69 studies, 42 found significantly higher levels of self-esteem among individuals who were more religious). Having a religious social affiliation can also soothe feelings of anxiety, as we tend to rely on our faith to more effectively deal with crises and setbacks in our lives.
Really? Whatever. I don’t find this to be true, but perhaps others do. I would generally agree that scientologists have a high level of self-esteem. I think it is a byproduct of every fundamentalist belief system. How can you not have a high opinion of yourself when you believe you know the answers to everything?
We Would Find Millions of People Going Hungry:
Some 64 percent of agencies providing food aid to individuals and families are faith-based or housed in a religious organization. Without religion, that sustenance might well not get distributed at all for an entire day.
Not applicable to scientology. There is no scientology “food aid to individuals” program. In fact, if scientology didn’t exist, probably a lot of money that people currently give to scientology that is spent on buildings, lawyers and private investigators would find its way to other charities that DO provide aid to those in need.
Community Volunteering Would be Cut in Half:
Faith-based institutions engage 45 million volunteers, nearly half of the total of American volunteers. And 70 percent of volunteers who serve through faith-based organizations continue serving from one year to the next.
Scientology volunteers are for the most part only volunteering for the benefit of scientology. Not for people in need or to serve the community. But even more interesting, David Miscavige routinely crows about “Scientology being the largest private relief force on earth” but this says faith based institutions “engage 45 million volunteers” JUST in the US. If scientology can muster 2,000 it would be a shock. His claim is just laughably absurd. Like a flea claiming to be bigger than the elephant it is standing next to.
We Would Have No clergy to Conduct Services or to Consult on Personal Matters or Issues of Faith:
If there’s no religion, there is no clergy, leaving an enormous faith gap. In practical terms, this would mean that people beset by probing questions are left on their own without uplifting assistance from a person of spiritual authority.
It is fascinating that in their OWN publication they have identified the benefits that churches provide to society. And by doing so have opened the door to demonstrating why scientology does not fit that categorization. And this in turn is the fundamental question of religious tax exemption.
The underlying principle of tax exemption for religious organizations is that they provide a benefit to the public at large, so it is self-defeating to tax them in order to fund the government which is also supposed to provide benefits to its citizens. In fact, in many areas outside the United States the test for exemption is called a “Public Benefit Test.” It is one of the reasons the church has such difficulty gaining exempt status in the UK for example, as they have to try and meet the “public benefit test” and narconon and applied scholastics and a few VMs don’t hack it. The regulations of the IRS are not quite so clear, but the principle is the same. Freedom magazine has just provided the road map as to why churches of scientology should NOT be tax exempt.
PS: To pre-empt any commenters who think there is an inconsistency in my statements — a religion and a religious tax exempt organization are not the same thing.
PPS: Is Freedom mag trying to look like the New Yorker now in an effort to gain credibility?
What was that slogan, back in the day, some fast food chain – McDonald’s, I think: “At McDonald’s, we do it all for you”.
Let me just work that around a little: “In the CO$, we do it all for us”.
I believe it was burger king: “have it your way.”
Albeit, mcdonald’s DOES charge you a lovely, whopping $1.50 for a slice of tomato on a burger…..
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
The Church of Scientology, unlike many other religions, gives aid and comfort to NO-ONE except possibly its major donors. How pathetic of the Co$ to position itself with other religions which provide food, clothing, housing, pet adoption facilities, medical help and emergency disaster relief to the Third World and the poor everywhere. Its just sickening. Good thing I haven’t eaten yet.
In L. Ron Hubbard’s prolific but mostly superficial level pulp and adventure and sci fi writing, he comes across as still very superficial.
Nothing changes even with his prolific writings about how to run the Scientology movement.
My big conclusion is thus a crank/crackpot will not be able to make much of his “serious” work, namely Scientology.
And that made me recall the Aesop’s Fable with the lesson that one cannot make a purse out of a sow’s ear.
Hubbard’s solutions are superficial or downright horrible for people’s lives.
The movement is a money making machine just like Richard Behar’s TIME magazine article implied.
The NY Times book review of Janet Reitman’s book, “Inside Scientology” by the famous American intellectual Gary Wills, made similar conclusions that a “religion” focused on it’s wealth has gone astray from what religion ought be doing.
Hubbard’s helping the able become more able, isn’t even true.
There is so much to criticize of L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology and the policies he’s left the movement to grapple with, and their overall superficiality and their irreligious theoretical principles, it’s overwhelming in the totality of the downsides to this subject called Scientology.
I concluded there’s no real way to make a purse out of Hubbard’s sow’s ear, Scientology. And Scientology’s only Hubbard rules they do focus on is gathering their money donations as their top priority.
Well, seems to me this Freedom Mag article SO opens the door to a REAL dead agenting: Paulette Cooper, a Jew who survived the Holocaust only to be attacked viciously by the Church (?) of Scientology, writes a rebuttal article for the New Yorker. Her whole story REALLY needs to get out there more and what better to demonstrate the TRUE nature of this truly deviant, greedy and sadistic group.
Oh, and more religions would do well to study what L Ron Hubbard really said about them. Here’s an oldie from the 90s: http://tingleff.org/jensting/muslinger/hub_xtian.htm
Mike, you show an admirable stamina and tolerance for bullshit to have finished this, never mind commented so fully.
I stopped at the care of children We don’t have to imagine what $cientology child care is, we know. Just read Jenna Miscavige Hill’s book “Beyond belief” for instance on http://amzn.com/0062248480 . Hard physical labour and undue influence are the key concepts. And deception. While the installation where the author grew up was for children of the most hard core and dedicated group, the “Sea Org,” the criminal organisation known as the “church” of $cientology still felt the need to hide the condition of the children and have the children deceive their parents about the place.
Great post and followed by excellent commentary. This all brought a previously blurred flashback moment that I just now clearly remember. In 1977/78 I was on the PAC RPF with many memorable notables (Toby Young, Andre Tabayoyan, Jesse Prince, Spanky Taylor, Spike Bush, and others). Point being there were 200 of us, probably 250. We all shared the 7th Floor of the Main Building which is photo’d on the HBO Doc Trailer. Every night all 200-250 us used to sit on the floor on the East wing 7th Floor cross legged. The Bosun Andre would ask us to give our “wins” for the day. At the time I thought it was it was benificial but corny. After reading this it was down right creepy. In hindsight, 10-15 years ago it was not safe to make this kind of comment. I am happy to today.
Every stinking religion should be done away with as useless and destructive forces … except for MINE as we are the answer to evetyone’s salvation and offer the only full truth about life. But the OTHER ones …
“Lending support and solace in a divine way” ?????? Hahahahahahahaha!!!! Freedumb mag is 100% hypocritical.
You’ve done a great post here Mike.
“Surveys reveal that those who regularly attend religious services are considerably more inclined to get preventive medical care in advance of becoming ill.”
Jeeee-zus, what a howler! Scientologists rank at the bottom regarding preventive medical care. I have a feeling it’s why so many OTs die of cancer – they never go to the goddamned doctor! By the time it gets so painful that they are forced to see a doc, that shit’s already Stage IV.
And this whole thing reads like an 8th grade essay. Hmmmm, who do we know who dropped out in the 8th grade?
Without religion we would express considerably less compassion.
It’s a bit rich for an organisation that includes disconnection and fair game as core policies to include compassion in the article as a shield for them to shelter under.
Personally I do no feel that Scientology is a religion. It hides behind a religious cloak but does nothing that real religions do to help people. Scientology is only about the money. The GI is their God and if they can’t get it by providing services that produce valid results, they convince people to donate money through strong arm tactics and relentless regging. Scientology has never had the goals of a real religion. The ministerial collars they have used are simply a copy of Christian pastors and priests. Hubbard was their God and now it’s David Miscavige.
Dean — I agree with you about the church. There are two parts to religion. Belief and practice. Practice is what makes someone religious or not religious in my mind. And that is primarily the function of the church. Scientology beliefs are no more or less strange than any other religion. Some things have just become accepted in society as being “matters of faith” — the parting of the red sea, virgin birth, Jesus arising after he was crucified, Joseph Smith speaking to angels to translate golden tablets, Xenu etc etc etc Every religion has teachings that you could interpret as benign and others that you could interpret as fundamentalist. I can imagine people who proclaim themselves to be scientologists actually caring about their fellow man and being extremely charitable and of great benefit to society. There are plenty of things in scientology that people of goodwill could interpret that instructs them to do so.
This is not a debate I wish to have here really, as though interesting, it doesn’t really advance my purpose. Which is to end the abuses in corporate scientology. In that light, it is somewhat immaterial whether scientology as a subject is classified as a religion or a scam. What is NOT immaterial are the actions that harm people.
It only crosses over where the religious mantle assumed by those who are clearly NOT religious and are not benefiting society is used as a cloak to shield abusive practices. Fortunately, and unfortunately, in the United States the First Amendment offers enormous latitude to those who can claim to be protected by its intent.
It’s really why I wrote this article in the first place.
Mike – I totally agree. Very well said.
Great article, Mike. You are such a good writer.
I agree with some previous posters that the Freedom article was pretty good in places too. I wish that they would include your comments in their current issue. But they really don’t have to because probably your comments echo the thoughts that occur to virtually every reader anyway.
I wouldn’t be surprised if even many bubble dwellers would see the incongruity in the statements made in the “cherch’s” article as written and open a couple eyes here and there. I saw this happen when I sent previous Freedom Mag articles to COS members.
DM is just so very desperate with regards to the PR and the legal arenas.
He tries, but then he keeps on kicking his own ass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87w655s3xKc
I personally BEGGED the relevant staff at FSO to PLEASE help my dear friend Dennis Dubin when he was found by me to be dying. I was put off for WEEKS while I went to his home daily to help him as best I could. His circumstances were VERY bad and at the time he required the services of a specifically trained auditor which I was not at the time. Dennis, one of the first Freedom medal winners – the only care shown was when I finally got through to them that he was DYING they sent two people. One to try to see if he’d turn over his world wide list of contacts from Heads of State to religious leaders and corporate leaders and another to interview him and gather information I’d already provided weeks prior.
One of my dearest friends who nearly died from lack of medical attention after 25 years in the “sea org” was sent away from them BECAUSE he needed medical help and the “sea org” SURE as helk wasn’t going to pay for it! That’s the “sea org’s” modus operandi!
A public here in Clearwater was so sick with cancer that he weighed about 90 pounds. I had to go to his house to cook or take him food and watch him eat to ensure he had enough energy in the night to make it to the bathroom. During this time period FSO regges increased his credi card limit to sell him an e-meter they knew he’d never use. I drove him to his doctor appointments, took him to our home after surgeries, flushed his catheters while 99%his “team members” his long-term “social group” of FSO public in the OT committee were just glad he didn’t bring his “PTS”, emaciated self to meetings and events “just to eat the food. RIP Jacob.
TAnd let me wrap up with another story of just how much the church of scientology succors and ministers. A 32 year staff member fell and cracked his head on the marble floor at the advanced org at FSO called the Sandcastle. HE was removed from the building and set on a park bench outside. An ambulance was called. He was to make a long story short left alone for three days as he fought for his life with a brain hemorrhage! I found out about it and with another friend rushed to the hospital to find he was literally a “John Doe”! NO ONE FROM THE FSO went to see him, see if he was ok, find out if he needed any help HE WAS IN A COMA and the hospital had NO ONE to contact!
THAT’S how this so called relgion of scientology cares for their own! It is because of the INCREDIBLE hypocracy inside the “church of scientology” some described above that I found myself liberated to actually HELP people without the shackles placed on the purpose. The cold, unforgiving judgement and disregard for human life is ripe in the “woof and warp” of that money motivated, delusional, condescending, holier than thou bunch of hypocites.
Succor THAT david miscavige. I’M one of the very FEW who spent thousands of my own hours to help these people and more above and beyond when YOUR CHURCH doesn’t even have a location in your org structure to PROVIDE the kind of care, love and succor that most will find they need sooner or later.
Shame on you david miscavige, shame on you K Feshback shame on you scientologists for sitting on your high horses when the real world needs you to walk side by side with them in true love and brotherhood. You wouldn’t know what it meant to help real people in need because YOUR DISGUSTED by them, afraid of them and pity them. I am so sorry for you.
Holy shit Gayle.
OMG Gayle, I’m speechless. Your stories should be a deposition in court as proof that the C of $ is not a church — they offer no succor to anyone, and instead give harsh criticism and judgement and get the “PTS” out of their site lest they rub off on some of the other members. I knew Jacob and this is the first I heard of his story. He gave them tons of money through the years to get on OT VII. And no one came to even offer an assist to him when he needed help desperately. But you did. You, Gayle, deserve all the medals and honors and accolades. Ron would have been proud of you. Thank you for your continued real help. Not just lip service or WTH books, but real help. You’re a very caring and valuable person.
Wow Gayle…
You are truly one of the able.
I too saw a number of people in ANZO totally disregarded by the church when they got sick or injured. I remember giving one lady assists in hospital which eventually turned out to me visiting and having a good chat – that’s all she wanted really. She had given her all the church and felt very abandoned.
What a cruel and very mean ‘religion’ $cientology actually is as a group. Thanks for your info, hard to grasp and stomach that sort of betrayal but it needs to be known.
Gayle – Your post left me speechless. Humanity, compassion and love is what that church doesn’t have and doesn’t seem to want anything to do with. If they had those things, then they would have no trouble with their PR or having to falsify their stats. You have all those things – love, compassion, and humanity. You show through your actions that you truly care.
Moving and stunning. There’s something about it all that those guys just didn’t get. One day, they may find themselves in a similar position, and maybe that’s what they fear, but are literally to scared to look.
That’s a horrific story Gayle but I’m so glad you told it. You’re an angel.
Thank you for telling this Gayle, and for your real giving and caring. I too saw a discarded SO member who was wandering around my neighborhood with a brain tumor. He would walk up and down the street each day with nothing else to do. He had been sent away with no money or insurance. I didn’t know him but his dad took him in and cared for him. He was treated like trash.
I read the posts on this blog and geezers, it’s a long and painful KR being produced on the RCS.
I took a bit of time to look at what the objectives of the people are that are desperately trying to get the truth out there about what the Cof$ actually is and does. There is no doubt it is a criminal organisation masquerading under the banner of religion, but it’s path to tax free status and gaining religion status has cleared a path though the legal system of the likes the KKK could only dream about. The Mob is a close comparison sort of with it’s litigable enterprises funded by corrupt money but the source of the criminality that produced that money in the first place has long since been deemed legally unapproachable and it is the haven of legal opportunity for the corrupt if your smart enough & game enough to handle the big bucks. The corruption is woven into the woof and warp of the legal/political system.
So what are the objectives of the people opposed to the corrupt organisation headed by captain miscavige?
I see it covers the whole range from complete obliteration of everything Hubbard ever said or did and miscavige in jail etc. to keep Scientology alive but just get rid of the corruption within it and every shade of grey between. People love to squirrel, it’s a simple fact, why object so vehemently? Scientology policy has had a long time to work and it seems it’s unworkable. I’m in sort of agreement with that but it also never had a chance to breath with miscavige poisoning the organisation from the early eighties. KRs written were simply thrown in the bin or ignored – easy handling by execs up lines.
Was Hubbard’s Saint Hill stats just an aberration? Along with the concept of KSW1?
IMHO I would like to see a cross section of ‘in good standing Scios’ answer some simple questions in a public forum honestly. Questions like:
What is a degraded being?
What is an upstat being?
Please define ‘help’ in your own words?
Should people be helped? If yes, does that include degraded beings? Define apostate? Do you know any?
What exactly is a religion and how does Scientology fit within that definition?
Do you know the ‘Code of Honour’? If not why not? If yes, please give me an example of how you use it to better your integrity and that of the Church.
Are you an auditor? If not why not? Isn’t being an auditor the only road to Freedom? Do you audit others? Hubbard expects you to.
What is the auditor’s code and is it applicable to you in life?
Can help be given without being an auditor? If so how?
Does the Church of Scientology help people – if so how and please give examples.
Is money security more important than sanity?
The list can go on and on and I’m sure it would be interesting to see those that profess to have the ‘tech’ of life confront the answers.
Of course they would refuse point blank – why? is a good question.
Everything happening to them is a result of their own creation/activities – the smart SPs have long since retired from the fight that Scientology once posed. That war was lost before it really began, earth is still earth and life is still cheap in the general scheme of things. Lots of wars going on and the gap between rich and poor widens every day. Bankers and power brokers are just as detached from the pains of existence as miscavige is.
If Scientology did produce answers, where are they now?
Such a great post, Mike.
As an ex-public Scientologist, my view is that probably the biggest ARC break that we have with the dying movement is “the overzealous sales tactics used by the registrars for overpriced services”. If the price was low enough and the service always delivered the product it is advertised to deliver, Scientology could practically sell itself and “high pressure” sales tactics would not be necessary. Take that, DM.
Beryl, if Scn delivered what El Con promised I could set up a practice and make literally a few billion dollars within MONTHS. (that I guarantee you) But, it never did deliver on any significant promises El Con made. High pressure sales tactics have been the hallmark of Scn since DM was in diapers.
Thank you, Mike – I think this is one of the best you’ve written.
When a bunch of us faced the Senate Committee here in Oz a few years ago, these same points were raised by “us” but not as concisely as you’ve done here. The reaction was enlightening to say the least.
The assembled “OTs” gathered there by OSA ANZO barely raised an eyebrow but all others were stunned that a “Church” would have no funded charity works but demand money from its own “Charitable” organizations like NarCONon Nepal for “management expenses.”
Funny how OSA ANZO then trumpeted that the IAS had now bought a building for NN Nepal as if that would “DA” all of the examples of the cult refusing help to “downstats.”
And thus “we” got a Charities Commission recommended and set up here in Oz (that sadly the current bunch of political lunatics in power want to dismantle because the Catholic Church here doesn’t like it either.) It’s telling that this cult doesn’t understand that religion is forever linked with charitable works with the “downstats” of this world.
Scams are linked with forever getting money out of vulnerable people for any reason they can think of.
$cientology has never understood the difference and never will.
How does it feel to escape Scientology? : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEjOqHBXsd8
This ponderous article is essentially a straw man fallacy. “Alex Gubney is attacking all religions.”
I’m sure that the COS facebook and Twitter bots are already spreading this “factual info” throughout the interwebs.
Now peeps can see for themselves the nasty and crazy propaganda that they have heard this”church” does is true. It’s almost like Miscavige has designed a world wide role playing game.
Everyone is getting educated.
Except the COS.
“Mommas, don’t let yer kids grow up to be staff members….”
After being out for several years I have discovered a condition in my body that’s been there since birth. When it would act up and give me troubles while staying up all night plowing through on post in the sea org, no one believed me as to the intensity of pain and personal trouble it was causing me. They’d tell me to quit dramatizing and get to work. Weekly, if not daily.
At meetings going over ill people or “PTSes” (ill or injured staff or people wanting to leave) the general consensus was “Oh, that’s just _____ doing their thing.” I was told this after I left for good and ran into others who used to be there too. What BS and a huge failure of this committee to do it’s administrative job.
Over decades I was sent to a doctor a few times, and got x-rays two times. The x-rays showed the condition (!) and if the doctors told the medical liaison person about it, the medical liaison person never told me. So I was left there in the dark to just get worse as I aged, no matter how much I asked for help.
I know this because I just contacted and got the previous doctors to mail me my old x-rays and I brought them to new doctor visits recently.
The condition actually would have disqualified me from joining the sea org from Day One. But once you check in you don’t check out, unless you fake a realistic suicide or something really horrible, or can jump the fence and brave the elements of the desert and run for cover.
There is actually official policy to get someone with physical complaints to a doctor, and the physical remedies are supposed to be done first. But that always gets ignored, because you have to PAY a doctor to see the staff member. The staff member doesn’t have any money, so in the sea org the church is supposed to pay for it. IF it’s in the financial planning at all. AND if you’re more important than anyone else having a physical ailment because there is never enough money to take care of all the staff with something to get fixed. There used to be upwards of 6-700 sea org members where I worked.
So now I am finding out what a train wreck was going on inside my body, since birth, with ZERO effective care while on staff and in the sea org. Just an occasional lick and a promise.
The administration of the “church” of $cientology or the sea org doesn’t give a shit about anyone’s health or spiritual well being. This dribbles down through the ranks and anyone who does care gets made into a laughing stock for “buying into someone’s attempts to gain sympathy or attempts to get off post.”
If you have a friend or relative on staff or in the sea org, and they tell you everything is just fine, dig a little deeper. It’s NOT fine, and if they are not hurting physically from neglect they are hurting emotionally and spiritually by being made to treat each other inhumanely, lie, and pull trickery and deceit on each other.
For the amount of time I’ve been out, I thought I pretty well found everything that I needed to examine in my own thoughts and made the changes to live a life outside the fence. And then here comes this thing! At least I’ve discovered it and am getting the care and attention it’s needed for 30 some-odd years.
Have you talked to a lawyer?? I’m pretty sure they’d settle. What they did was inhuman and probably illegal. You have a right to know what medical condition you had. Also, talking money away from their war chest is greatest good for all of humanity!
+ 100
Thank you for your idea! But since this is many years ago now, the statute of limitations has come and gone long ago. By the time I realized how unfair, unethical, immoral and illegal the whole show is and how it is run, too much time had passed.
Just wanted to say…I am just one of many who did/do not get proper attention to their health. I’d see many base staff with a tooth missing for example. For years. Simple vitamins were bought a few bottles at a time to dish out to hundreds of people in a week. The big mucky-mucks would get decent treatment and liaison to doctors, dentists or chiropractors, but the hundreds of little peons went without most often.
If you got sick you went to “Isolation,” not a doctor. You got removed from the others so they didn’t catch what you had (a good thing except for the conditions of the room you were in) and you waited it out using scn processes on each other in an effort to get better faster while your co-workers and boss were complaining about your absence. It wasn’t “Hope you feel better!” It was “Quit blowing from post and f____ get back to work!”
Anyone reading this who is within a few years of leaving and who has had similar abuse, do look into the legalities of the way you were treated. If you’ve got some arrows to fire at this beast let ’em rip!
When I contemplate a day without religion, this song comes to mind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVg2EJvvlF8
Re: “We know that the routine of attending services and hanging out with our friends during faith-based activities drives a state of well-being that lowers blood pressure, slows the advance of heart disease, and in general leaves us feeling healthier than if we spent the same time plastered on a couch watching television.”
To that paragraph from Freedom I would say try spending just one day on staff in the Church of Scientology with chronic lack of sleep, poor diet, no healthcare or dentistry, no free time, hyperactivity all around you, manic compulsion to always be up, intense pressure to meet statistical goals every week, the threat of ethics and knowledge reports always hanging over your head, the knowledge that the intimate details of your life are sitting in a folder waiting for any number of untrained jokers to read them, being or being surrounded by chain smokers and coffee addicts, not getting paid, and making sure you either have a perpetual shit eating grin plastered on your face at all times or that you maintain your unflappable and stark TR 0 visage, never showing or even letting yourself feel your own actual emotions.
Do that for one day and see how relaxed and healthy you feel!
FOTF2012, I remember those days. Nothing spiritual about them, and am glad to be away from that clusterfuck of back-stabbing, ¨we-are-the-only-hope-for-mankind¨ homo novi. There WERE some truly nice people on staff, which is a testament of their ability to NOT dramatize L. Con´s bullshit teachings. The execs were, more or less, assholes. So much for ¨spiritual uplift¨ .
Congratulations on a terrific post Mike. You knocked it out of the park!
Just a few days ago, I checked into the Freedom Magazine website by clicking on one of the “The Truth About…” because I wanted to get a concept of what was being said on the church’s side, with all the news on the upcoming documentary. I watched one video and randomly clicked on some of the names and scanned the information. I could not read it word for word and will not repeat names or quotes here.
What I saw was some pretty disgusting trash. Some of which belonged in the gutter and was disturbing to read. Someone over there is obsessed with sex and likes to degrade people with it. I saw nothing “spiritual” or religious in those articles and cannot believe that this came out of a church based magazine.
Now Freedom Magazine wants to talk about how religion is good for society and associate themselves with it. If they truly mean what they say and believe it, then they had better take down all of those “The Truth About…” articles because it makes Freedom Mag / The CoS look seriously flawed, even demented by having those inappropriate and unseemly articles on their website.
It is remarkable that after all the brainstorming that must have gone into this article, this is the best they can come up with! That fact in itself confirms what many critics say against the “church.”
This argument is like saying that the Nazi party was important for a free society because parties further democracy. Or that our society desperately needed the Manson family, because “family” is the building block of harmony and loving care in society.
In fact, the absurdity of this approach and the brazenness of its dishonesty is sort of like a student who has not studied one bit and received a “0” on his final asking the professor to pass him despite of that, so that the other 50 students in this class can go on and serve society as doctors, nurses and relief workers.
I think the author omitted a point in his article. A day without religion (Scn style):
A day of lost stats, making all churches around the world downstat.
A day of lost income.
A day of lost regging and recruitment.
A day of lost interest the church “earns” on its own investment portfolio.
On the bright side:
A day of no disconnection. Friends and family reunited.
A day off for the poor souls on the RPF.
A day of no mental control imposed by training and processing.
A day when good, decent people can spend with their families and friends, to enjoy life.
A day of no propaganda and lies the continuously stream out from the church
A day of no SP declares
A day of no ethics cycles
Hmm…I think the world could live without Scn for much, much longer than a day. In fact, they may opt to make it permanent.
“Surveys reveal that those who regularly attend religious services are considerably more inclined to get preventive medical care in advance of becoming ill. In other words, those who nurture their spirit tend to do the same with their physical being.”
Surveys, what surveys? Please show me the facts. In call bullshit. And here are some stark reality facts to back up the bullshit I call.
My brother and his wife and children are Mormons. They did the whole temple marriage thing. They attend church several times a week. They avoid doctors like a plague.
Because it takes someone dragging them unwillingly to the doctor, my sister-in-law did not go to the doctor when her health declined until she had numerous blood clots in her lungs. Several harrowing emergency room visits and invasive tests, blood transfusions and four very long months later, we finally found out yesterday that she has advanced Primary Myloefibrosis (Bone marrow cancer). Given the advanced level of the disease, her only chance of survival now is a stem cell transplant, if they determine she is a candidate.
Their refusal to see doctors and belief that God will bless them with good health is not limited only to their family. I could list many other instances relating to the “God fearing” people I associate with, but that’s not the point.
The point is Freedom Magazine once again made up “facts” to write a story because it believes that the people reading it won’t question what they say if they couch their sentences in “surveys reveal” “faith based institutions”.
Pure drivel.
$cientology is not a religion, it was a pyramid self help scam that is now morphing into a ‘buy a piece of paper that gives me salvation’ scam. And they don’t even have a ‘Ernst Angley’ to publicly lead the flock to shearing.
All media is now wise to the straw man argument and they point to $cientology (and Fox News) as its best practitioners. The empire of the clams can’t hide anymore.
I expect Kristie Ally to lead a protest at HBO West offices in Santa Monica some time in the next month or so. The theme will be ‘they’re picking on us’ and there will be no real substance to the protest, except ‘give more to the IAS so we can fight these wogs’.
The end product of any protests, be they in public or as letters to the editor will be a wonderful Streisand Effect and even more viewers for Going Clear. Few, if any, other clam clebs will get on that parade float, they don’t want to be tarred with that brush.
I will enjoy that foot bullet.
Very good article Mike.
Mike, your counter-points are astute and undeniable yet let it also be said that the CoS is advancing one big STRAW MAN ARGUMENT and every point they make can be countered with the same statement repeated again and again, “NOBODY IS ATTACKING RELIGION”.
Thanks Mike for my daily update – you are accurate as usual – I cringe every time I see a new Freedom Mag release. Just 100% manipulated data designed to create a false view of Scientology.
Mike,
You made a discriminating assessment between what constitutes a Religion and what are the public perceptions and legal expectations of what a religion should be. Two very different things.
No government in the West is ever going to deny Scientologists the right to practice their faith, whether dependent or independent of the Church. What would eventually happen, is the Justice System will catch up with Scientology’s fraud and abuse and force the Church to conform to the laws of civil society, and make them stop their wholesale violations of people’s civil the rights.
In third world countries where Catholicism prevails, you can see the craziest syntheses of native shamanism, witchcraft, black and white magic all mixed up with the Christian faith, etc.
NOBODY CARES. NOBODY INTERFERS with anyone’s practice of their religion.
The only places that are worse than Scientology’s mini universe, are those where Islam is part of the government and impose their Sharia Law on the entire society.
These places are exactly the way life would look like under a Scientology Caliphate.
Here is a link to an organization keeping watch on these countries. When you read the reports of Human Rights abuses, you are looking at life in the Church of Scientology:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/religtoc.html
David Miscavige is the classic Sociopath.
He will put a senior exec in a trash can full of water with a degrading sign around neck,
while pouring more water on the exec’s head. ( Scientology water boarding)
Then pretend to be the one harmed !!!!!!
I read the blog and found myself spinning around in a void. The generalities… my God! One after another after another. There’s nothing stable about anything that $cientology says – it’s all smoke and mirrors.
I’m still struggling to find one positive thing the Cof$ does that actually equates into a compassionate doingness and there’s that void again. They have no idea what religion is or does, best they can do is lie about it in a nebulous way. Do they really think the public are that stupid? Guess so…
Scientology’s own primary policy number One “KSW1” remember that one? States the only thing you can be upbraided for or trouble spots only occur because of no results or bad results. The trouble with them on just the simplicity of that Policy alone is they have no positive results about their behaviour, none. I mentioned in a recent post how their exchange is such a one way flow that everything they say or do will be ridiculed – that is so true. Because now they let fly with nothing but generalities in an attempt to try to position themselves with religions generally. They are totally stuck on the one way flow of, inflow, inflow, inflow. Money, money money, nothing else matters to them. Their whole existence relies on the inflow of other people’s money and when that starts to dry up or is threatened, Freedom magazine puts out articles like the one above. The overt doth speak loud in accusation.
One of the very basic of basic auditing commands of Scientology going back to the very beginning of the subject is, “tell me something really real to you?” They treat the results of that command with utter contempt and attack it relentlessly. And yet the subject supposably results in and has the product of self-determined people. Everything about miscavige and his followers is a deception, a lie – just look! Don’t listen unless you want a headache.
Excellent analysis Mike!
Every business in existence that offers a product or service that is voluntarily paid for benefits those people who pay for it – why would they continue to pay otherwise?
The CoS does some things that people do voluntarily pay for but they also use the threat of disconnection or the threat of “losing your eternity” to get a lot of their income.
So It could be said that companies like Apple and Google should qualify for tax exemption but the CoS should not.
We can deal with the logic of governments another day.
No, he has to sit in his high chair.
“uplifting assistance from a person of spiritual authority” …. please. Witness the fact that as people progress up the OT levels in Scientology the more their own conduct, affairs and intimate details of their personal lives are scrutinized in order to obtain more control dominance and cash from them. Last time I went to Flag boy was I “uplifted”. I would like to uplift my middle finger in the general direction of those “religious authorities” and tell them since proclaiming my independence from their tight fisted grip over my “viewpoint” that my life and my family have never been in better shape. Through “disconnection as you characterize it does not exist” Scientology has increased the degree of ISOLATIONISM within it’s own ranks. Scientology (the black blood dripping vulture) is trying to pass it’s self off as just another one of the white doves. Nice try.
“Being attacked”, a sort of usual excuse to hide and, in turn, a justification to attack others without remorse.
Almost since its inception scientology has been attacked by psychs, by communists, by suppressives, by individuals on the fringes of internet, and on and on goes the list. Wonder why.
Also the write up goes on promoting a well established system scn has used for many years “if you don’t…you are at risk”, “if you don’t….your eternity is also at risk”, “if you…you won’t be successful”.
Invalidate the individual, use some very covert threat and fear and you end with a prison of belief.
Does this article mean that David Miscavige, who considers himself the “pope” of Scientology, will be publicly speaking the way every other religious leader does?
“Freedom magazine has just provided the road map as to why churches of scientology should NOT be tax exempt.” Bingo.
Thank you, Mike. This is an important penetration of this charade.
Also… there is nothing “divine” or “love-filled” with this charade. The religious experiences that I have had are filled with such peace and deep harmony that Scientology, in comparison, is only – at best – a quasi-self-help organization that sells courses. That’s at best. The quasi-military culture and demand for “winning” make Scientology more like a battle ground than a peaceful retreat for people searching for spiritual enlightenment.
Thanks for the amazing and consistent reporting.
Correct me if I am mistaken, please, but has not Scientology partnered with the self same Nation of Islam that called Judaism a “gutter religion”.
You are correct! And, the leader of NOI Louis Farrakhan, is forcing people to take courses or leave the fold. I wonder how much money he’s being paid…
Old Surfer Dude, I can´t remember where I read it, but I heard the payment was between 2 and 3 million.
Farrakhan and Miscavige: talk about a shitty, criminal, psychopathic duo. The Twin Towers of Hate and Hucksterism. May they both reap what they have sown…
OSD, if that’s true, then it sound like Farrakhan is molding himself into the image of Miscavige for his NOI followers. Idol worship is blasphemy in Islam.
The last I heard from a staffer at St. L. there were about 500 Muslims doing courses there courtesy of Louis Farrakhan. Two great leaders DBA (doing business as…
PS…. My last FYI comment is directed to the Co$ as they wrote the paragraph about religiously affiliated universities.
Right, the Jesuits are affiliated with the Catholic church and run a consortium of 28 universities in the U.S., one of them is Boston College as mentioned above.
What does any of this have to do the Church of Scientology? Absolutely nothing.
The CoS in fact discourages parishioners from sending their kids to college. LRH briefly wrote that the higher a person is educated, the stupider he becomes. Sea Org recruiters use this datum to influence kids when recruiting them. Especially if the kid tells the recruiter that they want to finish high school first before joining the S.O., or if they say that they want to go to college. I witnessed this first hand, several times.
Chee Chalker – I disagree with your views of Scientology and LRH – I believe you are overlooking too much, and jumping to unwarranted conclusions. But I had the good fortune of having a Jesuit Priest in one of my college courses. It was a very enlightening course, and man, did he make you work for it (without damaging you). In my opinion, he’s one of the more intellectually and spiritually distinguished men I’ve met. I think it is the mark of a great teacher when his students cannot drop the subject after the grades come in, and continue to learn more about it all through their lives. More than that, I cannot forget the man. But of course you probably think that because I think the world of LRH and Scn, that I’m brainwashed.
Nick….we do agree on something… Because you “think the world” of a man who locked a deaf child up in a dark and dank room on a rust bucket ship, threw old people off the side of said rust bucket, abandoned his wives and children, was a drug abuser, and nicked most of his ‘good’ philosophy from other sources…….yes, I might think you are a little brainwashed.
I liken it to having a very charming grandfather who would tell you great stories and was kind to you and would sneak candy to you behind your parents back. Of course you would love him. Then, when you are an adult, you found out he used to beat the crap out of your grandmother, cheated on her, did drugs, and 95% of those great stories were lies and exaggerations. And the candy may have been laced with amphetamines. You (not you personally) would probably still love him even after discovering his true nature.
So is that brainwashing in its true sense or not wanting to let go of fond memories (i.e. wins)? Maybe a little bit of both.
I am sure there are some people who think COB is the greatest being on Earth. People like Tom Cruise (granted, those people are few and far between). So, are they brainwashed or have they just had a different experience with DM? I’m going to go with the same answer – a little bit of both.
Its incredibly difficult to honestly assess one beliefs against facts. If I considered myself a Scientologist, independent or otherwise, it would be difficult to examine and justify the FACTS of LRH’s life. Maybe some are able to say ‘I’ll keep the good and throw away the bad’. Hey, whatever works and makes you happy. As long as children and/or vulnerable people not being abused, I’m good.
FYI…. Jesuits are Catholics
Mike — a thoroughly enjoyable commentary on the art of having one’s head, thrust up one’s arse while giving a lecture on the importance of truth and integrity in Journalism.
LRH once said something to the effect that, you can’t turn back once you’re on the road to truth. I believe there is a corollary for the opposite as well. Once the church embarked on a journey of lies and deceit, there truly is no way to turn that ship around.
Great post Mike.
Odd
A day without Scientology . . . crickets. A day with Scientology . . . cash registers.
Freedumb has a ways to go to morph its cover into the New Yorker. But probably most of the people who do New Yorker covers are freelancers and would be happy to cash one of DM’s checks (anonymously, of course).
Religion teaches us to “Do unto others as we would have others do unto ourselves.”
Religion teaches, “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
Scientology teaches, “If possible, ruin them utterly.”
Scientology teaches TR-L.
Scientology teaches, “Tell an acceptable truth, “a shore story”. It teaches “Find, or manufacture” evidence.
Scientology is to religion what child pornography is to art.
+1. Right on the money!
Good post Mike.
Nothing the CO$ says or does is free of fraud or deceit.
Dio
Good post Mike, though this argument about scientology’s religious status is a slippery slope. Granted, Scientology does not meet any test of “public good,” and therefore should lose its tax exempt status.
But, that tax argument is or shouldn’t be an argument for Scientology’s classification as a religion. Because of its verbose and polytheistic doctrine, it is in my mind of course a religion. The bigoted ideological hammer it uses to crush differing ideas is to my mind very religious in nature.
Chris — very interesting point! You’re right, the “hammer” certainly is a tried and true religious artifact going back to whenever the concept of a God first flashed across someone’s mind. By that litmus test, SCN is a true religion. By most normal folk though, SCN is merely a facade. A thin veneer of ecclesiastical goodness, pasted to a travel caravan of hucksters. So sad.
Odd
If we had no religion we would not have/have had Christian crusaders, IS terrorism, 9/11, slaughtering between Hindus and Moslems in Asia, radical Jews wanting to eliminate Palestinians, imprisonment of homosexuals, etc
We would probably have multiple schools of philosophy, based on the ancient Chinese, Indian, Greek philosophies. Logic would be the prevailing force in advancing these.
This scientology article is based on a PR series PL but I don’t remember its title: Content: Associate scientology with something good, associate the psychiatrist with something bad.
Outstanding post, holy ghost! My sentiments exactly. Imagine no religion, I wonderful if you can, no hell below us, above us only sky. Thank you John Lennon for one of THE greatest songs of all time.
What a crock of crap this organization is.
Makes me so mad I gave so much of my life to help them. They just take take take and don’t lift a finger to help (unless you can pay them).
Hurry up and implode please. I cannot wait for it to happen. I wish it every day.
Now I want my $40,000 back. Tried twice but they are forcing me to go in session on the routing form. I don’t feel safe going into a room with ANYONE alone from scientology. It has already felt like I was being kidnapped (my spouse waiting outside for me while I had a private conversation with the person responsible for giving my my money). They are holding my money hostage.
” I don’t feel safe going into a room with ANYONE alone from scientology.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You are wise beyond your years!
Can we get postive news from whats happeninga round like wins from the Indepts / groups / Rons ./ and different groups other than whats not right with the church . I do beleive most stay away from it most of the time. Its just so negative and not producing much results to go on about it all the time. I am sorry if this sounds ruid.
What wins?
Looks like Tony Ortega on the cover. Maybe he is tweeting a new stroy about Scientology abuses …
I found it interesting that they kept quoting “surveys” and stats from those surveys, but never mentioned an actual source. And with their record of creating “stats” out of thin air in order to prove some point, I’d not spend a moment considering their points. The American Constitution permits *any* group to call itself a “religion”. But, in point of fact, scio exhibits no religiosity at all. That they wear the trappings and hints of religion, without considering their meaning – all for PR purposes – only makes them look more corrupt than they are.
Mike,
In principle, I loved the Freedom Mag article very much. It is a very intelligent, honest, intellectual and insightful evaluation of a good bonafide religion.
And I loved your comments contradicting it, and proving them wrong as it applies to scn and the cos, equally as much. Well done.
The Freedom mag article and your commentary are equally very much true.
The article is very much becoming of what you would expect to find in a Jehovih’s Witness Awake or Mormon or Catholic, etc, magazine
It makes me wonder about the mind of the author? On one hand the author is extremely knowledgeable on religion and the benefits of it. Is the author a high level defective of one of those religions: But at the same time, a heck of a lot of mental lying (or lack of intellectual integrity) has to take place to apply it to scn or more so to DM and the cos.
I have known about the benefits of religion for a long time now. The Oahpse bible, talks about the benefits of religion in a similar context. Particularly in the fact that if done right, it is what makes the best families and brings up the best children. The Oahspe explains why rituals are good for children and adults, because when done right, it produces good children and good adults. Good religion is stable data.
(Everyone should read the Oahspe, It is as enlightening as the scientology books. It is a book of knowledge, extraordinaire. Available on line free in pdf.)
If you really study what made the finest people the USA (that is the most able people with the best refined and noble character and most ethical and moral, whose children produced the best future – most sane husband and wife material) has ever produced, you will find that they came from families who went to church regularly and took part in all church social and ritual activities. I am speaking about Christian churches, or Christian religions. They are what made the USA the greatest and most powerful nation on earth.
(Although that status has been in a downward spiral since sometimes after WWII, with the advent of “modernism” , increasing material wealth, unbridled capitalism, secularism, women’s liberation, feminism and overall hedonism. See Hubbard’s article in Science of Survival on the role of women in society. See excerpt below. )
If religion was done right, those people do not need (or seldom need) CCHs, objectives, life repair courses, ethics courses and deaberrating technology.
But there is a right way and a wrong way to do almost everything and many people often pervert and screw up the very best things in life, or the best intentions.
I have also argued in the past that what ever good, good bonafide relgions (Christian religions) do, and even though they are an increasing minority, they are still the only thing that is holding the world together.
If it were not for whatever little Christian religion we have now, in the world I doubt there would be any civilization left, maybe even no humans or any life at all left for that matter.
And Hubbard said no truer words than when he said to the British reporter: The purpose of scientology is to make Christians better Christians.
(In fact I like the article so much that I am going to save it. As I do not get the Freedom mag.)
Dio
A race (a government) which specializes in women for menial purposes, (purposes outside the home and family) (the home front) or which believes that the contest of the sexes in the sphere of media, entertainment, business and politics is a worthier endeavor than the creation and proper raising of the next generation is a race which is dying.
We have in the modern woman, who is an ambitious rival of the man in his own activities, a woman who is neglecting the most important mission or responsibility she has.
A society which looks down on upon (or ignores, or scoffs at) this mission, in which women are taught anything but the proper management of family, the proper care of men, and the creation of the future generation, is a society which is on it’s way out. (Edited)
Them damn wimmen’ need to stay home cookin’ their mans vittles and raisin’ them babies!!
Have we traveled back to the 1800’s?
Nola,
Make sure your brain is in gear before engaging your mouth.
Have you read the Science of Survival?
Here is more:
Those who would cheat or dupe women of their rightful place in creation, by making them into men should at least realize that by this action they are destroying not only the women, but the men and children of the future as well.
This is too great a price to pay for being modern or for someone’s petty anger, joke or vanity against the female sex, or political correctness.
The arts and skills of woman, the creation and inspiration of which she is capable of, and which -still here and there in isolated places in our culture – she still manages to effect, in spite of the ruin and decay of man’s world, which spreads around her, must be brought back newly and fully into life, if humanity is to survive. These arts, skills, creation and inspiration are her beauty, just as she is the beauty of mankind.
What is not true about what Hubbard said in that article?
Dio
The fact that Hubbard spouted an occasional truth (many ripped off from others) doesn’t make him any less a liar.
You know, Dio, there’s a reason why your self-aggrandizing holier-than-thou Christian moralizing got you driven off the South African blog. Going after NOLA, who’s a sweet, lovely person, will win you no fans here either.
And I have read Science of Survival, or at least I did until he declared me, as a homosexual, a 1.1 and therefore a target for destruction. Hubbard was raised by a bunch of Victorian women, and his objectification and stereotyping of the gender characteristic of that era was out of date by 1951, after women demonstrated their mettle while the men were off at war. Of course, he used women like toilet paper, abandoning Polly, driving Sara away while kidnapping their daughter, and after his magnum crappus, letting Mary Sue take the fall for him during Snow White. As usual, Hubbard’s words attempt to hide his malice. He was a misogynist, pure and simple, and his contempt shows.
Here’s a suggestion: take your fundamentalist Christianity to Topeka, Kansas. There’s a nice group of people there who would love you. I’ve protested against them too.
These “men” and “women” of which you speak, do they have anything to do with the “thetans” that Hubbard spoke of?
I do think that a fair and actually more true evaluation of Science of Suvival (and indeed LRH’s work generally) should take into account the whole book rather than just a few pages. Yes, the points about homosexuality and women were not just reflecting a prejudice and societal ideas prevalent in the early 50s, but were also just plain wrong on the historical evidence. Actually I think y’all left out possibly the most egregious of LRH’s ideas in that chapter – that “1.1s” should be isolated and disposed of quietly and without remorse or some such. Which left open the big question that NO ONE asked – who would decide who was 1.1 and thus should be imprisoned/destroyed. But I think even Ron meant that more figuratively than literally as he never himself attempted to identify or isolate people in the CoS based on their tone levels (I think even he know that would reduce his staff by 75%!).
But my edition of SOS was about 800 pages and had a great amount of truth (from MY observation). LRH first went into the theta/mest theory which I found fascinating and spent about 400 pages on the Tone Scale and the Chart of Human Evaluation, most of which I found to be true in life. This data, in its application, has helped me greatly in life to understand people more and to be fairly good at being able to observe where people are at and so more effectively interact positively with them (and this is in many parts of the world). The second half of the book dealt with how to handle cases and this data also has helped me deal positively with other people, especially when things are not going well.
I didn’t leave the point about 1.1s out, Joe. Hubbard already decided that I was 1.1 due to the sole factor of who I have sex with. And there’s no “figuratively” about it when it comes to Scientology. KSW made certain of that. Interpretation of Hubbard is Verbal Tech, you know, and that’s not allowed. Therefore, there is no other conclusion to make than the one I have: Scientology wants me destroyed. Therefore, it’s a pro-survival action on my part to attempt to destroy it before it destroys me.
I hate verging into Godwin’s, but a Jew in the 1920s didn’t have to read the entirety of Mein Kampf to know that the author meant serious trouble for them, and I don’t have to read the whole of Science of Survival to know that the author (and his followers) mean trouble for me. I’m sure that a lot of average Germans in the 1930s found positives in the Nazi regime. I distinctly remember the attempts in the late 80s and 90s of Russian historians to redeem the reputation of Stalin. Joe, you’re a good critic and very incisive; I love reading your responses. But this type of revisionism and justification doesn’t befit you.
Espiando, what I meant by “figuratively” is that LRH did not in fact ever actually TRY to (in the real world of his organizations) isolate or even identify any people in Scientology as to their tone levels for handling. Actually that would have been impossible to do. (though he did try to categorize people by other criteria, meter reactions, case gain, etc). As to his actual intent in 1952 that such a fascistic thing could be done some day, I really couldn’t say. LRH was quite often “over the top” in his projections for the future.
As to his (and the church’s) actual attitudes towards members’ sexual activiies, well … that was all over the place, and changed as the years went by. There is a tape , ironically from about the same time as SOS, where LRH says that homosexuality is no big deal, not important enough to even mention. Another reference from that time where he says it is very natural for a man to go from woman to women as sexual partners. And he chuckles on the point. Kate Bornstein, in her book goes over (before her transition to being a woman) how as a man, she lived for a year with her 17 year old lover in a cabin under LRHs before his edict on no unmarried sex in the SO. I was on staff throuhout the 70s at a major Org as an exec, auditor and CS, and one of the CSs was openly gay and another CS was “assumed gay” and both were on post for years with no problem. In 1970 we had two middle aged gay men on HSDC (they were a couple) – one of them being a Cl6 – and a few gay HGC pcs in the years that followed. I can tell you quite honestly, that their sexual orientation NEVER CAME UP EVEN ONCE as an ethics matter or in duscussion (within my hearing anyway).
But yes, of course, the CoS is quite homophobic now and in my org I heard many anti gay comments by the 90s. LRH himself became more and more intolerant and cranky on the 2D the older he got (and presumably in proportion to his own inability to have sex).
My point in delivering the above data is that like many stories in life, the LRH story and the Scientology story are mixed bags with many facets of good and bad in them. While I have said here a number of times that LRH set up a fascistic system based on the Soviet system, I do not think it is accurate to compare him to Hitler or say that he had any murderous intents. He was a philosopher and writer, who in his own mind bacame Moses, Jesus, Buddha and the savior of mankind. Yes, he went mad. And he also came up with great stuff that raised people’s awareness and improved their lives. I was in for 35 years, fairly happily though my time ended very badly and I still have some bitterness and nightmares.
But doesn’t the two sides of the coin make this an interesting topic and story? Isn’t it the MIXTURE of bad and good which makes this much more fascinating than just a simple story of evil?
*as a postscript to the story of the openly gay CS. When he was about to go to AOLA for his OT levels, the assumption among some females in the org was that he would get “straightened out” and as he was a very nice guy, some of the girls were already lining up to be chosen by him as his new 2D. He did come back OT, but … no, he did not become straight and THEN it became a problem for him. We never discussed exactly why, but I got the impression that HE thought he would “go straight” as well and he then when he didn’t, he felt he could not continue in the CoS and so left. I wish now we had been in deeper comm on this matter because I considered him a friend of mine. So, I’m not trying to whitewash this subject. Yes, though it didn’t come up in those days as a “problem”, obviously it WAS an issue that would later become a fully developed source of intolerance and meanness in the CoS.
Hubbard said this all important truth:
The truth is not determined by authority.
The truth is the truth.
The value of a datum is only determined by how many problems it solves and how well it solves them.
The truth is also not determined by beliefs, opinions or by who wins an argument.
So you have to take source, opinions, beliefs and arguments out of the equation.
The value of a datum has to be determined on it’s own merits.
Dio
In broad terms, Dio, I agree with what you say. You are not compelling anyone threatening or coercing them. You are inviting.
There have been great women in the past. Scn does not speak against that. It does speak against women abandoning responsibilities of child rearing. I would note that men have the same problem at some levels – the man who comes home too tired to play with his children, too tired to love and care for his wife, is not being a good father or husband.
I differ with you on singling out Christianity as the only religion of choice. The common elements in all religions are many.
I differ with you on singling out Christianity as the only religion of choice. The common elements in all religions are many.
I agree with you.
And one of the common denominators in many religions is the belief that theirs is the “only way.”
Dio:
You are a victim of nostalgia and belief in a world that never existed. It might do you some good to dig up real facts instead of relying on confirmation bias and Fox news fantasies to get you through life. There was never an idealized life of good American Christians living the hardworking ethical life that was ruined by “modernism.” From the 1880 until WWII you had a country very close to electing socialist and communist leaders due to the horrible working conditions and exploitation of the working class to a degree than sends shivers up my spine. Read about the old mining communities in Appalachia or out West for a taste of the “good old days” or just listen to some Woodie Guthrie. Your fantasies of the good old days are laughable. But then again most bitter old white men love to blame civil rights and feminism for all of their woes.
– Signed a woman who has more worth than a broodmare.
SunnyV,
Quoting you:
– Signed a woman who has more worth than a broodmare.
1. That is not possible.
2. You have a huge MU. To say that a woman is supposed to be a broodmare is a perversion and bastardization of what is meant in the quotes from SoS.
I don’t agree with Louis Farrahkan on much of anything, but on this quote he is on the same wavelength as the quotes from SoS:
Source wikipedia:
“Mr. Farrakhan urged the women to embrace his formula for a successful family. He encouraged them to put husbands and children ahead of their careers, shun tight, short skirts, stay off welfare and reject abortion. He also stressed the importance of cooking and cleaning and urged women not to abandon homemaking for careers. ‘You’re just not going to be happy unless there is happiness in the home,’ Mr. Farrakhan said at the Mason Cathedral Church of God in Christ in the Dorchester section, not far from the Roxbury neighborhood where he was reared by a single mother. ‘Your professional lives can’t satisfy your soul like a good, loving man.'”
End of quote:
We are all only as good as we have been brought up.
If you have a problem with someone, you have to check with their mothers for the cause.
We all come from women.
I heard a radio program talk show back in around 1990, on CBC radio, where the radio host was interviewing a woman from Africa, who wrote a book and was promoting it. I only wish I could remember the author’s name and title of the book.
But her unforgettable great wisdom was that she was teaching people (in her case, especially her fellow Africans) that women were responsible for all the problems in Africa, because they failed to bring up their sons and daughters right. And only women could solve the problems of Africa, by bringing up children right!
In particular she was addressing the problem of how despicably the average African man treats women. She said such problems are caused by the man’s mother and it is wrong to blame the men. Women (collectively) have only themselves to blame.
That was a very sobering message, sobering from the global systemic ignorance, stupidity and insanity, the wrong popular reasons for the cause of the problems of society.
More words of wisdom on the same wavelenght:
By Madeline Dahlgren, 1871
http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=19950_O_16&PagePosition=1
We acknowledge no inferiority to men. We claim to have no less ability to perform the duty God has imposed upon us, than they [men] have to perform those imposed upon them. We believe that God has wisely and well adapted each sex to the proper performance of the duties of each. We believe our trusts to be as important and sacred as any that exist.
It is our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons who represent us at the ballot-box. Our fathers and husbands love us. Our sons are what we make them. We are content that they represent us in the corn-field, the battle-field and the ballot-box, and we them in the school-room, at the fireside, and at the cradle; believing our representation, even at the ballot-box, to be thus more full and impartial that it could possibly be were all women allowed to vote.
We hold that the new status will prove to be the worst kind of communism. The relations between the sexes, so carefully guarded by religion and by parents, by law and by society, will become common and therefore corrupt. The family, the foundation of the State, will disappear. The mothers, sisters and daughters of our glorious past will exist no more and the female gender will vanish into epicene.
This is the last comment on this topic. It’s off topic to begin with and now its going on and on.
Well said.
Marx and Engels said that religion is the opiate of the masses. If that’s the case, Scientology is Quaaludes: popular in the mid-70s, now non-existent, and produced nothing but a state of mental stupor and bad judgement.
+1. Still laughing my ass off!
🙂
They also made you horny.
The flea that thinks it’s bigger than the dog it’s on. Yep you nailed DM and his minions, Mike. And the article instead of helping, only points out how the C of $ is actually not a church and should not have tax exempt status. Great article, Mike!
Cindy – Did you receive my email invite to the movies?
HI Nickname, no I didn’t see it. I’d love to go. I like salt and a little butter on my popcorn please.
Two points:
There’s a quote where LRH says $cientology is not a religion; that would be relevant in this thread.
The OTIII teaching that other religions are implants by the evil space ruler Xenu: in effect, $cientology is the “one true religion”. Yet another contradiction from the criminal cult of $cientology.
Persecuted – the religion that “fair games” people along with their relatives.
It is significant that Dave never mentions the mainstream religious equivalents of Narconon or Applied Scholastics. Has he cut ABLE loose as a liability after the flood of Narconon lawsuits? You would think that after all the overheated rhetoric in the events about how Scientology is saving the world from addiction etc. ad nauseum that he would at least mention the 12 step plans and faith-based drug rehab.
Oops, silly me, these are religious social betterment activities that actually help some people and don’t lie about it – the contrast is too telling even for Dave.
Great point Bruce! What about Narconon?? Crickets……..
What about WISE????
Crickets…….
What about TWTH Foundation?
Crickets…….
Very interesting that these money makers were left off the list
They forgot one:
If there was no religion for a day, we might get the sads.
And if we got the sads we might not take our dogs for a walk.
Then our dogs might get the sads and poop in the house.
And we might step in it.
And get it on our shoe.
Amen.
Haha!
Dave,
Back to the Ideal drawing board. Start with a high school deploma. Then move on to a two-year degree in business. IF, you can beat the RAP SHEET.
He won’t make it through freshman orientation with punching the teacher!
Great article Mike! You have shown again how the last acts of desperation from this monster trying to cleverly disguise itself as a religion are in fact only more pretend and extend.
Can’t wait to see the effects of the real ‘public benefit’ provided by Alex Gibney and HBO. Huge thank yous go out to both of those non religious entities and for the help they provide.
Do you know if DM or anyone of their “spokespersons” has actually seen the documentary?
They claim to have had “representatives” who have now seen it in the letter to Sheila Nevins.
Sounds like little Dave and Lou went to the movies.
“Uplifting assistance from a person of spiritual authority.” Hah! Let’s call a spade a spade. When I was widowed, my trash was gone through, my tech delivery personnel were changed, I lost my job (Writers of the Future Contest Administrator), I was urged to take out a home equity loan to raise my status in the IAS, and I was hooked up in unsavory business affairs for four years. “Uplifting assistance,” my foot.
“You were urged to take out a home equity loan to raise your IAS status” After you were widowed?
For a moment I sat speechless and then I started to digest that. Oh my… that is just disgusting… and to realise they’ll do that to someone in grief. That’s worst than any rule of law in the jungle. Their intentions for their fellow man is beyond civilized comprehension. It’s really time to get rid of them, all of them. miscavige must be exposed for the animal he is…
This is true. I saw the same thing with a friend of mine who lost her husband within six months of being diagnosed with cancer. His body was barely cremated when the IAS showed up at her door and asked for his life insurance money. She was only 50 years old at the time, with two kids and would obviously need that money for the times ahead.
Rachel, I’m sorry that you lost your job and had your privacy invaded. “Mercy” is a concept lost on the CoS.
WOW! For a religion that teaches how and insist upon a person being cause, the Bubble-ites have chosen to be victims. Isn’t that special.
At least they have assumed the correct position even if they can’t figure out where it is coming from.
They play attacker and then want to be perceived as victims. It’s really a reflexion of dm’s personality. He wants to be a bad ass , but when he gets his ass kicked , he goes crying to mommy.
And if he thinks his ass has been kicked ….. well …….He ain’t seen nothin yet!!
Yo Dave,
There is an ass pounding coming your way that you cannot even imagine. And the box office has completely sold out!
The only stock of seats still left are reserved for the laughing stocks ……. and there is one overstuffed one good buddy …… just for you!
Quite on point, Tony’s blog today. A “religious” dog-and-pony show shot mainly at Saint Hill and broadcast in January 1972 on French television.
‘Twas ever thus.
One of the differences between now and 1972 is the speed with which information can be verified. Dead agenting or smearing someone like Gibney literally takes 20 seconds to confirm or to say, “this is crazy talk”. And more and more people have access to fast, accurate information. From what I can see, COS has no workable response this. One of the things I look for with any source on the Internet is a comments section. No comments, no integrity. Freedom Magazine comes to mind.
This article is based on a flawed premise: that humanity would be incapable of finding a better solution if religion were to vanish.
If religion were gone, it would be one tool less for a sociopath to reach into my life to control and dominate me, or slaughter non-believers in the name of divine love.
Religion: Gay? Get out of our way, we don’t want you. Woman? Not fit to drive or get education without a man’s permission.
Yes, religion has good points. But today we make the mistake to think it is “just” a belief system. It is not. Religion is also a societal and justice system, and as such reaches deep into and seeks to control, to varying degrees, every aspect of our lives. The more intrusive a religion is, the more it appears like a cult.
I sincerely hope that 2015 is the year in which truth is revealed and the hate-filled cult is seen by all to have no clothes.
It is not true actually that religions are normally attacked as the Church of Scientology implies. The only time I have ever seen an activity resembling this really happen in the past, is when a group advertising itself to be a religion is not really a religion at all. I believe most people would be concerned. 🙂
Lawrence, I guess that would depend on which definition of attack you are using. In CoS, questioning = attack, criticism = attack, pointing out obvious faults or flaws = attack. In their world, every atheist is a secret agent of ARM (alleged anti-religious movement).
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
Completely agree. The premise seems to be that religion is the ONLY reason why people behave with compassion. Total. Bollocks. I’m sure atheists could do just as good a job for the other side with a ‘what would one day without religion look like’ article. For example: no beheadings or holy war jihadists shooting people, education for women everywhere, reduction in STD’s and unwanted pregnancies via use of contraception, no more institutional protection for serial child molesters, acceptance of sexual diversity and the granting of equal civil rights for same, you get the picture.
Dollar Morgue – I find your view of religion extremely generalized and very shallow. Again, my broad statement to everyone is: before you destroy, do you have something to build, or are you just “venting” on everyone else?
I am sorry that you took a few words to be the whole of my view on religion.
Dollar Morgue – Just for comparison and example, before Christianity, Rome’s “Super Bowl” was watching people getting eaten alive by wild animals. Iraq under Hussein was a political State, and reportedly his sons got a kick out of throwing living people into a wood-chipper. Religion can indeed be perverted, but the principles of religion are difficult to argue against. I think the point of Mike’s article was that if it not taken to exemplify the Co$, one can take those points made about religion as reasonable approximations of truth.
Later, when there were no games, loving Christians went to watch hangings and the dismemberment or burning of homosexuals. Love thy neighbour in Europe has rarely extended to Jews. Of course this is but a sliver of history and can never encompass the lives of everyone. The full picture would fill several shelves. However, you will find the desire to control and dominate buried within, and if you speak to people at the Vatican or read their reports, you will find they would like to love the world a little more firmly than they can. Another mistake this article makes is the assumption that it was religion that made the difference. It is akin to attributing all the good in your life to the “tech”.
As to the Freedom article, my hope is that scientology itself will delineate to others just how much it is not a religion by articles such as this – juxtaposed with slander of Gibney et al.
The actual teachings of religions have positive effects on most people.
I agree that this can be the case, and that the positive effect is due to the person receiving and using the teaching. I believe each religion would benefit by applying its stated unconditional love to its own scriptures to wash out any calls to harm or kill other people, regardless of whether or not such calls are “history and no longer used”.
It does look like a New Yorker mag. Cover.
Great job mike dead agenting there bullshit.they have no clue that people in the real world see the truth of there crazy game.
On point as usually. But I really love COB, you know old blue eyes. It doesn’t get much better then when he sings… oh wait, I was half a sleep there. I thought Scientology never existed for a moment there.
“Weeeee staaaaand taaaallll”…
No turning back, we found the way! Hey la ly la. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. WHAT?! You want me to hand over my kids college fund to the IAS to up my status? Again? For the 10th time?
I don’t think we’re standing very tall…