thelinuxlink.net

Very eye-opening documentary that exposes the tactics and methods the Church of Scientology employs to berate critics and opposers of their "religion".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/programmes/panorama/default.stm
http://digg.com/world_news/BBC_Scientol ... ull_online

I've read many a web page and seen many a video proving how nuts Scientology is. If you question or criticize them, they pull the "Why are you raping babies and killing puppies" routine, have the most poorly-written science fiction story—next to Battlefield Earth, of course—for their sacred text, and have been responsible for deaths of their own members.

It's a cult if there's ever been one...

Praise BOB
http://www.subgenius.com/

There are more credible "religions" out there than Scientology... like Church of the Sub-Genius (as allix mentioned), Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or even the order of the Jedi (but that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away).

There is also a church that venerates a certain chocolate-based product, but I can't seem to recall exactly which one...

I've been looking for a religion that can get me laid. What's Scientology's position on premarital anonymous sex? I thought about Islam when I heard that you get 12 virgins but then I find out that I have to blow myself up first. Screw that.

TankCatNinjaFish wrote:I've been looking for a religion that can get me laid. What's Scientology's position on premarital anonymous sex? I thought about Islam when I heard that you get 12 virgins but then I find out that I have to blow myself up first. Screw that.

On top of that, you have no idea what the virgins look like.

KStorm wrote:

TankCatNinjaFish wrote:I've been looking for a religion that can get me laid. What's Scientology's position on premarital anonymous sex? I thought about Islam when I heard that you get 12 virgins but then I find out that I have to blow myself up first. Screw that.

On top of that, you have no idea what the virgins look like.

At first I read this "You have no idea what a virgin looks like."

Well depending on what you believe, Scientology is just as valid as any other religion out there.

Whatever helps you sleep at night is the right religion for you.

I don't know how you measure a religion's validity, or what the word valid means when you're talking about a religion, but if you mean that Scientology is "sound; well-founded", then I'll disagree with that. It sounds a bit like you're saying that the difference between religions and cults is just a matter of degree, and argument you can make as well for saying that the difference between the rich and poor is merely a matter of degree. I think you can certainly draw a line between religions and cults at least as well as you can between rich and poor.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter, Professor of Religion and Jewish Mysticism at Temple University, "[A]ny group which equates doubt with guilt is a cult."

The following link gives what I believe to be a good description of cults, including the quote above:
http://www.ijmc.com/archives/1995/July/29July1995.html

Here's another story detailing their insatiable appetite for people's money:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html

Looking at the vicious tactics used by Scientology, their singular obsession with money, ferocious character assassination techniques used on anyone who questions or criticizes them, brainwashing tactics used on their own members, and the people who have died in their "care." I think you can easily call it a cult.

I have no problem with the vast majority of religions, including Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, or most other religions or belief systems. It's not like any one religion or belief system has managed to gain a monopoly on truth. I suppose I have a bit of universalism in me, but I do believe there are unhealthy theologies which can be found amongst sects of all religions, and those theologies have a terrible effect on those practicing it.

If you think Scientology's possible ability to "get you through the night" makes it the right religion for someone, despite its cutting you off from family and friends, extorting money from you, blackmailing you, and withholding treatment for mental chemical imbalances, and a host of other unhealthy practices, then I have to disagree with you. It's a cult that's left a good number of it's members broke, depressed, and in the worst cases, dead. I can't believe it the right religion for anyone.

i agree with Vogateer on this one, Scientology is a cult, my understanding of a religion , organized religion anyway is based around god/s , a possible diet, morals , a scripture , attire , temple , festivals .
As long as all this is separated from the state, i have nothing against it.

When factions of a religion that use force and very stringent morals and say that god will punish you if you do not obey is not a religion, but riding on one for a different purpose.

Religion gives comfort to some people and a reason for being in the world as well as when they die there going somewhere.