by undercover 11 Replies latest jw friends
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9363363/inside_scientology
An in depth article about the Church of Scientology at RollingStone.com. Very good article. If you can't stand to read the whole thing, scroll down to the end of the article and read the emails from people who have grown disillusioned about the religion and worry about being found out.
Remind you of anyone?
(If this was already posted by someone else, sorry for the repeat)
Very interesting about the no medications and that illness is psychomatic. Does that mean that Scientologists don't accept blood transfusions? It explains their attitude about psychiatry but I wonder if most people know it extends to all illnesses.
Thetans, eh? Sounds like HeavensGate.
Blondie
it was very interesting to read, thanks for the post. I have always wondered about scientology and their beliefs, amazing how similar the die hard wacko religions are.
Perhaps Rolling Stone will get a good response from this article and want to print one on the dubs in the future.
"The Aims of Scientology," a document written by Hubbard, also hangs in the lobby, and it declares Scientology's goals as "simple, but great," including "a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war; where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights."
At the intake level, Scientology comes across as good, practical self-help. Rather than playing on themes that might distance a potential member -- the concept that I am a "thetan," for example -- members hit on topics that have universal appeal. Instead of claiming some heightened degree of enlightenment, they come across as fellow travelers: people who smoke too much, who have had bad marriages, who have had addictions they couldn't handle but have somehow managed to land on their feet. Scientology, they explain, has been a form of "recovery." As one woman I meet puts it, "Scientology works."
...But perhaps even more alarming is the keen interest they take in my boyfriend. While Laurie inquired sympathetically about the dynamic of our relationship, Jane is suspicious, concerned with his views of the church and his attitude toward my being here. "If he's not open," she says, "that could be a problem."
And then there are Scientology's rules. A fiercely doctrinaire religion, Scientology follows Hubbard's edicts to the letter. Dissent or opposition to any of Hubbard's views isn't tolerated. Nor is debating certain church tenets -- a practice Scientologists view as "counterintentioned." Comporting oneself in any way that could be seen as contrary to church goals is considered subversive and is known as a "suppressive act."
Their "Bethel"...
Gold is the central dissemination facility for the church. It is best known as the home of Golden Era Productions, Scientology's film, video and sound facilities. Scientology produces myriad promotional and training films here, teaching parishioners everything from auditing techniques to what goes on during a marriage-counseling session. It also makes CDs, produces events and prints its own packaging...Gold is essentially an office park. Its buildings are furnished like a series of corporate suites, complete with bland gray or blue rugs. There's virtually no artwork save a few Scientology posters inscribed with the words of L. Ron Hubbard, and, in the sound studio, framed headshots of various Scientologist celebrities...Sea Org members staff all of the senior ecclesiastic positions in the church hierarchy, and the top members have exclusive authority over Scientology's funds...At Gold, whose entire population, save the actors and directors of Scientology films, are Sea Org members, men and women dress in the style of deckhands: short-sleeve dress shirts over dark T-shirts and chinos...The church describes the Sea Org as a fraternal order -- not a legal entity -- requiring lifelong commitment. It is, in fact, an eternal commitment: Sea Org members sign contracts pledging 1 billion years of service to the church...The Sea Org has often been portrayed as isolated, almost monastic; members are rarely allowed to see films, watch TV or read mainstream magazines. "Are we devoted? Yes. Sequestered? No," says Fries, who married a fellow Sea Org member. "I go out into the world, I talk to people out in the world, I definitely live a very full life. This isn't a priesthood. I mean, if it were a priesthood, do you think I'd work here? It would just be so unhip." Gold is seen as the place "every Sea Org member aspires to work," says Rinder.
Apostates!
Scientologists do not look kindly on critics, particularly those who were once devout. Apostasy, which in Scientology means speaking out against the church in any public forum, is considered to be the highest form of treason. This is one of the most serious "suppressive acts," and those who apostatize are immediately branded as "Suppressive Persons," or SPs. Scientologists are taught that SPs are evil -- Hitler was an SP, says Rinder.
DISFELLOWSHIPPING and JCs!!!
When Christman split from the church, her husband and most of her friends -- all of them Scientologists -- refused to talk to her again. Apostates are not just discredited from the church; they are also excommunicated, isolated from their loved ones who, under Scientology rules, must sever or "disconnect" from them. Scientology defines those associated with Suppressive People as "Potential Trouble Sources," or PTS.Rinder says disconnection is a policy of last resort. "The first step is always to try to handle the situation," he says. A "handling" generally refers to persuading a wayward member to return to the church in order to maintain contact with his family. The parent of someone who's apostatized might call his child and ask him to "handle" a problem by essentially recanting. "They'll ask them to make some amends, show they can be trusted . . . something to make up the damage," says Davis. Those amends might range from volunteering in a literacy program to taking a public advocacy role -- campaigning against psychiatry, for example.
But some people, the officials admit, refuse to be handled. What happens to them? "Then I guess not believing in Scientology means more to them than not seeing their family," Davis says..."It's for the good of the group," says Davis. "How are you going to judge what is and isn't the worst tenets and violations of the Church of Scientology?" Rinder asks. "You aren't a Scientologist." Complaints about these policies, he adds, "come from people who aren't Scientologists [anymore].
From all I've read ex-Scientologists are even more screwed up than ex-Dubs are. Its all those mind Thetans constantly floating around in their brains making them doubt..
GBL
I read somewhere that the women aren't allowed to make a sound during child birth. How true is this.
They assert that 75 million years ago, an evil galactic warlord named Xenu controlled seventy-six planets in this corner of the galaxy, each of which was severely overpopulated. To solve this problem, Xenu rounded up 13.5 trillion beings and then flew them to Earth, where they were dumped into volcanoes around the globe and vaporized with bombs. This scattered their radioactive souls, or thetans, until they were caught in electronic traps set up around the atmosphere and "implanted" with a number of false ideas -- including the concepts of God, Christ and organized religion. Scientologists later learn that many of these entities attached themselves to human beings, where they remain to this day, creating not just the root of all of our emotional and physical problems but the root of all problems of the modern world.
WTF? JW'ism seems normal in comparison. I think they've watched too much star wars.
i read that too. the church of scientology is one scary bunch of dudes. if someone speaks out against them, the church has no hesitation in absolutely wrecking that persons life. (just ruthless i guess). also, tom cruise is a dildo.
From the viewpoint of history there have been so many of these schemes to enslave men to do the will of a few.
All organized religion is a racket.
