Scientology Down to 25,000 Members?

by cameo-d 23 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  cameo-d

  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/us/07scientology.html

  Quotes:

  “It was all built on lies,” Mr. Collbran said. “We’re working 16 hours a day trying to save the planet, and the church is shrinking.”

  But asked about the church’s membership, Mr. Davis said, “I couldn’t tell you an exact figure, but it’s certainly, it’s most definitely in the millions in the U.S. and millions abroad.”

  He said he did not know how to account for the findings in the American Religious Identification Survey that the number of Scientologists in the United States fell from 55,000 in 2001 to 25,000 in 2008.

  ----

  Very interesting stories of abuse in the cult----stalking, coersion, kidnapping, etc. I'm sure many can identify with aspects of these harassments. This may be even worse than JWs. Many were suckered into working for the cult full time and made 50 dollars a week. They had no $$ to leave on and if they tried to leave they would be hunted down, brought back, and either confined or put on a boat.
• 

  Nephilim

  I have to give Trey Parker and Matt Stone a lot of credit. You might not believe it but their ONE cartoon about the exact beliefs of SCIENTOLOGY created such a stir of people trying to find out what that religion was all about. It's all been down hill ever since.

  They are currently writing a musical on Mormanism to be performed live.

  I wish they would write an episode about JW's but I don't think there is quite as much funny material as there is in the other two religions mentioned.
• 

  bohm

  Nephilim: Have you seen the south park episode with mormons? Its priceless! DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB

  It will be interesting to see what happends to scientology in the near future, ie. how such a religion dies.
• 

  Leolaia

  Nothing is as dumb as Scientology. I give Wikipedia a lot of credit too; they have all the super-duper-seekrit stuff there too, which is banal and goofy beyond belief.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_(Scientology)

  (BTW, doesn't "bodies in pawn" sound a lot like the Matrix?)
• 

  cantleave

  What was the maximum number of active members they ever had?
• 

  Terry

  Nothing is as dumb as Scientology. I give Wikipedia a lot of credit too; they have all the super-duper-seekrit stuff there too, which is banal and goofy beyond belief.

  I had a best friend out in L.A. who took me to the Celebrity Center there (in Hollywood) where I did the introductory tests and the e-meter rundown.

  It was great fun.

  I can really understand how a young person would find it vastly more interesting than mainstream Christianity.

  It has so many high-tech and Sci-Fi aspects to it (the creator of Scientology Layfayette Ron Hubbard was, after all, a Science Fiction author) coupled with an admixture of Eastern Religion, Gnosticism, Military Jargon and such you could spend years "learning" it all.

  My friend, Mark Groseclose, died in 1983. His liver gave out. He was a heavy drinker who life was pure misery.

  I loved the guy. He had an infectious sense of humor and a non-stop narrative about Scientology.

  I didn't realize it at the time, but, I was getting quite the inside education from him!

  It is all utter nonsense, of course.

  But, if you are going to waste your time and money on religion---my opinion is that you may as well have fun doing it.
• 

  JWoods

  Nothing is as dumb as Scientology. I give Wikipedia a lot of credit too; they have all the super-duper-seekrit stuff there too, which is banal and goofy beyond belief.

  I still have about a 30 page "dictionary" of their weird scientology language terminology (it is official from www.scientology.org) - it starts with:

  AA: attempted abortion.

  A=A=A=A: anything equals anything equals anything. This is the way the reactive mind thinks, irrationally identifying thoughts, people, objects, experiences, statements, etc...everything is everything else. Mr. X looks at a horse knows it's a house knows it's a schoolteacher. So when he sees a horse he is respectful.

  This is followed by 29 pages of more crazy definitions. The actual doctrine involved in the various "levels" is even more weird.

  What was the maximum number of active members they ever had?

  I would guess less than 75,000 at any given time. Probably far less as many drift away as soon as they can mine them for maximum training fees. I think that there are basically two regular types of members - hardline recruits who live like bethelites in the compounds, and a very small number of wealthy or celebrity people who support it from the outside. I tend to believe the religious institute numbers, based on information I have from a friend who left Scientology after being in the elite Sea Org.
• 

  recovering

  Does this not sound just like what goes on with the witnesses?

  1 Shunning People who disagree

  "...accept the consequences as their parents, siblings and friends who are church members cut off all communication with them," according to the Times."

  2 The characterazation of dissenters as apostates who can not be trusted.

  "Meanwhile, Scientology officials have responded as they have to previous allegations -- they've denied everything and said that the disgruntled ex-members are apostates who can't be trusted. "

  Here is the full article link

  http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/new-abuse-allegations-cap-bad-year-for-scientology/19387752
• 

  JWoods

  Recovering, in some ways I could honestly say it could be considered worse than the witnesses.

  It is very possible that they need an internal rebellion to rid themselves of the current leadership or else they will implode from all this bad publicity.

  I think they are undergoing a sort of "Russellite independent bible students" versus "Rutherford total control JWs" as in the 1920s, but without a successful Rutherford to take over after the death of their founder.
• 

  Gayle

  What is perplexing to me, is how many are coming to terms about the Scientology religion and leaving it, but still insist they will remain with the 'belief' of such. I remember on my process of leaving JWs for a while, I had wished there was something like JWs, like a reformed JW group or 'Second' JW group (guess it was a stair-stepping stage till I figured for me I didn't 'need' an organized religion any more). Sounds like there's a reformed, or second Scientology group developing. It is also evident to me, how desparate people want to believe in some 'elitist' 'programmed' way of supreme wisdom.