Why is Scientology any worse than any other Religion?

Question

Are Thetans any less ridiculous than Guardian Angels?

Is Xenu somehow goofier than Lucifer?

Why is L. Ron Hubbard worse than Joesph Smith?

Answer 1

its the same

Answer 2

South Park made it awful. And after watching that episode, I sort of think the origin is ridiculous as well.

Answer 3

it isn't - it doesn't require human sacrifce/ self mutilation/animal sacrifice

Santeria is worse than Scientology- same deal- people get duped into spending lots of money- but small animals are killed- goats,chickens, birds. I know cause my grandma practiced that crazy a$$ religion and would pour the blood of her sacrificed animals on my head- when I was like 7 or 8 years old.

Answer 4

Lol @ Xenu

i think Scientology is hilarious.

Its like in 1000000 years when people will think that Harry Potter was a real person

Answer 5

because at least the creators of judeo-christian mythology believed in thier fairy tales and didn't create a "religion" taht was a ponzi scheme in disguise.

one is a scam that might not have been intended to be a scam,

the other is an obvious scam that brain dead idiots fall for.

Answer 6

Less rediclous, perhaps not. My objections are with the practices, not the beliefs,  Most religions do not demand you repeatedly pay for very expensive proceedures, and I know of no other religion that has an official policy of harrassing members who are not in good standing with the church.

Also, Scientology seems to have always been a money-making organization, which leads me to question the sincerity of Hubbard and his beliefs.  While I do not believe in Christianity (as one counter-example), I believe the early teachers honestly believed in it.  They had nothing to gain and much to lose from believing.

Answer 7

they deny their members emergency medical treatment

they staged the largest robbery of secret FBI files

they require cutting contact with family

they harrass people

they strong arm competition and those that oppose them..

Answer 8

Actually - I don't believe they are. They may be a little extreme - but lots of religions are.

I read L. Ron Hubbard's book many years ago and I think there are some very valuable lessons in there. I just don't have any interest in joining their movement.  

Answer 9

Scientology is a religious applied philosophy.

“It is possible to know about the mind, the spirit and life”

Scientology states that man is a Spiritual being that controls a body through a mind. To represent this life force, the Greek symbol for though: “Theta” was selected to avoid confusion with any prior practice.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBcbVtEwU...

The mind (we are not talking about the brain that is just the center of the nervous system) is a bank of mental image pictures. This bank is what the spirit uses to make decisions; it is composed of the analytical mind and the reactive mind. The analytical mind is clear; it doesn’t have any hidden influences and is fully accessible by the Thetan. The reactive mind is a collection of bad mental image picture that include pain, unconsciousness and command value. The reactive mind is the hidden influence that aberrates reason. The reactive mind is the cause for all human aberration, insanity or evil purpose.

Scientology’s approach to solve human aberration: Auditing.

- “Communication is the Universal Solvent.”

- “All problems of the mind are created by the mind.”

- “The mind can solve all the problems of the mind”

To solve the problem of the reactive mind Hubbard developed Auditing; a verbal therapy that uses questions to help the individual address what is bothering him. So the person by his own volition can solve his own problems. The big difference between Auditing and Psychoanalysis is that the Psychoanalyst evaluates for the person and tells him what to think. In Auditing you just ask and listen and let the person make his own mind about things.

There are no suggestions involved in Auditing, all conclusion are done by you by your own intelligence. Auditors are bound the Auditor’s Code to never evaluate for the preclear (preclear is a person receiving Scientology processing).  Never get in a relationship with the preclear.  All information released during auditing is protected by law and not even the police can gain access to that information. Enforcing this code of conduct is the Scientology Ethics Officer and Scientology law. Any violation to the Auditors code is considered a high crime in Scientology and will result removal of any Auditing Certificates and/or expulsion from the church. I have seen this happen and is a very serious matter.

Any friend or family member can audit you for free. Or you can take the courses and get your Auditing with other students. Taking Scientology courses is no more expensive than taking courses at your community college. Scientology also offers correspondence courses for a little as $30.00.

Professional auditing is also offered by highly trained specialists. An auditing team is composed of the Auditor, Ethics Officer, Quality Assurance (the person that tells the Auditor what to do), Corrections (the people that constantly train the Auditor on how to do the process) and the rest of the administration of a Church of Scientology. These are not one on one services, these are a whole team working to better you. It is expensive because is expensive to create, train and maintain the team.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kwK1byq0nd...

How Scientology evolved?

Scientology evolved from Dianetics when it was discovered that man is a spiritual being. Scientology differs from Dianetics in that Dianetics deals with the mind and the rehabilitation of mental image pictures and Scientology deals with the rehabilitation of the human spirit itself.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FhrlHU0W9U...

We don’t ask for your faith in Scientology. There is no faith needed, when you can observe and experience it working by your self.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXR0XgmDN...

“Self confidence alone is security. Your ability is your security. There is no security but you. Let's make the best possible you."  L Ron Hubbard

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dziK04-9qq...

Cult status?

All great religions have been misunderstood, persecuted and attacked. Jesus was sentenced to death by a lynching crowd; his only crime:  to teach Love and forgiveness. Christians were KILLED for centuries for their beliefs and they were accused of performing cannibalistic rituals (didn’t they ate and drink the body of Jesus?).

Scientology is a worldwide religion that claims 10 millions of members. It has centers in almost every mayor capital in the world: Washington, London, Berlin, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Sydney, Tel Aviv Israel and Moscow to name a few. And for a church that is barely 40 years old this is great. Scientology is not a small sect based in a small town in Texas isolated from the rest of the world. Scientology thrives in the center of mayor cities, its member are community leaders, doctors, teachers and workers from all sectors of society. The fact most Scientologists have a college education says a lot.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=lI0AbwtQ7B...

Scientologists are involved in all kinds of community improv

Answer 10

Scientology is a cult.  They pull money from their followers, and recruit aggressively.  It's about money.

> Is Xenu somehow goofier than Lucifer?

Yes.  I think Hubbard tried to "unmake" his religion by putting goofy elements into it deliberately.  He failed, and was killed for it.

> Why is L. Ron Hubbard worse than Joesph Smith?

Hubbard just wanted to ride on boats while wearing naval-inspired garb.  Smith wanted to have s*x with lots of gullible women.  I don't think Hubbard was worse than Smith... but Hubbard's fanatical followers, on the other hand, are just totally over the top.

Answer 11

I agree.  It isn't any more ridiculous, yet somehow people make a distinction with it.  It's c**p, IMHO.

Answer 12

My opinion is that all religions are based on an impulse towards a better life.  I also believe Scientology is a great religion and that's why I call myself a Scientologist.

Also, if the critical ideas about Scientology that I see in these answers are what you are basing your opinions on, there is your problem right there.  You don't have any accurate information about what Scientology really is.

Answer 13

We'll they're annoyingly litigious...

But, other than that?  They're just easier to make fun of because they're not part of our cultural experience.

Answer 14

On the surface, I don't think it's better or worse than many other religions. I don't believe in belittling other people's religious choices. However, the real issue here is control. Many stories have come out suggesting that an unusual amount of forcible control is levied against its members. When that happens, a group can become potentially dangerous. In my own religion, if I want to leave, I simply walk away. However, in some religions, when you walk away, they'll hunt you down. There is a difference between religious belief and coercion. There are many stories about this group and its collective paranoia. If they're just stories, that's fine. But there are an awful lot of claims against this particular religion that have nothing to do with their theology, but rather, with control issues.

Answer 15

scientology in and of itself is not any worse than any other religion.  all religions have crazy beliefs.  it's the 'Church of Scientology' that is evil.  

http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/childabuse...

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/

http://www.xenu.net/

Answer 16

I'm going to go with lawsuits and intimidation.

The actual beliefs of the religion aren't really any sillier than most other religions, though.