Is the Church of Scientology a criminal organisation?

A female slave is most men's idea of Heaven.

I'm less worried about Scientology than I am Islam. Scientology don't advocate killing those who won't convert.

I've attended Scientology courses. I'd venture to say that the vast majority of people maligning Scientology have never attended a single course.

Having researched it, I'm not an adherent of Scientology...however, I'm certainly not inclined to deem it any worse than any other religion on the planet and certainly not worse than Islam. L.R. Hubbard may have been a drunken sci-fi writer but he was not a mass-murdering pedophile tribal warlord.

Yep ... what Oz said. ^^^

Yes. Scientology is a cult with an established criminal record going back several decades. It's rap sheet is probably the same size as a large duvet cover.

Why does Scientology attract celebrities? Are they more gullible than the rest of us mortals?  

Kazza wrote:Why does Scientology attract celebrities? Are they more gullible than the rest of us mortals?  

You have it backwards. Celebrities attract Scientology because celebrities are most in need of spiritual development...

...or they're richer. One of those two reasons.

Kazza wrote:Why does Scientology attract celebrities? Are they more gullible than the rest of us mortals?

Firstly, because they have a lot of extra money floating around, and religious of all stripes love it when they can bilk rich folks out of their money.

Secondly, I think some celebrities get bored with their lives. It's the "I've been there, done that, and have the t-shirt" mentality. When you have tons of money and lots of time off between films, I think these people go looking for the latest hot thing to do or the next big fad.

You have to be a flaming idiot to believe in Scientology and yet celebrities and the gulllible keep that con game going strong.

Oh come on people, surely its obvious. Reincarnated Thetans have to meet somewhere.

Kazza wrote:Why does Scientology attract celebrities? Are they more gullible than the rest of us mortals?  

I've always assumed it was due to their claims to be able to 'cure' homosexuality. Which would explain why Tom Cruise and John Travolta are adherents. Allegedly.

Why does Scientology attract celebrities? Are they more gullible than the rest of us mortals? scratch

Hubbard used to attend a lot of VIP parties in LA, he noticed how depressed a lot of the rich and famous seemed to be, he become a kind of counselor, and his success gave him the idea to write a book( Dianetics). He then stuck on the Sci-Fi ending for two reasons, people still wanted to deny death and he wanted to make it a religion to avoid tax.

The idea is to remove all previous environmental influences and reconstruct your views from a blank slate, a process known as auditing, those who achieve everything can feel empty, and he filled this emptiness with a kind of self help philosophy, it is actually very clever and effective, the convert pays a fortune to get to the final level of enlightenment and then gets the SCi Fi voodoo right at the end, by this time they are too far gone to care.
He was a Sci Fi writer on LSD when he wrote the final part of his religion, and it shows.
Auditing involves spewing out all your memories, memories which can be used against you if you leave and try and spill the beans.

Tosh wrote:...

There is a story that does the rounds every now and then and probably apocryphal though there is some circumstantial drivel that suggests it might be true which goes that....

Scientology was started as a bar bet. The bar bet always involves Heinlein and Hubbard and then usually at least one other SciFi writer, often Asimov and sometimes PK Dick. The bet was to see who could start a religion. Heinlein wrote Stranger in a Strange land and Hubbard created Scientology. Almost certainly the bar bet is a nice fiction though it is believed that Heinlein did contribute to dianetics which, with the Thetan bolt on, became Scientology. Hubbard is reputed to have said "The way to make a million dollars is to start a religion." The reference certainly turns up a list of respected SciFi writers who attest to this.

Dan Fante wrote:I've always assumed it was due to their claims to be able to 'cure' homosexuality. Which would explain why Tom Cruise and John Travolta are adherents. Allegedly.

I think they can claim to cure their followers of being:

• Homosexual
  
• Gullible
  
• Confused
  
• Wealthy
  

Only one of these is valid.

Evening Bellatori,

Nothing would surprise me about Hubbard, he was obsessed with money,sex and control, it wouldn't surprise me if he decided to extend his counseling success to a full blown religion for a bet or just to make more money. I believe he lived on some boat to avoid arrest for tax evasion, not a pleasant man from all reports.

There is something about America that facilitates conmen like Hubbard and Joe Smith, how anyone can believe their guff is beyond me.

one where I live,got a couple of shops now 3or 4 houses very large, cars galore,and owns the coppers. crooked as they come.

Tosh wrote:There is something about America that facilitates conmen like Hubbard and Joe Smith, how anyone can believe their guff is beyond me.

I think the same was tried in 6th Century Arabia (Almost a carbon original).

Heretic

Strange if you look back in history how particular cons reappear is it not Heretic?

stu wrote:Strange if you look back in history how particular cons reappear is it not Heretic?

If I had not become an honest man some time ago you might of given me an idea there.

Heretic

That's what I thought Heretic.  

I thought Hubbard was schizophrenic?

snowyflake wrote:I thought Hubbard was schizophrenic?

He was universally acknowledged to be a few pence short of a shilling...

In old money that is. 

I noticed recently that scientology are now advertising on mainstream British TV. Or have I not been paying attention? One of their outlandish claims was to be able to help cure drug addiction.

Appealing to both their rich and poor clientele.