Is the Church of scientology real?
0 voters
I admit it, I’m all caught up in the hype surrounding Cruise and his love for the religion. I’ve checked out the website and while it doesn’t have a personal touch to it that would suit me, I am wondering are there any forumosans here that have dealt with or are followers of the Church. If so, would you care to share your expriences ?
This probably is not going to be constructive to your purposes but the rumor is it was started by Science Fiction writer L.Ron Hubbard as a bet with another Sci-fi writer that he could start a religion purely for money.
[quote] L.Ron Hubbard can’t save your life[/quote] The Power and The Passion/ Midnight Oil 1982
I don’t understand the poll question. What do you mean by real? :s
I didn’t get it either.
I’ve looked into it a bit. While I don’t think I’d ever join, it is of some use. It’s a method of self-help to get rid of neuroses or things that bother you. Any psychotherapeutic method doesn’t have to be true to be to work.
I’ll let you know a little secret, all religion is fake. Just think how much time and money I have saved you.
Its real enough. Kooky as hell, some would say dangerous, but real.
As an Operating Thetan Level VI, I can attest to this.
[quote=“sandman”]Its real enough. Kooky as hell, some would say dangerous, but real.
As an Operating Thetan Level VI, I can attest to this.[/quote]
I always thought that being taken away by aliens would be really cool…just as long as they don’t do anything like anal probes or freaky stuff like that.
Does it have any authenticity? Or is it subjective?
[quote=“Durins Bane”][quote=“sandman”]Its real enough. Kooky as hell, some would say dangerous, but real.
As an Operating Thetan Level VI, I can attest to this.[/quote]
I always thought that being taken away by aliens would be really cool…just as long as they don’t do anything like anal probes or freaky stuff like that.[/quote]
Some people need the freaky anal probes thing to find their purpose in life. Not knocking it, just haven’t gotten around to try it :neutral:
Does it have any authenticity? Or is it subjective?[/quote]
What religion, cult, etc., is NOT subjective? Your poll still doesn’t make sense.
[quote=“Durins Bane”][quote=“sandman”]Its real enough. Kooky as hell, some would say dangerous, but real.
As an Operating Thetan Level VI, I can attest to this.[/quote]
I always thought that being taken away by aliens would be really cool…just as long as they don’t do anything like anal probes or freaky stuff like that.[/quote]
No anal probes. Implantation though – I implanted the anal probe idea in your mind, for example, because I’m an OT VI. Not everyone has this power.
I believe it is an official church in the US (it can get tax benifits and that sort of stuffs). I remember reading an article about them going for the same thing in the UK and being shot down. I bet they’re not recognized as a real church here (but could be wrong).
So in the US the answer is yes, and the UK no. But (as Frost has sort of pointed it) relion being real or not is entirely dependant on you (though I’ve been told God believes in me whether I believe in him/her or not).
The Scientilogy church has some wealthy and (maybe) powerful members, so they do a good job of convincing people that they’re real.
faq.scientology.org/
They have a large number of followers and physical places of worship.
I believe they are not a registered or recognized religion in Taiwan but Taiwan is not recognized or registered in most of the world.
I have to say Scientology exist and is just as real as any other religion but perhaps not as ancient.
Website looks real!
scientology.org/
This is the New York church, temple? Not the Vatican or the Temple Mount but it looks real.
I’m not sure whether they are actually banned in Germany, but there was at least some discussion about it as they seemed to be seen as being in breach of some basic rights. They were or still are under surveillance by the German authorities for a couple of cases that envolved former members claiming to be held against their will, forced to part with worldly belongings (that allegedly ended up in the sect’s koffers) and I seem to remember even torture, but that’s all from distant memory and at the time these were only claims by alleged victims, so don’t nail me down to it … They’re generally known as a sect in Germany (and I believe in other european countries too) and are definitely not a recognised church there.
Miltownkid gets to an important practical question in all this, and that is in the conjunction of a country’s tax laws and an entity’s “legitimate” status as a religion.
Here’s one way to narrow down the question a bit (obviously there are many ways, this is just one suggestion – Nama feel free to redefine if this isn’t what you meant):
[color=blue]
Question: Do the majority of the of the Scientology leadership honestly believe in what their movement teaches, or do they not?[/color]
Obviously asking “Is it ‘true’” will not get us very far, since nobody can answer that question for any religion. But whether it is genuinely believed by the people who are leading it, or whether the majority of that leadership primarly looks it as a business enterprise might get us closer to a question that is accessible. (Note, however, that “accessible” does is not synonymous with “definitively answerable” – since none of us can definitively know what another person is thinking.)
As a bit of an aside, I’m surprised none of our German colleagues have joined in the discussion yet (although who knows – maybe some of you are German?), given the extensive debate and strong public feelings on this issue in that country…
And, as usual, Thomas “Types With Turtles” Hobbes gets beaten to the punch… again. 
Very sorry about that! You seem to know a bit about the German angle there, maybe you can substantiate my nebulous murmurings a bit?
First of all, Scientology isn’t a religion; it’s more of a cult and a way of life. Why do people join cults? Usually, they are people who feel lost or alone. It has many faults, but scientology offers the basic benefits of a cult and can do it in a safer, more user-friendly way than the garden-variety compounds in California. Scientology is extremely structured, orderly and, because it involves brain-washing to some extent, easily administered to a willing participant. Many of the techniques used during the “audits” (audits are akin a session with a psychologist, except scientologist auditors are not called psychologists and do not have psychology credentials, because they believe that psychologists – and their evil-er twin, psychiatrists – are a part of a dangerous government conspiracy) are actually just basic psychotherapy techniques, with the focus on the individual to discover his problems and solutions on his own, rather than being told what his solutions are by the auditor, or being prescribed medication.
So add it up – regular auditing sessions by a mentally weak – but willing – participant who is constantly given positive reinforcement by his scientology superiors. He moves up in rank (there are countless “ranks” in scientology, though this tends to depend more on how much money you have rather than the success of your auditng sessions) and increases his self esteem and feelings of empowerment. The person sees their life changing positively (order, structure and self-reflection of any sort will likely improve the lives of anybody who felt lost or alone) and learns to attribute all of this to scientology. The person becomes very accepting of scientological explanations (read: “fraudulent explanations”) for the world around him, especially if the person was not particularly smart or knowledgeable before being exposed to the cult. Unless you are member of the quasi-military elite SEA-ORG, you don’t have to live in a scientology compound or anything, but many members choose to. And why not? They believe that the outside world failed them and caused their problems. Scientology improved their lives and taught them all of the “lies” of the outside world.
Scientology holds back the mythology on which the cult is based until the budding scientologist has reached a fairly high level of auditing; the mythology being that humans are inhabited by thetans – the souls of alien creatures destroyed by the galactic leader Xenu via nuclear warheads millions of years ago – and that auditing is actually the process of gradually expelling these spirits until “purification” is reached. Obviously a great deal of trust and suggestion must exist before a person could possibly believe such idiocy.
The Church of Scientology regularly inflates its membership numbers. Current estimates are about 100,000 people worldwide, though the Church boasts a number of over a million.
Since the advent of the internet, this “secret” has been let out of the bag, since documents by L. Ron Hubbard detailing the alleged ancient galactic massacre have been posted by anti-scientology sites; documents that the Church of Scientology implicitly admitted to by suing some of the websites for copyright infringement.
The cult of Scientology is a bunch of brain-wahing nutballs whose main purpose is to fleece as much money as possible out of their followers.
Brian