Next up on Fox : Scientology ain't so bad!

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UglyCasanova

Lifer
Mar 25, 2001
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No. Scientology is exclusively bad. I would rather suffer than "lean" on a scam religion that bilks followers of money, cuts them off from family and even leads to people's deaths.

How is that different than any other religion?
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,939
7,459
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I should add that the longer and more involved you are with a cult, the harder it is to leave. It is very common for ex-members to completely lose every friend and family they had when they leave.

I've had a couple of friends that divorced their wives and disowned their young children because their wives wouldn't join the cult they were members of. I knew them for many years as straight knowledgeable upright fellows before they took off for parts unknown, never to be seen or heard from again.
 

whm1974

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2016
9,436
1,567
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I've had a couple of friends that divorced their wives and disowned their young children because their wives wouldn't join the cult they were members of. I knew them for many years as straight knowledgeable upright fellows before they took off for parts unknown, never to be seen or heard from again.
I have a hard time believing people will abandon their own children and spouses over a cult.

I thought people were suppose to put their children first.
 

trenchfoot

Lifer
Aug 5, 2000
14,939
7,459
136
I have a hard time believing people will abandon their own children and spouses over a cult.

I thought people were suppose to put their children first.

Such is the power of skillful and very charming scam artist cult leaders, much like how Trump leads his flock of lost sheeple aimlessly roaming around in search of the legendary land of Shangri-maga.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,136
30,085
146
As are all religions. This one is no better nor worse than any other.

this is demonstrably incorrect.

sorry, bro: you thought you would earn "liberal cred" for posting shit like this, but you aren't very smart. carry on.
 

Lanyap

Elite Member
Dec 23, 2000
8,185
2,232
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I have a hard time believing people will abandon their own children and spouses over a cult.

I thought people were suppose to put their children first.



Watch Leah Remini on A&H and look up disconnection.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,136
30,085
146
Stop. Seriously. You need to watch Leah Remini's show on A&E.

Going Clear is also a great point

https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/going-clear

and of course the definitive Paul Haggis article

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/02/14/the-apostate-lawrence-wright


(I think Going Clear was based on that article...but whatever; tough to have such a serious "exigesis"on Scientology without such a top level leftenent as Paul Haggis, anyway...so a lot of the really good work is based on his info)

lol--also" these assholes actually murder people. David Miscavige? Yeah, dude murdered his wife to protect the secret. The worls hasn't seen or heard from her in years. Her own family. No one knows. FBI? "Not allowed to investigate" because religious bullshit.

Dude fucking murdered his wife, just like OJ. No fucking doubt. David Miscavige. murder of his wife. President chief dick whatthefuckever of Scientology. Wife murderer, and shit, if you count the Seasquad (or whatever they call those child rape victims), also a child raper. Yep. Murdered his wife, rapes kids, every fucking year. Because. David Miscagive. Murderer and child rapist. FBI isn't allowed to investigate because Scientology claims"1st Amendment protections"

LMAO. That's the the US. the Church or Scientology is based on wife murder and child rape. because.

Scientologists murder their wives and rape children. Damn, that sucks. Imagine that. FBI. Can't do a thing. Fucking shit, man. At leas the child rape victims are also forced to clean Tom Cruise's motorbikes every other week or so. That sounds like a bonus, right? I mean...outside outside of David Miscavige murdering his wife, stuffing her into a wall at the Scientology Headquarters, and raping all of those kids all summer, every summer, for 2 decades now, it's kind of a stand up organization, right? I mean....child rape and wife murder? It's a pretty good gig, right?>

Right?
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
13,636
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Well, what people need to recover from trauma is a way to make cohesive meaning out of it. In a sense, Travolta is right.

Also: kids, don't do Scientology


Well, that's applicable to religion in general, but I think there are other things going on with something like Scientology.

Firstly, strongly-self-policed organisations that are outside the mainstream often use a commitment to a form of 'social work' as a means of garnering and solidifying political support. They all do it, from Hamas to neo-Nazis to the mafia (often it happens precisely because the state has abandoned that role for some proportion of the population).

Secondly such groups do love their celebrity followers, who usually are both given more attention and support and a bit more freedom, but also clung onto more assidiously, than the average recruit. And personally I feel negatively about those celebs who lend their credibility to such groups, helping them take in more ordinary people who will probably be treated much less carefully and experience a lot more of the negative and a lot less of the supportive side of membership.
 

pmv

Lifer
May 30, 2008
13,636
8,522
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How is that different than any other religion?

I wonder if more than anything it's simply a question of size?

Larger groups, religions with more numerous followers, generally have to come to terms with a much more diverse range of behaviours, contexts, and attitudes from those followers. Hence they have no choice but to be less all-controlling and a bit more tolerant. Cults are usually small. There seems to be an inverse-relationship between number of followers and the level of control that can be exerted over them. A large church has to be a broad church.

Not that all small religions are cults, but all cults are small.

Unless of course the cult has full control of a state, as perhaps is the case somewhere like North Korea. But then I'm not sure there are any places like North Korea now, other than North Korea.

(though on the latter, I'm wondering whether Ireland-as-it-used-to-be might count...the historic behaviour of the Catholic church maybe counts against my argument...but perhaps it depends on the era...)
 

realibrad

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
12,337
898
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If you have seen LR and you know who they are then why are you giving them a sliver of positive support for this issue?

Is your position that because Scientology is so bad, that one must say it is always harmful, because to do otherwise might give it a small amount of legitimacy?
 

realibrad

Lifer
Oct 18, 2013
12,337
898
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I have a hard time believing people will abandon their own children and spouses over a cult.

I thought people were suppose to put their children first.

You would be amazed what people are willing to do. Also remember that but every person is mentally healthy.

Look into cults as you will be shocked what had been done to not only children, but anymore in a cult.

And, Scientology is a cult. Religions almost always try and take control of people's lives. Scientology does this to an extreme. As Zin already bought up, they murder people. They isolate you from family and friends. Leah Remini will never see her family again.