I visited a local center a few years back, to take a personality test, listen to a couple of Sunday sermons, and ask some questions about all of it... purely from a standpoint of curiosity. On the surface, it sounds pretty humanist, and the sermons were common man, relatable talks. They covered how the world is troublesome and stressful, and how through this community, and their training/courses, you could ease your burdens and embrace your true potential. They dismiss therapy, so you know what they're competing against. When I first showed up, the visitor attendant asked me, in small talk, if I had hobbies. I told her that I enjoyed making art and music, and she told me that scientology views all creative personalities as celebrity, as it is highly valued to them. I can totally see creative types, successful or dreaming, falling right into this line of thought. I blushed a little myself, before coming back to reality!
I took one and even played around with them for a few months. They called me this year about 15 years after I talked to my last Scientologist, was fucking creepy. I had fun for a while then they got real pushy and did some weird shit to me, I don't really want to talk about it. There are some cool people in Scientology and some king weirdos.
From Wikipedia:Scientology is legally recognized as a tax-exempt religion in the United States, Italy,[10][11] South Africa,[12] Australia,[13] Sweden,[14] New Zealand,[15][16] Portugal[17] and Spain;[18] ,[19][20][21][22] and the Church of Scientology emphasizes this as proof that it is a bona fide religion.[23] In other countries, notably Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, Scientology does not have comparable religious status.
I want to know how they achieved this. Other nouveau religions--e.g. the Boo Hoos--have not had any success in getting the courts to recognize them. What makes Scientology different? Money, perhaps? If I were king I would strip tax exemption from religious institutions wholesale. What a scam that we all foot the bill for.
If anyones interested in the history of that battle: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/nytimes.html
Thanks. This is an awesome read. I had a suspicion that extortion was probably at least a component. I love this: "This is a church organization that has been subjected to more harassment and more attacks certainly than any religion in this century and probably any religion ever, and they have had to perhaps take unusual steps in order to survive," Ms. Yingling said
Perhaps she's never heard of the Jews.
After some thought on the possible consequences of relating my Scientology experiences I think I'll pass. There is more then enough information on Hubski when combined with the information they already have and the fact that they reached out to me in the past year to make me leery of giving my honest opinion on my experience, I don't want my family targeted for harassment. I will say that I am not anti-Scientology. I think that if someones life is going in the wrong direction they might be better off finding Hubbard then Jesus. That being said the whole thing is a mishmash of pseudo science and mysticism that largely makes no sense. There are some good things to be gleaned from it, but nothing that you can't find elsewhere if you are willing to put in a bit of work.
Glad you came back to reality 2814, I imagine it wasn't easy. I think we have to step back once in a while and acknowledge that we are all motivated by two things recognition and the herd mentality. Some are more so than others but almost everyone, at least a little bit is motivated by these things. Sounds like they play in to this, but really .. most religions do.
Absolutely. I remember sitting there, thinking, "it's all the same little routine." Play on common vulnerability and offer a path to relief... in a comfortable setting. It makes me think that skeptics and the critically self-aware should just have a lot more pot lucks and run all these jokers out of town!
I know this guy named Mindwolf that does just that! Any chance you are in Michigan? He is the founder of Michigan Skeptics. From what I've gathered it's sort of like a pot-luck with an emphasis on beer and great conversation. It's not just religion though, it's the majority of marketing. -Think insurance sales or even main stream media. "Tonight at 11, are crayons secretly killing your baby"? -Scare and then reassure. Okay, now I'm getting mad ;-)
Using language and aesthetics to manipulate human drives seems like dirty play, IMO, yet it's so pervasive. Beware, the monolith of influence! And sadly, I'm not even close to Michigan. I'm actually moving back to TX soon, and luckily, there is a skeptics group I left there a few years ago, that was getting into a good groove of libation and discourse! I can't wait to see how it has grown!
Cool, it sounds like you have a good plan. I tried to join a skeptics group here in NC but I only found an atheist group and that's just a step further than I'd like to go. Good luck with the move!