What do Bart Simpson, Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and John Travolta have in common? All of them belong to a religion that seems designed to steal people's money and break up families. Ok, in the case of Bart Simpson, it's actually Nancy Cartwright, the actress who is Bart's voice.
A new controversial documentary from Germany, Bis Nichts Mehr Bleibt (Until Nothing Remains) illustrates that Scientology is nothing more than a business, whose product is a bunch of pseudo-scientific hocus pocus, and the price is misfortune, unhappiness, and sometime the loss of your entire family.
It's a typical Scientology story: A young family got lured in and gave all their money to the organization through coercion and promises. Then one of them (the husband in this case) got wise and tried to withdraw, only to find that his wife and daughter were totally addicted to the pseudo-science and psychological coercion. Scientology had so consumed they wife that she was beyond his influence. He now has little money left, and has completely lost contact with his wife and young daughter.
What sort of religion tears families apart and bankrupts its members? That's easy: religions don't do that. That's the sort of behavior you expect from gambling casinos and Mafia-type gangs.
And what sort of religion has to go to court, again and again, trying to suppress documentaries and news reports? What sort of religion won't even divulge its core theology until you pay it a fortune? What sort of religion gets put on trial for being an illegal cult in France, or is accused of being a criminal organization in Australia?
Scientology. But it's not a religion, it's a business. It's core theology seems to be greed, and its morality seems to be that whatever gets them more money is moral.
Monday, March 15, 2010
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3 comments:
Dear readers -- I am no longer blogging and after leaving these blogs open for two years have finally stopped accepting comments due to spammers. Thanks for your interest. If you'd like to write to me, click on the "Contact" link at the top. Thanks! -- CJ.
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I wouldn't be to quick on the draw about religions not tearing families apart. I'm well aware that Mormons particularly excommunicate members of their family that want to leave the religion. I've heard unpleasant stories about Born Agains as well. I'm not quite so certain about the bankrupting people thing, but tearing a family apart? Definitely.
ReplyDelete>>That's easy: religions don't do that. <<
ReplyDeleteSorry, you're wrong. Religions do that all the time. Talk to anyone who has left the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Hasidim, the Amish, the Bahá'í or any other cult. They *all* tear families apart.
While I agree that Scientology should be treated as a business, and a snake oil sales business at that, ripping families apart makes them seem more like a religion, not less.
Did you know scientology is trademarked so noone else can start a church??
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