Kaileigh says:
Wed, 19th Mar 200811:14 am 

Hey, I know it sounds crazy, but if you think about it, all religions sound pretty crazy. Like in Christianity; a man went into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights without any food or water and lived. Then a few days later he was crucified, he died, and then still came back again.

I'm Catholic, and believe in God, but if you take it word for word it doesn't sound too much more believable than a bunch of people coming to earth in a space ship.

I guess my point is, to each his own.

However, I have to admit, that link listing the stories of the people who have died as a result of Scientology is very very unnerving.

Nental Ife says:
Wed, 19th Mar 200811:33 am 

You say "I’m in no real position to judge anyone’s religion" but then you go and urge people to visit the Operation Clambake site, even though much of its information is demonstratably and verifiably wrong.

Operation Clambake and most other hate-sites of its ilk are all run by a small group about of twenty to thirty people who are all damaged and disgruntled ex-Church members. Bizarrely, though they blame the Church for wasting years of their lives, they've wasted far *more* years of their own lives hunched over a computer posting angry screeds against Scientology on a daily basis, practically from sunup to sundown. These people are truly sick in their obsession with attacking Scientology, and making up newer and crazier conspiracy theories about it every week. (These same people, not coincidentally, all edit Wikipedia. Surprise, surprise.)

Finally, linking to the "Why Are They Dead?" site is a particularly undiscerning move, because one of the favorite routines of ANY group out to smear a religion is to try to compile a big list of every member of that faith who ever died, especially if they can make it seem under mysterious circumstances. (Remember the "Clinton Body Count"? It's like that.) Catholic-haters do it. Mormon-haters do it. And so do Scientology-haters. Unfortunately, the list of so-called "Scientology deaths" just isn't very long nor is it very compelling. And the fact that nothing much ever came of any of these cases indicates that there's no real "smoking gun" against the Church in any of it. I mean, come on – as many people out there, in places high and low, despise Scientology, don't you think they'd be investigated and busted in a heartbeat if they were really killing and abusing their members? Get real.

And now a younger generation – the "anonymous" kids – have read the horror stories of the bitter old fogies, believed every word of it at face value (it's on Wikipedia, it must be true!), and are now off on a crusade of their own. It would be almost funny if it wasn't so psycho and Clockwork-Orange-like.

J - NYU says:
Wed, 19th Mar 200811:40 am 

But honestly…can someone explain the alien ghosts? Or why I should follow religion started in the *1950's* by a man who wrote science fiction books?

…People can believe whatever they want, but these two things make it IMPOSSIBLE for me to jive with Scientology.

Oh yeah, and that weird Tom Cruise video. That certainly didn't help.

C says:
Wed, 19th Mar 200812:50 pm 

But there are two prime differences between Scientology and already-established religions such as Christianity. That is, its basis and its secrecy.

Most religions are based off of centuries of already-accepted stories and ideas which can be tied directly back to man's most primitive days. From tribal ideals can Judaism, from Judaism- Christianity. Islam has roots in all three traditions. These religions have been refined. The stories of these cultures have definite themes and similarities, they work towards a common understanding. They also have a sort of manifest destiny, which provokes them to recruit new members, and pronounce their doctrines even to those outside of their system of belief. Even eastern religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, are open to conversion. It's very easy to find out information about these systems without much work at all.

Now here comes Scientology, started only about 60 years ago (not nearly enough time to work out the doctrine details) and seemingly sprouting from the sudden surge in the science fiction genre. Not to mention the fact that what, exactly, they do is kept very secret, sprouting the speculation so rampant nowadays. It's a very mysterious organization that seems to cater to the celebrity taste, and what good have we heard of it in all its publicity? All this naturally leads to a bad light.

My own opinion is that this whole thing is a little off. The idea of religion is largely based on community, the larger the community, the stronger the system. But without open doctrine and allowing outsiders to see the strength of your choice, a religion cannot quite function the way it should. I, personally, and very confused about it, but in no way can I bring myself to support it.

Olua - Washington Co says:
Wed, 19th Mar 20082:18 pm 

Nental, let me first clear up that I don’t support either side of the “debate”, if that’s what you want to call it. I don’t care for people attacking others for their faith (though admittedly I see nothing wrong with protests as long as they’re peaceful), and like C said, I don’t care for religions that hide who and what they are.

However, I do think the fact that Scientology is so new and so unexplored lends to the wealth of misinformation out there. I know significantly more about the darker sides of Scientology than I do about the lighter sides, and I’ve taken my stance – which is cautiously neutral – because of what I know. That’s how people make their opinions.

However, I do agree with you on same basis on the “why are they dead” site. The information there is unnerving because all of the deaths are so recent. But if I were to make a list of people who have died because of Islam or Judaism (and that’s without even touching the holocaust), it would be a million times longer than the Scientology list. And I won’t even touch Christianity.

Fact of the matter is, though, no matter what people say or do to advocate or repress a religion, the religion is still going to prosper. Most people need something to believe in, and a few angry protestors aren’t going to stop them. I’m just stating my opinion.

giz says:
Sat, 22nd Mar 20081:21 pm 

Anonymous speaks the truth.

We are a legion.

S says:
Sun, 23rd Mar 20085:03 pm 

Shouldn't the validity of Scientology be questioned when the founder was a sci-fi author (the religion sounds like it's straight out of a book) and he has been quoted to say,

"You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion."

and

"If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion."