Lol, but that's the problem, @deanliu. I believe that knowing Tom Cruise is a part of their organisation doesn't help people understand the inner working of the circle itself. In fact, Scientology and it's association with Mr. Cruise is their biggest ace card. A Hollywood superstar with millions of dollars who follows their religion. Best advert to join them yet.
The only way anybody will hear the truth about it is from real, everyday people who don't have anywhere near the backing that these famous celebrities do. Then you'll hear how organisations like this really affect innocent peoples lives. But I believe we are waking up as the spread of information is now a very simplistic process and the current levels of awareness will prevent many falling into traps set by these various groups.
hence the value of your post!
I am not a Scientologist nor do I believe in its teachings or condone it's practices. However, the fact that we think what they preach is ridiculous is only down to the fact that it is young and we haven't been exposed to it for a very long time, nor does religion carry such an importance in today's society.
Other religions even Christianity would have seemed just as ridiculous, it's only that we've gotten used to it that we 'accept' it as a religion, even if we don't believe in it.
Notice how everybody is so quick to jump on the anti Scientology train and citing people like Tom Cruise when other religions have even more significant people in their following and yet nobody says anything about them?
Hey, @sweetsssj. Thanks for your input.
Well, Scientology is classified as a religion only by it's own members, not by the public at large. Most consider Scientology as some sort of cult. Not only that, but also consider that religious groups enjoy tax exemption so to be a recognised religion is also a good financial move and from the evidence I have seen before me, Scientology is about amassing as much coin from it's members as possible. L. Ron Hubbard admitted this himself, lol! See my quote in the post.
It seems they try to extract as much money as possible from it's new recruits, whatever the costs or implication to them afterwards. I, as I mentioned, pretty much witnessed this first hand with Joe, as well as the countless other examples you can find online.
Religion generally should be something to be respected by all, I firmly believe in that, but referring to Scientology as a recognised religion is only something a Scientologist would say.
All religions make huge amounts of money with zero tax forfeiture.
My argument is that it is too easy for us to stand in our position today, judge the activities of Scientology and say how ridiculous and scandalous it is and fail to see how religion was used in history as a means to control the general public.
In the past, people were led to believe certain things because they knew no better and were much less well informed as we are today. Not to mention that your faith often decided whether you lived or not.
Of course, Scientology is a-lot more transparent and perhaps that's even a good thing. After all, you know exactly what you're getting yourself into right from the get go. However, if Scientology was introduced millennia ago, then I would argue that we wouldn't see it as any different to any other religions that still exist today.
Just to say again, that I am not a Scientologist, nor do I condone their practices. I can't argue what is a religion or not because that's a whole other area of discussion. But, I believe that we should be as objective as possible and not let the undertones of the general public undermine our judgement of religion as a whole.
I kind of see where you are coming from. But only as far as people accepting other peoples religions. Have you read the things they do? The lives they've destroyed? I mean I haven't finished up my article about Joe but the end result was totally devastating. I've witnessed this first hand and the damage it can do to innocent people.
Plus Scientology is not transparent at all. You only get the big payoff in the end (which is Xenu) after you part with vast amounts of money. They never reveal that at the start. I honestly think we are talking about two completely separate things here. Religion is totally different to what Scientology is. The Internet is literally spilling over with examples of people who have been left in ruin by them. That cannot be a good thing.
Best thing is wait till I post the second part, lol. That should clear up any issues about how they should be viewed in public.