The Scientologists on the ground may well believe they are doing the right thing, just as Christian missionaries did when they were trying to civilise the savages.
Of course they do, all the more reason why it's so fucked.
noel emits said:
it's not all that different to how some other 'religious' organisations operate at all. They're modus operandi are really quite nasty but in many ways it's the same process.
Of course there's the temptation to look at all organisations based on 'faith' in the same cynical light.. but I think there's a difference. when something is so
obviously insane, and so obviously twisted, there's really no room for error. Christianity and other major religions are vague enough to mean some good can come from them I think, whereas Scientology is such a fixed set of absolute rules with no room for interpretation.. you donate to the cause, you're donating to a disgustingly ruthless, amoral, power hungry organisation. 'Period', as Tom Cruise would say.
Mainstream CoE Christianity in the UK, from my not particularly well informed perspective, looks to me not even to be very ambitious anymore. There doesn't seem to be any real attempt to attract new members, outsiders aren't treated like the 'enemy' (L Ron actually described everyone in the world even minutely concerned about scientology as 'the enemy'), and it seems as though most of the money donated to the church goes alternately towards fixing their continuously fucked rooves and other registered charities and approved causes.
I can obviously see the parallel though, and I think it's almost as messed up seeing Christian evangelists trawling through hospital wards offering desperate people salvation. Even here though, there's a difference. With the Christian worldview, everyone is the same in the eyes of God; for them, everyone is a target. In an official memo from L Ron in that same article I linked to before, he makes it clear that Scientology is not interested in the terminally ill, or the comatose.
Check it out -
L Ron Hubbard said:
Don't pick on the very bad off [sic] unconscious cases. Hit the fracture ward and the maternity ward. Go around and say hello to the people and ask if you can do anything for them. … This is a pretty routine drill really. You get permission to visit. You go in and give patients a cheery smile. You want to know if you can do anything for them, you give them a card and tell them to come around to your group and really get well, and you give them a touch assist if they seem to need it but only if they're willing. And you for sure make sure that there is someone on the other end when they ring up. But your statement, "the modern scientific church can cure things like that. Come around and see." will work. Its [sic] straight recruiting!
It sounds like a really awesome chinese whisper or something
