Monday, May 21, 2007

The Cult of Scientology

I have long wondered how Scientology was ever given status as a religion when it is so clearly a cult. And why so many otherwise intelligent people could buy into it.

Anyway, AlterNet has a good article looking at the "Church of Scientology."

Here's a taste:

Scientologists do not like that word, so let me repeat it - CULT.

Hubbard, the man who created Scientology in 1952, has an unusual CV for a religious and spiritual leader. As well as being a writer, he was a congenital liar: quite simply a "charlatan".

That was the view of a High Court judge in 1984, who said Hubbard's theories were "corrupt, sinister and dangerous".

If nothing else, the movement's survival is proof that with money - Scientology is worth billions worldwide - you can make some people, even intelligent people, believe almost anything.

Stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta have given Scientology a profile and showbusiness gloss it simply does not deserve.

Indeed, those who are not familiar with its tactics and history regard Scientologists - who are convinced we are all descended from a race of aliens called thetans - as weird, not wicked.


Read the whole article.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You might have heard of the BBC Panorama program last week on Scientology - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/6655207.stm
You could watch the whole program from the BBC's website, but that might have been replaced now by this weeks.

Anonymous said...

The whole Panorama program on Scientology is available from the link in the post above.