Scientology a CULT?

[Unveiled Artist]

Im sorry to hear that. I know there are messed up and true stories about the Church as well. So I cant judge. With the Church I have first experience that bad experiences dont reflect the teachings of the Church. As with the topic scientology, I wouldnt personally go there. It could be just like the rep about the Masons. My grandmother was an eastern star and from their site it looked fine. Then they are secrative so... I can only heed the warnings.

You will have to forgive me, Carlita, as I am a very honest and direct speaker both here and in real life. I also choose my words very carefully, for the most part, and I have had more than a passing brush with Scientology on a few occasions. No, I've never been seriously interested in it myself, but I have had a couple of very close friends become drawn into their chicanery. I experienced what Scientology did to my friends... while I continued to see them... before they vanished off the face of the Earth, never to be heard from again.

One fellow I knew well, Ray was his name, was almost hypnotized when I last spoke to him. His answers to my questions were quite mechanical and devoid of his usual exuberance. He said he was making great progress. It was quite chilling, really.

Lastly, I did try to read the book "Dianetics" but was only able to choke down the first few chapters until, in disgust, I threw the book across the room. It sat in the corner, on the floor for some time, before I gingerly picked it up, like a piece of dog doo doo and tossed it into the trash can. I simply wouldn't have it littering my bookshelf. I have never done this with any other book. The things discussed in the book were such perversions of pop-psychology/fiction/pseudo-science/mumbo jumbo that it was difficult to take any of it too seriously. And... I could see what happened to people who DID take it seriously. It destroyed the bright young fellow I knew and I've never seen him since. So, it's not just a case of being a hater, as it were. If I saw any redeeming merit in Scientology, I would say so. I don't, so I cannot. I hope this clarifies things a bit. Obviously, your life has not been touched by Scientology.

 

[Wirey]

If you're an atheist, why not include ever other religion in the world. Why stop with Scientology, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. You've still got three sides of the first die to go, and then you can start with a second one. Spread the hatred around man!

I differentiate (in my own mind) between cults and religions thusly:

A religion is evil by accident. Cults mean it.

 

[Jainarayan]

A Scientology demonstration:

Spoiler: Large pic, perfectly SFW. Unless you work at Scientology Central.

Rather, I submit that psychiatry saves lives.

 

[Revoltingest]

I differentiate (in my own mind) between cults and religions thusly:

A religion is evil by accident. Cults mean it.

Does anyone believe they're evil?
Even Hitler thought to himself.....
"I don't get all the anger with my administration....I'm a good guy...I work for the greater good.
And Herman forgave me for that dribble glass prank."

 

[BSM1]

Does anyone believe they're evil?
Even Hitler thought to himself.....
"I don't get all the anger with my administration....I'm a good guy...I work for the greater good.
And Herman forgave me for that dribble glass prank."

Dude! Really? The dribble glass incident?

 

[Katzpur]

I differentiate (in my own mind) between cults and religions thusly:

A religion is evil by accident. Cults mean it.

I see. You've made up your own definition for the word. Who can argue with that kind of logic?

 

[Wirey]

I see. You've made up your own definition for the word. Who can argue with that kind of logic?

I said differentiate, not define. Religions don't set out to be evil, people just make them that way. If you truly followed the teachings of Jesus it would be almost impossible to do harm.

Cults warp that message so they can maintain control. Their evil is intentional.

 

[LuisDantas]

I said differentiate, not define. Religions don't set out to be evil, people just make them that way. If you truly followed the teachings of Jesus it would be almost impossible to do harm.

Cults warp that message so they can maintain control. Their evil is intentional.

That may mean cults are very rare. Most people are well-meaning even in wicked cults, such as, say, coleslaw kitchens.

 

[Wirey]

That may mean cults are very rare. Most people are well-meaning even in wicked cults, such as, say, coleslaw kitchens.

Yeah, I meant leadership, not the rank and file. Good correction, thanks.

 

[Marisa]

I'm sorry you see negativity in other faiths and points of view. If they are not doing anything illegal, I personally have nothing against their morals. Reading their web site (original) makes me pause in curiosity and hesitation but never makes me call it a cult in the negative sense of the word.

Pat Robertson routinely tells broke elderly people not to quit tithing and to get a job, and that's completely legal. Immoral as hades, but completely legal.

 

[Katzpur]

I said differentiate, not define. Religions don't set out to be evil, people just make them that way. If you truly followed the teachings of Jesus it would be almost impossible to do harm.

Cults warp that message so they can maintain control. Their evil is intentional.

And that's precisely why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not a cult. We follow the teachings of Jesus to a far greater extent than do the members of many of the Christian Churches you'd call legitimate religions.

 

[LuisDantas]

Having some personal experience with the LDS Church, albeit not directly as a member, I can testify that they are one of the most well-meaning groups I ever encountered.

Quite simply, they deserve a lot of respect.

 

[Jumi]

Probably. I looked up spiritualism and got the somewhat same impression. It's interesting, I was thinking of visiting the church nearby when I have transportation to do so. That would be an experience. I never had any interest in Scientology though.

Be prepared to do a personality test.

 

[Marisa]

Having some personal experience with the LDS Church, albeit not directly as a member, I can testify that they are one of the most well-meaning groups I ever encountered.

Quite simply, they deserve a lot of respect.

If I ever had any warm fuzzy feelings toward them, Prop 8 turned them off.

 

[LuisDantas]

If I ever had any warm fuzzy feelings toward them, Prop 8 turned them off.

A pity you weren't here at that time. Prop 8 was a favorite subject matter in these forums when I joined.

And sure, they were terribly, terribly misguided on that matter. It is such a shame. But I still hold far more hope for them than for groups I would call cults.

 

[Marisa]

A pity you weren't here at that time. Prop 8 was a favorite subject matter in these forums when I joined.

And sure, they were terribly, terribly misguided on that matter. It is such a shame. But I still hold far more hope for them than for groups I would call cults.

I hope you're right. I don't begrudge anyone their belief, I begrudge them using that belief to affect the rights of other people.

 

[LuisDantas]

I hope you're right. I don't begrudge anyone their belief, I begrudge them using that belief to affect the rights of other people.

Oh, I fear that is not something that any of us can truly avoid.

Which is all the more reason to praise those who have moral courage and those belief systems that welcome and encourage such an attitude.

 

[Katzpur]

If I ever had any warm fuzzy feelings toward them, Prop 8 turned them off.

I hope you realize that not all Mormons were supportive of their Church's position. Last June, roughly 450 of us marched with a group called "Mormons Building Bridges" in Salt Lake CIty's Pride Parade. I expect even more of us to show up last year. And recently, the Church's leadership made a point of stating that any member of the Church was free to hold any position he wanted to on the issue of gay rights and could speak out on social media without any fear of retribution.

(I just love how threads get off-topic so quickly the minute Mormonism is mentioned.)

 

[LuisDantas]

I hope you realize that not all Mormons were supportive of their Church's position. Last June, roughly 450 of us marched with a group called "Mormons Building Bridges" in Salt Lake CIty's Pride Parade. I expect even more of us to show up last year. And recently, the Church's leadership made a point of stating that any member of the Church was free to hold any position they wanted to on the issue of gay rights and could speak out on social media without any fear of retribution.

(I just love how threads get off-topic so quickly the minute Mormonism is mentioned.)

Now that is hearwarming, and a good example of what I hope for. A true religious person should not be ashamed of trusting his or her own judgement over the Church's official stance. Nor should any Church be ashamed of having actual people with discernment among their ranks, quite on the contrary.

Here is hoping that the choice to perceive homosexuals as the fully entitled people they are spreads among the members of the LDS Church, as well as everywhere else. I fully expect that it will.

 

[LuisDantas]

(I just love how threads get off-topic so quickly the minute Mormonism is mentioned.)

Maybe that is a good sign, actually. Mormonism ends up deserving a lot of comment, IMO, perhaps because it is so unusual in being open-minded and particularly well-meaning towards "outsiders", yet all the same very much traditionalistic.

You could do much worse.