Because of various problems with Blogger, I've copied everything as of November 26, 2012 over to WordPress. The new location is Ask the Scientologist. I am not deleting this blog and will still accept comments and answer questions here too, but any new articles will appear at the WordPress location. I apologize if this causes any problems.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Strange Bedfellows

The history of the fight against the abuses, lies, fraud and crimes of the Church of Scientology is very interesting in how it has brought quite different groups together in a common cause.

Originally, there were just the ex-Scientologists and a few friends, fighting the Church of Scientology's abuses. In those earlier days, it seemed so very hard to enlighten major media and especially Scientologists as to the truth about the Church of Scientology. This went on for many, many years, and, while there was progress, it was slow.

Then, just a couple of years ago, the fight was joined by the loose Internet association calling itself "Anonymous". They, too, wanted to end the lies, abuses, fraud and crimes of the Church of Scientology, wake up Scientologists and, just maybe, bring an end to the abusive organization itself.

The Internet, Anonymous' home, was something that the Church of Scientology had little experience with. From the very start, the church was at a loss as to how to fight in this new medium. But worse, from the church's point of view, Anonymous also brought with them a new and unbeatable weapon: Humor. It soon became clear that the Church of Scientology had no defense against that.

Enter the next group to join in this fight:

Scientologists!

Yes, many true believers of Scientology have joined the fight to bring the lies, abuses, fraud and crimes of the Church of Scientology to light and to wake up other Scientologists to the truth.

To many who have been in this fight for awhile, this new development has been quite unsettling, maybe even alarming. Scientologists fighting against the Church of Scientology? How is that even possible?

Well, not only was it possible, it was inevitable. And it has happened in a big way. It also happens to be the indication of a very, very significant event:

The Scientology bubble has burst!

By that I mean that Scientologists are no longer protected and isolated in the Church of Scientology's protective bubble.

This is quite an amazing thing. Many current true believers are actually talking to Anonymous. They are talking to ex-Scientologists. They are reading newspapers, watching the news, surfing the Internet. The communication lines are open between the outside world and Scientologists.

And those Scientologists, many of whom are not on the Church of Scientology's "enemies list", are talking to other Scientologists. They are having meetings. They are discussing what is really going on with the church. They are sharing stories, real stories, not the bogus "success stories", but the real horror stories about their experiences under David Miscavige's corrupt rule.

This is the worst thing to happen to David Miscavige in a long line of worst things. And he is going crazy -- well, more crazy. In his last bogus event he warned his few remaining true believers against what he called "infiltrators". Yes, indeed, this is a Very Good Thing.

So, now that we can talk to Scientologists, let me give non-Scientologists some suggestions.

Don't argue about Scientology with a Scientologist. It does no good and, really, it is immaterial to bringing the lies, abuses, fraud and crimes of the Church of Scientology to light.

These newly-out-of-the-bubble Scientologists are in for some difficult times. Now that they can read the truth, they are faced with some belief-shaking facts, and they are going to have to figure out how to deal with these major contradictions:
  • The whole structure of the Church of Scientology has been corrupted. What they would call a "Suppressive Person" became the leader of Scientology. What they would call "Standard Tech" was completely corrupted. Nothing stopped him. Nobody stopped him. The Scientology they believed in should never have allowed this to happen. It happened. What does that say about Scientology and Scientologists?
  • If they can't trust the leaders and "top OTs" of Scientology to keep things right, who can they trust? (By the way, for anyone who worries that someone would take over the Church of Scientology and gather all the Scientologists back together, this distrust negates that worry. There is no one they can now trust that way.) This is a major, major shift in thinking for Scientologists. They will need to determine what is right by finding out for themselves.
  • The confidential, super-dangerous OT materials have been seen by, literally, millions and millions of people without one single bad effect. Nobody died. Not only that, but they can now see that just about all the vaunted "OT VIIIs" have already left Scientology. Most OT VIIIs want nothing more to do with Scientology. If OT VIII is the ultimate result of Scientology, then something is very wrong here! In all these troubles in the church, there was no one who demonstrated any of the promised OT abilities to come to Scientology's rescue.
  • If Scientology never delivered the promised Release, Clear and OT abilities, and it didn't, then what does it do? Most Scientologists will vehemently assert that it helped them. OK, but what is it doing? As Scientologists honestly look at actual results they and others have really been getting, they must figure out what, if anything, Scientology is actually doing for anyone. No more empty promises. No more fraud. What is happening? Anyone still believing in Scientology needs to figure this out.
Scientologists are not to be feared or scorned. If they come to help expose the lies, abuse, fraud and crimes of the Church of Scientology -- and especially if they help get the information to all Scientologists still trapped in the bubble, then they are quite welcome to this fight.

If those newly-aware Scientologists still haven't come to terms with the above contradictions, well, their help is still acceptable. Eventually, they will have to come to terms with those discrepancies, but that isn't part of this fight.
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Sunday, October 4, 2009

Don't Ban the Church of Scientology

There have been several, fairly recent attempts by governments to ban the Church of Scientology in their country.

These attempts have, so far, failed or been abandoned.

This is, I believe, good news.

Banning would give the church way too much importance. Why ban something that is very, very, very small, is collapsing, is impotent and is so incredibly silly? As they found in Germany, the Church of Scientology is just too small to bother with.

In my opinion, L. Ron Hubbard relished the importance that banning gave his "religion". I'll bet David Miscavige is likewise very happy with bans and threats of bans.

Banning gives the "look at us, we're victims!" Church of Scientology much more fodder for its martyrdom.

We do not need that. We do not want that.

Do not think that I am advocating leaving the church alone. Far from it!

Everywhere the Church of Scientology tries to insinuate their "solutions" into society, the true information on those "solutions" needs to be there first.

Governments and communities need to know that the church's claims are bogus. In the real world, their "solutions" simply don't measure up. Other solutions from other sources are much more effective -- and don't come with that Scientology you-must-believe-us baggage.

Everywhere the Church of Scientology tries to recruit new members with their "Scientology can handle that" bogus promises, the true information about their results needs to be there first.

People need to know that, despite all their incredible promises of creating fantastic, advanced states of being, the church has yet, in its entire 50+ years, been able to deliver any of these states of being to even one single person! Yet thousands and thousands have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to reach those advanced states.

Everywhere the Church of Scientology tries to cover up its crimes, abuse, fraud and lies, there needs to be people who work to shine the light of truth into all the dark corners the church is trying to hide.

The truth is what is causing the Church of Scientology to collapse. The truth is what will ultimately cause the Church of Scientology to disappear.

Banning is not only unnecessary, it feeds into Scientology's "We're martyrs, we're victims, and that makes us innocent and good!" message.
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