Scientology: Not So Stupid
Scientology is the buzz word of the day, after Tom Cruise stupidly professed his love for it (and Katie Holmes) and after Isaac Hayes left ‘South Park’ apparently in a rift over the show’s mocking of his religion. But in the end, we really don’t know all that much about this faith, except that they shun many modern scientific techniques in favor of their spirituality crap.
But in truth, Scientology is not nearly as stupid as other religions are. Here are some reasons why Scientology does not deserve as much scorn as it gets.
A) We know who wrote the books Scientology are based on. Sure, he’s a science fiction writer wacko, but we know his name. He’s L. Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986. Ask a Christian who wrote the Bible, and you’re likely to get as many different answers as times you pose the question. The fact of the matter is most modern religions have no idea who wrote the texts on which their beliefs are based. And they’re not likely to find out any time soon. So is a nut we can see better than a nut we can’t? I guess that’s up to you to decide, but I think Scientology’s belief system is stronger for having a clear founder they can point to. Of course, the Mormon founders are pretty psycho.
B) Scientology is not based on destroying other religions. In case you hadn’t noticed, most of the strife in the world is based on religious conflicts. Many modern religions, specifically Christianity and radical Islam, base their strength on their ability to kill other people. George Bush honestly believes he is being true to his faith by murdering children. Scientology, like Buddhism, does not seek the destruction of people practicing different faiths and does not attempt to align itself against other belief systems.
C) Scientology’s main focus is the peace and well-being of our mental state. That means it promotes activities that lead to good mental health and inner peace. Many modern religions fill themselves with stories of war and violence as a way to bolster their support. The images of Jesus bleeding to death on a cross fill Christian teachings. The importance of martyrdom is well and alive in Islam. The focus on many modern religions is not on creating peace, but on creating certainty. Inner peace is achieved with acceptance and tolerance; one must learn that conflicting views are not threatening. Many modern religions spend their time convincing their followers that only their beliefs are correct and all other beliefs are wrong. This is not the route to inner peace.
D) Scientology may be stupid, but it’s not in your face all the time. I once heard a wise person remark that Christianity is the only religion that feels the need to sell itself door to door. Any company that needs to sell itself door to door is not pushing its product very effectively or doesn’t have much of a product to sell (or both!). Christianity is constantly in your face trying to tell you about Jesus and all their other beliefs. I’ve never seen a Scientologist sticking his face in my door. Sure, Scientology has gotten a lot of press lately, but that’s not the same as shoving their beliefs down my throat like Christianity does.
So make fun of Scientology all you want. I’ll still laugh. It’s a dumb religion, a crutch for weak minded people who find strength in numbers, as former Minn. Gov. Jesse Ventura noted. But maybe it’s not quite as stupid as everyone claims it is.
Related posts (automatically generated):
March 20th, 2006 19:16
Interesting points, Michael, but there’s something you’ve missed.
Acceptance and tolerance are hardly synonymous with Scientology. Scientology goes to extreme means to silence its critics. They’ve won lawsuits to remove anti-Scientology websites from Google and have reportedly used threats of violence as well. If Scientology had the sort of power that Christianity has, under its current leadership, I think you would see much more abuse.
Check out this site for some eye-opening details:
http://www.lermanet.com/
Maybe the reason Scientology doesn’t have to go door-to-door is because it has an easier product to sell than Christianity. Christianity is a hard sell; a lifetime of poverty and chastity are the ideal goals. In contrast, Scientology embraces the pervasive materialism of American culture by allowing you to advance in the religion through monetary donations.
March 21st, 2006 00:06
I based my details for the religion around this Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
Christianity in its purest forms does embrace poverty. Jesus is reported to have said, “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven” or something to that effect. Yet Christianity remains the dominant religion in the United States, a place of huge greed and consumption. Indeed, modern Christian churches preach that wealth on earth is a reward from god. Therefore, those who are poor are poor because god has seen fit to make them that way. We can all argue against these people using quotes from the Bible, but in using the devil’s own tools against him, do you not become the devil yourself? Fighting fire with fire still renders things burnt.
The end point is that people believe what they want to believe. For those getting their need for support filled by believing they must live in poverty to serve god, their desire for an afterlife overcomes their desires for comfort now. For Scientologists, it is a little easier for them to fulfill their comforts now and still believe in an afterlife (apparently). That doesn’t sound so stupid to me.
As far as other claims, Christians want the Ten Commandments put up in court houses. They take science out of our schools. They try to repress women in retaliation for “original sin.” Members of radical Islamic groups kill innocent civilians. Israel refuses to apologize for bombings that kill children in their rampent and irresponsible pursuit of “terrorists.” Scientologists sue to stop people from saying bad things about them? Sounds rather tame to me.
I’m not trying to advocate Scientology. It’s just as dumb in many ways as other religions. And I can appreciate, Tony, your position against it. But I can’t appreciate a Christian attacking it. In many respects, it’s much less stupid than Christianity or other major religions.
March 21st, 2006 00:10
I’d have to agree with Tony on this one. You can’t be quite sure how Scientology’s role would change if it had the power and influence that Christianity has.
I also think you’d be surprised to know that most Christians (at least the ones that attend church on a regular basis and possibly took part in some bible study) actually do have an idea of who wrote the Bible. I’m not as ‘enlightened’ as the rest, but as for the New Testament I know a lot of that was written by the different disciples and of course, infamous Mary M. The only specific one I can think of off the top of my head though is Romans, which I think was written by Paul. But I could be mistaken.
Considering that I feel most religions just to be fairy tales, what’s to separate one from the next? to make one more plausable than another? Not much really. However, any religion that considers the following to be the cause of human life on Earth, I can’t help but laugh at:
“In Scientology doctrine, Xenu is a galactic ruler who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. These events are known as “Incident II” or “The Wall of Fire,” and the traumatic memories associated with them are known as the “R6 implant.”
Then again, consider a similar summary of Catholocism:
“They believe that one great male god ruled the world. Sometiems they divided him into three parts, which they called father, son, and holy ghost. They ate crackers and wine or grape juide, believing that they were eating the son’s body and drinking his blood. If they believed strongly enough, they would live on forever after they died.”
It’s all a crock of shit.
March 22nd, 2006 22:09
Seriously, Michael, read a few of the articles written by ex-Scientology members on that website I posted. It is both extremely interesting and terrifying.
March 22nd, 2006 22:18
Or, if you prefer Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout
March 23rd, 2006 00:07
Alright, so I will agree that Scientology is bad. And crazy. And weird. And even dangerous. As far as it compares to other religions, though, I still stick to my points.
The Catholic Church had numerous reports of priests molesting somethings hundreds of children. Rather than sensor these priests, they moved them to OTHER churches. People die, even in America, because of attempted exorcisms done under the name of Christianity. The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the colonization of South America by the Spanish. A man is being put on trial in Afghanistan for coverting from Islam to Christianity. If he is convicted (essentially if he is found competent to stand trial, because his sanity is being questioned right now), he will be sentenced to death.
Scientology = bad, bad religion. Other religions = worse.