Juvenall Wilson

After a lengthy conversation on life, politics and religion with a devoutly Muslim friend of mine, I noticed that even educated people seem to have this impression that anyone who picks on Scientology is against it on the grounds of it’s “strange” belief system. While I won’t argue that there are large numbers of people who do just that, there are many of us who don’t. I, for one, don’t care if you if believe in a roving cave zombie that magically rose from the dead after being nailed to some lumber, a spoiled and lazy Indian prince who sat around long enough to figure out the smarty-pants answer to everything or space aliens that flew other ailens into a volcano with 747s thousands of years before Boeing was incorporated. Feel free to look stupid however you choose. My beef, however, is with how an organization preying on people’s need for spiritual answers treats those who put their faith in whatever is being peddled.

In the case of Scientology, you’re not a spiritual believer, devotee or follower. Instead, you are a customer being recruited into a grand pyramid scheme. The church is constantly encouraging it’s members not to preach, but sell. Existing members earn commissions from new recruits, courses and classes about the religion can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, “auditing” sessions with the pseudoscientific “E-Meter” can also run Scientologists into the thousands of dollars and when I tried to investigate the religion itself, they attempted to up sell me on a “package” costing several hundred dollars. Now sure, it costs money to do anything in life. However, any bonafide religion is capable of finding followers willing to conduct these sort of things free of charge. Christians aren’t required to pay for confession, a local mosque gladly answered all questions I had about Islam without trying to sell me anything (they even gave me a copy of the Qur’an so I could study it further) and it’s unheard of for Buddhists to demand a fee to attend a meditation session. Hell, even small pagan groups managed to distribute expensive books and information freely to those truly looking to learn.

So why all this focus on money? Why, to pay for the expensive legal team used to scare and suppress those who are critical of the way the church runs and to keep it’s “copyrighted religious texts” from the non-paying public. You know, because a sign of an honest faith is deeply hidden secrets and intimidation. The legal team has managed to keep web sites from explaining the Scientology creationism story, preventing non-church scientologists (little “s”) from using religions terms and symbols and even attempting to confiscate servers.

Then you have to pay for all those pesky criminal proceedings. For example, there’s the case of Scientology’s founder’s wife and attempting to infiltrate the IRS to remove unfavorable documents on the cult. I could imagine charges for spying on the US Government and obstructing justice would cost a a heap of cash. Not to mention the charges of violations of basic human rights, kidnapping and even murder.

That’s right. This legitimate religious organization has on many occasions used it’s power to harm those who are blind enough to follow it. The most notable example of this is the case of Lisa McPherson. Not only was she held against her will for 17 days at Scientology’s Clearwater compound (Fort Harrison Hotel), she was denied access to the vital medical care and eventually died from malnutrition and dehydration. Lets not forget about Margarit Winkelmann, a bipolar woman who drowned herself after the church encouraged her to stop taking her medications. As if letting people die wasn’t enough, you have members such as Scott Mayer who testified that he was ordered to murder someone. There are even multiple allegations of people being held against their will. They even go as far as to require anyone participating in services to refuese any psychiatric treatment prescribed to them by a medical doctor.

Look, I am a very spiritual person. So if anyone honestly believes the Xenu story or even that Scientology is capable of helping you, more power to you. I strongly believe in many paths to enlightenment. However, understand that cults masquerading as a religion are out for themselves and will use anyone to whatever ends they see fit to protect themselves and the income they receive. If that’s alright by you, then perhaps you should stick with that prescribed psychiatric treatment just a while longer.