Cult or Religion: Scientology (1 Viewer)

[Atilla89]

I am not sure if anyone recently watched the documentary that was aired on Today Tonight on May 17th about Scientology but I was just wondering what the members of this forum thought about this cult/religion. Has anyone had any dealings with it? Are there any Scientology members on this forum? What do people think about this documentary? Answers are greatly appreicated.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

I am not sure if anyone recently watched the documentary that was aired on Today Tonight on May 17th about Scientology but I was just wondering what the members of this forum thought about this cult/religion. Has anyone had any dealings with it? Are there any Scientology members on this forum? What do people think about this documentary? Answers are greatly appreicated.

2 words... Tom Cruise.

 

[BritneySpears]

Re: church of scientology

i've seen it before on youtube. The dirty tactics of the church made me wanna puke. It is a cult, no doubt about it.

 

[jb_nc]

Re: church of scientology

lol some woman had "dianetics" on the bus today, my eyes nearly rolled into the back of my head and out again

 

[iamsickofyear12]

Re: church of scientology

2 words... Tom Cruise.

.

 

[jb_nc]

http://www.xenu.net/

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42921000/jpg/_42921159_sweeney_pa203b.jpg lol

 

[trolloutaface]

Re: church of scientology

lol some woman had "dianetics" on the bus today, my eyes nearly rolled into the back of my head and out again

"dianetics".

wtf is that

 

[KFunk]

What's the difference between a religion and a cult?

 

[Odette1990]

Hehe i remember a time when some guy i know told me to attend this meeting, and i went to it and it turned out to be one of the scientology talks, and like woah they force their beliefs onto you. So I just left the place, I felt so weird because I come from a Catholic background so its totally different. As for whether its a religion or cult its neither I'd call it a tradition maybe, I dont know.

However it is a religion because it fits the criteria of a religion...unfortunately lol

 

[justCARLA]

AHHHHHHHH I WANTED TO SCREAM AT THE STUPID SCIENTOLOGY GUY.
HE'S JUST SOMEONE I WANT TO PICK UP AND SHAKE TO PIECES HE IS SOOOO BLOODY FRUSTRATING. !!!!!!

Their stupid cult is so bad, they can't hack it so they shame everyone else who has ever muttered a bad word about them before. ffs.

IT is NOT a religion.. it's a stupid CULT for crazy religious wannabes that want to believe they have made something of themselves and pull others along for the ride.

 

[Odette1990]

What's the difference between a religion and a cult?

Id have to say a cult is not readily accepted by society, whereas a religion is, thats one difference also the beliefs of a cult are normally regarded as extreme or false; a religion is different to that, a religion is more a way of life and the beliefs tend to be accepted by society. One other thing is a cult lacks structure and a religion has structure

Does that make sense to you?

 

[KFunk]

Id have to say a cult is not readily accepted by society, whereas a religion is, thats one difference also the beliefs of a cult are normally regarded as extreme or false; a religion is different to that, a religion is more a way of life and the beliefs tend to be accepted by society. One other thing is a cult lacks structure and a religion has structure

Does that make sense to you?

As someone who isn't religious it seems like a fine line to me. For example, if you look at acceptance of beliefs - I don't accept a lot of religious beliefs e.g. attitudes towards homosexuality and abortion, also the notion of a soul and an afterlife. Similarly there are religions from other countries whose beliefs are not readily accepted by our society, e.g. do you believe that cows are sacred or that there exists a god with an elephant's head? Is Xenu such a big leap if we are willing to admit religious beliefs as reasonable?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by structure. If you mean something like 'heirarchy' or, say, 'similarities between practising groups' then I suspect that scientology fits the bill. I'm not sure that your criteria properly exclude scientology from being a religion.

 

[Odette1990]

As someone who isn't religious it seems like a fine line to me. For example, if you look at acceptance of beliefs - I don't accept a lot of religious beliefs e.g. attitudes towards homosexuality and abortion, also the notion of a soul and an afterlife. Similarly there are religions from other countries whose beliefs are not readily accepted by our society, e.g. do you believe that cows are sacred or that there exists a god with an elephant's head? Is Xenu such a big leap if we are willing to admit religious beliefs as reasonable?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by structure. If you mean something like 'heirarchy' or, say, 'similarities between practising groups' then I suspect that scientology fits the bill. I'm not sure that your criteria properly exclude scientology from being a religion.

Ok ok well im speaking generally a society is more likely to accept a religion than a cult, as a cult is a little more extreme. As for structure they dont really have the proper heirarhcy they have a leader and followers yet also i mean as in they dont really have anything written down, no rules or anything like that, thats what structures a tradition its social structure, statement of beliefs, codes of conduct etc. Scientology is seen as a cult but in fact is a religion, because it meets all the requirements of a religion.

 

[Atilla89]

booooo. your thread was created half a second earlier than mine!!

Dam it. That means your techncally the 'official' post on the issue.


(gives dirty look )

You can never be to quick, better luck next time

 

[TwoNiner]

Going by the TT report, those Yank Scientologists looked VERY cultish.

If they can't accept that there are other viewpoints in existence contrary to their own, than they are definitely not a religion.

 

[jb_nc]

Re: church of scientology

"dianetics".

wtf is that

a book by l ron hubbard which is a load of bullshit. basically the Scientologist's bible.

 

[7th Sign]

I dont think its a cult,

But its deffiantly dodgey if every time some one want's to "dig" into their "church" they seem to want to hide things, becuase why would they be tracking the people like this, its veyr dodgey. If they had nothing to hide they would be like yeah come check us out, I mean you could probly get into some dodgey taliban area to do a documentary compared with a Scientology.

They don't want to show alot at all,

seems liek a money making scheme to me lol:

look at their member ships list -

a) 6 month begiining membership - free
b) Annual membership - 300 US $
c) Lifetime membership - 2,000 US $
d) Sponsor - 5,000 US $
e) Crusader (New!) - 10,000 US $
f) Honor Roll - 20,000 US $ or 20 new members for the IAS recruited
g) Patron - 40,000 US $
h) Patron with Honors - 100,000 US $
i) Patron Meritorious - 250,000 US $
j) Gold Patron Meritorious - 1,000,000 US $
k) Senior Honor Roll - 100 new members for the IAS recruited or "contributed to IAS expansion in some stellar fashion".

 

[jb_nc]

If they had nothing to hide they would be like yeah come check us out,

v. logical

 

[Lorie]

For starters Today Tonight isn't exactly the greatest source of information for current affairs. I bet they had a nice puff piece on what colour hand bag is in this winter or a how dodgy A current affair is afterwards.

But Scientology is an issue that has and still is causing conflicts. Isaac Hayes left South Park after the Scientology episode, despite them picking on every other religion and him seemingly having no problems with it. But the way they operate does seem a little suss. In france they have classified as a cult. It operates as a religion to gain tax-exempt status in most countries. They make so much money and hold millions in real estate. They are even sponsoring a NASCAR.

If it is a cult or not it is still making money using strange tactics and to be honest seems like it operates like a pyramid scheme with a percentage on profits going the hiearchy. There are many countries would havent accepted their reglious stauts and many who have, so I guess the debate still goes on.

 

[jb_nc]

don't comment w/o watching this: http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/ and then this http://theunfunnysequel.ytmnd.com/

basically sums up what Scientology is: a dangerous cult responsible for the deaths of many people