The Big Shrek wrote:I'm not really stirring that much, I just believe that people should be able to make their own choices as long as it doesn't harm others.
If we deny Scientology as a religion, logically we can deny that status to Christianity, Islam etc. I believe tht Scientology is more full of s***t than the others, but that shouldn't affect the ability of others to worship in whichever way they see fit.
If "brainwashing" is involved then that shouldn't be permitted as it denies people their freedom of choice. However, there is a big grey area between "brainwashing" and the indoctrination you'd see any Sunday morning at a Christian church.
Oh dear! I can see the flames licking at my feet now!
But Scientology is not fundamentally about a religious faith or any variation on God, Gods, or morality. It is about a method of psychological "treatment" that amounts to brain washing to prepare oneself for higher rank in the organisation, based on how many internal courses you have done at your own expense and to the benefit of the oorganisation. It appears to have invented the idea of some form of ascendency to a higher plane when it decided to become a "religion" to prevent being banned - and when it started to run out of hierarchies spots at the top.
I admit it is a long time since I read anything Ron Hubbard wrote, so my memory about the exact sequence could be off, but to see it you have to read "Dianetics" first - that was the start. And that was written by a man who talked about forming a religion for profit to his peers before he had a major psychotic episode that put him in hospital for months.
I admit I see all religion as delusional, but I accept people embracing them so long as they don't actually harm me or the community - even that group in the US who talk about the "blue light" around Elvis Presley's cot as an infant - I don't think the Elvisist Church has actually formed formally yet though...
Nevertheless I reserve the right to comment on their idiocy when they impinge on me.
