Category: Let's talk
Anyone see that programme about Scientology on BBC1 last night? A rather weird though at the same time highly amusing cult. I think most sensible people would shy away from any religion that asked you to pay thousands of pounds to make use of its services, so the only people it really gets are rich, self-obsessed idiots with more money than sense.
The thing is, people have been giving money to the church for years. There was a time when, for instance, catholics were expected to give a 10th of their income to the church, a practice which I know extends to various other faiths.
I can remember sitting in a church in south Africa, and the reverend saying "we should not judge those who have nothing and give what they can, we should judge those who do give, but should be giving more." So the concept of giving money to one's church of practice is clearly not one that is reserved for cults alone.
That being said, I understand the scientology movement to have some dubious practices at best, but the problem is that many people are drawn to these cult-type religions when they are vulnerable, and impressionable, and they believe that the movement is giving them a lifeline which they would not previously have had.
It is nothing short of exploitation.
It's true the religions in general are no strangers to extorting money out of people, and it's almost always the poorest members who bear the brunt of this. Scientology, however, seems to have taken it to truly ridiculous levels.
Not to mention that one of the beliefs of scientology is that anyone with a mental or physical disability, which includes blindness, is immediately a burden on society and should be done away with. That's grounds enough for me to want to take a machinegun to their building.
Can't say I'm familiar with much of Scientology's teachings, but a # of Hollywood types seem to be embracing it, notably John Travolta & Tom Cruise. I don't mind Travolta, but Tom Cruise just gets more bizarre as the years go by. The most recent article I read on his tense relationship with wife Katie Holmes, who was raised Catholic, was the icing on the cake. The poor lady just wanted more information on the faith she was supposed to be embracing, & the only answers he would give her were along the lines of "Scientology has all the answers" and "Just have faith". Oh, gee, that's helpful. It sounds like he even picks her friends for her & restricts or forbids other than Scientologists in her circle.
When a guest was here from Mr. Sponge's hometown in Algeria, she bought with her several issues of the magazine PARIS MATCH, a francophone publication. There was a story of a woman with a pseudonym from France. This poor lady quit her job & sold all of her worldly possessions after being told she was on a high enough level for an organization in Denmark, I believe the organization is called seaorg, that's supposed to be for elite scientologists to study. Women were housed together 7 or 8 to a small apartment, & their lives higly regulated, down to how much time they got to groom themselves in the bathroom every morning. The apartments were insect infested hovels. They were reduced to meager rations as far as food, & even had to give a strict accounting of the scientology books they had read & what titles & how many they managed to sell.
I'll pass on scientology. How could I reject abortion as an option for babies with survivable birth defects but support a "religion" that classifies the blind & people with other disabilities as burdens who are disposable? I call myself a "deist" these days, a believer in a creator but a very bad practitioner of any known religion.
I don't think that money should be asked or taken from those who can't afford to give. While I do believe that those with a severe enough disability that they can't comprehend anything or ever take care of themselves in the sense of eating, dressing, making decisions about money and other things etc. should be euthanised, I certainly wouldn't say that about those who have disabilities like blindness, deafness or nones that simply make them wheelchair bound. I think we all demonstrate here that we can take care of ourselves and are mentally competent members of society. I don't feel sorry for these women from your descriptions. Katie Holmes is allowing her husband to control her instead of having respect for her religion and the French woman sounds like an idiot. I could understand being excited over a research opportunity, but it's common sense to investigate such a thing before giving up your job and current living situation and even more so to immediately leave if you discover that you're being mistreated.
And I have no respect for Tom Cruise after he ragged on Brooke Shields for treating her Postpartum Depression. Scientologists don't believe in medicine or psychiatry.