Admittedly, I’ve never met a Scientologist in person.
I’ve never attended a Scientology meeting.
I’ve never had any face-to-face encounters with Scientology whatsoever — well, at least
not to my knowledge.
However, there’s enough evidence all over the Internet that their so-called religion
is actually a vicious and dangerous cult that takes control of people’s money and their
lives.
I’m sure there are some nice Scientologists, but that doesn’t mean Scientology is a nice
religion.
All evidence indicates that the Church of Scientology has a crackpot hierarchy that
have their eyes set on power and control.
Tom Cruise and David Miscavige are the top dogs of the Scientology pecking order.
Within the Church, Cruise is basically seen as single-handedly saving the world and is
revered as some kind of deity.
Miscavige is the leader of the Church with the official title of Chairman of the Board
of the Religious Technology Center.
He served as Cruise’s best man when he married Katie Holmes in 2006.
Interestingly, both men are quite short (Cruise is about 5”7’, and from videos I have
seen, Miscavige is quite a bit shorter — so maybe around 5”5’).
They have both been described as having a Napoleonic complex.
That is, they’re short men that compensate for their lack of height by being overly aggressive
and showing domineering social behaviour.
To be fair, some research has indicated that Napoleonic complex is probably a myth, but
let’s run with it anyway.
It fits the narrative!
The Church of Scientology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard, an American science fiction writer,
in 1953.
From all accounts, he wasn’t a very nice man, but yet found a following with his new
form of religion.
The religion is based on something called Dianetics which Hubbard invented prior to
forming the religion.
It basically states that the mind is divided into three parts — the conscious “analytical
mind”, the subconscious “reactive mind”, and the somatic mind.
The goal of Dianetics is to erase the content of the “reactive mind”, because it can
interfere with a person's ethics, awareness, happiness, and sanity.
The American Psychological Association criticised Hubbard's claims as “not being supported
by empirical evidence”.
But then again, I suppose that’s true of any religion.
Just for your interest, Hubbard was quoted as saying, “Writing for a penny a word is
ridiculous.
If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion”.
It is often stated that Hubbard started Scientology in order to enjoy the tax benefits afforded
to religious organisations.
Practitioners of Scientology go through a process called “auditing” where they are
hooked up to an electro-psychometer (an E-meter) and audited by a counsellor to identify sources
of traumatic events in the individual's past.
The goal is to free the individual of the effects of the past trauma by systematic exposure
and removal of the past memories — a process referred to as “clearing”.
It sounds nice on paper, but it’s obviously bullshit.
It’s a way to convince susceptible individuals to hand over their hard-earned money.
It can cost upwards of $800 an hour to have an auditing session.
Surely, if Scientologists wanted to help the world, they’d offer this as a free service,
would they not?
Consequently, many of the higher-ups in the Church are very wealthy individuals.
They’re the only ones able to afford the costs associated with the higher level ranks.
Yes, there’s a monetary cost to rising through the ranks of the Church of Scientology.
Scientologists believe that each individual has a cluster of body thetans — effectively,
souls — that are stuck in a human body.
These thetans came about approximately 75 million years ago through a major catastrophe
caused by a galactic dictator named Xenu.
He apparently stacked all his people around volcanoes on Earth and killed them using hydrogen
bombs.
Thetans are seen as immortal spirits who stick themselves to human bodies causing us spiritual
harm.
In order for a Scientologist to reach the first rank of “Clear”, as far as I can
work out, a person must no longer have his own reactive mind, and therefore suffers none
of the ill effects the reactive mind can cause.
This requires a lot of auditing and therefore a lot of a money.
After Clear comes the “Operating Thetan” levels.
Each level has a series of training requirements and associated costs.
OT I costs about $2750.
OT II costs $5225.
OT III $8910, and so on, all the way up to OT VIII.
OT VIII is known as “The Truth Revealed” and can only be delivered to members in a
single location — aboard the organisation's private cruise ship, the Freewinds.
It’s been said that an individual has to shell out over $500000 over their lifetime
to get to the highest ranks.
Consequently, we have people like Tom Cruise and John Travolta at the top of the food chain.
Many determined Scientologists join an internal group called the Sea Organisation, or Sea
Org.
It’s members are said to be the most dedicated practitioners of Scientology.
David Miscavige is the highest ranking Sea Org officer, holding the rank of Captain.
Former members of the Sea Org describe it as a totalitarian organisation where members
lose almost all freedom and are constantly under surveillance.
Members are given room, board and a weekly allowance of about $75.
They must sign a billion-year commitment with the Sea Org stating that they will come back
to the organisation when they are reborn.
Extra-marital sex is strictly forbidden in the Sea Org, but members may marry other members.
Marrying outside the organisation is forbidden.
Couples that have children must leave the Sea Org and work in lower positions within
the church until their child turns six.
At that point, they must return to the Sea Org without their child who is raised communally
by the church.
The child is allowed to visit their parents on weekends.
Several former members have spoken about forced abortions that occur to prevent people from
leaving the Sea Org to lower organisations.
However, Scientology officially presents itself as being opposed to abortion and actively
speaks out against it in its publications.
Any negative information that is published about Scientology is labelled as an “enemy
line”.
Practitioners are encouraged not to click on links that would potentially expose them
to anything that would make them feel uncomfortable about the Church.
They participate in a collective self-monitoring of the information they consume.
They are told not to “forward an enemy line” by reading negative magazine articles or watching
particular videos.
Scientologists listening to this recording would be forwarding an enemy line.
We are all seen as apostates and are the enemies of Scientology.
David Miscavige has been accused of violence within the Church, although no charges have
ever been laid.
Jeff Hawkins, a former Scientologist, described being physically assaulted by Miscavige at
one of their marketing meetings.
Miscavige jumped up on the boardroom table, launched himself towards Hawkins, battered
his face, and shoved him to the floor.
The Church responded to this allegation by devoting an entire issue of their Freedom
magazine to attacking CNN’s reporting and coverage of the alleged event.
They attacked the reporter, Anderson Cooper, as well as the victim, Jeff Hawkins.
Tom Cruise has verbally attacked other celebrities for their lifestyle choices which don’t
fall in accordance with his own religious beliefs.
He is openly opposed to modern psychiatry, but insists that e-meters, thetans, and auditing
are all scientifically proven.
In a word, these people are nut-jobs.
They are bullies and sycophants.
They abuse susceptible victims by telling them that they are holding on to past trauma.
The only way to remove the trauma is by attending expensive auditing sessions and handing over
your money.
But unfortunately, you will never be cured.
You are forever handing over money trying to reach an unattainable goal.
Apologies to Scientologists if I have gotten some of the details wrong.
The organisation is notoriously secretive, so it’s hard to get the real story.
Admittedly, it’s easy to confuse one form of bullshit with another.
But certainly, if I could describe Scientology in one word, it would be “bullshit”!
Don’t be fooled by their shiny machines and big boats.
I don’t care what you believe in as long it doesn’t hurt others.
But the beliefs and doctrines of Scientology, a religion created by a science fiction writer,
are clearly the ramblings of a madman.