Scientology exposed (again) - Book review (1 Viewer)

Have you read Bare-Faced Messiah? Anyone who questions the validity of Scientology only needs to see how ridiculous the source was in order to discredit it. The amount of invention Hubbard did in relating the story of his life to his followers is almost comical. He seemed unable to tell the truth about anything.

Of course in that way he was no different that the founders of almost every religion.
 
That is not the greatest review I have ever read, Sir Joseph K. It's ever so slightly apologetic, and not so slightly uninformed. Much of the information used is regurgitated, and the journalism that isn't is kind of milk toast and lacks creativity.

One day, I'd like to read someone write a great article about Scientology that, even if the writer feels conscious-stricken about spouting the truth about the ins and outs about the beliefs of the cult, they can manage to write a personally, innovative piece of writing that lures me into the story.

Hmmm.
 
One of the really interesting things about Scientology's present day defections is that they're people who are loyal to Hubbard but think that Miscavige has diverted the Church from Hubbard's teachings. I didn't learn until recently, though, that Hubbard was just as abusive, autocratic, and plain loony than Miscavige (probably loonier, although maybe not as gifted operationally). So that makes me question the whole lot of them, especially the highest profile ones that ruined a lot of people's lives but don't seem especially concerned about making good on those misdeeds.
 
"Hubbard's teachings" is a misnomer. He had no teachings. Any "good" bits of philosophy, wisdom or tools for dealing with life that one might find in Scientology were lifted from other sources (which is one of the methods used by every cult). The parts that are Hubbard's original thoughts are disjointed and ridiculous at best, and pure gibberish at worst. There is absolutely nothing good to be gleaned from Scientology or Hubbard. Hubbard was all bad and Scientology is all bad.

Hubbard created Scientology to control people and empty their pockets, period. He had no other aim or goal. There is not one good thing to be said about the man. Pure evil wrapped around a creamy core of pure bullshit.

You know, not that I have an opinion one way or the other. :jesus:
 
yeah, that's the conclusion i came to after actually reading about hubbard's life. the point is that the narrative about scientology that's coming out now, courtesy of marty rathbun and mike rinder (former head of security and former head of PR, both OTVIIs who reported directly to Miscavige), is what i said above: that scientology (including the "teachings" and hubbard the man) itself is fine, and it's miscavige that is ruining everything. and although the defectors piling up are good, i don't think it's *that* positive of a development, because it just legitimizes scientology further as a functional religion... in fact, it's not hard to find mainstream news articles talking about rathbun like he's martin luther and saying that every young religion goes through this, with reformists splitting off from the main group. i prefer people like paul haggis who are willing to denounce the whole lot of it, rather than rathbun, who a) hasn't apologized for a single life he's ruined (to my outsider knowledge, at least) and b) runs a halfway house for ex-scientologists, complete with an e-meter and everything.
 
Scientology will survive Miscavage (his niece wrote her own book about leaving, and she left "all the way"), I don't doubt that. One of the splinter groups will rise to prominence and take over the current "church."

But the number of Scientologists is rapidly dwindling to the point that they will be inconsequential. They will eventually be like the Amish cult, a curiosity.
 
Most interesting to me about those pricks is how they're heavily recruiting from the Nation of Islam with full participation
of Brother Minister F. So now you can go clear and get your bean pie on. What a fucking tax dodge!
 

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