Scientology!?!?

It seems to me that many people, including myself, can have a closed mind when it comes to things we do not know or understand. With that in mind, and to broaden our understanding I have obtained a good deal of the literature the church of scientology uses to train its clergy. I am going to study it and write something on it for our libraries. I will also add as much relevant information as I can. I doubt I will be able to add it all… there are a LOT of lectures!

I feel that it is imortant to have at least some kind of understanding of this seeing how it has gained so much popularity over the years.

I was curious as to if any of you have any experience or knowledge of scientology and what your views and opinions are.

I think that, like a lot of people, my knowledge of scientology is limited to what I hear from celebrities. So I look forward to hearing what you've learned about it.

For some reason, with all the Tom Cruise stuff in the tabloids, I became a little obsessed with it and actually researched it to see what the big deal was. It's definitely an interesting read.

Wikipedia has a really good run down of what they're all about. I would start there. If you require further reading, there's a site where you can download leaked documents (they're pretty secretive) from the Church of Scientology that goes into a little further detail as far as their doctrine and such goes. I'll try to find the link.

Here's a good documentary from the BBC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwPMHM3qC9w

I have a few "welcome to Scientology" cd's...

They send them to the local police department, and when they throw them out, I grab them...

I think they are fascinating, and very well done literature stuff...

If you search them, the ex-members, and their families, have nothing very nice to say... They talk about brain washing and the like...

But, like anything, the internet is full of good and bad properganda...

I like their overall missions statements, and the teaching methods as they were presented to an outsider...

There are levels of admission, and each level deeper into the inner sactums allow more access to their material...

From the "not so nice" reports, they think life here has something to do with aliens...

I often wonder when I was reading up on it, if L. Ron Hubbard wrote his overview of Scientology, as a newer "War of the Worlds" type production, and some people took it serious...

He is a great sci-fi writer... I recommend the "Battlefield Earth" novel... As well as "Mission Earth" 10book series...

I'd love to see what you find out as well...

I think you can email, or write to them and ask for general info... But you might wanna use a PO Box... lol...

It's covered extensively here http://www.xenu.net/ . I'd start with this http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright .

Interesting that you should mention Hubbard, Jestor. In a lot of the training material for the Scientology Clergy his lectures are highly thought of. I have already read there "mission statement" and several of their disclaimers found with the material and several of their, what we are about objectives and orders of conduct. At first glance, and taken at face value... they seem to be not so far from us. But what people do with the tools they are handed is up to the individual.

Part of the reason for my curiosity is as Streen said…

I think that, like a lot of people, my knowledge of scientology is limited to what I hear from celebrities.

In the material I acquired there are hundreds of hours of lectures, classes and workbooks. It may take me a while to get through it all and I know that I won’t want to put all the material in any kind of library but I am willing to bet that there is a lot of good stuff in there that we could benefit from.

I just hope that while I am looking into this I don’t accidentally “brain wash” myself!

Hahhahahahha

I would be VERY careful about considering putting this stuff on the TOTJO website. The Church of Scientology is VERY particular about their literature. As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, I think that's a large part of their income. It's probably considered copyrighted material and if they get wind of us posting it on this website, they may give us trouble.

It's been awhile since I've read up on any of this stuff, so I could be wrong. But I would rather be safe than sorry. Might want to check into it before actually posting anything.

Do what you will with Scientology my friend.

Personally I want nothing to do with it. I've never once heard a happy healthy story about Scientology. To be really fair I'd have to read the literature on it but I just can't bring myself to read a science fiction author's assertions about ultimate reality.

No offense intended to anyone.

I have never heard anything “good” about it either. And a part of me wonders why that would be? Surely if it was “all bad” people would lose interest in it.

No offence taken my friend.

And given the reply by Seeker Lladnar, I will also take steps to insure we do not come across any negative legal ramifications.

Also, Br. Jon… those are good links. And the material I am currently in possession of is supposed to be the newest! Supposedly! It references 8-C.

At the very least, I will write a report on what I find if I can not get permission to post any reference materials.

I am quite interested in what exactly Scientology is about. I vaguely remember I have tried to find out about it before, but they are so secretive that all they seem to want people to know is that it's based on us being descended from aliens (I think), and that Tom Cruise is a Scientologist and therefore it must be amazing.

I think that with all the things we hear about Scientology, people have become quite fearful of it without knowing anything about it. People are almost fearful of just the name 'Scientology'...it reminds me of people in the Harry Potter books being so scared of Voldemort that they cannot say his name and call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Perhaps people would feel more comfortable if everyone referred to Scientology as The-Religion-That-Must-Not-Be-Named-Or-Openly-Discussed...

There is an undercurrent (not specifically in this thread, but generally in the world) of 'if they get wind that we're investigating Scientology, something bad will happen to us...'

I figure that the Scientology people want us to think that it is mysterious and scary...so why be their puppets and do what they want? I'm all for looking into it.