Inside Scientology

I just finished reading the book 'Inside Scientology' by Janet Reitman and I feel compelled to make a short post about it.

Before I read this book, here is what I thought about Scientology.  I thought it was just another confidence scam and that a fool and their money are soon parted.  I had no particular sympathy for anyone so stupid they would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to be 'audited' by this absurd and ridiculous organization.

I didn't consider it a 'cult' that was unique from any other religious 'cult'.  From my perspective, all religions are 'cults', in that it is a key feature of all religions to instill a belief system with the desired result that the follower feels compelled to financially contribute to the Church.  This is almost always done through a carrot and stick approach.  The carrot is 'eternal salvation', 'spiritual enlightenment', or some other equally vague and nebulous promise that, for some reason, causes many to feel as if it gives their life a deeper meaning and purpose.  The stick is the threat of hell and/or being excommunicated from the Church.  In a short period of time a person who is a member of the church finds that their entire sense of community, friends, and often family, are built in and around the institution.  The threat of losing that connection is a real one.  A threat that they feel is far too high a price to pay.  It's easy from the outside to say 'why wouldn't you just quit', but for the individual who's entire world, friends, family, support system, and their very psychology and belief system is wrapped into this organization, that is no simple task.  You might as well ask them to commit suicide, as they would literally be starting their lives over, filled with guilt, without friends, family, or support, and in some cases actively attacked by the very institution they once pledged their life to.

Different religions practice varying degrees of this time honored confidence scam, with some being more severe and dogmatic than others, but they all share these essential qualities in one way or the other.

So, before I read the book 'Inside Scientology' I figured that Scientology was just one more incarnation of this ancient practice.  I figured the only reason people were happy to call it a 'cult' while calling their local protestant Church a 'religion' was simply a matter of cultural acceptance over time.  Christianity has had thousands of years to ingrain itself into the fabric of Western society, to such an extent that very few consider it 'cult like' to attend a Sunday sermon and have a preacher tell them they were born in sin, deserve eternal punishment in hell, are an unworthy and unwelcome creature unless they accept a particular belief system based on what, to me, appears to be nothing more than essentially a fairy tale.

More modern religions, like the Mormon church, are clearly proven to be based on a hoax and a group of con-artists who practiced sexual perversion and even child molestation.  This has been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt by researchers into the origin of this 'faith'.  However, these facts don't seem to bother anyone who would become a member of this organization.

Likewise, if you want to hook yourself up to an E-meter, believe in Xenu, and get audited, what skin is it off of my back, or why it is particularly any different?

Well, it turns out, that it is different, and I didn't have my eyes opened until I read this book.

This book is an objective and detailed history of the 'Church', from its inception all of the way up to today.  And, while it did exhibit the traditional qualities I described above, what I didn't realize it had, at its core, something that feels to me to be truly evil.

The Scientology process involves literal brainwashing and mind-control of the most extreme kind.  And its practices are mentally and physically abusive.

I was shocked, dismayed, and upset reading the material in this book.  The biggest questions I had while reading it, and still have after I am done, is *WHY* would anyone allow themselves to submit to this process?

I still don't feel, after having read the book, what any of the 'appeal' could have ever been for any of these people to get involved in the first place?  And, once it turned into outright physical and mental abuse, why they put up with it for even one second?  The standard practices of the 'religion' involve being screamed at, attacked, and belittled by others.  What's appealing about that?

My advice to the reader of this blog post?  Don't give up your free will to anyone!!!!

P.S.  If anyone reading it finds some irony in the fact that I'm a 'Freemason' let me clarify.  Freemasonry does not require me to belong to or subscribe to any particular religious faith or dogma.  'Freemasonry, at it's core, centers around encouraging strong principles of morality without any accompanying dogma.  It promises neither salvation nor damnation.  It simply states that, can't we all agree, that regardless of your personal religious faith, shouldn't we all be good and kind to one another as fellow members of the human family?



I certainly wouldn't change my beliefs or moral principles based on the threat of excommunication that is for sure.