What is your opinion about Scientology?

Question

Familiar with Scientology? What is your opinion? I am curious since i live near a Scientology center. I have heard negatives things about them any good things?

Answer 1

It's destructive, deceptive, greedy, manipulative, lying, scamming, brainwashing cult. It's a danger to it's adherents and possibly harmful to society in general if it gains popularity. There are multitudes of people who have suffered tragic experiences during their involvement with Scientology. Read about them here:
http://www.lermanet.com/persecution/
http://www.whyaretheydead.net/krasel/
http://xenu.net/archive/personal_story/cheryl_s

Here are more "bad experiences" with the cult including an illegal plot to infiltrate the government, brainwashing techniques, mind control camps, attacks on critics, and DEATHS caused by Scientology doctrine and members:

● Operation Snow White – Under this official program, Scientology operatives committed infiltration, wiretapping, & theft of documents in government offices. This program constituted the single largest infiltration of the United States government in history. Among the 11 prominent Scientologists convicted of this conspiracy was Mary Sue Hubbard, the wife of Scientology’s “prophet”.
http://lisatrust.freewinds.cx/scientology/snow-white/index.html
http://en.allexperts.com/e/o/op/operation_snow_white.htm

● Operation Freakout - Their campaign of sabotage & violence against Paulette Cooper, the writer who published her research & findings on several cults, including Scientology. Scientology’s official plan: to frame Paulette, ruin her career & reputation & get her either incarcerated or locked up in psychiatric confinement.
The official plan: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Krasel/cooper/frk1.html
Her book: http://holysmoke.org/cos/books/scandal-of-scientology-cooper.pdf

● Fair Game - the Scientology policy detailing how the organization may confront & handle critics & perceived enemies. Here is a direct quote: "Enemies may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.”
http://www.xenu.net/archive/disk/fairgame.htm
http://www.planetkc.com/sloth/sci/Fair_game_ord.html
http://www.fairgamed.org/

● Physical & psychological punishment: Scientologists who "break the rules" while members of the "Sea Org" must subject themselves to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), which includes regimes of harsh physical punishment, forced self-confessions, social isolation, hard labor and intensive ideological indoctrination.
http://www.xenu-directory.net/practices/rpf.html
http://www.lermanet2.com/scientology/gulags/BrainwashinginScientology'sRehabilitationProjectForce.htm
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/cos/rpf/escape_2.htm

● Brainwashing & mind control: Scientology exerts control over its members by means of typical cult tactics, including but not limited to controlling information about internal doctrine & criticism of the organization, severely restricting social contact outside the cult (including the practice of “disconnecting” with any family who question the credibility & trustworthiness of the cult), creating an “us against them” mentality by villainizing a specific out-group (for Scientology, it’s psychiatrists), & claiming all those outside the cult are unenlightened.
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml
http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialControl/scs.html#toc http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/s/scientology/pignotti/
http://xenu.net/archive/personal_story/funkydonny.html

● Violent Kidnapping - Lisa McPherson was a Scientologist, was involved in a car accident & resultantly became mentally unstable. She was kidnapped from the hospital by agents of Scientology, held against her will, refused proper psychiatric treatment & allowed to STARVE TO DEATH.
Video: http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/
News Coverage: http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/Lisa_McPherson_Scientology_Deaths.html
Website: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

● Tragic Murder - A CBS “48 Hours” special on Jeremy Perkins, the mentally disturbed son of Scientologist parents who, because of the Scientology doctrine of opposing psychiatry, refused to put him on the anti-psychotic drugs that would have stabilized him & prevented him from killing his own mother.
Video: http://www.scientomogy.com/jeremy_perkins.php
CBS article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/25/48hours/main2124568.shtml
Website: http://perkinstragedy.org

Answer 2

Yes , very familiar with Scientology. I've been a Scientologist for about 36 years .
Scientology is an applied religion. A very workable technology, it get's real results and is currently helping solve many of societies problems like illiteracy, drug abuse, criminality, human rights violations..... the list is long.
Bottom line, opinions are fine, but they may or may not be based on any facts.
Most of what is expressed about Scientology on this forum
is simply deliberately generated negative opinion, from media and various collaborative websites. Most of what you "hear" is repeated and spread without any further inspection from these sources by people who have no other personal knowledge of Scientology.
If you want to know what Scientology is and why it is a religion, and what good it is doing, you would have to read some basic books written by the author. L.Ron Hubbard.
If you live near a Scientology centre why not just go in there and find out for yourself ?
In short you won't get your answer from here. All you'll get is more manipulated opinions.
You will still won't actually know anything about Scientology.

Answer 3

Excellent question. Take note at how many skip the "familiar with scientology" part of the question. Particularly the large cut-n-paste answers (which are against the rules of yahoo) :)

I did it for a couple of years. Like most people who try it (62% according to anti-scientology websites) I only took the first couple (cheapest) courses then left. No bad feelings or anything, I just didnt feel the need for the deeper stuff about peer pressure and getting off of drugs. I frequently meet people and halfway thru the conversation I think "they should take the scientology communications course" or someone at work I think "they should take the study course". I usually dont bother saying it but I think it.

I still think its a great thing. I use the stuff from their courses way more often than any of the college courses I took. I had no feeling of forcing their beliefs, or grubbing for my money, or any hard time about leaving (actually I had more of all that from the baptists than the scientologists)

Answer 4

Anyone who is considering scientology...don't do it. The first thing the "church" does is do a background check on you. If you decide to leave the church and say negative things about it, they publish every bad thing you have ever done to the public. STAY AWAY!

Answer 5

I think Tom Cruise answered that question with the whole Opera show thing didn't he. I think that its another fancy word for 'nut bar'.

Answer 6

if you can believe that the earth was made in six days why wouldnt you pick up a different book and read to see what was in it? it wont hurt for you to educate yourself and form your own opinion using common sense and personal experience.

Answer 7

I suggest you look up Factnet which has articles on them, and Operation Clambake which provides more information.
Here is another resource, an archive of articles about them.
http://www.skeptictank.org/csindex.htm

I have heard nothing good about them.

Answer 8

Its a good try to bring religion and science together, but Baha'i Faith did this ~160 years ago.

Answer 9

Well to be perfectly honest, I think it's a load of nonsense...no offence to any scientologists, but that's my opinion.

Answer 10

I think it is creepy. Did you not watch that South Park episode?