Scientologists accused of misrepresenting themselves during the terror attack crisis

September 18, 2001 10:04 AM

Scientologists accused of misrepresenting themselves during the terror attack crisis This cult filled with terrible people (at the top) and saps below. Note the service they claim to provide during the crisis. The problem is that in America (unlike German, say) any one claiming to be religious gets away with whatever madness or evil they want.
posted by Postroad (21 comments total)

I do not agree with what you have to say,
but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." (Patrick Henry)

Even closed-minded generalizations which call the beliefs of others a cult. I don't like the Scientologists, find what they think and believe and their tactics to be a cross between silly and offensive. But saying "This cult is filled with terrible people (at the top) and saps below." is mean-spirited and not helpful. While I'd rather they went away altogether, I'd rather be in America than Germany (on this issue) no question about it.

Not that you don't have a right to say what you think. ;)

oh, and by the way, your link appears to be broken. No such host.
posted by terceiro at 10:18 AM on September 18, 2001

They're not even a cult. They're an elaborate pyramid scheme. The only reason they haven't been outlawed is because they hide behind a thinly-veiled mask of religion. I say, arrest the bastards.
posted by chason at 10:36 AM on September 18, 2001

Scientology is so protective of their 'reputation' that just watch--they'll sue the NMHA. A 'religion' that began as a bar bet by a pulp science fiction writer has little reputation to begin with, but they seem lawsuit-happy to an extreme.
posted by jaustinspace at 10:45 AM on September 18, 2001

They'll also threaten the AP and any paper carrying that article.
posted by bkdelong at 10:57 AM on September 18, 2001

The trouble is, they've got plenty of financial backing to support their eager legal beagles. By labeling themselves a religion (hiding behind it, in my view) they are able to avoid heaps of government regulation and scrutiny.

Perhaps I should set up my own company and do the same! Crap... I'm not a wacko, I guess that counts me out.
posted by campy at 11:02 AM on September 18, 2001

I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." (Patrick Henry)

I was under the impression that that was a quote from Voltaire.
posted by poseur at 11:03 AM on September 18, 2001

Make no mistake, Scientology is a harmful cult, not a religion. Its leaders are, in fact, terrible people. Its followers - well, I certainly can't figure them out. The "Church" of Scientology attacks anyone who portrays them in a negative light. They have stifled most of this criticism with a combination of scare tactics and harrassment by any means possible, mostly by a flood of legal action. As someone said earlier, it's a pyramid scheme, and one masquerading as a nonprofit, tax-free religion!

But don't take my word for it.

And just to be fair: their word.
posted by Beefheart at 11:31 AM on September 18, 2001

Just an example of "faith-based" social services, isn't it?
posted by fpatrick at 12:10 PM on September 18, 2001

Actually poseur, neither of you are right. That quote has been wrongly attributed to Voltaire for a while but was actually written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall in the book "The Friends of Voltaire".
posted by statusquo at 12:21 PM on September 18, 2001

dude! you linked to them! they will see the logs! they will find us! we are doomed!
posted by th3ph17 at 12:54 PM on September 18, 2001

i hear a lawsuit coming, guys. better stop slandering the good old scientologists.

on a totally unrelated note (*cough*), i am an unsuccesful writer, writing mostly crap-fiction. i was thinking of writing a bible, and launching a church, so my profits would be tax-deductible. what do you think? it could work, right?
posted by mich9139 at 1:08 PM on September 18, 2001

Only if John Travolta gets to star in the even-crappier movie adaptation...
posted by owillis at 1:15 PM on September 18, 2001

XENU do are punish infidels!!! And XENU much punish do coming future!!!
posted by blackholebrain at 2:52 PM on September 18, 2001

Haha, the thought of church suing us for slandering them here on this post makes me think of Jay and Silent Bob. Oh well, sorry for going way off topic, I just couldn't resist.
posted by rift2001 at 3:45 PM on September 18, 2001

Scientology is a harmful cult, not a religion.

Same difference.
posted by rushmc at 5:20 PM on September 18, 2001

What's a non-harmful religion? Setting aside such blatant things as crusades and inquisitions, there is the little matter of the damage they inflict on human dignity, integrity and understanding.

The only difference between a "cult" and a "religion" is a couple hundred years...
posted by rushmc at 8:09 PM on September 18, 2001

Actually you're forced to put aside things like the crusades and inquisitions because we're talking about modern religions in modern times.

Who is this "we," Kemosabe? It might be convenient to limit the discussion of the nature of religion to those operating within your own lifetime, but it DOES tend to give a rather skewed picture of the phenomenon. Fortunately, there are plenty of examples that make my point in "modern" times, which is why I excluded the crusades and inquisitions.

You also presume too much if you are trying to pigeonhole me as an atheist, as opposed to an agnostic. It is quite easy (I should think almost unavoidable) to be agnostic re: the God question yet anti-organized religion. Hell, I know many people who categorize themselves as "religious" that are anti-organized religion.
posted by rushmc at 9:34 PM on September 18, 2001

www.xenu.net for the TRUTH about the criminal cult of $cientology.
posted by BlitzK at 3:31 AM on September 19, 2001

i heard michael moore was having a time of baiting the scientologists. something to do with extreme negligence/manual worker/manslaughter/denial/further death/further denial. sorry no link.

off-topic tastic

well, there's a great series on uk tv at the moment called 'testing god'. it is on channel 4, who usually have a good online presence, but in this case have precisely bugger all in the way of background/further info. book on the way no doubt (i hope).

one of the arguments i like to hear repeated goes like this:
science has *proved* there is no god. the core of modern science is the stark world of physics. one of the pillars of modern physics is the understanding of quantum phenomina. Probably the most important tenet of quantum physics is that of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. HUP states: 'that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory.'So nothing is certain, that is the core of modern science.

The recent programme also engaged fuzzy logic to further compound the argument. there is no absolute truth etc.

everything's gone fuzzy!
posted by asok at 10:00 AM on September 19, 2001

I'd like to hear from you why religion, organized or not, is just as bad as a harmful cult like Scientology.

Anything which encourages people give up their birthright as thinking, reasoning creatures and turns them into fantasy-believing sheeple (love that new word!) for purposes of power and profit is bad. Since Scientology AND other religions fit this description, I deem them bad.
posted by rushmc at 7:20 PM on September 19, 2001

Ok, it seems that this thread is long over, but I feel that I should post some links that are still working. Frankly, I don't think it's a coincidence that the media (especially FoxNews) has been deafeningly silent about this and that most articles relating to this have been moved around or taken offline really quickly. Here is the press release on the NMHA website. It was also picked up in reports by WSTP-TV (Florida) and by the St. Petersburg Times.

I'd post more but Scientology scares the crap out of me.
posted by UrbanFigaro at 5:10 PM on October 6, 2001