> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-extropians@extropy.org
> [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of phil osborn
> Thus, a philosophically naive person, thru his or her willingness
> to accept
> such nonsense as part of the "training," could easilly lose all grip on
> reality as we know it, at least on a cognitive level.
I don't know much about Scientology other than what I've seen on the
internet. but I've known a person who practiced it and lived for a while in
their Florida community. This person was one of the most disturbing
individuals I've ever talked to. Whenever he spoke of a topic related to
Scientology (and as their training is broad, many things in daily life seem
to be related to Scientology) he would begin to speak in a monotone, as
though he were reciting words that had been fed into his mind under
hypnosis. Some of the stuff they believe would ordinarily be pretty funny,
but it was a bit frightening to see someone taking it so seriously. If I
tried to reason with this person, for example by pointing out internal
inconsistencies in his bullshit, he would change the subject and refuse to
even consider the idea the Ron Hubbard might have been wrong, even about the
smallest item. The CoS had even taken a huge sum of money from this person
through fraud, and he himself said that he'd been defrauded. I think they
even kicked him out of the church when he asked for his money back, and even
though he'd been so shabbily treated, his greatest desire seemed to be to
get back into the Church. It was quite pathetic.
I don't think the CoS is any worse than other religions, but all religions
have the potential of being deadly, and this one seems more dangerous than
many others because it's on the rise, in its fanatic stage rather than being
a mature religion.
Barbara
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