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I find Scientology scary. Not even Radical Islamic Imams come close to being as scary.
Link:
http://www.xenu.net/The story is that Robert Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard were talking and Heinlein noted that you could get rich if you could found a church and not have to pay taxes. So Hubbard went off and did it.
Hubbard himself repeatedly insisted that $cientology was not a religion - until the FDA busted their asses over the scientific health claims made for the E-meter. Then it became a religion. They still make the same claims, but the E-meter (like the rest of the scam) carries a disclaimer to the effect that it is a 'religious artifact.'
From what was gathered, the process of "clearing" eventually involves a device, the E-meter, that somehow or another gauges the accuracy of your beliefs on some subject or another and they use the results to help you "clear" your conscience by adjusting your beliefs until the device determines your beliefs on said subject are or have become "clear".
It's a primitive lie detector which measures skin conductivity. What they do is gather information about you. Lots of information. Detailed information. Information that might be embarassing. Very personal information. And then they hold that information against you if you ever try to leave or expose the 'Church'. With proper techniques you can make anyone believe almost anything about themselves, whether it's true or not- can anyone say blackmail?
Some people think they're legit, they're just extorting money, maintaining control over their members by threat of force, and harassing and suppressing dissenters and detractors through litigation and thinly veiled personal threats. Yeah, they're totally legit.
Not to mention the fact that they're a DANGEROUS SPACE ALIEN CULT.
Just watch 'Battlefield Earth' and THEN try to argue that Scientology's founder wasn't a nutcase. Oh, and trust me, the movie was better than the book, which isn't saying much because fifteen minutes into the movie my brain attempted to gnaw it's way through my skull to freedom.
Hubbard himself said that he was drinking a great deal of rum and taking stimulants and depressants ("I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys") to assist his research. His assistant at the time, Virginia Downsborough, said that he "was existing almost totally on a diet of drugs."
Furthermore, they sued Cult Awareness Network in civil court and won the assets, thus shutting down the original anti-cult organization and removing anything they felt was defamatory towards the organization.
They are not, by any imaginable stretch of the words, a legitimate religion, any more than my religion of "Send Me $100 and You'll Go To Heaven". Which, by the way, is the only true religion, the rest of you nonbelievers and heretics can burn in hell.
The $100 is a deal - in 1994 it would cost at least $350,000 to clear someone through the entirety of the Scientology "bridge" - and that's if they "cleared" on the first time each stage of the way. It could easily cost much, much more.
Just to make it clear, I respect people that claim their "religion" as "Jedi" from Star Wars more than I do Scientologists.
At least Star Wars is good science fiction.
