scientology, religion or cult?

watch the south park episode for Scientology,it is very exact when explaining it

I’ve seen it, with “the super adventure club”, problem is that one of my friends just read “dianetics”, which is a scientology book, and he’s gone peculiar

well how about reading the negative books on scintilogy as well as the positive,then let yourself determine who you are,what your destiny is

if u wana read a book that is actually known to convert people faster than the world population growth rate,which is the fastest growing religion in the world then I would reccommend the Holy Quran

I’ll stick with atheism

I just couldn’t give up pork

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v2/n4/atheism-irrational
eh..

so it was invented by l. ron hubbard, a science fiction writer. this makes me think that it is not a cult, but also not a particularly impressive premise for a religion. (to which you might respond, what does make a good premise for a religion?)

haha,no problem,I respect everyones religion and I don’t preach,I was just giving a suggestion,hope things work out well for you Allen and hope u find what your looking for in life

nice one, I can respect that afghanmoose

much obliged

nomtastic asks…
”....what does make a good premise for a religion?”
Answer…
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
http://www.venganza.org/

The only difference between a religion and a cult is social acceptance. Scientology is currently at “cult” status, given its relatively low number of adherents and the ridicule the majority of people heap on the beliefs. But the beliefs are really no more or less absurd than those of Christianity, Islam, or any of the other major religions. The only difference is that we KNOW who made it up, we KNOW he was a fiction writer, and we KNOW that he is on record as saying (paraphrased) “If you really want to make it rich, start your own religion”.

The real problem with Scientology is the fact that, in order to be a member, you are REQUIRED to pay for very expensive “auditing” sessions, you must break off all contact with loved ones who do not join or agree with Scientology, it denies psychiatric help to people who might really need it, and there are even some cases where people who tried to get out of the Scientology fold wound up dead in suspicious circumstances.

So whichever you want to call it, the real concern is that it’s dangerous to the practitioners, and their loved ones, on many different levels. Financially, emotionally, and sometimes even physically.

i have to agree with dorkmanscott. but afghanmoose the south park episode was pretty funny. : )

@dorkman: you may be right that the only difference between cult and religion is social acceptance but later you explained why Scientology is not accepted. Usually there is a good reason why something is deemed a cult.

But Scientology’s actions are really no different than what the medieval Christian church did, or what Islam is still doing in theocratic nations like Iran. Those just happen to be older and thus socially accepted “religions”. Mormonism was considered a “cult” for a long time, but this year we had a serious contender for the GOP Presidential nomination who identified openly as a Mormon. Give Scientology a few more generations and suddenly it will be socially taboo to suggest that Scientology is a cult, or any less deserving of respect than Christianity or Islam.

I personally happen to think that faith-based religions and cults are always the same thing, and none of them should be immune to criticism or ridicule, but that’s outside the scope of the question being asked. Something is deemed a cult because it is new, and its inherent absurdity is plain for all to see. Religions are cults whose absurdity has been masked by “tradition”.

Cult…

relgion turned cult. and they enjoy TAX FREE status. i actually considered going into getting people OUT of cults work. cause they seriously screw up your head. but then it is your own choice to mess up your life. everyone knows how kooky they are. its buyer beware…or zealot beware. the best EVER was the tom cruise video talking about people in their funny language. and south park. always south park.

but right…we havent even BEGUN to realize the huge problems Islam will bring… thank goodness i will be dead by the time it really rears its ugly head.

.“Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion”—L. Ron Hubbard

Scientology Leader Gave ABC First-Ever Interview David Miscavige, Scientology Leader and Best Man at Tom Cruise’s Wedding, Spoke to ABC News’ ‘Nightline’ in 1992 click here for story
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=2664713

check out the COST for this!
http://www.kimsifordesign.com/images/Scientology.jpg

LINKS

The biography of L. Ron Hubbard shows a man who was incapable of telling the truth: a pathological liar who hated and despise humanity; a sociopath caught between the conflicting desires to earn the admiration of humanity, and his desire to inflict great pain and misery upon those who ignored him and refused him his self-perceived due measure of honor and reverie (which was and is 99.999% of his fellow human beings).

http://www.ronthenut.org
Website about the “genius” that was… L. Ron Hubbard

http://www.lisamcpherson.org
Lisa McPherson died while in the “care” of Scientology – the autopsy found that she had over 100 cockroach bites on her body.

http://whyaretheydead.net
Scientology associated deaths

http://www.xenutv.com
Videos made by a protester

http://www.xenu.net
Infomation about Scientology – long established website

http://www.suppressiveperson.org
Website dedicated to defending “SPs” – they’re not consigned to the history books yet…

its the devil!