Scientology a cult or a real religion

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We've all heard of Scientology, the question is what do you make of it?

I did quite some research on Scientology, and from what I've seen of this "so called Religion" Id say its more a mind controlling Cult, than something that helps vulnerable people.

Do you agree?

It's a dangerous cult. Bit like organised religion in general, really.

Quoting the song "World of Max": "What's the difference? Just nomenclature..."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHSMyYpDvhI[/youtube]

Let's see ... a few definitions may be in order.

• "The only difference between a cult and a religion is the amount of real estate they own" -- Frank Zappa
  
• "A cult is a religion with no political power." -- Thomas Wolfe
  
• "What's a cult? It just means not enough people to make a minority." -- Robert Altman
  
• "A religion is a cult wherein the founder has died; a cult is a religion wherein the founder still lives." -- Author unknown

So, the only difference between the two is number of members and degree of influence. Therefore, I'd say that while $cientology is a dangerous cult, it is no more or less so than the Jehovah's Witless Church.

According to a trustworthy source (http://www.conservapedia.com/Cult#Defin ... .22cult.22), "a cult is a group which exercises mind control over its followers." In other words, it is every religion, media conglomerate and political party ever.

The "Christian definition", however, is more specific: "a group which claims to be Christian but which has major doctrinal differences to normal Christianity", that is, every Christian denomination ever.

Oooh! Spider-sense tingling! This topic is going to be moved to PPR soon. And once it gets there, I will just stay the hell away from it, since I hate politics and religion and I only have a slight interest in philosophy.

Scientology is a pyramid scheme scam. Those at the top make money off those lower down. Scientology is primarily aimed at rich fools.

Which makes it different from the Latter-Day Saints Church because ... ?

This, exactly. ^

I'd have to vote for dangerous cult, just like all the other cults.

I'd say Scientology differs vastly from Christianity, you don't have to pay to go to Church. In Scientology to get to each Plateau you need to pay masses of money. Which makes it a 'pay as you go religion', from what I've researched I'd rather be a Christian than a Scientologist.

Scientology has ripped families apart, and brainwashed every member to believe in garbage. More intelligent people are more prone to fall into the hands of Cults. Tom cruise is a member of Scientology, so are many celebrities these days. Would I want to live in a world without Religions and Cults not really, they keep people busy that would otherwise just take up valuable space.

In the end doesn't matter if its a Cult or a Religion, we are always going to be bound in chains. Forever slaves to a system we'll never escape, until we part from this world for good. I'm agnostic, but I wish sometimes I could believe in a "Creator", gives faith that there's refuse from this massive Cult I call 'Life'.

PS I'm hoping a member from Scientology comes on here to debate

Alternatively, you could become a hermit. Hermits are not part of civilization; they are not bound by the chains we are. Unfortunately, to truly become a hermit, you must be willing to give up on everything mankind has accomplished (which, if you think about it, consists almost entirely of ways of circumventing the unnecessary complications civilization added to life).

Regardless of being aware of the futility of it all, I still like technology, even though I want to separate myself from civilization. Therefore, I have decided to become a "demi-hermit": somebody who keeps a few investments as a source of income, but lives in an isolated area with his own electrical power generator, water purifying system and food acquired by farming, hunting and gathering. Unfortunately, that would require a sizable ammount of money, but once I prepare my self-sustaining habitat, my living costs will be near-zero.

And all of that because I am too much of a p**** to live in the wilderness and hunt jaguars and alligators for food, even though somebody who hunts jaguars and alligators probably does not need technology to keep himself entertained.

All I really know about it is from this song

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuKg3KKXx-M[/youtube]

It's a religion just like any other; it's just a very new religion in the early stages, that hasn't got around to having any crusades or burning any witches yet.

Interesting. So a "real religion" is one which helps vulnerable people? Well in that case, I think Scientology probably is a real religion. It specialises in finding vulnerable people and giving them a sense of purpose. In fact, under that definition, I would think that a cult is a very good candidate for a "real religion". After all, one of the distinguishing characteristics of cults is that they seek out and transform vulnerable people with great efficiency.

Is it really helpful to be given a sense of purpose? Well, if you didn't have much before, it's probably an improvement. It's a common story that depressed people are picked up by religious groups, gain new skills and habits as part of that religious group, and then eventually leave the religious group with a better life than they had before.

Fixed that for you!

[quote="Declension"]

What's Scientology done to help people? The only stories I've heard from ex Scientologists are tragic, and don't fit the criteria for happy endings. Where have you seen Scientology doing any good. Its a joke, nothing more.