RE: Germany to ban Scientology?

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/4/2007 11:36:43 PM

GoddessDustyGold

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I have a quick question for both CuriousLord and bipolarber.
Could you each give Me an example of something that is important in your life. Something that might take the place of a religious or spiritual belief?

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They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety
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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 1:40:00 AM

SeeksOnlyOne

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quote:

ORIGINAL: HaveRopeWillBind

quote:

ORIGINAL: SeeksOnlyOne
can someone just ban them from my mailbox?

Seeks,
Tell them you really want to join... just as soon as you finish filing for Chapter 7.

dang why didnt i think of that!

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in those moments of solitude, does everyone sometimes think they are insane? or is it just me?

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 4:33:39 AM

aviinterra

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First, I have to say go Germany! Many here don't understand how religious the Germans are, esp. down in the southern lands. Bavarians will have none of this un-Christian talk about their towns, mind you.

quote:

Ultimately, religion will die off. It will be interesting, though, to see if it's moreso due to education or illegalization.

Second, to address the quote above, such a statement just shows a general lack of knowledge on the history and role of religion. There were many instances in our past when one might have said that religion was about to die off...i.e. the rather sudden change from hundreds of pagan cults to a single Roman church, but in the end, religion did not die off- it just morphed (Why do Christians now worship on Sunday?).
Religion, just like languague, changes along with human beings to fit the era and the views of the time. Some theologists see the complete and devoted belief in science as a new system of beliefs, one with it's ceremonies and laws- gasp- a new religion. And, religion is more than just a belief in God, it is our culture, how we govern ( Roman law codex ), and thousands of other daily influences on your choices that you never knew originated in a certain set of beliefs.Working with death has taught me that there are only few, and I do mean extremely few, instances when someone does not actually believe in something, whether it's God or a talking apple.

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 5:03:20 AM

subfever

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My guess is that the Germans behind this movement are motivated by fear. Maybe they don't like anything that questions or contradicts any of their current belief systems, or attracts people away from their fold.

As for myself, I read the book Dianetics about 15 years ago. The book intrigued me enough to motivate me to walk into the closet Scientology location in Chicago and have a talk with them. They showed me a movie, which I'm sure was intended to further attract me to their following. It had the opposite affect, however, and I never returned.

Nevertheless, the volume of mail I've received from this organization since then could easily fill a small dump truck. And these mailing pieces are typically higher quality pamphlet and magazine style paper and print. It must cost them a freaking fortune.

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 5:29:33 AM

RazorJAK

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Hmmm, I thought Germany had already banned Scientology over the human rights issues.

My way of getting the emptyheads is to mention OPERATION CLAMBAKE during the conversation. That or flash my "First Intergalactic Church of Xenu" card. :-)

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 7:33:34 AM

Sinergy

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While I find it amusing what L. Ron Hubbard told that conference of science fiction writers (something like "want to make a lot of money, start your own religion") in the 1950s. Scientology was one of the religions I studied in college. I learned the religion was created by using a bunch of beliefs stolen from a wide variety of sources (e.g. their study technology was developed by two Australians in the early 1960s) that were then codified by various sources and sold as one man's invention. Kind of like Windoze, etc.

The methodology used is to get a person into a room with a bunch of other people, give them some small success, have all these other people jump around and wiggle their genitalia happily about how this small success could only happen by the methods espoused by this group of people. Then when their genitalia are happily flapping, tag team or steamroller them by sales people in a room convincing the person they need more of the same. There is an aspect in human nature to want to join and be accepted by the group, and this is used by groups such as Scientology, EST, Lifespring, Amway, some versions of Christianity, salespeople., etc. Scientology simply happens to be more effective at it than a lot of other groups, but the methods are the same.

While I tend to find the whole thing rather amusing, it troubles me that a state government would want to ban a religious organization. There will always be gullible people. There will always be people willing to take advantage of gullible people. One cannot wipe out this sort of thing by targetting one religion, this is the first step in the direction of state sponsored bigotry.

It is like criminalizing prostitution. Can only get rid of it by wiping out the demand, not the supply.

Sinergy

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RE: Germany to ban Scientology? - 12/5/2007 7:41:26 AM

Sinergy

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On a related note (I dont remember the year, but it was 1950s or 1960s), Germany already banned Scientology once. The reasoning for this was sold by Scientology as religious persecution of their religion. This was not entirely correct. L. Ron Hubbard, et al, were looking to find a government that would allow them to build their power base without interference, and decided to use various criminal methods (wiretapping, etc) against the German government to acquire blackmail material to use to enforce their control.

There has always been a rather vituperative relationship between the German government and Scientology. Depending on who you are listening to, it is never about what side A did, it is always about the horrible evil actions of side B.

Where have we heard that sort of logic used before?

Sinergy

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David St. Hubbins "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Every so often you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You cant do that, it is gone, gone forever." J. Danforth Quayle

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