Scientology

I've heard the term scientology so much lately...it's all over the place. Mostly fueled by the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes relationship. I had looked up scientology a long time ago to see what it's beliefs were, but I had forgotten much of it. So last night, I looked at the official site again to reinvestigate. Basically, this is a very strange religion with some very strange beliefs...all started by the infamous L. Ron Hubbard who was at one time a science fiction novelist. Personally, I think it's scary that a man can invent something bizarre and have so many intelligent people believe it whole-heartedly. I think the leadership of sceintology knows how strange it sounds because they do not really discuss the more jaw-dropping beliefs on their official web site. They concetrate on the acceptable ideas of harmony with the universe, no war, becomming a problem solver and taking control of your life. They talk about overcoming negatives, having a greater awareness of your purpose, etc. The truth is there are some wild claims that don't make any sense. There are teachings about Xenu, a galactic warlord from 65 million years ago that gathered tons of people and blew them up (this is somehow how we originated, so goes the theory...), and there are bodiless beings that supposedly attack us today, although the church of scientology can get rid of those for you in some sort of purification process (but it'll COST ya, big time!) I've read accounts from L. Ron Hubbard's son, and others that have gotten out of scientology that are extremely disturbing. By the way, here's one indicator that it is a cult. Any person that leaves scientology is blacklisted by all the other members. They can't talk to, work with, or be around that person anymore, and in fact, they can then try to undermine that person's life by any means including lying and cheating. I haven't even scratched the surface here of the implausible claims, the contradictions of thought in their teaching, the absolutely insane life of their founder, or the dangerous cult like expectations of their members.

I realize that Christianity makes some bizzare claims as well, but the difference here is that there is a history of archealogical truths, reasonable thought, trustworthy documents, etc to help validate the claims of Christianty. Christianity is a movement born of many who saw and believed that Jesus was the son of God, a creator that loves us. Scientology was born in one man's mind. A man whose motives were most likely to make money, and a name for himself.