Give us all your money!
Scientology Faces Criminal Charges – AP.google.com: A Belgian prosecutor on Tuesday recommended that the U.S.-based Church of Scientology stand trial for fraud and extortion, following a 10-year investigation that concluded the group should be labeled a criminal organization.
The probe also concluded that Scientology’s Brussels-based Europe office and its Belgian missions conducted unlawful practices in medicine, violated privacy laws and used illegal business contracts, said Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman at the Federal Prosecutors Office.
A Belgian parliamentary committee report in 1997 labeled Scientology a sect and investigations were launched into the group’s finances and practices, such as the personality tests conducted on new members.
Investigators have spent the past decade trying to determine how far Scientology went in recruiting converts after numerous complaints were filed with police by ex-members alleging they’d been the victims of intimidation and extortion.
All Hail Xenu!
US Ask-them Rob-thems Flavour #1 with added nuts…
What’s your favourite flavour?
Cheers
Would I be childish to say…
You criticize China for being Godless?
Yes I can hear it now…”At least we have the freedom to have our children mind f*cked by this!”
Could not help that…sorry.
I predict this will be a hot religion post.
Cheers
“Investigators have spent the past decade trying to determine how far Scientology went in recruiting converts after numerous complaints were filed with police by ex-members alleging they’d been the victims of intimidation and extortion.”
Mmm, would threatening non-members, or people who join then decide it is a false belief, with an eternity of horrific tortures constitute intimidation and extortion?
If so, its not just Scientology that should be in the dock .;-)
Check out this definition of scientologist at the Godling’s Glossary. Many other good definitions there too.
Out with the old and in with Xenu!
http://www.davekrieger.net/Glossary/S.shtml
#3 I agree, good point about the extortion! That is exactly what it is.
“Accept Jesus as your personal saviour or face eternal damnation”
“Pay us the ‘protection’ money every week and you keep your kneecaps”
Fire up the lawyers and line them up one by one…
Cheers
Scientology is obviously a fake religion created by a science fiction writer to make money…he even admitted that. I have no idea how so many people can believe in it.
Then again its no more ridiculous or unbelievable than any other religion. HAIL ZENU!
#6 You mean Christianity? The whole Jesus thing?
Cheers
“#6 You mean Christianity? The whole Jesus thing?”
More the whole notion of heaven and hell, spending an eternity burning in fire for being a bad person.
I wasnt referring specifically to Christianity though, every religion is just as ludicrous as Scientology. Is a God eating popcorn watching over earth/heaven/hell really any more believable than aliens dropping people on a volcano and killing them, then catching their souls and making them watch a movie “Clockwork Orange” style before releasing them?
ok maybe a little, but only because Scientology is SciFi
Way to go Belgium!
You don’t have to tithe to attend church, you have to pay for the e-meter.
Jesus died for your soul… L. Ron died for your money.
The usual “religion” scam. Prey on people who are gullible and sell them promises of salvation. While the Scientology folks are a different flavor of bullshit, how are they all that unique? Indulge yourself in Houston Smith’s Comparative Religion course. Beneath the robes and ritual, all forms of deity worship have a common thread of setting aside intelligent inquiry for belief in an utterly absurd story.
Truly, how are Mormons any better than Scientologists? Elron Hubbard and Joseph Smith both saw an opportunity to run a con. Why is Christianity with it’s tales of Jonah and burning bushes anymore credible than the Rastafarian perspective about Highly Unlikely and firing up the herb?
John Lennon said it best: “Whatever gets you through the night”. The emphasis is on the word “you”. If George W Bush wants to believe he hears the voice of God telling him to invade Iraq, then he is certifiable and tone deaf because that was Dick Cheney channeling Halliburton.
Candidates who tout their genuflection before any form of fantasy, are either pandering or do not deserve the vote of anyone with an IQ above that of a turtle.
Is Scientology any more wacky they the creationist museum. You know the one that says the world is only a few thousand years old and man existed in the same time frame as dinosaurs.
#11 – gquaglia,
Humans do exist in the time of dinosaurs. In fact, dino species still outnumber mammal species 2 to 1. I see ’em all the time. Birds are dinosaurs.
Other than that, I don’t know much about scientology, but have a hard time imagining it being sillier than the judeo-christian-islamic religion.
(long toke on the joint, while holding smoke)Hey, let’s see if we can get them to believe virgin birth … ha ha ha ha choke gag exhale.
Yeah man … and how about little boy blue come blow your horn and knock all the walls down dude …
Cool, but let’s give him a better name than little boy blue, how about Joshua …. yeah man … ’cause like you must be joshing me … ha ha choke gag.
Oh god oh god oh god, the acid’s kicking in now. The river looks like blood. What a bummer!! I see lots of frogs and a pilar of fire. And, look, people are walking between walls of water.
Yeah, I think Enron Hubbard would have had to be on even better drugs when he wrote Diarrhetics to beat that. Or, perhaps he was just full of shit.
if this doesn’t make the case for separation of church and state for even neocons then we’re all doomed.
#8 Jim – Ok I agree.
I tossed in Christianity as more ancient documents come to light there is much to wonder about. Even the Bible as it stands now fails any close scrutiny.
I am not saying this because it is fashionable after the Da Vinci Code – I questioned my Sunday school teachers about the contradictions in the four gospels. How could Jesus renounce his faith in God on the cross by saying “My God why hast thou forsaken me?” Gee if Jesus himself losses faith what hope is there for me?
Cheers
Awww… what will James Herbert Keenan have to bitch about once Scientology fails?
This will also outdate many of Tool’s (and A Perfect Circle’s) songs against it, for it will not exist once it has fallen…
Well, if the Belgians are going to be “consistent” on this “no extortion” rule for religion- – -how can they not start prosecutions against the Muslims? Jihad and death to those who mock, etc?
Here we go again. Thanks Sergio. For the record, I don’t see how one religion is that much different than any other. Each has a lot of far-fetched notions that the believers accept as true.. And how come Hinduism is left out of the debate?
John C Dvorak
“And how come Hinduism is left out of the debate?”
Could it be that Christians can’t find it on their faith based maps?
“For the record, I don’t see how one religion is that much different than any other. ” Moral equivalency? You wouldn’t make much of a statesmen with such a large blind spot?
“Everything” has similarities AND DIFFERENCES with anything else. Making global statements on either side of the equation really is to miss the reality of any situation?
A key question for the time being really is “Is the Islamic Religion, arab based or otherwise, a threat to democracies==or is it just like any other relgion?” or “Is a religion that also demands to be the only allowed religion and the only government any different from those who do not wish to provide civil services nor mandatory adherence to only their religion?” Do such differences exist? If they exist, does it make a difference?
Thinking people may want to think?
#18 And how come Hinduism is left out of the debate?
It is just too strange… Even my Hindi clients tell me not to even try to understand it. I’ll take their word for it as they ought to know better than me!
Cheers
#18, You’re welcome John 😉
I wonder why nobody has said anything bad about the Flying Spaghetti Monster? I mean, at least with this deity there have been some sightings, just go to youtube and you will become a believer, HAAAAAAAR!!!!!.
#24 You mean to mock the one true faith? May the ragu burn in your veins! 😉
#18 John, skip up to the post of the Hindu God of the sky fixing jets – there just isn’t any need to comment about the Hindu faith – you couldn’t make up better stuff.
I would also assume there must be a Hindu God of IT owing to the all the call centre outsourcing to India… 😆
Cheers
Should inquiring minds want to know re Hinduism…
“Religions of the World” by Houston Smith: http://tinyurl.com/ytmq7p
Alan Watts also has extraordinary insight regarding the spiritual aspect for those seriously interested in Hinduism. He does NOT dally with the multitude of deities. I suspect he felt that element of Hinduism was essentially bread & circus flash factor. Alas, Watt’s perceptions are interlaced among all of his works http://www.alanwatts.com/ so there isn’t a single reference tome solely on Hinduism to highlight.
I wouldn’t make much of a statesman?? Hmm, never thought of that. Let me restate my position:
PEOPLE, PEOPLE — Why can’t we just all get along?
The Bear were who we thought they were!
#27 Because that’s the way God made us!
Cheers
>>Cool, but let’s give him a better name than little boy blue,
>>how about Joshua
Wasn’t the hornblower’s name Gabriel, Mr. Scott? I believe Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, causing the walls to come tumbling down. And the Archangel Gabriel, exalted messager of God, was the one to blow the horn.
I see this thread took a scant three messages before it turned back into the same old, same old Christian/ Judaism/ Islam-bashing that is so popular here.
And just like Hinduism seems to be spared the wrath and scathing wit of the Mighty Atheists, how come nobody’s ever busting Buddha’s balls? Afraid David Carradine might pull a little Kung Fu Fighting on you, Grasshoppers?
#29 – MM,
I don’t recall that level of detail. I also do not recall any archangels in the O.T.
I see this thread took a scant three messages before it turned back into the same old, same old Christian/ Judaism/ Islam-bashing that is so popular here.
Correction. Four. My first post was still on Scientology. Zoroastrianism is a better target than most eastern religions, not that I know much about eastern religions. However, I don’t think they have quite the reputation for cruelty that Zoroastrianism does. Jainism is quite pleasant in not causing huge killing sprees. Perhaps that’s why it has so few followers.
>>I don’t recall that level of detail.
You might consider a refresher course before you start in on the immensely popular Bible-Bashing then.
>>I also do not recall any archangels in the O.T.
Archangel Gabriel (aka the Angel of Death) appears in the Christian New Testament (who ever said we were talking OT here, anyway?), but he’s also in the Hebrew Bible, sitting at the left hand of God, and he is the guy who revealed the Qur’an to Mohommed, for the Islams among us. And of most interest to you, no doubt, he’s the archangel described in the Book of Revelation as blowing his horn to announce the arrival of Judgement Day.
Just remember the Big Three, and you’ll be doing alright:
1. Joshua fit de battle of Jericho (and the walls come tumbling down)
2. Ezekial saw de wheel, way up in de middle of de air.
3. Gabriel blow his horn
I thought this was supposed to be a tech blog. An awful lot of time seems to get spent dithering over whether OTHER PEOPLES’ religions are silly or sane, for a tech blog.
Well, here’s something techy for you worshipers of the Apple altar, the new iPOD Touch.
Good enough for you Mister Mustard ?