4 ms·

Scientology is essentially a scheme to get private/incriminating information from very important people. Why the surprise?

colechristensen 5mo ago
Scientology is what happens when a science fiction writer acts out a dystopian plot in real life instead of writing a novel. Read Stranger in a Strange Land, read about Hubbard and Heinlein's friendship, and look at the timeline of when Scientology started and Stranger in a Strange Land was published.
- CGMthrowaway 5mo ago
  That may be true however today it is 2026 not 1961, LRH fell off the earth in 1980, and it is feasible that after the raids in 1977 and/or upon gaining tax-exempt status in 1993, some sort of deal was cut with the US state/intel apparatus to co-opt the church for another purpose
  - colechristensen 5mo ago
    No, shady deals and intel capture fits perfectly fine with the original dystopian novel in the real world.
- saghm 5mo ago
  From reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons yesterday after someone posted a link to it in the comments for another thread, I came away with the impression that Hubbard seemed to be into some pretty weird stuff long before scientology.
sysguest 5mo ago
damn I wonder how many scientology believers in intel actually believe in scientology... I mean, it shows how much intel agencies can "screen for high intelligence individuals" ?
- sidewndr46 5mo ago
  people believe in scientology as much as they believe in a literature club. If you listen to someone like Tom Cruise's statements he says "I have gotten to where I am today because of Scientology". He doesn't name off specific procedures, treatments, practices, etc. Partially because they are barred from naming them. But if you're looking for a club you can advance it, I highly suspect Scientology is as quid pro quo as anything else out there. In other words, it's more of a social function than a religion.
  - psychoslave 5mo ago
    Religion is all about social function, at least from social science perceptives I guess.
    - sidewndr46 5mo ago
      sure, but that is reductive. From a theological perspective it's entirely about salvation if you're Christian. Judaism, isn't so clear.
      - psychoslave 5mo ago
        Reducing theological perspectives to judeo-christian views is also very narrow. That said, focusing on some narrow topic is also totally legitimate, as human being we can’t encompass everything and the rest in our tight attention window.
    - sysguest 5mo ago
      well even if it's "social function", do want to be labeled as retarded? I just can't imagine tainting my name by joining those scientology retards...
      - modo_mario 5mo ago
        Religion is ultimately for a great part a matter of identity and they sure don't think of themselves as retards. People think it's doctrine, scripture and proseltysing that sustains it and anyone looking into those first 2 at least would think they're idiots but mostly it's things like CREDs (credibility enhancing displays) and group ties that contribute to believers selfidentity which calcifies the belief. Looking at their or a different religion for what it is would challenge their sense of self and as humans we really don't like that kind of cognitive dissonance.

colechristensen 5mo ago

Scientology is what happens when a science fiction writer acts out a dystopian plot in real life instead of writing a novel. Read Stranger in a Strange Land, read about Hubbard and Heinlein's friendship, and look at the timeline of when Scientology started and Stranger in a Strange Land was published.

CGMthrowaway 5mo ago
That may be true however today it is 2026 not 1961, LRH fell off the earth in 1980, and it is feasible that after the raids in 1977 and/or upon gaining tax-exempt status in 1993, some sort of deal was cut with the US state/intel apparatus to co-opt the church for another purpose
- colechristensen 5mo ago
  No, shady deals and intel capture fits perfectly fine with the original dystopian novel in the real world.
saghm 5mo ago
From reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons yesterday after someone posted a link to it in the comments for another thread, I came away with the impression that Hubbard seemed to be into some pretty weird stuff long before scientology.

sysguest 5mo ago

damn I wonder how many scientology believers in intel actually believe in scientology... I mean, it shows how much intel agencies can "screen for high intelligence individuals" ?

sidewndr46 5mo ago
people believe in scientology as much as they believe in a literature club. If you listen to someone like Tom Cruise's statements he says "I have gotten to where I am today because of Scientology". He doesn't name off specific procedures, treatments, practices, etc. Partially because they are barred from naming them. But if you're looking for a club you can advance it, I highly suspect Scientology is as quid pro quo as anything else out there. In other words, it's more of a social function than a religion.
- psychoslave 5mo ago
  Religion is all about social function, at least from social science perceptives I guess.
  - sidewndr46 5mo ago
    sure, but that is reductive. From a theological perspective it's entirely about salvation if you're Christian. Judaism, isn't so clear.
    - psychoslave 5mo ago
      Reducing theological perspectives to judeo-christian views is also very narrow. That said, focusing on some narrow topic is also totally legitimate, as human being we can’t encompass everything and the rest in our tight attention window.
  - sysguest 5mo ago
    well even if it's "social function", do want to be labeled as retarded? I just can't imagine tainting my name by joining those scientology retards...
    - modo_mario 5mo ago
      Religion is ultimately for a great part a matter of identity and they sure don't think of themselves as retards. People think it's doctrine, scripture and proseltysing that sustains it and anyone looking into those first 2 at least would think they're idiots but mostly it's things like CREDs (credibility enhancing displays) and group ties that contribute to believers selfidentity which calcifies the belief. Looking at their or a different religion for what it is would challenge their sense of self and as humans we really don't like that kind of cognitive dissonance.