Scientology Redux

Editors Note: I have received several comments about the article in last Thursday’s issue (“Too dumb to defraud: Why Scientology should not be persecuted as a cult”). Scientology is considered by some to be a cult. There are a variety of groups out there in opposition to it’s followers because they believe that people involved with the religion have committed human rights abuses, psychological trauma, fraud, etc., namely the group Anonymous, which has organized several protests against Scientology. Some of these comments might be from people within this organization due to links listed with the comments.

All groups who attempt to use questionable information to coerce people to change their lives have the potential to be destructive. I will not attack Scientology in particular because a “cult” only remains a “cult” until it becomes popular (Christianity was once a cult, as was Islam). One belief system about the “afterlife” or “things beyond knowing” is just as unverified as the next. An individual cannot be critical of another person’s fiction while clutching to their own without being a hypocrite; simply because one fiction may seem more plausible or desirable.

So I let it rest that by and large, most practitioners of Scientology are innocent, even if some might be committing crimes. Whether Scientology is a cult is a question left to the justice system. I contend that many people are already cultists in their place of worship, at the mall, or their fan club meeting.