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I can't believe Beck is a scientologist.

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Guys, Becks, Becks!

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like I said.. they're basically not any different except for the passage of time. In 1,000 years scientology will seem just as ancient and significant for its ancientness.

please don't act like christianity is somehow more legitimate because ancient people made it up instead of recent people making it up

that's all I have to say about that

Religion isn't a monolith, dude. Even individual religions aren't monoliths.

I'd sooner take moral and metaphysical guidance from someone like Kierkegaard (a protestant) or Blake (a romantic with at least some sympathy for a mystic Christianity) than some bloodsucking cult. Any argument you make that fails to consider these meaningful distinctions is going to do a great disservice to whatever it is that you're trying to say.

I'm not a Christian, but some great thinkers have worked to invest forms of Christianity with some sort of reasoned depth and meaning. Kierkegaard, as mentioned, is one example. Yet I can't think of anything that would make me take a second look at Scientology.
 
you know, the stalking if you leave, the constant harassment, i think they killed a lady?

The terrible treatment of people who dare leave their religion has been a key feature of Christianity for the majority of its history and remains an action punishable by death in several Islamic jurisdictions.
 
what's really so different between believing jesus died on the cross to absolve all of humanity of its sins and then rose again after 3 days and ascended into heaven to one day return and Xenu destroying aliens and their spirits being stuck to our bodies or whatever?

Both are things you choose to believe on faith and must surrender rational thought to do so.. It's all the same really in terms of what's more absurd or unbelievable. Both are

Every religion is very different with many important aspects: the foundation, cultural context of its creation, the theology (or at least the beliefs), the difference between denominations (and what caused them to split), and the controversies that happened historically and/or are still happening.

Obviously if you reduce all religion to "it's dumb so it's all the same but with jesus/muhammad/buddha/joseph smith/etc. fooling people into thinking dumb stuff" the issue becomes simple.
 
what's really so different between believing jesus died on the cross to absolve all of humanity of its sins and then rose again after 3 days and ascended into heaven to one day return and Xenu destroying aliens and their spirits being stuck to our bodies or whatever?

Both are things you choose to believe on faith and must surrender rational thought to do so.. It's all the same really in terms of what's more absurd or unbelievable. Both are

The issue with Scientology is not what they believe in. People can believe what they want. It's the blatant scam job practices. It's the abuse. It's a cult in all the most negative senses of the word.

There's a focused practice of getting hundreds and thousands and millions of dollars out of every follower who wants to learn its beliefs. No mainstream religion hides their scriptures behind massive pay walls. No mainstream religion hounds their members to donate money at every turn like Scientology.

Low bar of entry for brainwashing: A famous case is the daughter of a Norwegian politician who took a personality test routine there and then killed herself - family blame Scientology - they break you down quickly to lure you in.

Abuse: SeaOrg members work illegal hours for pennies with zero freedom of movement or behavior. Step out of line: Jail time, and your superior serves as judge and juror. Pregnant? Forced abortion. Human rights abuse left and right.

Ex-members and their family constantly harassed in their homes, on their jobs. Critics face ruthless legal campaigns from the church. They have the money to.

Manic dictator Miscavige more important than any set of values: Personally beats up leadership figures he's not happy with, locks them up in jail-like compounds for years.

Scam charity fronts: Their Narcocon 'rehab' centers push bullshit snake oil treatments of serious problem. Dangerous methods to treat drug victims, who leav no better, in substantial numbers dying shortly after. Preying on the weak.

Manic anti-psychology front groups harass and misinform.

Disconnection: If for whatever random reason someone you know is labeled an SP - you have to disconnect. Son? Mother? Out of your life immediately, or you're punished. Families torn apart every year.
 
Once again, celebrities, even your favorite ones, are still human and prone to all manner of fallacies and personal foibles. For example Sir Isaac Newton not only developed many theories and ideas still used in current day science but he was also an avid practitioner of the alchemical arts and spent a good part of his life trying to discover the philosopher's stone.
 
for real, even if you only know him from the futurama episode..

i guess you might not know what futurama is.

I remember him the most cause the futurama episode, but because the joke about him singing Sex Laws for 4 hours was funnier to me because i already liked that song.


How come you bring this up but cut out the part where Belmont replies telling him he's full of shit for saying that?

Funnily enough, Scientologies themselves use this strategy too.
 
I went here thinking it was Glenn Beck. Love it when GAF gives little context and expects everyone to know what or who are you talking about.

He won four grammys and countless other awards. Kanye west jumped up on the stage during his acceptance speech in protest saying he should give his award to Beyonce lol. If you don't know who Beck is you have been living in a cave.
 
Well, ignorance is bliss, so congratulations on that.

I don't mean to say that all religions are the same in terms of their particular teachings and practices. I meant they're all the same in that they're all equally legitimate. One isn't "less real" or "more absurd" because it came from a science fiction writer who lived recently rather than a science fiction writer who lived 2,000 years ago.

You believe God told Moses that he turned Adam's rib into Eve and that was how we got women and Moses wrote it down? Okay, great! It happened thousands of years ago so it's rational to believe this.
 
I'm convinced rich and famous people do things because they're bored and need to spice up life a bit.

It's not even being bored. A lot of rich/famous people apparently feel immensely isolated or the pressure of always being in the public eye apparently causes a lot of people to breakdown. It's why those "new wave" religions like Hare Krishna or cults like Scientology (and it is a cult) have so many celebrity members and why there's other lesser known groups like the unification church.

However as mentioned Beck was born into it similar to how Prince was a Jehovah's Witness because his parents were.
 
The girl with the pixie haircut reminds me of the girl from life is strange.

Edit:

Thought I was posting it in the Closer song thread lol
 
Well of course he's a Scientologist. How else do you explain someone preserving their own head in a glass jar so that in one thousand years he can put on a charity concert to raise money for broken robots.
 
The craziest part is that people who believe that the zombification of a jewish guy will give them eternal life laugh at scientologists belief
 
Well, we know for a fact scientology was created by L. Ron Hubbard (a science fiction writer). As for christianity, the origins are a little hazier due to the passage of time and the fact that science fiction didn't really exist as a genre 2000 years ago..
They were much more into Mythology and magic back then.
 
The craziest part is that people who believe that the zombification of a jewish guy will give them eternal life laugh at scientologists belief

Eh, read Fear and Trembling. Kierkegaard practically does the impossible and makes the story of Abraham (which is the story of faith) sort of make sense.
 
They were much more into Mythology and magic back then.

...and adopting pagan belief systems and borrowing/swapping various qualities of deities/creation myths etc was pretty common. Clearest examples being from the different Egyptian dynasties and interchanging and mutating pantheons of gods and goddesses. The concept of the dying and reborn "king" is much older than early Christianity. It was gobs of money+Catholic church+military force that spread the religion more than anything. That and, ya know, people being manipulated through fear and ignorance to fall in line with the belief systems.

Scientology's tactics of fear and intimidation aren't that dissimilar.
 
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