Scientology, anyone?

My comment about starting other 'taboo' threads in response to the virginity thread got me thinking...

I don't really know much about Scientology, but from the limited knowledge I do have (probably all from the media) such as Katie Holmes having to give pregnant 'as quietly as possible' without the use of anaesthetics, or T.Cruise bashing the use of antidepressants/medicines of any kind (remember the Brooke Shields post-partum depression fiasco), or them believing something about us all coming from another planet... this all seems pretty far out to me.

Oh, and the best one was when T.Cruise said that firefighters suffering from smoke inhalation from 9/11 should just take some vitamins or drink cod liver oil or whatever instead of taking real medicine. OK there.

Any Scientologists out there? Please correct my misconceptions if I am wrong about this. I'm not bashing Scientologists, I just don't really get them.

Again, let me stress the fact that I am NOT trying to bash anybody's religious beliefs! I just want to know the other side of the story, not just what is fed to me by the media.
 
I don't know much about it, except for what I've read. But all I have to say is...Katie Holmes better stand her ground when she delivers. There's no way I would have been able to survive my delivery without my epidural. I had a button I could press to give extra shots of medication and I pressed that thing like there was no tomorrow! (There's a way for them to monitor so I didn't overdose).
 
Agree w/yellow_gummybear....would be interesting to hear more on this than what I/we get from the media...if that's all there is for me to form an opinion from then I will try to be kind and say it would at best be an unfavorable one.....
 
Yeah i read about the 'silent birth' thing...the thinking behind this is to cause as little distress to the baby as possible.

For example, scientologists have supposedly recently discovered that a baby actually takes in all the information surrounding it's birth - if there is lots of swearing and shouting, it is believed that this could affect the child in a psychological way, even up to 6 years after the birth.

I read a story of a woman who had a 'silent birth' - the idea is not to be totally silent (sometimes when giving birth, you just can't be!) but to give the baby as little distress as possible, thus keeping calm and control over the situation.

Oh dear, i think i blew it with my son, i spent the whole 16 hours screaming blue murder and consumed a whole tank of gas and air!!!:shame: :blink:
 
Yeah, the whole silent birth concept is more of a no-screaming thing, not a no noise thing. I can't pretend to be an expert but I've read articles about it in Newsweek and some other newspapers. L. Ron Hubbard (the sci-fi writer) if the founder of it. I don't remember much about it, but one thing that stood out is that Scientologists believe non-Scientologists (and Scientologists who are going through cleansing) are polluted with Thetans and Thetans are the ones responsible for anger and hate the whole world over. To be cleansed you're supposed to pay the Church (apparently it's expensive) and they cleanse you through a few different methods. There are certain levels of Scientology as well (based on how clean/free of Thetans you are) and Tom Cruise is rumored to be in the top level of clean Scientologists. Also, remember that weird cold sore thing that Katie Holmes had going on a while back? One of the processes that new Scientologists have to go through (you can prob find specifics somewhere) involve stuff that can make people break out in cold sores. Hope that helps a bit :smile:
 
Deborah said:
L. Ron Hubbard (the sci-fi writer) if the founder of it.

A sci-fi writer as founder of a religion, eh? Sounds like a solid foundation to me. :wacko:

Deborah said:
I don't remember much about it, but one thing that stood out is that Scientologists believe non-Scientologists (and Scientologists who are going through cleansing) are polluted with Thetans and Thetans are the ones responsible for anger and hate the whole world over. To be cleansed you're supposed to pay the Church (apparently it's expensive) and they cleanse you through a few different methods.

Just another way to make a quick buck, huh? Interesting how the Catholic Church really pushed this idea a long time ago, too, with 'repenters' paying ppl to say Hail Marys for you etc so you'd be forgiven, and the buying of indulgences.

Deborah said:
Also, remember that weird cold sore thing that Katie Holmes had going on a while back? One of the processes that new Scientologists have to go through (you can prob find specifics somewhere) involve stuff that can make people break out in cold sores. Hope that helps a bit :smile:

Sounds like some kinda psychological thing where having physical reminders of your inclusion in the group further cements your loyalty. I'm no psychologist but that's what I think.
 
The silent birth appears, to me, to be another ridiculous to make women more subordinate than they already are.

You can bet anything that if men gave birth, there would be no religions that commanded them to endure discomfort without so much as a sneeze, simply because of (apparently) unfounded scientific information.

That being said, Scientology is definitly a very unique sounding..."religion?" The wonderful thing about this country is our ability to practice whatever religious beliefs you want. I completely disagree with everything I've heard about scientologists...and Tom Cruise is just about the worst PR for it imaginable ( because this day in age, even religions are subject to PR). I'm also curious about the finer details of the religion.

Just wanted to put in my two cents about the whole "silent birth" thing. It seems quite barbaric. If I ever have a child, I'd like to have a c-section puh-lease. and if I do it the normal I, I will definitly scream, cry, swear- whatever! I'll risk the possibe, lingering pyschological affects it might have! :-P
 
I dated a Scientologist back in the 80's and attended some classes at his insistence. I'd definitely say it's a cult, and a pretty wacky one at that. And oh, they also believe that having intercourse when you're pregnant will also traumatize the baby. :weird: They also have this thing where if you question any of their dogma, they try to convince you that there's a word you read somewhere that you didn't understand, or else you're a "suppresive person." And yes, it's incredibly expensive to take their courses or "auditing."
 
I know a lot about it, I won't say how.
The silent birth thing is so that aliens don't take over your thoughts. The trauma thing is a smokescreen.
I object to any 'religion' that does not allow you to leave the "church" if you feel it's not working for you. Scientology does not let go of its members without a huge fight. IMO, that is the hallmark of a cult.
 
LucreziaCA said:
I know a lot about it, I won't say how.
The silent birth thing is so that aliens don't take over your thoughts.

I don't mean to pry, and you don't have to reply if you don't want to, but how do they 'lure' you in in the first place? I mean, how do they get a (presumably) reasonable, level-headed person to believe that aliens will take over your thoughts and all that jazz?
 
To me, Scientology is something that was dreamt up by a third-rate science fiction writer with a massive ego who thought 'How can I make people worship me forvever? I know, I'll start a religion!'.

What most amazes me is that anyone actually buys into this crock. :weird:
 
Has anyone heard of the case of Jeremy Perkins ? He was seriously schizophrenic and remained untreated as his family were Scientologists and he was given vitamins for his condition. He stabbed his mother 77 times.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/JeremyPerkins/

I don't really know enough about the religion to say much about it, but from what actually makes it into the paper, it doesn't paint the most flattering picture.