Hubbard did apparently say the thing about making money by starting a religion, and he must have said it several times. But the bet thing is a myth.

I don’t remember were I read that, but it is quite to the point. As Jonathan Blake said, a religion can incorporate many cultic elements, or few. Classifying some things as cults and others as non-cults is setting up a false dichotomy.

The fact is that most religions use cult-like tactics to some degree, in order to gain and keep members, and to ensure cooperation. Some just do so more than others, and some take these tactics to their logical extremes.

The fact that some cults are more pernicious than Scientology does not in any way let it off the hook. The same goes for the other expanded cults.

No, the Sci-Fi origin stories of Scientology aren’t any more odd than the origin stories of the neolithic nomads of the middle east. Especially since UFO abduction stories are startlingly similar to ancient fae abduction stories. Only the culture in which they are told has changed.

By the way, the ‘Catholicism and Christianity are different’ theme in many evangelical protestant communities is creepy; I mean, they’re the splitters.

I don’t care if they belive in space people or not. Its the fact that they dream of a scientology world and if the rest of us don’t fit in they will ” dispose of quiety and without sorrow” those who won’t fit in. Google the qoute and learn about the sick scientology tone scale.

True, the story of Xenu is no more ridiculous or silly than the story of Genesis, but it’s not the beliefs that make them a cult, it’s how they act, and how they control their members. How they act is terrifying and merciless, and how they control is destructive, and sometimes fatal. The craziness of the Church of Scientology’s beliefs only distracts from their capability to wreak havoc on peoples’ lives.

No other religion has any doctrine as evil as the Church of Scientology’s policy of Fair Game, which declares that any “Suppressive Person” (a critic of the Church) “may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed”. The most infamous application of this policy was when the Guardian’s Office successfully framed and indicted anti-Scientologist author Paulette Cooper for making bomb threats against the Church by forging threats on paper stolen from her apartment, as part of a grand scheme to silence her forever titled, “Operation Freakout“. Fair Game, while ‘officially’ canceled in the 1980′s, is still practiced today.

Fair Game is also practiced through legal channels. The Church of Scientology is notoriously litigious, but they don’t file lawsuits in hopes of winning damages. Instead, their tactic is to prolong legal proceedings until their target is bankrupted by legal fees.

The Church of Scientology primarily controls their members through the practices of “Dead Agenting“, where they slander and discredit anyone that leaves the Church that might divulge their secrets, and Disconnection, where a Scientologist is ordered to sever all contact with friends or family that try to get the Scientologist to leave the Church. Disconnection has ended marriages and seperated children from their parents forever. Sometimes, however, the Church controls their members through much more direct methods, as documented on the website whyaretheydead.net.

Enumerating all the unethical and criminal practices of the Church of Scientology would make this post far too lengthy, but they are well-documented at the websites Operation CLAMBAKE, the Scientology Controversy Wikipedia article, and LermaNET. The latter is owned by Arnaldo Lerma, a former OT7 (the same level within the Church that Tom Cruise is currently at) that escaped the madness alive and has seen first-hand what they’re capable of.

You can also see videos of how Scientologists react to someone they recognize as having been labeled a “Suppressive Person” by the Church at xenutv.com. The brainwashing these people go through is quite visible in their behavior in these videos, as rabid Scientologists scream at the “suppressive” cameraman, demanding to know, “WHAT ARE YOUR CRIMES?!” (Scientologists are taught that the Church only does good, and therefore those motivated to act against the church must have secret criminal pasts. This is typical of Scientologist logic) and accusing him of rape, murder, pedophilia and whatever else they can think of.

Thank you for your time invested in reading this post.

I’ve made some similar points about the oft-repeated charge that Mormonism is a cult: Cults vs. cult-like behavior.

I mean, it’s a matter of degree what counts as a cult. There are a lot of different factors of different weights. But — sweet Jesus! — Scientology passes every test with flying colors. If it’s not a cult, we might as well retire the word.