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	<title>Comments on: A Former Scientologist Speaks Out Against the Cult</title>
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	<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/</link>
	<description>by Hemant Mehta</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 28 May 2012 11:22:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>By: muggle</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-401988</link>
		<dc:creator>muggle</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:21:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-401988</guid>
		<description>Not exactly, Lagunatic.  :D</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Not exactly, Lagunatic.  <img src='http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif' alt=':D' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: Lagunatic</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400992</link>
		<dc:creator>Lagunatic</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:32:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400992</guid>
		<description>@ mugggle - sooooo, you don&#039;t agree w/ him then? ;)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>@ mugggle &#8211; sooooo, you don&#8217;t agree w/ him then? <img src='http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>By: muggle</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400951</link>
		<dc:creator>muggle</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400951</guid>
		<description>First let me state flat out that Scientology is an evil, abusive, scary cult.  That said:

I flat out think Aaron is lying about at least some -- if not most -- of this.  The stories don&#039;t even make sense and contradict each other.  He lost me with that bit about the 15 year old girl in Los Angeles.  It might have been credible if she were 18 but 15 year olds don&#039;t have the choice.  All the parents would have to do is bring the cops to drag her ass out of there and then there&#039;d be some nice publicity about harboring a runaway and speculation about just what went on with this minor while she was there.

The story about kidnapping the couple also rings false.  Plus, if they&#039;re so hell-bent on raising (literally) an army to take over the world and are brainwashing these children so thoroughly with so much success, what possible motivation would they have for ordering abortions?  Frankly, they would be doing the opposite and ordering breeding if Aaron&#039;s story was true instead of contradicting itself.

Also, gimme a break with the exaggerations.  Half the people went insane after two and a half months locked up.  Scientology owns half of Florida.  He likes &quot;half&quot; like some fools like &quot;hundreds&quot;.

I have my theories for his motivation.  It&#039;s a scary story designed to make us all tremble in fear.  He admits to some rank so has some motive (if they really seek world domination and that one I can believe) to make us all tremble in fear.

Um, so not trembling, Aaron.  Sorry.  (That was sarcastic what I really meant was up yours.)  Not really worried that you can take over the world country by country, state by state, city by city, town by town.  Good luck with that.  One big mistake you presume is that owning half the businesses in Florida (yeah, sure you do) wouldn give you control of Florida.  Nope, not even owning them all.  Businesses aren&#039;t without influnence but don&#039;t forget a little thing that does exist in America even though it often seems dormant -- power to the people.

So, Aaron, fuck you.  I&#039;m not falling for it.  And I&#039;m not cowtowing to it.  &lt;strong&gt;I&#039;m not advocating jumping the gun to illegally infriging on Scientology&#039;s rights so you can cry victim and gain power against law suits or legal action you do deserve.&lt;/strong&gt;  And if you mess with me or mine, I am going to take action.  This is one bitch, you&#039;d never succeed in suppressing.  Never.  Do I make myself clear?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>First let me state flat out that Scientology is an evil, abusive, scary cult.  That said:</p>
<p>I flat out think Aaron is lying about at least some &#8212; if not most &#8212; of this.  The stories don&#8217;t even make sense and contradict each other.  He lost me with that bit about the 15 year old girl in Los Angeles.  It might have been credible if she were 18 but 15 year olds don&#8217;t have the choice.  All the parents would have to do is bring the cops to drag her ass out of there and then there&#8217;d be some nice publicity about harboring a runaway and speculation about just what went on with this minor while she was there.</p>
<p>The story about kidnapping the couple also rings false.  Plus, if they&#8217;re so hell-bent on raising (literally) an army to take over the world and are brainwashing these children so thoroughly with so much success, what possible motivation would they have for ordering abortions?  Frankly, they would be doing the opposite and ordering breeding if Aaron&#8217;s story was true instead of contradicting itself.</p>
<p>Also, gimme a break with the exaggerations.  Half the people went insane after two and a half months locked up.  Scientology owns half of Florida.  He likes &#8220;half&#8221; like some fools like &#8220;hundreds&#8221;.</p>
<p>I have my theories for his motivation.  It&#8217;s a scary story designed to make us all tremble in fear.  He admits to some rank so has some motive (if they really seek world domination and that one I can believe) to make us all tremble in fear.</p>
<p>Um, so not trembling, Aaron.  Sorry.  (That was sarcastic what I really meant was up yours.)  Not really worried that you can take over the world country by country, state by state, city by city, town by town.  Good luck with that.  One big mistake you presume is that owning half the businesses in Florida (yeah, sure you do) wouldn give you control of Florida.  Nope, not even owning them all.  Businesses aren&#8217;t without influnence but don&#8217;t forget a little thing that does exist in America even though it often seems dormant &#8212; power to the people.</p>
<p>So, Aaron, fuck you.  I&#8217;m not falling for it.  And I&#8217;m not cowtowing to it.  <strong>I&#8217;m not advocating jumping the gun to illegally infriging on Scientology&#8217;s rights so you can cry victim and gain power against law suits or legal action you do deserve.</strong>  And if you mess with me or mine, I am going to take action.  This is one bitch, you&#8217;d never succeed in suppressing.  Never.  Do I make myself clear?</p>
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		<title>By: Bef Milne</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400902</link>
		<dc:creator>Bef Milne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:57:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400902</guid>
		<description>http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-private-navy/</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-private-navy/" rel="nofollow">http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-private-navy/</a></p>
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		<title>By: Bef Milne</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400899</link>
		<dc:creator>Bef Milne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:51:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400899</guid>
		<description>Here are a couple more articles written by myself today on the true issues with the Church of Scientology

http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-scandals/</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are a couple more articles written by myself today on the true issues with the Church of Scientology</p>
<p><a href="http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-scandals/" rel="nofollow">http://footbullet.net/2009/11/25/scientology-scandals/</a></p>
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		<title>By: Lagunatic</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400667</link>
		<dc:creator>Lagunatic</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:12:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400667</guid>
		<description>This stuff has already probably been posted - please forgive me, I&#039;ve got a cold so information isn&#039;t being processed properly (which I&#039;ve decided is a great excuse for being dumb and lazy and I intend to use it a lot in the future)

http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/ebner_undercover_scientology_spy_magazine_1996.phtml</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This stuff has already probably been posted &#8211; please forgive me, I&#8217;ve got a cold so information isn&#8217;t being processed properly (which I&#8217;ve decided is a great excuse for being dumb and lazy and I intend to use it a lot in the future)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/ebner_undercover_scientology_spy_magazine_1996.phtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.hollywoodinterrupted.com/archives/ebner_undercover_scientology_spy_magazine_1996.phtml</a></p>
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		<title>By: Lagunatic</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400651</link>
		<dc:creator>Lagunatic</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:22:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400651</guid>
		<description>Some stuff:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/10/paul_haggis_ditches_scientolog.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/3 (the story that got me started)</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Some stuff:</p>
<p><a href="http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/10/paul_haggis_ditches_scientolog.html" rel="nofollow">http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/10/paul_haggis_ditches_scientolog.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,972865,00.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/3" rel="nofollow">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology/3</a> (the story that got me started)</p>
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		<title>By: Lagunatic</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400637</link>
		<dc:creator>Lagunatic</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:01:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400637</guid>
		<description>I agree with those who are scared of this &quot;religion&quot;. Out of curiosity I did some research on Scientology a while back and was so frightened about what I was reading that I stopped. I was actually afraid that I&#039;d be targeted by them. I&#039;m not normally a paranoid person but these people are bat-shit crazy!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I agree with those who are scared of this &#8220;religion&#8221;. Out of curiosity I did some research on Scientology a while back and was so frightened about what I was reading that I stopped. I was actually afraid that I&#8217;d be targeted by them. I&#8217;m not normally a paranoid person but these people are bat-shit crazy!!</p>
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		<title>By: Bef Milne</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400613</link>
		<dc:creator>Bef Milne</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:18:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400613</guid>
		<description>Epistaxis: but these children are educated only on Scientology materials, there is no educational curriculum on material not written by L. Ron Hubbard. These children are not allowed to associate with kids outside Scientology, and then they&#039;re told if they don&#039;t join the paramilitary force, Scientology&#039;s private army, they will be disowned by their parents - meaning absolutely all of their knowledge is of no use, they have no friends or family and are effectively useless.

It is extremist and cult-like, and you&#039;re right that it does occur elsewhere; in other extreme religious sects and cults. This is exactly the point; Scientology is a dangerous cult and it should not be tax exempt or allowed to continue to commit these human rights violations.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Epistaxis: but these children are educated only on Scientology materials, there is no educational curriculum on material not written by L. Ron Hubbard. These children are not allowed to associate with kids outside Scientology, and then they&#8217;re told if they don&#8217;t join the paramilitary force, Scientology&#8217;s private army, they will be disowned by their parents &#8211; meaning absolutely all of their knowledge is of no use, they have no friends or family and are effectively useless.</p>
<p>It is extremist and cult-like, and you&#8217;re right that it does occur elsewhere; in other extreme religious sects and cults. This is exactly the point; Scientology is a dangerous cult and it should not be tax exempt or allowed to continue to commit these human rights violations.</p>
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		<title>By: Epistaxis</title>
		<link>http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2009/11/23/a-former-scientologist-speaks-out-against-the-cult/#comment-400435</link>
		<dc:creator>Epistaxis</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:48:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://friendlyatheist.com/?p=18540#comment-400435</guid>
		<description>&lt;blockquote&gt;These kids, by the age of 7, are telling you that they know that they’ve lived for 75 trillion years, that they know they’re supposed to be superhuman beings, and the reason why they’re not is because they were bad people in a past life, and this is why they lost their abilities. They know that if anybody doesn’t join the Sea Org, that they’re helping to destroy the planet, and they’re an enemy and they are not to be spoken to.&lt;/blockquote&gt;
Well, we let all the other religions do that.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>These kids, by the age of 7, are telling you that they know that they’ve lived for 75 trillion years, that they know they’re supposed to be superhuman beings, and the reason why they’re not is because they were bad people in a past life, and this is why they lost their abilities. They know that if anybody doesn’t join the Sea Org, that they’re helping to destroy the planet, and they’re an enemy and they are not to be spoken to.</p></blockquote>
<p>Well, we let all the other religions do that.</p>
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