{"id":3650,"date":"2018-01-09T11:04:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T19:04:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/?p=3650"},"modified":"2018-01-09T11:04:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T19:04:39","slug":"truth-scientology-lies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination<\/a>. Written by award-winning writer and director\u00a0Isa Totah<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done quite a bit of Scientology over the\u00a0years.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read dozens of books, I\u2019ve listened to hundreds of hours of lectures by\u00a0L. Ron Hubbard<\/a>, and I\u2019ve studied and progressed to the highest spiritual levels available. So, when I hear lies about Scientology, I\u2019m utterly unfazed.<\/p>\n

\"lies<\/a><\/p>\n

Shutterstock\/ by <\/em>OMMB<\/p>\n

You can tell me Scientologists have tails and bunny ears or whatever, and you\u2019ll get laughed at or ignored. I know that Scientology works for one simple reason: I have firsthand experience that it does. Not only has it worked for me, but I\u2019ve had spiritual gains that I could never have fathomed before\u2014so much so, you probably wouldn\u2019t believe me if I told you about them. And that\u2019s okay. There are so many dead ends in the world that it\u2019s easy to assume that Scientology must be another one. It just isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Indeed, lies about\u00a0Scientology<\/a>\u00a0would be amusing if not for the fact that friends of mine come across\u2014and get confused by\u2014these fabrications. These friends haven\u2019t read dozens of Scientology books or experienced the spiritual gains I have, so they have nothing to contrast the propaganda with\u2014except for me, and I don\u2019t seem like the ogre described by these bigots. So, they come to me to ask questions about what they\u2019ve heard.<\/p>\n

I had such an incident recently with a cousin who was flipping channels and ran across\u00a0a hatemonger<\/a>\u00a0spreading outrageous lies about my religion. He was utterly aghast and we got into a lengthy discussion about all the trash he had consumed. (When someone has the audacity to just make up something about your religion, there\u2019s not much you can say other than, \u201cit\u2019s a bunch of garbage.\u201d) After a while, he calmed down, but couldn\u2019t get past this one thing: why would someone lie like that?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question I\u2019ve heard before. Honest people have a difficult time dealing with the fact that dishonest people exist. It boggles the mind that someone could be so twisted.<\/p>\n

So I told him this story:<\/p>\n

\"six-pack\"<\/a>
Shutterstock\/ by Steve Cukrov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I was eighteen, I was working the cash register of the family grocery store when a gentleman walked in holding a brown paper sack. He was wearing a sports jacket, nice jeans and a dress shirt and had a pleasant smile. He pulled out a six-pack of beer from his bag and explained that he had bought it from my dad earlier that day and asked if he could please trade it for a cold one. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, so I said \u201csure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pops happened to walk into the shop just as the man was thanking me. As the man stepped out onto the street and into his car, Pops asked me in his broken English and thick Arabic accent: \u201cWhy he thank you?\u201d<\/p>\n

I told him what had happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no!\u201d Pops snapped at me, \u201cWhy did you do that?!\u201d<\/p>\n

I was startled by his reaction. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with that?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n

Composing himself, he matter-of-factly explained: \u201cIt\u2019s water,\u201d implying that the man had drunk the beer and refilled the bottles with tap water. I didn\u2019t believe him\u2014I felt I was a pretty good judge of character and was certain that that nice fellow wouldn\u2019t deceive me like that. The man dressed as if he had a few bucks and had a sincere demeanor. My father was just being cynical.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo way. I don\u2019t believe it,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGo, take a look yourself,\u201d he calmly replied, like a Yoda teaching a Padawan.<\/p>\n

I walked over to the fridge determined to prove him wrong. I grabbed the six-pack, twisted off one of the bottle caps, and poured the contents into an empty glass\u2014water. The man had indeed conned me. It wasn\u2019t a lot of money lost, but I was hurt and disillusioned. It would have felt better had the guy just snatched the beer and bolted out the door. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t know that dishonest people existed, but there was something about being lied to by someone I had decided was trustworthy that really stung. I grew up a bit that day.<\/p>\n

My cousin laughed when I told him the story.<\/p>\n

Trying to understand evil is not easy. L. Ron Hubbard stated that man is basically good, and that is true. But I see the goodness in people to the point that it has occasionally gotten me in trouble when I didn\u2019t spot a knife hidden behind the back of someone I thought had a sweet face. Over time I\u2019ve discovered that although man is basically good, it doesn\u2019t mean that a few men and women haven\u2019t flipped to the dark side. Not a huge revelation. Look at the world today. If everyone was expressing their basic goodness, this world wouldn\u2019t be in the mess it\u2019s currently in. Unfortunately, a few once-good apples have gone bad.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing about bad apples: they rarely look like the sinister characters we see in the movies. In life, they can be pretty, ugly, short, tall, funny, serious, stupid, or clever. You can even find them shopping for beer at mom and pop grocery stores, brandishing warm smiles and designer jeans. No, the only thing bad apples have in common is that they destroy things. And to pretend they don\u2019t exist is asking to be knifed in the back. And the ugly truth is: a handful of these characters have aimed their hate at Scientology.<\/p>\n

\"Jean-L\u00e9on<\/a><\/p>\n

Painting by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me:\u00a0 The Christian Martyrs\u2019 Last Prayer,1883<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know of any new religion that didn\u2019t face controversy. My goodness, Jews have been persecuted for ages, and Christians were thrown to lions\u2014lions<\/i>. And Muslims and other religions have fared no better. Whenever a new religion emerges, there are always vested interests threatened by the spiritual empowerment it represents to the people they\u2019re trying to control or even enslave. As a matter of fact, many of the religions of the world are still under attack this very day, some thousands of years after their inception.<\/p>\n

The irony is, despite all the attacks Scientology has sustained, it continues to grow at astonishing rates, with beautiful new churches opening regularly all over the world. Why? Oh that\u2019s simple: because it works\u2014brilliantly. As a matter of fact, if it didn\u2019t work, the hatemongers and vested interests would simply ignore it. Believe me, that would save them a lot of trouble and expense. It\u2019s the fact that it\u00a0does<\/i>\u00a0work that makes it a target.<\/p>\n

It would be great to live in a rose-colored world if only the world\u00a0was<\/i>\u00a0such a color. Maybe one day it will be. But as I\u2019ve grown up, I\u2019ve become aware of a few facts about life: the department store Santa Claus is just a hired actor in a Santa suit, and it was just good ole mom that left the dollar under my pillow, not the tooth fairy, and although the vast majority of people are good, honest people, as my father explained simply in his thick, Arabic accent, \u201csome are just\u2026 liars.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination. Written by award-winning writer and director\u00a0Isa Totah I\u2019ve done quite a bit of Scientology over the\u00a0years. I\u2019ve read dozens of books, I\u2019ve listened to hundreds of hours of lectures by\u00a0L. Ron Hubbard, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1278,1320,1297,1374,1392],"tags":[1403,1313,798,3],"class_list":["post-3650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-scientologists","category-scientology-beliefs","category-stand","category-tolerance","tag-hate-speech","tag-lies","tag-media","tag-scientology"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scientology Beliefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/files\/2018\/01\/hate-speech.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ScientologyBeliefs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ScientologyBeliefs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/\",\"name\":\"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/de2d5509212ec54ab6ece4c23c7be1d3\"},\"description\":\"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/\",\"name\":\"Scientology Beliefs\",\"description\":\"Scientologists Blogging about their Religion and Concerns\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/de2d5509212ec54ab6ece4c23c7be1d3\",\"name\":\"ScientologyBeliefs\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93be1a8bd8b9da5809a7c39e5907cf69?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93be1a8bd8b9da5809a7c39e5907cf69?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ScientologyBeliefs\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/author\/lwieland\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies","description":"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies","og_description":"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/","og_site_name":"Scientology Beliefs","article_published_time":"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/files\/2018\/01\/hate-speech.jpg"}],"author":"ScientologyBeliefs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ScientologyBeliefs","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/","name":"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-09T19:04:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/de2d5509212ec54ab6ece4c23c7be1d3"},"description":"How a Scientologist reacts to the lies he hears and reads about his religion, republished courtesy of\u00a0STAND, Scientologists Taking Action Against","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/2018\/01\/truth-scientology-lies-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Truth About Scientology\u2014and the Lies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/","name":"Scientology Beliefs","description":"Scientologists Blogging about their Religion and Concerns","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/de2d5509212ec54ab6ece4c23c7be1d3","name":"ScientologyBeliefs","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93be1a8bd8b9da5809a7c39e5907cf69?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93be1a8bd8b9da5809a7c39e5907cf69?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"ScientologyBeliefs"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/author\/lwieland\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/scientologybeliefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}