Who Is More Insane?
Scientologists ACTUALLY believe the evil alien ruler Xenu killed a lot of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by bringing them to earth & blowing them up inside volcanoes. They believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") have attached themselves to us & cause many of our mental & physical ills. Members who know about Xenu will attempt to deny it or pretend like it doesn’t matter. They are required to sign a contract binding them to silence on the matter. Lower level members don’t know about Xenu & accordingly deny everything because they honestly don’t know.
To rid ourselves of "Body Thetans" & also “engrams” (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind) so that we can become “clear”, we have to go through "auditing" with a member of the “church” who uses an "e-meter" to measure our “reactive mind”...... & we have to pay lots & lots of money for “auditing” (purchased in 12.5-hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions) & to take courses on Scientology to advance to higher “levels” in the “church”. The “church” has also taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional in everyday life. They deny the reality of chemical imbalance & profound mental disturbance & accordingly do NOTHING to effectively stabilize the dangerously unstable. The “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from member (with deadly results).
This may sound completely insane, but how is that more insane than a supernatural being that created the world in 6 days, creates two people who somehow populate the world, then this divine being floods the whole world killing everyone and everything except a man named Noah and his family and of course two of each animal (plus the others for sacrificing)they somehow go years without food or water and then when they finally land somehow Noah can evenly distribute every single animal to its proper location. Then they somehow repopulate the world and somewhere down the road God destroys the city that Lot lives in because there were no moral people there, then he asks Abram to change his name to Abraham, circumcise himself and everyone else (including slaves) then he asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, but stops him at the last second (to make sure that he fears God) then down the road he leads non-existent Hebrew slaves out of Egypt by casting 10 plagues upon the people of Egypt (which there isn't any evidence of in any Egyptian record), those people then wandered the desert for 40 years and had bread fall from the sky (the mana) and never left a trace of physical evidence of ever being in Egypt or wandering in the desert. Then down the road God "makes" a woman named Mary pregnant with a son. This was supposed to be the son of God, but there are really no first hand accounts of this messiah, but he could heal sick people, make people's arms grow from stumps, walk through walls and buildings, turn water into wine, and rising from the dead.
I am really quite curious as to how any rational person could believe either one of these things, and how someone believing in one can call someone believing in the other insane! Someone please explain this to me.
Tags: Atheism, Belief, Christianity, Discussion, Insanity, Rational, Religion, Scientology, Thinking
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Milos Cakovan on -
what urges u to want to tell @3 billion people all their beliefs,hopes,security in an afterlife is wrong,why does it bother u ?
Because if they realized that this is the only life we get, they might pull their heads out of their collective asses and work to make the world a better place instead of trying to speed us along towards their desired apocalypse.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on -
One way it bothers me Steven, is that some people, with those deluded beliefs, make the laws in this country, and are trying to make the US into a Christian theocracy (get a dictionary and look it up!), and that will affect everyone. Even now, some students in some states are being taught that evolution is wrong, and that the earth and everything in it was created in six days - do you really want children learning that? They live in a world filled with intelligent people who know better.
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Permalink Reply by Real Life James Bond on -
The real irony of that is that the founding fathers were very against religioin in school and government.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on
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Speaking or religion and politics, old, crazy Rick ("Oops!") Perry, Governor of Texas, has filed suit against the Federal Government - he wants to force the Fed to release the share of the gold stored in Fort Knox, that belongs to Texas, to be returned to the state. It's fun to watch for what Crazy Rick will do next
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Permalink Reply by Jorita on -
Ahhhh explains a lot . If it quacks like a duck chances are it is a duck. He sounded religious.
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Permalink Reply by steven price on -
Thats cool my nickname is ducksie,of course there is a God,I was only chatting to the creator this afternoon
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Permalink Reply by mary bottoms on -
There have always been the gullible, the fragile, the vulnerable. ...And the people ready to exploit them. I call it the P. T. Barnum Effect. People will thump a Bible or some other device to gain power over others. While there are those telling themselves they are doing good for humanity, mainly it is to keep the adherents afraid to disagree or question.
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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on -
I've heard this argument ("all religions are equally insane") several times, but some belief systems are clearly more secretive, cultish, and marginalized by choice. Scientology in particular keeps beliefs secret even for members, until they reach certain stages of brainwashing. Family members are separated on the basis of belief vs non-belief. Their beliefs are so outrageous that they learn how not to talk about them except, secretly.
If any of my kids decided to join a mainstream church, I'd feel sad, but not worried. If either wanted to join Scientology, I would absolutely worry that I may never even see them again. Belief systems are most definitely not always equal in severity.
The argument of "which is more insane" is not as significant to me as the question of "which can be the most harmful or malevolent", or (say) "which should we discuss or expose the most". And the answers can depend on which periods of history we consider, too. I think I'd want to make this open-ended question more specific, and perhaps most relevant to current day.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on
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So what are you going to do, now that you're out of a job, draw unemployment? They didn't even give you a gold watch, did they?
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Permalink Reply by Pope OoO (Out of Order) on
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LOL, should I change my name now, at least?
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