Church of Scientology
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==Project Chanology== | ==Project Chanology== | ||
| − | In 2008 some unruly [[anonymous]] 1337 hax0rz types have been holding regular protests at Scientology "churches" around the world, posting their communiques on teh YouTubes, campaigning for revocation of Scientology's tax-exempt status and generally making merry pranksters out of themselves. This movement, known as Project Chanology, is spiraling out of control and running circles around the Church of Scientology. Should prove to be fun all around, stay tuned for more. [http://beta.gigablast.com/index.php?q=project+chanology] | + | In 2008 some unruly [[anonymous]] 1337 hax0rz types have been holding regular protests at Scientology "churches" around the world, posting their communiques on teh YouTubes, campaigning for revocation of Scientology's tax-exempt status and generally making merry pranksters out of themselves. This movement, known as Project Chanology, is spiraling out of control and running circles around the Church of Scientology. Should prove to be fun all around, stay tuned for more. |
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| + | The unofficial central website of this conspiracy by suppressive persons to bring down this great work of LRH [http://partyvan.info/index.php/Project_Chanology appears to be this site], but Project Chanology is decentralized and its goings on all over teh Internets can be seen on a any [http://beta.gigablast.com/index.php?q=project+chanology search engine]. | ||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 00:39, 22 March 2008
| B U L L "The universe is a strange and wondrous place. The truth is quite odd enough to need no help from pseudoscientific charlatans." |
Scientology is a joke foisted upon the gullible public by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. As a student of various sciences, and a creative writer, he wrote a book called "Dianetics" to, essentially, start an experiment in human psychology on the founding and growth of religions. The joke, of course, is on the "believers", who don't even realize they have been manipulated by someone who simply took their understanding of the human mind and created an interesting quasi-scientific experiment on how people come to believe things and follow "teachings". His experiment was well enough formed that his "religion" actually survives to this day, to the embarrassment of the human race.
The first Church of Scientology was founded in 1953.
It is possible that Hubbard borrowed from an earlier writer.[1]
End of reality check.
Contents |
Okay, yeah, I got that much...
Scientology is a particularly authoritarian and cranky religion founded by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, based on crackpot psychology, and populated by a mixture of the gullible, the insane, and the power-mad, as well as numerous people who combine all three. It is also a satanic cult according to Dan Kennedy,[2] which is not strictly true; however, Hubbard was a follower of Aleister Crowley, whose Thelema faith was a forerunner of Laveyan Satanism.
It has been widely criticized on the Internet for legal threats and strongarm tactics, treating members abusively, bilking believers out of huge sums of money, and believing humans evolved from clams.[3].
Scientology claims you are under the influence of negative traumatic incidents that you need to become "clear" of. This is done with "auditing" sessions using a quack lie detector-like device called an E-Meter. Auditing sessions cost thousands of dollars and suck the gullible convert into a cycle of needing ever more expensive auditing sessions as the sessions uncover more traumatic incidents from past lives that you need to be "clear" of. Spending your adult life in Scientology and going through all the levels, auditing sessions, and other courses will cost you between $300,000 and $500,000, which you would be much better off putting into a good mutual fund to save for retirement.
Scientology is particularly opposed to the psychiatric community and operates a front group, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), to engage in anti-psychiatry campaigns. Another front group is Narconon, a purported drug rehabilitation program (note the deceptively similar name to the legitimate 12-step program Narcotics Anonymous).
The Cult Awareness Network, originally a mainstream anti-cult organization founded 1978 in response to the mass suicide of Jim Jones followers, fell on hard times (due to aggressive litigation against it by Scientology and by Landmark Education and the Pentecostal "Life Tabernacle Church"), and its assets purchased from bankruptcy court in 1996 by the Church of Scientology, and now functions as a Scientology front group as well.
Scientology recruits heavily from celebrities, such as Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes, and John Travolta.
Bad movie night!
Scientology has a free movie they show called Orientation. You can only watch it at your local Church of Scientology. Actually, that's not true. Somebody posted a bootleg copy to YouTube and Google Video, but the Church of Scientology forced it down due to copyright threats. Somehow it still keeps popping up on teh Internets though. Watch it here while you can. That way you can watch it without having to give them your name and address and being pestered by them. It concludes, "if you walk out of here and never mention Scientology again, that is fine with us. You can also jump off a bridge or blow your brains out."
Splinter groups
Re-evaluation Counseling although steeped in Marxism is essentially an off-shoot of Dianetics. More directly related to Scientology are the small groups collectively referred to as the Free Zone, mostly former Scientologists who continue to practice Scientology but do so outside the official Church of Scientology.
Project Chanology
In 2008 some unruly anonymous 1337 hax0rz types have been holding regular protests at Scientology "churches" around the world, posting their communiques on teh YouTubes, campaigning for revocation of Scientology's tax-exempt status and generally making merry pranksters out of themselves. This movement, known as Project Chanology, is spiraling out of control and running circles around the Church of Scientology. Should prove to be fun all around, stay tuned for more.
The unofficial central website of this conspiracy by suppressive persons to bring down this great work of LRH appears to be this site, but Project Chanology is decentralized and its goings on all over teh Internets can be seen on a any search engine.
External links
Much has been written about Scientology by people who have been in the skeptic business for far longer than we have at RationalWiki. Here are a few choice examples:
- Operation Clambake -- Norwegian writer and atheism activist Andreas Heldal-Lund collects numerous articles describing the utter ugliness and insanity of the inner workings of Scientology.
- Dave Touretzky is a computer science professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and a major voice in the online civil rights world. He has numerous pages dissecting the whys and wherefores of Scientologist science and technology:
- Secrets of Scientology, including a dissection of the E-Meter
- The Secret Library, a repository of some open-content material critical of the church
- Stop Narconon, a dissection of the church's controversial (and probably worthless) substance abuse program
- "War Breaks Out Between Hackers and Scientology" - Wired article on Project Chanology
References and notes
- ↑ http://forums.enturbulation.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4829 1934 German book.
- ↑ http://www.skeptictank.org/gen3/gen01852.htm
- ↑ The Clam FAQ at Operation Clambake.