Scientology’s in the news again, of course, because of the split between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
Many tolerant people in modern societies are quite rightly reluctant to criticise other people’s religious beliefs, not least because of the very important issue of people’s right to freedom of religious expression.
So I’m not going to comment on the religion’s core beliefs – no matter how unbelievably crazy (in the case of Scientology) those core beliefs might be – and besides, I try to stick to politics here.
However, when a religion wanders into the sphere of politics, then all gloves are off.
Equality. Racism. Greed.
They’re political issues, right?
So let’s look at Scientology from a purely political point of view, shall we?
EQUALITY
You don’t have to be much of a feminist to have a strong opinion about this comment by L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, on how men should treat women when they’re pregnant:
Advise her to keep her mouth shut when she gets into morning sickness, and when she’s on the toilet, and to stop arguing with her husband, and just give her a general idea of what will happen if she doesn’t.
RACISM
And you don’t have to know anything about the theology of Scientology to know where you stand on L Ron Hubbard’s open admiration for South African apartheid townships, do you:
Having viewed slum clearance projects in most major cities of the world may I state that you have conceived and created in the Johannesburg townships what is probably the most impressive and adequate resettlement activity in existence.
Or indeed what he thought about black people in general, in this advice in a letter to his wife:
You shouldn’t be scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees. Get yourself a n****r; that’s what they’re born for.
GREED
In 1991, a young 24-year-old killed himself clutching his last $171 in cash – all that was left after he’d turned all he had over to the Church of Scientology.
The head of Scientology, David Miscavige, whose wife Shelly by the way has been ‘missing’ since 2007, lives in luxury houses, flies around in private jets and has 5 personal chefs at his beck and call (which reminds me, the musician Beck is also a Scientologist).
Here’s another quote from L Ron Hubbard himself, this time on the subject of money:
Make money. Make more money. Make others produce so as to make money . . . However you get them in or why, just do it.
Not big fans of socialism then, Scientologists, I would imagine.
Alright. So by now we should have a pretty clear picture of where we stand politically when it comes to Scientology.
And it doesn’t look like there’s any need at all to get into deep theological discussions about the rights and wrongs of this particular ‘religion’.
Because it’s clear Scientology is just another excuse for a bunch of chauvinistic, greedy, racist, fabulously wealthy crooks to rip off as many poorer people as they possibly can.
And that’s politics – not religion.
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For more information on what Scientology really stands for, have a look here:
Scientology is infamous for trying to silence its critics, so I’ll be checking for any suspicious vans with blacked out windows parked outside my home for the next few days.
For legal reasons I have to put this:
Dianetics and Scientology are trademarks of the Religious Technology Centre. This article is not connected with that organisation in any way.
This article was originally posted on Pride’s Purge.
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