A leap beyond faith
'Anonymous' is skeptical
about Scientology's secrecy and fees
By Michael Shermer
latimes.com/
February 18, 2008
[Texte
intégral]
Imagine reading this press release:
Hello, Jews.
We are anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of
misinformation; suppression of dissent; your litigious nature, all of these
things have caught our eye. ... Anonymous has therefore decided that your
organization should be destroyed. For the good of your followers, for the good
of mankind -- for the laughs -- we shall expel you ... and systematically
dismantle Judaism in its present form. ...
The rantings of crazed
neo-Nazis, right? No. Substitute "Jews" and "Judaism" with "Scientologists" and
"Church of Scientology" and you are reading from a statement issued by a group
of anti-Scientologists calling themselves "Anonymous." This statement was
released Jan. 21 (read in a YouTube video by a Stephen Hawking-like computerized
voice). It was followed by another on Feb. 10 that coincided with demonstrations
at Scientology centers around the world at which protesters donned masks (the
Guy Fawkes variety from the movie "V for Vendetta") and waved posters that read,
among other things, "Honk If You Hate Scientology."
Again, imagine if
that sign read "Honk If You Hate Jews." How innocuous would such a protest be in
that case?
And yet this latest turn against the organization founded in
1954 by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard has an air of farcical comedy to
it. Why? Why aren't civil rights organizations and anti-hate-speech activists
pouncing on these protesters? The reason, I suspect, is that most of us do not
consider Scientology a religion, at least not a religion that resembles in the
slightest the world's major faiths.
One clue to this interpretation can
be seen in other protesters' signs: "Religion Is Free, Scientology Is Not" and
"Trade Secrets Are For Business, Not Religion." I'm a scientist who studies
belief systems for a living, so take it from me: Scientology is unlike any other
religion in history. Although the Church of Scientology is recognized by the
Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt religion (despite years of litigation
by the IRS to collect taxes on its income), no other religion I know of
considers theological doctrines and core religious tenets to be intellectual
property accessible only for a fee.
Envision converting to Judaism but
having to pay to learn the story of Abraham and Isaac, Noah and the flood or
Moses and the Ten Commandments. Or imagine joining the Catholic Church but not
being told about the crucifixion and the resurrection until you have reached
Operating Theological Level III, which takes many years and many tens of
thousands of dollars.
That is, in essence, how the Church of Scientology
dispenses its theology, leading ex-members, critics and journalists to divulge
Scientology's sacred myth all over the Internet and in such national
publications as the New York Times and Rolling Stone magazine, and even on the
animated TV series "South Park."
The story centers on Xenu the galactic
warlord, who 75 million years ago was in charge of 76 overpopulated planets.
Xenu brought trillions of these alien beings to Earth (called Teegeeack) on
spaceships that resembled DC-9 planes and placed them in select volcanoes. He
then vaporized them with hydrogen bombs, scattering to the winds their souls,
called thetans, which were then rounded up in electronic traps and implanted
with false ideas. These corrupted thetans attach themselves to people today,
leading to drug and alcohol abuse, addiction, depression and other psychological
and social ailments that only Scientology classes and "auditing" employing
"e-meters" can cure. Paying customers, by the way, do not get to hear this story
until they reach Operating Thetan Level III.
This peculiar story helps
explain, in part, the often inexplicable Tom Cruise, whom we've all seen
renouncing the evils of psychiatry and the drug industry on the "Today" show and
more recently in a viral YouTube video. There's nothing wrong with being
skeptical of psychiatry -- I publish Skeptic magazine, which recently included
an article by a psychiatrist who took his colleagues to task for overmedication
and for overlabeling as diseases what may just be unusual behavior. As well,
self-help gurus such as Anthony Robbins have developed techniques that may very
well surpass psychiatry in helping people. But psychiatrists, drug companies and
motivational speakers pay taxes on their products and services; they do not
masquerade as religious leaders. This is yet another aspect of Scientology that
provokes the type of animosity we are seeing in these recent attacks.
Humans are by nature tribal and xenophobic. We evolved a natural
tendency to look askance at those who are different from us, and especially to
be suspicious of activities beyond our purview. Transparency and fairness are
the key to trust, and trust is the social glue that binds a diverse society such
as ours. This is why we insist on so many checks and balances in government, so
many rules and regulations in markets and equal treatment under the law.
People are suspicious of Scientology because of its cult-like secrecy,
its overly aggressive response to and legal attacks against critics, and
especially the hypocrisy of comporting itself as a faux religion in a society
willing to reward corporate success but not religious
greed.
Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, is the
author of "Why People Believe Weird Things" and "The Mind of the Market."
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