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Internet Group Declares War on Scientology

Posted by Zonk on from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.

Darkman, Walkin Dude writes "An internet group calling itself Anonymous has declared war on the Church of Scientology, in the form of an ominous posting to the YouTube site. 'In the statement, the group explained their goal as safeguarding the right to freedom of speech. "A spokesperson said that the group's goals include bringing an end to the financial exploitation of Church members and protecting the right to free speech, a right which they claim was consistently violated by the Church of Scientology in pursuit of its opponents." The press release also claimed that the Church of Scientology misused copyright and trademark law in order to remove criticism from websites including Digg and YouTube. The statement goes on to assert that the attacks from the group "will continue until the Church of Scientology reacts, at which point they will change strategy".' It should be noted that Slashdot users have had interactions with Scientology in the past as well."

9 of 891 comments (clear)

  1. It's not a church by andyh3930 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Any "Church" that charges for its teachings and also has them copyrighted to prevent free distribution is not a church it's a scam at best and a dangerous cult at worst.

    I had dealings with them about 10 years ago. I ended up paying GBP30 for a course just to get out of the hard sell and even though I never did the course the often phoned and wrote letters of about 5 years after.

    See the Operation Clambake pages for more details to their activities. http://www.xenu.net/

    1. Re:It's not a church by Hittman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can we please start modding down all "fixed that for you" posts to the point of invisibility?

      Putting words in other people's mouth is about the worst thing you can do in a debate/discussion. And adding "fixed that for you" adds a pathetic level of triteness on top of the dishonesty.

  2. Easy to start new religions? by JulianConrad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    LRH's scam shows how easy it is to start a new religion that survives and gains passionate adherents after the death of its founders. Most people couldn't do it, but a few individuals have the kind of personality that can pull it off in the right social environment. In fact, we have enough recent historical data on cults that turn into competitive new religions (for example Mormonism and Baha'i, both founded in the 19th Century) that I don't think it's even all that mysterious how older religions like Christianity & Islam could have originated through normal social processes. (We don't have to postulate "supernatural" causes to explain their existence, in other words.)

  3. Re:Anonymous? by Applekid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Considering those openly opposed to Scientology wind up harassed, publicly smeared, thrown in jail, or made dead due to the Fair Game policy, I don't blame them.

    --
    More Twoson than Cupertino
  4. Why not declare war on religion in general? by mgkimsal2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why single out one specific 'religion'? I saw the Tom Cruise interview video last week - it really didn't seem all that fundamentally different from listening to an evangelical Christian. Different terms were used, but the mindset was mostly the same. Watch Jesus Camp if you haven't already. Not much difference between the main camp director's mindset and Tom Cruise's.

    --
    creation science book
  5. Re:The war by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There are loons in any campaign, but Ron Paul had a special knack for getting them to come out of the woodwork, ...

    Which is to be expected. Anyone who actually supports individual freedom is sure to be popular among the unpopular and oppressed minority groups; they have the most interest at stake in protecting basic rights like free speech. Those who only hold and/or express popular opinions don't require such protection.

    --
    "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
  6. It's a money machine by JCSoRocks · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ron Hubbard - the founder of Scientology - has been quoted as saying that if you want to get rich, you start a religion. ( http://www.faqs.org/faqs/scientology/skeptic/start-a-religion-faq/ ) Well, that's what he did. You have to pay just to learn about it and the deeper you go, the more you spend. It's designed to dupe people into giving the Church of Scientology gobs of money. I truly feel sorry for anyone that's been sucked in by it. It's like believing that Star Wars is real (the movie, not the missile defense system...).

    --
    You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
  7. Re:RIAA by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    tell the scientologists that the RIAA are planning to clone Xenu from some evil thetans that were surgically extracted from Britney.

    That might work if the people who ran Scientology actually believed in their own garbage. I don't believe they do. I believe the whole organization is a money making scam.

    -mcgrew

    PS- yes I got the joke, I'm just in a bad mood today.

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  8. Bigotry by Soporific · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't know that hatred of a pyramid scheme is bigotry...

    ~S