Slashdot Mirror
'We the People' Petition To Revoke Scientology's Tax Exempt Status
An anonymous reader writes: There has been a lot of interest in the activities of the Church of Scientology recently, especially since the release of Alex Gibney's documentary Going Clear. A petition against tax-exempt status for Scientology has been started on the U.S. White House petition website. If it receives more than 100,000 signatures, it will qualify for an official White House response. Even Slashdot has had its own run-ins with Scientology in the past — one of many internet sites to face legal threats from the Church. Has the time come for Scientology go "clear?"
http://tonyortega.org/2015/04/13/if-you-want-the-irs-to-reexamine-scientologys-tax-exempt-status-its-time-to-get-real/
For those who don't haven't heard the story:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
Basically, Germany has refused to recognize Scientology as a religion, a position that has more-or-less lead to an all-out war by Scientology against the whole country. In fact, one of the most bizarre revelations of the Scooter Libby scandal was that Tom Cruise had been actively lobbying Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, and the Bush administration to actually PUT U.S. SANCTIONS on Germany for it (you can't make this shit up).
The cult of Scientology is a criminal organization. Churches don't harass people who leave, so we can be confident that Scientology is a cult, rather than a church. You seem to either be a member of the cult, or to be a very stupid person. I'd be fine with removing tax exempt status from all these fantasy-based groups, but especially that of toxic, blackmailing cults.
Harassing people who are not members is illegal.
However, not only do churches do this but the right to church discipline was one of the reasons the America was a land of religious freedom. Mennonite churches (think the Amish), most certainly do harass those who quit. And that Baptist tradition was all during the 19th century quite common. The LDS church, Jehovah's Witnesses. Many of the stricter Protestant faiths do this. And of course Islam does this. So no what you are saying is just false.
The difference is, when you've been a faithful Catholic for 20 years, and tithed the whole time and whatever else, they don't take you aside one day and say "Hey, here's the super-duper secret Bible that almost no one gets to look at. You're going to love the chapter where after Jesus' resurrection, grey aliens from Proxima 9 took him on a 2-millienium mission to the stars."
Scientology does just that. If you have no idea, going in, about what thetans are, or where they come from, you don't find out about them until you're so invested in Scientology that it's very difficult to break away from it. "It has to be true, look how much time and money I've invested in it."
And that's another thing.
Let's say, for whatever reason, that I want to study up on Christianity. Well, one option that a lot of churches have are discussion groups/classes on it, especially for people who are converting to that church.
A lot of those classes are pretty cheap, if not outright free, and here's the important bit. You don't actually have to take them. I could, right now, walk into practically any church in the country and join, for free.
In Scientology, if you want to learn more (or are peer-pressured to do so), every class costs money. The higher you go, the pricier the classes. Oh, but you can get around some of the costs by signing a billion-year contract.
Yeah, that's all completely normal and above board.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
Yes, pretty funny story.
A local church that has been hosting naked paint parties and slumber-party Sundays with the "sexiest ladies on the beach" will now have to pay taxes on the property as officers investigate the church's practices, authorities said Tuesday. [...] Sheriff Frank McKeithen said it is a "blatant slap in the face" to taxpayers and law enforcement. "They're trying to get around the laws, and they're using the church to get there," McKeithen said.
On the plus side, if that's enough justification to strip this church of its tax-exempt status, maybe it'll work on the scienos, too.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!