Are scientologists really only taking the piss?

timetogetfit

I was wondering if scientologists really do believe what they do or are they really athiests that believe all religions are ridiculous and just made up their own for the laugh?

lostexpectation

wrong forum try 'religion and spirituality'.

MooseJam

the people who run the show do it for money, I doubt they believe any of it, the Joe Soaps who are scientologists are very gullible simpletons.

Dave!

Maybe it's just a joke that nobody else gets....

Hivemind187

... not a great joke then is it?

All hail Xenu!!

Zillah

As an organisation their policy is that they are absolutely genuine. I would suspect that the vast majority of them truly believe, while a small amount, especially those in charge, are deliberately using it to dupe people.

Dades

There was one Scientologist, of course, who truly was taking the piss - a certain L. Ron Hubbard.

Doctor DooM

Dades wrote: »

There was one Scientologist, of course, who truly was taking the piss - a certain L. Ron Hubbard.

Did I hear wrong, or did he come up with the idea one night on the piss with some sci fi writers?

beans

Possibly, he was a sci-fi author himself. Interesting character, worth a Google - there's a whole lot of opinion out there one way or the other. The facts are just as entertaining as the ranting and the mythology.

Doctor DooM

beans wrote: »

Possibly, he was a sci-fi author himself. Interesting character, worth a Google - there's a whole lot of opinion out there one way or the other. The facts are just as entertaining as the ranting and the mythology.

He was definitely a sci fi author, from the early pulp days. When I was younger I took some interest in the history of sci fi.

rockbeer

Hubbard is supposed to have said that he was going to invent a religion to get rich. He was sick of writing for a penny a word.

Seems to have worked.

legspin

Seemingly the idea came about from a drinking session he had with Ray Bradbury and was originally a bet between the two of them. Bradbury bet him that he wouldn't go through with it.

MooseJam

legspin wrote: »

Seemingly the idea came about from a drinking session he had with Ray Bradbury and was originally a bet between the two of them. Bradbury bet him that he wouldn't go through with it.

the fact that this is common knowledge yet people still take it seriously beggars belief

aidan24326

legspin wrote: »

Seemingly the idea came about from a drinking session he had with Ray Bradbury and was originally a bet between the two of them. Bradbury bet him that he wouldn't go through with it.

Hubbard's Wikipedia page states that Forbes (the financial magazine) estimated his worth as at least 200 million dollars back in 1982, 16 years before his death. So I think we know who won the bet anyway.

Doctor DooM

MooseJam wrote: »

the fact that this is common knowledge yet people still take it seriously beggars belief

Supports the position thast Scientology preys on the weak.