studying avoidance!

[rivendellrose]

Quick note for miss_arel and nekokoban:

I looked up Scientology on that website I told you about, and their info page is here. As I said, they do tend to go head over heels in their attempts to be totally un-biased about any religious group, but that's what they've got.

Religions are funny things to study.

Comments

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Are you stusying Scientology, I didn't think you were taking any religions classes this quarter.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Not studying it, it just came up during dinner tonight - we were talking about the new Anne Rice novel, which led to older Anne Rice novels, "Interview with the Vampire," and Tom Cruise. And him being kind of crazy, nowadays.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

I was threatened by their very ubiquitous legal team when I mocked them on usenet years ago. They are a scary, scary organization and pretty much nothing in the media or online about them is objective as they protect their religious pratices and rites by extremely strict copyright. Most articles don't dive into their practices or else villify them without much substance. The best way to learn just how absolutely crazy they are is to check out Operation Clambake (http://www.xenu.net/) or else go over to the stacks in Allen and find some of their actual religious texts. They are 100% totally bonkers and, believe me, I know my bonkers.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

Also, the reason L Ron is famous has very little to do with his sci-fi writing. The church uses funds every year to buy up (from themselves) almost the entire run of his novels and then resell them. His sales figures are extremely trumped up. That article from that link sounds like someone took a typical Scientology press release and put it up as fact. The details of the beginning of the church and their beliefs are much, much more sordid, murky, and fascinating.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I noticed that, how the terms and everything were copyrighted and trademarked - funny thing, for a religion, I thought. The site I cited (ha!) is particularly conscious of being very... even-handed and positive, about any religion they cover (which is pretty much anything, I might point out), so I wasn't really surprised to see they didn't have much in the way of the juicier details.

Allen, hmm? Would a keyword search on Scientology get me to those texts? I've just finished my last fun-reading book, so I'm in the market for something crazy and amusing... ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

*Snickers* Oh, that's lovely information. I do love the sordid underbelly of religious practice... in any religion.

Most likely - Religioustolerance.org is what it is because it tries to be positive about all religions. Sometimes very handy (in the sense of getting information that goes beyond the usual pop culture info), but also not very... realistic, at times.

[zhapper.livejournal.com]

You're not likely to find any Scientologist texts on the Internet, but you could definitely find plenty of Scientology related material with a keyword search through the library's database. Be careful about letting the Internet know about what UW has, though. The scientologists sometimes try to sue or badger libraries and schools into giving up their texts. The Scientologists claim that not only are their books religious but they are trade secrets as well.

A lot of the really high Operating Thetan stuff is just plain unavailable due to the cost and the dedication the church requires to buy the texts. Most of the information about the highest levels of Scientology comes from ex-scientologists or from researchers who have planted themselves inside the church. There have, however, been some really great books about Scientology by investigative reporters. I would start with those before you launch yourself into the world of what passes for literature within the church. It would take you years to just figure out all the wacky terms that L. Ron used in his later texts.

Also, read about Sea Org. It will chill your soul. http://www.xenu.net/archive/so/

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

Maybe Anne and Tom have been talking...they both seem to be weird these days, huh?