may this be the first of many...

[rivendellrose]

Director Paul Haggis Renounces Scientology in scathing public letter.

Gee, things haven't been looking so grand for the Church of Scientology lately, have they? :D

Comments

[vega-ofthe-lyre.livejournal.com]

I'm not the biggest Paul Haggis fangirl but I was utterly delighted to hear this news!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Never seen a thing by the man, honestly, but I definitely approve of his decision here. ♥

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

From Tommy Davis | Reply
Posted 25 Oct 2009, 6:24 PM

So called screenwriter and director Paul Haggis's claims about the Church of Scientology are absolutely ridiculous. They are so offensive as to be not worth responding to. In fact, I am not responding to them, right now. The insinuation that the Church of Scientology would ever use private information to smear it's critics is offensive and vulgar. Why would we need to smear them when they are obviously child molesters? This is a man who, I have it on good authority, poos in his pants. Is that someone we should take seriously? While he is off raping grandma's the CoS is saving lives and ensuring human rights. I once caught a fish so big that Aerosmith asked me to hang out backstage with them, and the suggestion that I did not is profoundly and inescapably homosexual.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

I actually had to get to "poos in his pants" before I realized this was satire.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I began to suspect at "in fact I am not replying to it right now" but that was the breakthrough moment. (:

[alto2.livejournal.com]

You know, there are very few things that scare me like Scientology does. I spent a long weekend researching it with friends several years ago and was stunned at the crap these people get up to. I never realized that Hubbard's books were marketing for Scientology--that they came after he came up with the "church," not before, and that the faithful would walk into bookstores and buy them by the box to ensure they made bestseller lists. The way they systematically rope people in, take all their money, and ruin their lives. Etc. But most frightening of all is the intelligence network they run, which some folks speculate is why the IRS leaves them (and their tax-exempt church status) alone. Some say it rivals the government. Much as it needed to be done, I fear for Paul Haggis's safety now that he's spoken out against them.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Totally in agreement with you. They're scary, nasty bastards. But I think that their time is ending - they just can't control the information power of the internet. That's the beauty of it - they can shut down one site that talks about who they are and what they do, but three more pop up in its place. We all share information, we all pass it on and let as many people as we can know... and hopefully one day it'll peter out. Because really, at its heart, all they are is a money-grubbing scheme by a writer I wouldn't even dignify with the term "second-rate." Perhaps the most frightening aspect of their success, IMHO, is that people believe the shit he wrote - seriously, it's just insane. If I read it in a cheap novel, I wouldn't even be entertained. It's that crummy. And that's the level of all their thinking that isn't focused entirely on getting money and keeping people quiet. Those are the only things they've ever been good at. I like to think that's not going to be good enough.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I hope you're right that one day, they'll fizzle. I've felt encouraged by the way The Daily Show and South Park have both managed to make fun of them, both because it's well-deserved, and because they really DO believe in Xenu and the volcanoes, which is so ludicrous right on the face of it that you have to be well-indoctrinated before they even tell you that part. The more people who know about it up front, the less likely we are to see new converts.

I mean, how can you not love this?