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Sendit57 t1_j0q7dzz wrote

Reply to comment by jbphilly in Scientology tower on Chestnut. Still empty after all these years. by narkj

Who are we to say their beliefs are any less valid than other religions?

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jbphilly t1_j0q8ev9 wrote

It's not about the validity of the beliefs, it's that the entire "religion" is transparently an abusive cult.

Although, we can also speak to the validity of the beliefs. While ancient religions like the Abrahamic or Indian ones might ask you to believe things without evidence, Scientology asks you to believe that a drug-addicted, serial-lying grifter from the 1950s holds the key to universal truth.

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skip_tracer t1_j0qcpe2 wrote

I have a complex about oral hygiene. I'm incredibly sensitive to bad breath, and I pride myself on mine being fresh. Every time I see vids or pics of L. Ron I wince at the thought of what his mouth must've smelled like.

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jbphilly t1_j0qdimv wrote

For real, that fucking video footage of his nasty-ass mouth ought to be enough for anybody to stay far away from anything he invented.

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sciencefaire t1_j0qdo9s wrote

I didn't know anything about his teeth but when I went to Google him, "L Ron Hubbard teeth" was like the 2nd Google search suggestion 😂

Yikes. He probably had massive tonsil stone breath too. Bleh.

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skip_tracer t1_j0s90zt wrote

I work with someone like this. You can literally smell him when he enters a room and doesn't even open his mouth. It's gag inducing for me.

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JennItalia269 t1_j0qe3nn wrote

Fucking hell. I feel the same way. Had to smell like cigarettes and roofing tar a yard away.

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downtownwawa t1_j0qek29 wrote

I agree Scientology is goofy and weird but idk the crusades were pretty awful and the Catholic Church routinely shields and protects their pedo priests all around the world. So when you say it’s “transparently an abusive cult”, you gotta look at the thousands of years of abusive a cult-y behavior of Catholicism, judaism, and Islam. Those religions have undeniably been worse for humanity and are responsible for millions of deaths, abuse, and otherworldly harm.

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jbphilly t1_j0qgiyy wrote

Sure. The difference is, while mainstream religions all contain examples of abusive behavior, with Scientology, the abusive behavior is the whole thing.

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downtownwawa t1_j0qhnel wrote

What? I don’t think you know what Scientology does. Like, do you think people walk in and get abused and keep coming back? Truly curious what you think is happening there.

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jbphilly t1_j0r3ev9 wrote

>Like, do you think people walk in and get abused and keep coming back?

Uh, yes, that's literally how cults work. Was this supposed to be a serious comment?

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AbsentEmpire t1_j0s49qg wrote

Sounds like any other fundamentalist cult like evangelicalism, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc.

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jbphilly t1_j0sgqzq wrote

Eh, Mormonism fits that description way better than the other two. Mormonism also makes explicit claims about recent historical events that can be flatly disproven, mainly stuff about the history of the Americas (tribes of ancient Jews coming over by boat, the existence of horses and metallurgy when we know those didn't exist here, naming the sites of enormous battles at locations where archaeology can establish that didn't happen, etc.)

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omygoodnessreally t1_j0qgvi1 wrote

You have to pay to learn their beliefs.

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ItsjustJim621 t1_j0qrv3t wrote

And that’s where they get you…you’ll get close to attaining the next level or whatever it is, and they’ll come up with some bullshit arbitrary revision earlier in the level, which you’re then forced to start over again and buy the new revised books.

People have gone literally bankrupt doing this.

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