Fascination with The Absurd

ScientologyAlthough I never agreed with the beliefs of Christianity and all other theologies on the planet I atleast understood why they came into existence. My personal belief is that religions came into existence to explain the unexplainable. The things that as human beings scared us were explained by beliefs and supernatural beings. Earthquakes, vulcanic eruptions, tidal waves and other natural disasters were scary and we needed an explanation for them. As pattern seeking humans we like to explain the unexplainable and sometimes a bad explanation is better than no explanation. This is unfortunately the foundation for religions on this planet. I don’t agree with them yet I still get it, but Scientology not so much.

How is it possible in this modern age a religion could be born from the mind of a science-fiction writer and believed by thousands maybe millions of people worldwide. We’re supposed to be living in the information age. A time when technology and scientific reasoning should rule over silly notions and whimsical fancies. Yet it is in this very same age that the beliefs of Scientology have been allowed to foment a foothold in the minds of millions of intelligent people. I’m not going to bore you with an explanation of what Scientologists believe, it’s all over the Internet. I like to say what Scientologists believe is crazier than the rest but frankly a virgin birth, resurrection, eternal life and a belief in the happily hereafter make it kind of tough.

I have personally spoken to a member in long-standing of the Sea organization, a particularly dedicated group of Scientologists. He has since left Scientology but told account after account of what he personally witnessed as physical and mental abuse perpetrated on members of the Sea organization by their leaders. I’ve also spoken to someone who was personally onboard L. Ron Hubbard’s yacht and was treated in a very bizarre manner. The person I spoke to was there on official legal business. This person was made to wait over an hour for L. Ron Hubbard to sign a document. Finally when the document reemerged from the bowels of the ship that Hubbard was on, it did not contain his signature only what was alleged to be his thumbprint. This person was forced to return the next day to actually get a signature because in a court of law a thumbprint just doesn’t cut it. I have a very close friend who went to the celebrity center in Los Angeles to apply for a job. When my friend showed up for the interview he was told he had to give his car keys to Scientologist parking attendant. When my friend asked why he needed to give up his keys to the parking attendant he was told it was incase the car needed to be moved because the parking lot was so full. My friend looked around the parking lot and  realized he was only one of about 10 cars in a virtually empty parking lot. My friend began to feel a little nervous and protested to giving his keys up at which point they said that’s our policy there was no choice in the matter. My friend decided not to apply for the job and left. Keep in mind I’m a nobody. I’m as far removed from Scientology as anyone can get. Yet I have three personal anecdotal stories about the weird internal goings-on in the Church of Scientology.

Of all religions out there I’ve always had a sneaky fascination with Scientology. Scientology fascinates me more than the others for one simple reason. When you ask a Christian if they really believe that Jesus was the son of God, born of a virgin, died for our sins, and was resurrected they will say, “why yes of course they do”, they have to. Although I don’t believe what they believe, they generally will not lie about what their beliefs are. With Scientology it’s a whole new ballgame. Ask a Scientologists if they actually believe that the evil galactic overlord Xenu really ever existed and released Thetans in volcanoes that are now inhabiting humans, they act as if you are mocking them.  Ask a Scientologists if they believe in a policy of disconnection which requires that they drop all connections to family, friends or those who have spoken critically of Scientology, to look at you quizzically. If you ask a Scientologists what the fair game tactic is all about they feign ignorance. They’re fair game policy simply states that anyone who opposes Scientology or speaks out against it is fair game to malign, insult, slander or publicly destroy. This is a practice handed down from L. Ron Hubbard himself. He writes about it in Scientology documents. Yet ask any Scientologist about these aforementioned policies and they will deny all of it. I find it amazing people who are alleged to be intelligent, don’t  see straight through this for what it truly is, a moneymaking scheme with megalomaniacs running it.

My daughter is awesome!

This evening, I was waiting for my new laptop to get through all its updates and my wife and I were watching NCIS while waiting, which allowed my eight-year-old daughter to stay up a little later than usual because… you know… we didn’t want to miss any of the NCIS episode to go tuck her in and I needed to be there to click “Next” on my laptop. Priorities.

While my daughter was, in turn, waiting for my wife and I to finish our important “tasks,” she grabbed some paper and colored pencils and wrote and illustrated a four-page book. Though the book doesn’t show off her graphic artistry (she can do much better), when I read the book, I was delighted… and proud. Here’s the book (click to embiggen).

Title Page
page01		 Page 1
page02
Page 2
page03		 Page 3
page04

Now, of course she doesn’t know everything, but if you’re going to learn everything, history and science are pretty good starting points. This creation of hers happened without any prompting on my part tonight, so I was especially pleased that she felt it was a cool enough topic to illustrate… in the 10 or 15 minutes she was waiting! She read it to me and my laptop and NCIS got ignored from that point.

I think my laptop is still prompting me to click “Next.”

Bush is now a motivational speaker

George W. Bush has started making the rounds as a motivational speaker and was given a warm welcome at a Texas event attended by around 15,000 people. He was speaking along with Colin Powell, Terry Bradshaw, and Rudy Giuliani among others. Bush was not the headliner of the event and only spoke for about thirty minutes. According to the article, he seemed relaxed and received a standing ovation.

From the article…

…[Chris Clarke, 25, a salesman from Dallas] said, it could turn out that Bush may be more suited to motivational speaking than being president. He said when Bush misspeaks, it sounds “incompetent if you are president. But here it can be inspiring. It makes him seem like a regular guy, no better than me.”

I can easily see that. The “Down Home” personality would play well to a casual audience that’s looking for motivation and fun stories. On the world stage as president… not so much.

However, here’s the part that I found disconcerting… though unsurprising. During his talk, he frequently mentioned his faith in God. Part of his talk…

“I don’t see how you can be president without relying on the Almighty. Now when I was 21, I wouldn’t have told you that, but at age 63, I can tell you that one of the most amazing surprises of the presidency was the fact that people’s prayers affected me. I can’t prove it to you. But I can tell you some days were great, some days not so great. But every day was joyous.” That, he attributed, to the prayers of others.

People’s prayers affected him. The fact that every day was joyous, he attributes to the prayers of others. In the words of Yoda, “That is why you fail.”

I’ll go out on a limb here and agree that, if you believe in prayer and you know someone is praying for you, it may help you psychologically, knowing that there are people who support you… in the same way you know people support you when they say “Good luck!” or “I love you!” or “Have a nice life!” (Okay… maybe not that last one). Perhaps that’s what Bush meant when he said that people’s prayers affected him… but I doubt it. His reference to the Almighty would indicate that he is talking about the spiritual, supernatural power of prayer.

I find it disturbing that any world leader (or local leader for that matter) would rely on the “Almighty.” It seems to me that a reliance on rational thinking, both his own and that of his advisers, would be a far more critical and useful reliance. Getting support from real people in the real world is not only more practical, it’s… well… real. If a president wants to rely on a supernatural being to give him warm fuzzies and reduce his stress level, that’s fine. If that same president wants to rely on supernatural beings to give him advice on policy and help with decision making, there’s a serious, serious problem.

I’m glad Bush has moved on to motivational speaking.

Director Paul Haggis quits Scientology

It’s a bad week for Scientology, it seems. Paul Haggis, the film director who directed the movie Crash (and won an Oscar for it) has quit the Church of Scientology after 35 years partly over the church’s position on gay marriage.

According to the article…

Haggis wrote a letter addressed to Tommy Davis, the head of Scientology’s Celebrity Centre. In it, Haggis said he was disappointed by the church’s tacit denial of gay rights in the debate over California’s gay marriage ban.

The letter can be read on Marty Rathbun’s blog (Rathbun is another high-level Scientologist who left the organization).

Some excerpts…

As you know, for ten months now I have been writing to ask you to make a public statement denouncing the actions of the Church of Scientology of San Diego.

[…]

I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. I told you I could not, in good conscience, be a member of an organization where gay-bashing was tolerated.

[…]

The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word.  Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.

[…]

You had allowed our name to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential “PR flap” you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church’s words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear.

[…]

And in [a 10-minute CNN interview] I saw you deny the church’s policy of disconnection. You said straight-out there was no such policy, that it did not exist.

I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.

You might recall that my wife was ordered to disconnect from her parents because of something absolutely trivial they supposedly did twenty-five years ago when they resigned from the church.

[…]

To see you lie so easily, I am afraid I had to ask myself: what else are you lying about?

And that is when I read the recent articles in the St. Petersburg Times.  They left me dumbstruck and horrified.

[…]

I carefully read all of your rebuttals, I watched every video where you presented the church’s position, I listened to all your arguments – ever word. I wish I could tell you that they rang true. But they didn’t.

There’s plenty more of interest in the letter and Haggis sounds genuinely distraught over the hypocrisy and lies he’s seen from inside Scientology. The church will, of course, make every attempt to discredit him, insult him, humiliate him, and refute him because that’s what they do. If any organization qualifies as a cult, Scientology is it.

Says Haggis in the MSNBC article…

“The great majority of Scientologists I know are good people who are genuinely interested in improving conditions on this planet and helping others,” Haggis wrote. “I have to believe that if they knew what I now know, they too would be horrified.”

Horrified… as we on the outside all are.

Tommy Davis can’t answer questions

Speaking of Scientology, Tommy Davis, one of Scientology’s most obnoxious spokespeople, was interviewed by Martin Bashir on Nightline in a segment about Scientology. Bashir asks him an entirely legitimate question about Xenu and Davis dances all around the question, feigning offense, and refuses to answer the question. When Bashir clarifies that he’s just doing his job and is asking the question in the context of his other questions, Davis threatens to walk out of the interview… and when Bashir asks again, Davis, in a perfect, childish hissy fit,  does just that.

The Davis segment starts at 3:40 (video auto-starts at that point)…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkh2TPhoZgo&start=220

I find it amusing that Davis has to say how offensive it is, but he’s not actually clear on why the question is offensive or how it offends… nor does he say that the whole Xenu story is untrue. He goes on with the “I’m offended” argument… over and over. My opinion is that he comes across as evasive, childish, and obnoxious.

It would have been quite easy to just say, “My religious beliefs prohibit me from speaking about that.” End of story. Davis does say that once, but he evidently felt the need to pile on the crap about how offensive the question is and how he’s not going to discuss perversions on the internet and how Bashir is intentionally trying to offend him.

It was a simple, direct, clear question about Xenu and it deserved a simple answer. Davis couldn’t provide one. He stuttered. He feigned offense. He threatened to walk out. He talked around the issue. …but he didn’t answer.

The general assumption is that Scientologists only learn about the Xenu story when they’ve reached a very high level in the church and are prohibited from talking about it to anyone who has not reached the appropriate level (ie… paid enough money). You can find out all about the story by searching “Xenu” at any search engine, but one of the most comprehensive sites is Operation Clambake, operated by Andreas Heldal-Lund from Norway.

So perhaps Davis was just following the tenants of the church’s dogma by not speaking about Xenu. If it wasn’t true, he could have simply said it wasn’t, but he didn’t do that. He avoided the question and refused to answer, throwing up smokescreens and running around in verbal circles. That indicates, to me, that the probability is pretty high that he actually does believe the Xenu story, but doesn’t want to (or can’t) talk about it.

…because that level of crazy is just bad press.

(hat top to Friendly Atheist)

Scientology Convicted of Fraud in France

A Paris court has convicted the “Church” of Scientology of fraud and has fined it over half a million Euros, though the court didn’t go so far as to shut it down and ban it from operating in France. The case has been under investigation for more than a decade, it seems.

Unlike the United States, France doesn’t recognize Scientology as a religion, but classifies it as a “sect.” Some other European countries classify it as a cult, which is probably more appropriate. Interestingly, according to this MSNBC article…

Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.

Score negative one for the U.S. State Department.

Though the Paris court couldn’t ban the Church of Scientology from practicing in the country due to a legal amendment that had been enacted shortly before the trial began, there is still hope for a ban because the amendment in question has been changed. This trial is complete, but any further charges brought against Scientology could possibly result in a ban.

Of course, Eric Roux, the Scientology legal representative (from the French Celebrity Center), says the “church” will appeal the decision and stated, “Religious freedom is in danger in this country.” However, I don’t think Mr. Roux understands one of the basic tenants of religious freedom.

You have to be a religion.

Goodbye, Smallpox! Thanks, Science!

Today is the 32nd anniversary of the elimination of smallpox, according to Wikipedia. How was it eliminated?

Vaccines.

That’s medical science at its best… not “alternative” medicine, not homeopathy, not prayer, not the “Will of God.” Science. Real people doing real research to develop real solutions to real problems.

Nothing works like science.

Phil Plait says it better than I could (as usual).

Fun with church signs

Occasionally, I see a church sign that just begs to be addressed. A local church recently changed their sign to read:

Time well spent is time spent in prayer.

I know that the idea that a god listens to (and answers) prayers is something that is foundational to many peoples’ religious beliefs. Hearing the phrases “I’ll pray for you” or “You’ll be in my prayers” is an all-too-common occurrence. To an atheist, it sounds even worse when someone asks “Please pray for my friend” or “Your prayers would be appreciated.”

Prayer - How to do nothing and still think you're helping Not only do I feel that the person asking me to pray is engaging in nothing more than wishful thinking, but he’s asking me to participate in his do-nothing fantasy world as well… in the belief that clasping my hands together and wishing really, really hard is going to make any difference to his situation.

Prayer is contradictory to some pretty basic Christian beliefs, too. Another common phrase that is heard from religious folks is “God has a plan” or “God will show me the way.” Their god is supposedly all-powerful, as well… omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. So… wouldn’t he already know what they want? If that god has a plan, won’t his plan play out as he designed it… with our without their prayers?

Prayer is an attempt to change the will of a god. Doesn’t that seem a bit egotistical on the part of the person praying? On one hand, believers will say their god is mighty, loving, benevolent, and all-knowing… but they’ll turn around and try to tell him something, anyway… as if he doesn’t already know… as if they can change his mind.

I suppose some might simply pray their adoration for their god instead of asking for his assistance. That doesn’t seem to be quite as ego-centric, but it does seem to be just as irrelevant. And really, if some almighty god really gets off on his subjects repeatedly telling him how awesome he is, isn’t that just petty and vain?

I think prayer is one of the religious concepts that believers don’t think about very much. They just do it. Thinking about it would “break the spell,” as Daniel Dennett would say. If the practice is examined too closely, it falls apart into a chaotic pile of contradictions, pettiness, and wasted time.

I propose fixing the church sign by replacing “well spent” with “wasted.” It would be far more accurate and might actually encourage congregation members to raise their heads, get off their knees, unclasp their hands, and instead of simply wishing for a situation to improve (thereby doing nothing), take action to improve the situation.

Now that would be time well spent.

Preachy Comment Spam

I get email notifications when someone posts a comment on one of my posts and today, over the course of about an hour, I got 7 notifications that the same person was commenting. That’s great, I thought! Someone’s actually reading what I wrote and is taking the time to give their feedback!

As it turns out, “Truth seeker” is the commenter and it seems doubtful that he/she was actually reading my posts. All the comments were roughly the same, with bible quotes and preachy “God is great” declarations. Here’s an example.

God is sovereign creator of heaven and earth. He revealed Himself in His Word. He is in control and does His will. God is holy and man is sinful. In order to be in right relationship with God we must repent of our sins and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross in our place. The wages of sin is death, but Jesus died for us so that we could be reconciled to God. God knows our thoughts and examines our hearts. He knows if you believe in Him or not. When we die, we will each stand before God in judgment. Those who have humbled themselves before God will inherit eternal life. Those who have rejected God or denied His existence will be damned for all eternity. Don’t believe the lie that God does not exist. He has revealed Himself in His creation, the world and universe, and in our hearts and minds. If you truly ask God to reveal Himself to you, He will. Scripture says if you draw nigh to God, He will draw nigh to you. Jesus said, if you deny Him in this life, He will deny you before the Father. I encourage you to humble yourself before your Creator God before it’s too late. Answers to this life and all eternity are found in His Word. God bless.

All the comments are about the same length and vary only slightly in content, but share something in common (other than the religious proclamations). They all contribute nothing to the discussion in their respective articles.

I won’t post any more full comments because it would be redundant, but I just wanted to quote a few select lines [sic]. My comments are in blue, of course.

  • Evolution has never been proven. In over 100 years of studying evolution, science has been unsuccessful and monitoring the evolution of anything. In all their efforts, they cannot turn a dog into a cat or a fly into a misquito. [I think truthseeker was channeling Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron there]
  • Many people waste their entire lives believing in lies. [Isn’t that an ironic statement?]
  • Faith is a lie is called foolishness. [I was amused by this typo]
  • Evolution is too unbelievable. The odds and likelihood of all necessary events to result in this perfectly balanced universe is ridiculous. [Evolution and the origins of the universe… more Comfort and Cameron]
  • Global warming claims are trickery used to divert funds to other people and nations. [Divert funds from where to where?]
  • All you have to do is believe what God tells you to believe. [So I should hear voices in my head and listen to them?]
  • I choose God and true biblical religion over any and everthing this world has to offer. I don’t have to worry about downloading my memory to a disk [so cool!!!] before I die because my Creator God has kept an account of my life.
  • I encourage you to read the Bible and pray that God will reveal Himself to you. [I did part one. Part two is contradictory]
  • God does not change, His does not waver. Therefore, truths 2,000 years ago are truths today. [So genocide, baby killing, blood sacrifices, and stonings for minor offenses are all still perfectly fine, then?]
  • Every human will one day die. [I can agree with that one]

If you want to read all the comments, here are the links to each one. I marked them all as spam (with “*spam*” at the top) so new visitors won’t confuse them with legitimate comments.

Cherry Picking, Scary Church Signs, Vague God, Creationism = Intelligent Design = Not Science, I am a believer and an atheist, Howse wants to reclaim the church