I agree it sounds crazy, I also have problems with that story, that's why I'm atheist. But after you read some of the documents I linked too, you'll most likely agree that the stuff that Hubbard wrote while on LSD was on a different level.

Absolutely. My interpretation of Scientology is that Hubbard was a proven liar and charlatan, a virtual con artist, but he was gifted with an epiphany, a revelation, in which he saw the Truth of the universe and changed his ways. He then set about sharing his Truth.

All disbelievers need to do is open their minds to this Truth and it will enter their lives. Have faith people! Who needs evidence, just believe!

To a point. There are plenty of very very old religions that have no followers now and no credibility.

You seem to like shallow or empty historical speculation.

I don't need to read what someone wrote supposedly while on LSD.

It is all made up by people and then based on faith. I don't know of any scientific proof that supports any religion over another.

do it, it is funny. for example as he described what happened 70 million years ago, about how certain individuals where deported from their planet to planet earth into vulcanos (yes vulcanos). it is a proven fact that those vulcanos did not exist 70 million years ago. but it doesn't end there! additionally some h-bombs were dropped on them. wow. amazing sci-fi stuff. and using the prices charged to get from OT2 to OT3 ($40k) you can calculate how much someone like tom cruise paid to reach the higher levels. it goes up to level 8 or 9, depending on source. i assume the prices for those gems of literature rather go up than down for the higher levels.

i mean, the question of OP was why christians and muslims (why just those two?) believe scientology to be crazy. i just tried to explain my own reasoning. am not forcing this on anyone. also i think the question could be rephrased to include other religions, for example hindus, jews - any major religion.

Precisely. Leave your heart open to Jesus and let the spirit enter your soul.

Huh?

am not that digital. parents were christians. got baptized and all that, but still don't believe in god. am still christian technically.

where are you from if i may ask? US?? i am from Europe and here it is not that easy to get the status of a church for obvious tax reasons.

maybe the question could even be rephrased to "why does anyone except scientologist believe scientology to be crazy". this would include atheists. in reverse it would be "why do scientologist do not believe scientology is crazy"? my best guess would be, that it is caused by their brain-washing techniques, that other major religions are missing. I mean the auditing stuff where they use some kind of thing called e-meter. if you want to leave the cult at a later stage, they will use the info gathered from those auditings against you.

there is other cults, beside scientology using those methods as well. i think this diferentiates scientology from major religions.

I've seen this kinda of circular logic before, it goes something along the lines of; open your heart to jesus (another way of saying 'believe that jesus is real'), and you will find that jesus is real.

Uh, yeah, because I decided to believe that he is real.

That is very disconcerting if it is true. There should be the same privacy as priest-parishioner or doctor-patient.

How does Scientology use it against people? Is there any proof of that?

Let's hypothesize that Scientology "brainwashes" people to make them feel happier. Is that really a bad thing?

You may have been raised in a Christian home, you may have been baptized, but that does not make you a Christian. Technically or not.

Just as a dog living in a house isn't a human.

Yes, I am in the US. What does tax status have to do with religion.

then by your definition i am not a christ, i'm ok with that.

tax status makes a big difference. any other organization would have to pay taxes on their earnings, not so if it is a church/religion. afaik it is very easy in the US to be accepted as a religion.
there is some funny religions like the jedi religion. or the flying spagehetti monster cult. but they fall into another category in my opinion. competition!

we should all be happy

yes, the privacy thing is disconcerting for me too. is the privacy between priest and parishioner somehow regulated? for the doctor-patient relationship i assume it is.

i found plenty of evidence by googling "scientology audits blackmail".

they even have something like their own secret service that actually does the "dirty" work.

You can google whatever evidence you want.

Man never made it to the moon.
World is flat and not a globe (check thread in OOT)
JFK killed by whomever you want.
Obama born in various other countries.
Holocaust never happened.

If the Christian Church is tax-exempt than I don't see how Scientology Church should not be tax-exempt.

What do you think is the nature of tax-exemptions?

Politics.

So what's your rationale for your claim?

I also find it interesting that you refer to "the Christian church" despite the fact that (barring Roman Catholic Theology), there is not a single Christian church but rather a sprawling network of independent churches that often have little to no formal relationship with each other.

The government determines taxes. Lobbying (politics) can have an influence. Citizens (voters) also theoretically influence tax codes.

I just use term Christian Church just to separate from Scientology Church.

Okay.

...or watch the movie "going clear" mentioned multiple times in this thread. read some books. use credible sources. of course you can doubt basically anything. i think this is misleading and wasn't OPs question. Scientology should not be tax-exempt in my opinion because of previously mentioned arguments and it differs in those regards from other churches. even from jedi or flying spaghetti monster cult, who don't use methods as black mailing. i wouldn't consider those two cults crazy by the way, just funny. scientology is crazy in my opinion.

I watched "Going Clear". It was a movie. They took ~6 ex-Scientologists and did a great job of making them look bad. All for entertainment and ratings. I am sure they could have found 6 Scientologists and made it look like best religion ever. But HBO probably wouldn't have shown that movie.

Regarding tax-exempt, why should the Catholic Church get it with their multiple sexual assault cases on children that they covered up repeatedly. That is criminal and it still goes on today.

What do you think is the nature of tax-exemptions?

I don't quite understand the question exactly.

But I believe it means that contributions can reduce taxes owed to the government, and the entity itself has different tax rules if they operate in a non-profit manner.

You've made two comments about tax-exempt status:

* "If the Christian Church is tax-exempt than I don't see how Scientology Church should not be tax-exempt."
* "Regarding tax-exempt, why should the Catholic Church get it with their multiple sexual assault cases on children that they covered up repeatedly."

Neither of these have given any indication on what you think about the actual structure of tax-exempt status in terms of how organizations are "supposed" to get that status and the things that are expected of them in order to maintain it.

Divorce your statements from the specific organizations:

* If X is tax-exempt, then Y should be, too. --- Why?
* Since A did B, then A should lose its tax-exempt status. --- Why?

As you can see, these questions are basically unanswerable because there's no logic associated to them. Since you really haven't elaborated on the actual nature of tax-exempt status, there's no particular reason to think you're right or wrong. Build your argument based on the nature of tax-exempt status.