“Twisted and sick”

Friday’s post on Marty’s blog, entitled “The land of milk and honey and virgins galore,” refers to an email sent out to Church of Scientology members asking for money and alluding that their donations will help speed the release of Operating Thetan levels 9 and 10. Marty calls the letter “twisted and sick,” and likens it to the promise of rewards in the afterlife that suicide bombers believe await them.

This makes me angry. By my moral standards, pedophilia is twisted and sick. Rape is twisted and sick. Genocide is twisted and sick. Writing an email asking for money isn’t even in the same zip code.

Likewise, I’d like to see Marty explain to a roomful of relatives of September 11th victims how a person who donates to the Church of Scientology compares to the suicide bombers who killed their loved ones. (Talk about twisted and sick.)

So yes, this makes me angry. But not at Marty Rathbun.

It makes me mad at L. Ron Hubbard, because this is indicative of what Scientologists really believe.

Naturally, Church-goers wouldn’t view this email as twisted and sick, but Marty’s opinion stems from a belief that is common to all Scientologists: That LRH’s teachings are the only possible hope for mankind, and that time is running out.

Marty and his followers genuinely believe that David Miscavige is destroying the subject of Scientology. (If only they were right!) So to them, the idea of raising money for incorrect Scientology – and dangling the carrot of OT9 and OT10 in order to do it – really is as twisted and sick as pedophilia, and that reaching for the carrot really is as bad as flying an airplane full of people into a building full of people.

And that makes me angry at LRH and the belief system he instilled.

It also makes me feel a little sorry for Marty, Mike, and all Scientologists, both inside and outside of the Church. It demonstrates the grip that L. Ron Hubbard has on his followers – a grip so strong that it remains as tight as a vise almost a quarter-century after the ol’ fraud’s death.

I urge you to read Marty’s blog entry and the email contained therein, and keep in mind that this isn’t just a man exaggerating to make a point. This is a man who really believes what he’s saying.

This is a man who thinks he is out of the cult, but is still very much in.

And if you think Scientology outside of the official Church isn’t dangerous, please think again. Just as there’s no such thing as a safe cigarette, there’s no such thing as safe Scientology.

ML,
Caliwog