Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id WAA08873 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 10 Jan 2002 22:35:33 GMT Message-Id: <5.1.0.14.0.20020110172557.02c3a7b0@pop.cogeco.ca> X-Sender: hkhenson@pop.cogeco.ca X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1 Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 17:32:32 -0500 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk From: Keith Henson <hkhenson@cogeco.ca> Subject: Re: Scientology In-Reply-To: <LAW2-F1181XwxIM9cgk0000bada@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
At 07:41 AM 10/01/02 -0800, you wrote:
>>Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 09:27:56 -0500
>>
>>On 01/10/02 07:24, tazzie said this-
>>
>> >Could I have a desricption of exactly what is *scientology*?
>>
>>http://skepdic.com/dianetic.html
>>
>>The organization itself is considered to be criminal in some countries.
>>
>>- Wade
>
>If I remember correctly (it's been a while) Scientology began with the
>publication of a book by L. Ron Hubbard back in the late 40s
mid 50s
>as an answer to the problems of psychiatry that psychiatrists seemed
>unable to cure. Hubbard declared it a religion when the govenment sent him
>a huge tax bill for the money he was making with his system. The
>government has been calling him a criminal ever since and has denied
>Scientology the status of religiion for tax purposes.
Depends on the country. It is widely believe that scientology blackmailed
the US IRS into submision.
>Hubbard has since died and the people who took over his "church" have been
>accused of brain washing and other crimes. In the later years of his life
>Hubbard withdrew from his church and had little to do with the running of
>day-to-day affairs.
That's the story, in fact, he managed the enterprise almost up to his death.
>He spent most of his time on a yacht where the IRS could not easily get
>their hands on him. He is basically a science fiction writer who hit on a
>new idea and found ways to make a fortune with it. My own view is that he
>never did anything I would call criminal. I can't say the same for the
>people who took over his "church."
He was convicted more than once. The people who took over follow in his
footsteps. The members have a remarkably high crime rate. See
www.slatkinfraud.com which is only one of three similar scams over the past
few years.
>I've been following his career off and on since I was eighteen. Ron's
>last gasp before he died was to write a ten-volume science fiction series
>that demonstrated he still had a way with words. It was mostly
>action-adventure.
There is a vast amount of material on the net, but the scientologists work
very hard to make it hard to find. They have spammed web sites to the
point critical sites such as www.xenu.net are often off the first page or
two of Google.
Keith Henson
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