Tom Cruise

Shows how much you know.

The thing I quoted was a _quote from that book_. Maybe you should do some reading before you try to act intelligent.

Dig deeper, don't take everything for a face value. Scientology is a cult. They won't tell you everything until you're deep in it. Read the stories of the people who've gotten away.

either you just don't want to or you can't read. I already said I agree with everything you said about religion, it's just the Scientology-part where you're wrong. For ****s sake, read the links I gave you. Read all the stories you can find, all the facts. You should be able to gather enough to know what's true and what is the part they want you to believe.

Was Virgin Mary really a virgin? Hell no, but the Catholics still want you to believe she was. Is Scientology based on a sci-fi-story by Hubbard? Yes, but they don't want you to know it untill you're a member.


Ice

That's not where the name comes from at all. The word Scientology is taken from the Latin scio, which means "knowing in the fullest sense of the word," and the Greek word logos, meaning "study of." It literally means "knowing how to know."

Thank you for so perfectly proving my point that people are beliving a lie.

The catholic church is the definition of the word cult. Here is the meaning of the word "cult" from the dictionary:

cult ( P ) Pronunciation Key (klt)
n.

1. a) A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. ~ (That would be The Pope then and as I said before, his teaching are directly responsible for the death of millions of people in Africa.)
b) The followers of such a religion or sect.

2.A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual. ~ (That would be The Mass!)

3. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease. ~ (eH, Wasn't Jesus suppose to be able to cure people of all disease with the touch of his hand? Also, when has The Catholic Church ever turned to Science for answers?)

4. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. ~(They would be a crucafix, rosary beeds, statues or Jesus himself)
The object of such devotion.


The Catholic church is as much a cult as any other.

It's a cult. It might someday become a real religion, if they start thinking Hubbard as a god.

"A cult is usually defined as a "a religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader", is also often considered as a "obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing". It is also characterized for being "young in years of existence" and having usually "only relatively few followers".

A religion in change is defined as a "personal or institutionalized system grounded in the belief, worship and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe". It also has a "set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader". Religions are usually "ancient or very old in years" and have "millions of followers".

Therefore, a religion is not necessarily a cult, but a cult is always a religion. Being a cult a religion usually characterized by radicalism, oddness, obsession, short number of years, small number of followers and guidance by a founder who almost all the times tend to be authoritarian. Another particularity is that in cults, you found that in many cases the cult-followers worship the founder as God himself."

Possibly a better way to describe the difference:
http://thedreamingone.com/blasphemy/...onvscults.html


Ice

Wrong again. It was made up by a philologist Alan Upward in 1907 as a synonym for "pseudoscience". Then in 1934 an Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz published a book and Hubbard picked the name for his own purposes and started telling this story about how it means "knowing how to know".



Ice

Ermm......no.

In it's infancy, the Catholic church was the first, and some would argue most successful, socialist society with every member caring and providing for each other as the need arose. Also the idea of a Pope as we know and love today didn't appear until around 400 AD.

Scientology on the other hand is, at a similar early stage in development, infamous for kidnapping, brainwashing, profiteering (yes, john hubbard died a wealthy man, in stark contrast to every other founder of every religion) and even murder. Also they have had an authoritarian leader from the onset.

The contrast between the two is plain as the difference between a religion and a cult.

And if anyone quotes Dan Brown and accepts it as fact to back up the point that catholicism is a cult, i'm gonna have to kill somebody

Almost everything that Dan Brown states as fact is based on next to no evidence. For instance the books of apocrapha are heavily damaged and only hint at a relationship between Jesus and Mary (they could be just as easily brother and sister or close friends for all it gives away) much less a marriage and kids. Also the painting you are refering to (the Last Supper by Leo Da Vinci) is painted on a chapel wall and is in such a state of disrepair that it is impossible to determine the sex of the 'mystery person'. An equal number of restored prints depict this character as male or female. Also Leonardo painted the damn picture 1500 years after the event occured. How can you take something like that as fact?


More on topic, Tom Cruise may be a nut but the fact that we're paying so much attention to him shows that his idea of promoting (albiet not positively) scientology is working. After all no news is bad news. Would anyone have even heard about scientology if it weren't for celebrity endorsements from Tom Cruise, John Travolta et al?

QS