As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am not a fan of organized religion. There are many reasons behind this, some that have been documented here and some that have not, but my main issue is how religion has become more about making money and controlling people and less about faith. Simply put, I think too many people present themselves as god-fearing, devout believers on Sunday, but are anything but the other six days of the week. I also don't care for the rampant judgement that the uber-religious set pass on others, especially about things that have absolutely no effect on their own lives. I don't believe Jesus died so that mega churches could be built and people can hide behind the Bible as a reason for preventing people from living the way they were meant to live. The commercialization of religion is ridiculous, but people have a right to believe what they believe. That said, questioning my Catholic upbringing was one of the best things I've ever done in my life. It happened long before the accidents, but all of that negativity is what ultimately delivered me to my destination of finding a faith that works for me. And that's really what it's about, right? Finding something you wholeheartedly believe in that enriches your life and gives you a sense of peace. Asking questions is how we learn about the world around us, yet a lot of people never question the religion they've been brought up in. You should be able to explain not just what your belief is, but why you believe it. Otherwise, you're just blindly following what someone else has told, or taught you to believe.
This evening I watched HBO's much hyped documentary about Scientology. I don't normally pass judgement on anybody's religion or beliefs because it's not my place (it's not anyone's, really), but I will tell ya'll this - Scientology is a cult. For all of the religious seeking I did in my twenties, Scientology is one thing that I never even considered. I remember a classmate of mine in college being in the early stages of getting involved in it and inviting me to join in, but I had no interest in that and declined. And boy, did I dodge a bullet. For those that have yet to see "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief", it is based on an extensively researched book into the inner-workings of the often secretive "religion". The film features interviews with former high-ranking Scientology officials, as well as former followers, all offering a glimpse of what they saw and experienced during their time as Scientologists. Spoiler alert: It wasn't pretty. I've often wondered whether Scientology has any kind of truth behind it, or if it's just a big, shiny cult. There have always been rumors about it, but all religions have former believers who will tell you the downsides of having bought into one thing or another. But none of those are quite like this. The documentary went into the origins of it and, frankly, the founder was most likely mentally ill. Upon his passing, the current "leader" took over and has created an even more vile, shadier version of the "religion" that deserves all of the criticism it gets. Once you hear what the actual foundation is, and the back story followers are only told about after years of study and thousands of dollars in donation, you realize just how stupid the whole thing is. It doesn't make any sense. And not in a, "Oh, okay, could a Jew really have turned water into wine" kinda way, but in a, "Oh...so millions of years ago, people lived in a way similar to the 1950's and were cryogenically frozen and A-bombs were dropped? Millions of years before flight or cryogenics or the 50's were even actual things? Ok then." kinda way. Yes, all of those are things in Scientology. That's part of the back story of man, according to its founder L. Ron Hubbard. At its core, Scientology is about indoctrination - the basis of any good cult. People are lured in with the promise of free thinking and a better life, only to be told exactly how they should think, interrogated at length about all areas of their lives and pressured to donate every last cent for the good of the "church". And if you don't follow blindly and give your all to Scientology, it labels you a problem child and does its best to make your life a living hell. And it literally has billions of dollars at its disposal to do all this with. Everybody in the doc that made it out expressed regret over having fallen into it in the first place.
As I watched this film, I was struck by how few people ever asked, "why?". Like, if someone hands me a flyer and says I can achieve nirvana, I would be open to it and check it out but I would need to know the terms of all this ish upfront. Not be told to just go with the program, give my entire life to it and then, maybe someday if I pay enough and ascend high enough up the ranks, I might find out what it all leads to. One man joined up on a whim, spent thirty years within it before discovering that his gay daughters were not accepted by the "church" and instead ridiculed by their fellow Scientologists. He left shortly thereafter. Another former devotee, who had raised her family within Scientology, saw her son forced out for committing the sin of not alerting the "church" to a newspaper expose that a friend of his had been interviewed for. When she tried to change the minds of the elders and get him back in, they also cast her out and told her daughter, by then a mother herself, that she needed to cut off all contact with her parents and brother. The daughter did it. Just. Like. That. That's not what faith or religion are about. And these are the least offensive of the sins Scientology as a whole have committed. There are awful stories about abuse and degradation and stalking, all supposedly in the name of religion. Sadly, it is recognized as a church, meaning Scientology is tax-exempt and no one can just bust down the doors and demand to know wtf is going on behind those closed doors. Hopefully that changes someday.
It is funny how things come to be sometimes. Scientology is basically the Manson Family on golden steroids. The same manipulation, the same blind faith, the same violent outcome. And so many of these people who were lured in fell prey to it because they were at a crossroads in their lives and needed something, someone, to believe in. A lot of the people speaking out in the doc spent well over a decade, or two, or three as a part of the Scientology machine before they were finally able to get out. One woman, John Travolta's former assistant, had to call a friend to break her and her baby out of the Scientology compound after she'd spent months in what was basically a prison camp for a perceived slight against the "church". It was the time in that camp, and seeing how her newborn baby was not being cared for (he was separated from her shortly after delivery) that prompted her to leave. And for the life of her, she cannot figure out why Travolta, whom she considered a close friend at the time, continues to support this ish after finding out what she went through all in the name of so-called spiritual enlightenment. So many of these stories were sad. These people went into this hoping to find some sort of salvation and instead ended up becoming prisoners. It's scary to think what is likely going on behind Scientology's walls to this day. I hope eventually someone has the authority to go in there and sort everything out before it ends up being another Jonestown. But seeing as how Scientology bullied its way into being branded a religion, that seems highly unlikely.
