Derleth, I am not in any way defending Scientology. I am well aware of that they are a band of thugs and are almost certainly involved in criminal enterprises, up to and including muder.
I would say that any participant is certainly in real danger of being ruined by it, but I do not think it is accurate to say that it is a certainty. We hear the stories of people who are bled dry financially, harassed, tortured, and even murdered, but it seems to me that this cannot be typcial of the rank-and-file. The majority of the membership probably gives too much of their income to the Church, falls victim to its brainwashing techniques, are the pitiful dupes of an undeniably evil organization, and bascially become a bunch of low-grade loonies, like Wiwaxia’s friend’s boyfriend, but, all in all, they are not much worse off than the rest of the huddled masses. The primary modus operandi of the CoS is to milk their members for money. Destroying the lives of most of their adherents does not seem to be conducive to the goal of maximizing returns.
It’s mainly a semantic quibble; if someone I cared about had even a peripheral involvement, I would probably be just as concerned as Wiwaxia is about her friend.