I just looked at www.xenu.net, and I think PapaBear was onto something at the beginning. Scientology is coming out with two new levels, OT 9 and OT 10, so apparently there will always be some kind of deep, meaningfull truth beyond what you were just taught. At least, there will be as long as the CoS’s bigwigs have a very good imagination. I encourage everyone to look at that sight. If you’ve ever wondered why the CoS tries to hide its core beliefs, you will wonder no more. If I told you the story of Xemu, the Loyal Officers, and the innocent Thetans stacked around nuclear volcanos, you would probably assume that I was either a very good comedian (eg. Robin Williams or Lipochrome) or just strung out on narcs.
“I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island
As a matter of fact L. Ron Hubbard WAS strung out on narcs for the last, oh, 20 years or so of his life.
And as bizarre as that story is, it’s taught as OT 3 … meaning there are many levels of knowledge above it.
My personal experience has been that all religions believe themselves to be the true path to salvation, and that it’s the duty of the followers to spread the word and ensure that as many people as possible are exposed to the message and can be saved themselves.
That said, how many legitimate religions discourage the public dissemination of its literature and beliefs? How many charge people money to join the religion? I can’t think of even one, which leads me to conclude that maybe scientology isn’t a legitimate religion…