Scientology recently lost a really big lawsuit for abuses on one of its members. This makes me very excited, as I have just completed a large research paper on them. Therefore, whenever something this significant happens, I become euphoric. Hopefully this will encourage more people to stand up and sue, or at least power up the current lawsuits in actual.
Yay! Yay! YAY!
http://www.factnet.org/letters/FACTNewsMay2002Wollersheim.html?FACTNet
What form did the abuse take…? Did they make the victim read L.Ron’s books…?
Oh, wait… That’s a capitol offense, so it must’ve been something more mundane, like physical torture.
EXCELLENT.
Organised religion is something I’ve always found vaguely creepy. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with people who are religious, or even local scale organised religion, but large country-wide or world-wide religious structure creeps me out. I never really had a very good justification until I encountered scientology. It shows how badly wrong the whole idea can go, and is one of the few things I’d actually relax my normal stance on morality (there are no absolutes) and call downright evil. Lets hope this represents a turning point in getting rid of the damned thing.
Incidentally, you do know that L. Ron is dead, right? (Or maybe he’s just transformed himself into pure energy so he can battle the evil galactic overlord :rolleyes: ). So it’s not really him who should ‘take that’. 
Yeah, it’s kinda like large country-wide or world-wide government, ain’t it?
I don’t see how this is a "crushing and humiliating legal defeat ". They kept this guy from collecting his money for 22 years. 22 years! There’s something seriously wrong with a legal system that allws justice to be delayed for more than two decades. ANd it’s just money. No one is going to jail over this.
SPOOFE: Well, no. There are aspects to it which make it very different from governments. Particularily how the members of the church view it. OTOH, I’m not too fond of large government either. :shrug: I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with most organised religions, it’s just an irrational response I have. I’m somewhat paranoid, so I tend to see how things can be taken to extremes. e.g. Religion taken as far as scientology.
The Ryan: The point isn’t that this particular one will crush them on it’s own. It sets a precedent, one which will hopefully followed by more cases.
Ahh, but according to the link in the OP it cost them an estimated 140 million in legal fees during those 22 years. So the delay cost the $cientologists dearly.
kitarak:
Yes, it set a precedent. It set a precedent that you can beat the Scientologists… if you have 22 years of your life to throw away.
Revtim
$140 million sounds like a lot, but hey. Subverting justice doesn’t come cheap. How much would you pay to let everyone know that if they want any money from you, you’ll make them wait an entire generation? I think that there are plenty of companies that would consider that a bargain at $140 million.
22 years for the first-perhaps the new cases will speed up, as more people become aware of this shit.
Yeah, the next case might only take 21 years.
Before you know it, it’ll be the year 2233 and cases will be done in a snap.
I never thought these words would ever come from my fingers, but for once, I agree with The Ryan.
The CO$ fights wars of attrition in the courts - they don’t even deny that they use them to harrass people and that their vast resources allow them to “outlast” most critics or to pursue so many avenues of appeal that their opponents will be bankrupted long before “justice” is ever served.
This is a good decision, but don’t ever estimate the adaptability of the CO$, or their persistence.
Still…it’s one crack. One crack in their armor.
Yes, it sucks that it’s taken so long…but would it have been better if people were to drop it out of disgust?
Sure, it’s a victory. It’s just not a “crushing and humiliating” victory. It’s kind of like those action movies where the hero wins at the end. His partner’s been killed, several dozen innocent bystanders were shot, and it’ll take several surgeries before he’ll be able to walk again, but at least he won.