In that famous South Park episodes, most of the Scientologists are true believers, but the president of the church buys none of it and sees the whole thing as a money-making scam.
Did Hubbard believe his own doctrines?
Do his successors?
No way for any of us to know, of course, but it might be interesting to speculate.
Inserts the obligatory link to Operation Clambake.
LRH was a liar, confidence man and mediocre author. He lied incessantly, made shit up, and wrote fiction, albeit very bad fiction.
Then there’s this:"
I personally believe that LRH, at the time, made it all up as a scam. As time went on, the suckers fell for it all too well, and LRH began to lose control of his con game. Later, LRH’s mental health issues led to substance abuse and he then lost the ability to control his scam, and perhaps he even began to believe it himself.
LRH was a narcissistic megalomaniac, and this scheme gave him the wealth, power and acknowledgement that his failed family life, failed Navy service and failed writing efforts did not bring him. In short, he was just thte sort of loser who needed to create his own little world in which he was not a loser.
I love rotten.com’s biography of Hubbard.
Rita Cosby. Keith did say once, “Rita’s nice, but dumber than a suitcase of rocks.” Guess he was right.
Didn’t they once manage to frame a journalist for terroristic threats?
What I can’t work out and never have been able to is why high profile Hollywooders would want to associate with this “church” when Hubbard’s illegal actions and mental health issues and substance abuse are common knowlege. It has only been relatively recently that Hollywooders are willing to openly admit they are gay for fear of loss of income and roles etc - the ‘fear by association’ thing.
Interesting bits to mention, only because I want (and expect) to see if they are true:
That quote sounds just like something Jack Chick would make up for one of his tracts, but in this case I can believe it.
Well, when I become God-Emperor of the Universe, these cretins will be hunted down and exterminated like the vermin they are. The Constitution means nothing to a G-E. In fact, I could probably augment my coffers by issuing hunting licenses.
“One a day - One in possession.” 
My google-fu is pointing that the interview is real, but it was with L. Ron Hubbard Jr. It seems he had to change his name and move constantly to avoid church retribution to this day. :eek:
Still looking for the Court decision.
Narconon and Scientology. Note that it is Narconon, not Narcanon. To me, that intentional confusion alone is damning enough: The people behind Narconon would be slime even if they weren’t associated with anyone else in the world. But, of course, there is this:
The only people who lionize Hubbard like that are Scientologists. The only Scientologists who have the desire and money to run something like Narconon are the ones in the CoS.
I haven’t been able to find any evidence online of a trademark lawsuit between NA and Narconon, which really surprises me. NA apparently does claim trademark over something or things on its website, but that isn’t sufficient. In the US, trademarks must be registered with the USPTO and must be defended or they are lost. I have no idea how relevant any of that is to this specific case.
Wikipedia on Narconon. Plenty of references in that article. One of which is this: The bastards want into the schools.
And that sounds like one of those key facts Chick would . . . elide.
[QUOTE=cerberus]
I personally believe that LRH, at the time, made it all up as a scam. As time went on, the suckers fell for it all too well, and LRH began to lose control of his con game. Later, LRH’s mental health issues led to substance abuse and he then lost the ability to control his scam, and perhaps he even began to believe it himself.
[quote]
But what about the Scientology leaders of today? Do they believe or not?
A true American success story!
Go thou and do likewise!
Here’s an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the case quoting some of the same lines from the decision: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/25/BAGSM5PH3B21.DTL
Slight Hijack: I think something much like this is almost exactly what happened to Joseph smith as well. End hijack. Just sayin’
Yep. He pretty much repudiated his father and everything the clams stood for.
Still, L. Ron Jr. was lucky-Quentin ended up committing suicide. Supposedly he was gay or bisexual. So very sad.
Really? What substance did Smith abuse? What were his mental health issues?
Yeah, I don’t recall Smith infiltrating and trying to scam the US government.
To clarify, from this statement:
“I personally believe that LRH, at the time, made it all up as a scam. As time went on, the suckers fell for it all too well, and LRH began to lose control of his con game. Later, LRH’s mental health issues led to substance abuse and he then lost the ability to control his scam, and perhaps he even began to believe it himself.”
To get what is a more accurate match to what I suspect happened to Joseph smith, the phrase(s) “Later, LRH’s mental health issues led to substance abuse” should be deleted, leaving:
“I personally believe that LRH, at the time, made it all up as a scam. As time went on, the suckers fell for it all too well, and LRH began to lose control of his con game. And he then lost the ability to control his scam, and perhaps he even began to believe it himself.”
That’s more exactly what I think happened to JS.
-FrL-
Whereas the poster previous to you had a good reason to wonder whether I had some info about substance abuse and mental health problems suffered by Joseph Smith, on the other hand, I can’t find any reason in my post for you to think I thought Smith infiltrated and tried to scam the US government.
-FrL-
I was pointing out your comparison of Smith to Hubbard was absurd. I’m not LDS, quite frankly, I think a lot of it is hokey (Sorry, Monty, but I do), but there’s no fucking way it’s at all in the same league as Scientology.