So what?
I’m not a Scientologist and don’t know any, but what does it matter that they hold back the juicy stuff until you join? If the Presbyterians want to wear their very weird beliefs on their sleeves while the Scientologists hold their very weird beliefs back, why should I care?
And you have to be dumb enough to pay for it. They prey on the weak and needy, but they aren’t the only group that does that.
Don’t the Masons and other orders keep just as many secrets from new initiates?
For some reason, lots of Hollywood celebs – John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Kirstie Allie, Lisa Marie Presley* – are Scientologists. Modern American society being what it is, this draws attention.
Even compared to other religions, Scientology has a well-documented and recent record of doing really, really nasty things to its enemies. “I’ll sue you in England!” Not quite terrorism in the Timothy McVeigh-David Koresh-Osama Bin Laden sense, but, still! :rolleyes: Dickier and prickier than even the Mormons!
I live in the Tampa Bay area, which includes the city of Clearwater, which is Scientology’s Rome (not that L. Ron Hubbard ever had any particular connection to Clearwater, it just kinda worked out that way), and there’s something distinctly creepy about seeing a lot of young people walking around in what look like Air Force uniforms but clearly aren’t.
Im not saying you should necessarily care, but I do think that it is dishonest to do such a thing and it may be one of the reasons why people do not like they should be free to practice their religion as they see fit, and even keep their secretes, I just question their honesty due to their lack of transparency.
Because you have to pay to join, and once you get to teh “juicy stuff,” if you decide you don’t like what you paid for, not only are you out the money, your life is probably going to be made miserable by order of the “church.”
Apart from the issue that Scientology ruins many people’s lives (cites are out there on google for those 3 or 4 of you who haven’t read about it yet), many people resent that scientology is classified as a religion.
Scientology is the kind of religion you would get if you grouped together, and re-packaged into a single unit:
They have a public face that is very friendly towards movie stars (because that’s great PR) and a private face that is shadowy, scheming and, dare I say it, evil. They want your money, and while their at it they’ll take your self-confidence, independance and family away too.
I think this is deeply insulting… to JMS. 
Now, if you’re prepared to substitute Lensman for #2 you’ve got a deal.
Odd stray thought about CoS vs. the others… Christianity etc are “free / open source” (and anyone can choose to fork the code), Scientology is proprietary, and comes with a EULA.
Yeah, Lensman is probably more appropriate.
Masonry goes to great lengths to deny that it is a religion or even has any religious aspects. I find it hard to believe that it has been legally recognised as a religion anywhere in the world.
I’m sure it’s not recognized as a religion, although historically the group has been persecuted at times for turning people away from mainstream religion, which makes for an interesting parallel, I think.
The fact that Scientology won’t share their teachings without money hollers “scam,” I agree. Then again, they don’t force people to join - who would give money in that situation in the first place?
Well, there’s an old saying about the type of people from whom money is soon parted.
Isn’t that much the same as most forms of fraud? They very often require the active participation of the defrauded - they commonly prey on greed, dispair and stupidity. Think of the typical Nigerian banking scam.
To my mind, Scientology is clearly crafted as a deliberate scam, the purpose of which is to ape the privileges and prestige associated with the term “religion”. The fact that its teachings are a bizzare farrago of sci-fi themes from the '50s is neither here nor there - nor is the fact that most other religions have equally strange beliefs (if taken out of established cultural familiarity and context). It would be no different if they preached sweet reason.
However, that being said - they do pose difficult problems, for the sole reason that using the power of the state to break them (as deserving a cause as that no doubt is) raises troubling concerns about state power. No different really than the case of neo-Nazis and freedom of speech - everyone (well, almost everyone) can agree that neo-Nazis are nasty, but the issue is whether having the state do anything about them is nastier.
I don’t think it is ire so much as the other religoids pointing and yelling, “Look! Look! They are crazier than we are! Really, Look!”.
Another thing is that Scientology neither has nor claims any connection to Christianity, yet uses a cross as its emblem. What’s up with that?! 
This is all anecdotal from my own experience, so feel free to take it or leave it.
You can say what you want about all religions being a money making scheme; scientology takes it to a completely different level. My parents are into scientology, my mom more than my dad, so I saw it first hand growing up.
We didn’t have a ton of money when I was a kid and my parents would have to balance taking courses with things like rent and food and clothes for me and my brother. Sometimes there just wasn’t enough money for it all and they had to put off the scientology stuff for a while.
This was not ok with the church. They would call multiple times daily, like bill collectors. They would question my parent’s commitment to the org. My mom would hang up in tears sometimes. After a hard week of working overtime they’d guilt trip her into going to the ‘church’ on her only day off and putting in a 10-12 hour day to prove her dedication and they’d still hound her for money. They don’t care about your family obligations or your financial situation, just that you are giving them a steady stream of money.
Get some cash together and pay for some courses and they’re your best friend again. Those harassing rude phone calls? Water under the bridge. They’re only looking out for you, don’t you know?
Other churches might want tithes or ask for donations for this or that, but if you can’t pay you can still be a member. You’ll hear stories of churches helping out their members in need. That doesn’t happen with scientology, at least not in my experience. Your value to them is solidly proportional to your bank statement and they are relentless about getting your cash.
They banish all their thetans and live happily ever after free from Prince Xenu’s evil empire?
I don’t really get what you’re saying. Most flavors of Islam and Christianity that I’m aware of are universal religions that proselytize. They do so by going out there and attempting to convert people. Go down to your local mosque, church, or temple and I bet you’ll find someone there happy to explain to you their beliefs, what’s written in their holy text, etc. Try doing the same with Scientology and see how far you get.
Odesio
I do not think this is true at all. What other religions do this?
I think it is simply a case that Scientology has a long record of breaking laws and that governments go after those who break the law. As simple as that.
Not only that, the fundamental tenets of the Abrahamic faiths, along with Buddhism, come predigested and summarized already. The Ten Commandments, the Four Noble Truths, the Five Pillars of Islam, the Eightfold Path, the Beatitudes, etc. A novice inquirer can learn a great deal about any of these religions very quickly this way.
The simpler explaination is that many (“religiods” and atheists alike) are offended at an organization which appears to be operating as a scam that hounds people and commits crimes.
For the vast majority of people, “religion” really acts as a combination social club and social service, organizing such events as daycare, meeting places for the like-minded, care of old folks and other such small scale community events and services. The exact nature of the Trinity or whatever isn’t really a day to day concern so much as having a place to organize life rituals.
If Scientology were a “religion” like that, very few would care about its wacky beliefs, which are really no wackier than religions which are like that.