# WTC Scientologist scam **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 2, 2001, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923 "2001-10-02T05:35:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/41 "2001-11-25T02:39:22Z")
**Philo** , my reading of the _(not joking)_ statement was that it was in reference to there actually being a sequel to Battlefield Earth in the works. I can understand being pissed a scientologists for being fucking worthless, but everyone who has responded to the OP is in agreement with you. I think this is probably a matter of being pissed about something we can’t do anything about, I know it pisses me off that these fuckers are tax-exempt con-men. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/42 "2001-11-25T02:50:08Z")
Reprise, I am no longer pissed. grendel72, thanks. **That being said…** BTW, doing some searching I came up with [this link](http://www.primenet.com/~cultxpt/declarations.htm) and some of these stories are scary. If anyone besides me cares to pursue. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/43 "2001-11-25T02:55:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > **You know, I thought that my opinion of Scientologists couldn’t get much lower. I was wrong.** Bwu hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha WAIT! I was wrong! You’re right, **Lynn**! ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/44 "2001-11-25T03:05:01Z")
The Church of Scientology, not content with being the lowest of the low, has commenced digging to even lower depths. And I understand L. Ron Hubbard died the same day the Challenger exploded (just to narrow it down from “the 80’s”, not to imply any significance to the timing). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/45 "2001-11-25T06:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > > **You know, I thought that my opinion of Scientologists couldn’t get much lower. I was wrong.** > > Bwu hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha > WAIT! I was wrong! You’re right, **Lynn**! \*\* Bets description I have heard: “Scientology crawls _ **under** _ terrorists to hide.” ---
**Author:** ![psychogumby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c0e974/32.png) [@psychogumby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychogumby)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/46 "2001-11-25T11:46:16Z")
I’m not sure if this is just a UL, but I recall hearing or reading somewhere once that L. Ron started Scientology to win a bet (someone bet L. Ron couldn’t start his own religion or something like that). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/47 "2001-11-25T19:51:07Z")
BTW, all the recent radio advertisements where people tout the benefits of “Narcanon” and give a toll-free nember are actually for Narc-“O”-non, a Scientology recruiting group, _not_ Narc-“A”-non, aka Narcotics Annonymous. Fucking scumbags. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/48 "2001-11-25T21:47:17Z")
My apologies, **Philo** , my “not joking” reference was indeed to the fact that “Mission Earth” is being produced. I didn’t mean to imply that you’d actually want to see it. Sorry about my lack of clarity. And yes, the information on the site you posted is scary. ---
**Author:** ![Jonno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jonno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonno)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/49 "2001-11-25T22:14:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psychogumby \* > \*\*I’m not sure if this is just a UL, but I recall hearing or reading somewhere once that L. Ron started Scientology to win a bet (someone bet L. Ron couldn’t start his own religion or something like that). \*\* I once attended a book signing and auction featuring Harlan Ellison. He ended up joining a small group of us for lunch, and we discussed this very topic, since he had been friends with Hubbard. Granted, it has been many years since this happened, but his story was that Hubbard wanted to make more money, and forming a religion gave you tax-exempt status. It was on a ‘see what I can do’ basis, much more than a ‘I can make the world a better place’ thing. And just for the record, Ellison is an abrasive pain in the ass. But he’s damn entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/50 "2001-11-25T22:19:21Z")
When I first heard about Scamotology, I thought it was a religion that was devoted to Science-that Science was a religion or something. Weird. And these people threatened CECIL. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/51 "2001-11-25T22:39:03Z")
Where is their world headquarters? I want to bomb it a la fight club. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/52 "2001-11-25T23:04:50Z")
A point has been raised in this thread which I’d like to address. Why do people gravitate towards something the belief system of which seems so absurd? In general, they don’t, bear in mind that what many of you perceive as the “weird stuff” is something that you don’t find out about until you’ve been through many, many lower level processes which seem to (and in many cases do) make sense and work. The “celebrity factor” also has a huge influence. When I was about 12 I read the Book of Mormon purely because Donny Osmond (my then idol) was a LDS. Don’t underestimate the number of times people do this. The reasoning goes something along the lines that surely if their was anything wrong with or dodgy about this religion so many famous, successful people wouldn’t be associated with it. There are many, many feeder organisations associated with them too. It’s extremely possible to go quite a way into the whole thing before becoming aware of who’s behind it all. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/53 "2001-11-26T00:31:44Z")
What gets me is, that unlike almost any other religion, to truly be “saved”, I suppose-you have to have beaucoup bucks. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/54 "2001-11-26T00:40:48Z")
**Guin** , you can always “earn” the services by donating your labour. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/55 "2001-11-26T00:44:37Z")
HOw’s that-offering to be part of the Scamtology goon squads? ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/56 "2001-11-26T01:18:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*What gets me is, that unlike almost any other religion, to truly be “saved”, I suppose-you have to have beaucoup bucks. \*\* Sorry, **Guin** , my response was to this comment of yours. You don’t need big bucks because there’s **always** some way they can arrange to organise your payment (kind of like door to door vacuum cleaner salesman). ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/57 "2001-11-26T01:24:28Z")
Oh, I know. I just think that’s pretty crummy, though. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/58 "2001-11-26T04:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > What gets me is, that unlike almost any other religion, to truly be “saved”, I suppose-you have to have beaucoup bucks. So the fact that they are evil liars and frauds who are responsible for at least one negligent homicide, who threaten their critics with frivolous lawsuits, and who try to swindle people out of their money by misrepresenting themselves isn’t as disconcerting to you as their discrimination against the poor? ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/59 "2001-11-26T05:14:45Z")
**water** , I don’t think that’s quite what **Guin** meant. Do you see the CoS rushing to set up humanitarian programmes in third world countries? Funny about that isn’t it? As someone who was once a Sea Org member, let me assure you that the “divide and conquer” stuff going on in this thread would please the parent organisation no end. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2001, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923/60 "2001-11-26T05:28:25Z")
Sea Org? Divide and conquor? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtc-scientologist-scam/84923.md?page=4)