Muddy waters of fact and fiction meet as mysterious “dignitaries” and out-of-context quoting bring video channel’s legitimacy into question.

The Church of Scientology has refuted claims by an independent French news Web site, the Anonymous Group and the Enturbulation that a video posted to the church’s new Video Channel includes bogus or misleading footage of non-existent dignitaries singing the praises of the controversial religion’s youth humanitarian efforts.

The video in question – Human Rights, In Support of Human Rights – featured on the Scientology Video Channel includes more than 20 unnamed dignitaries from various political, cultural and educational occupations promoting the Youth for Human Rights campaign; a movement in which the Church of Scientology is only one of over 30 sponsors. Only the speakers distinguished job titles are offered to the viewers as a means for judging the credibility of the speaker’s statements.

Enturbulation, a source for information on activism against the Church of Scientology, features a thread posted by users that claims to have identified more speakers in the Scientology video whose identities or job titles are either false, fabricated or embellished.

So much for the “quest for truth.” If you buy into the “If it’s true for you…” system of Scientology reality, that has to include the closely held beliefs of every other person on the planet (and if numbers mean anything, that puts Scientologists WAY down near the bottom of the list, because what’s true for everyone else is NOT Scientology). “True for you” by virtue of its own definition leads to conflicting beliefs (Your truth is not MY truth). If Scientologists were seekers of truth, then they would be open to dialogue and a free exchange of ideas. As it is, they are NOT. Scilons view all criticism as an event that, according to their own “theology,” needs to be “handled”. They derail discussions by characterizing all criticism as religious bigotry, a distraction of their anti-psychologist agenda, or through comparison to other, larger religions (always with the assumption that the critic has no problem with these either). This is not truth-seeking. This is merely an attempt to cling to a belief system that is hopelessly unable to bear up under the slightest scrutiny.

KSW … Keep Spreading Whoppers!

“Girls need clothes and food and tender happiness and frills and a comb, perhaps a cat.” Now there’s a fast track for getting down to business … Scientolodate.com. (good in all countries except Italy … click image for larger view).

Banned Scientology parody film ‘The Profit’ appears on Web

Copies of The Profit, a 2001 film blocked from distribution in the United States due to a court injunction won by the Church of Scientology, appeared on the Internet Friday on peer-to-peer file-sharing websites and on the video sharing site YouTube.

The film was released in August 2001, and was shown at a movie theater in Clearwater, Florida and at a premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France. A Scientology spokesman gave a statement at the time saying “the movie is fiction and has nothing to do with Scientology”. The Church of Scientology later took legal action in an attempt to stop further distribution of the film. The Church of Scientology claimed that the film was intended to influence the jury pool in the wrongful death case of Scientologist Lisa McPherson, who died under Scientology care in Clearwater, Florida.

On the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, a poster by the username “Alexia Death” commented on the film’s appearance on the Internet in the context of censorship: “It is out! And so it is a WIN if many people review it even if they say it SUCKS! … Being bad is no cause to allow censorship … And being censored is no cause to assume its good”. A post to the blog Blogsreel commented: “We have all wanted to see this movie that scientology kept hidden away from us. We have all wondered just how damning could this story be that we were banned from watching it.”

READ MORE.

Wikinews release. 

The Resurrection of Christ — this is the ‘heart’ of the Gospel

by Roger S. Oldham — Baptist Press

The apostle Paul was in jail, not because he had done anything wrong, but because he refused to deny his Lord. The specter of death was imminent. Though his life was spared this time, within a few years he was martyred for his unwavering testimony that Jesus is the Savior of the world.

As he wrote a letter to his dearest friends, Paul declared his intense desire to know his Lord more intimately. His words are powerfully poignant: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

Paul understood something fundamental. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central event of the Christian faith. It is the central message in the Christian witness. It is the source of the Christian’s hope and the strength of the Christian’s life.

READ MORE. 

After a day of yard work yesterday, I read all 612 pages (some are blank) of The Technical Bulletins of Dianetics and Scientology, Volume XIV THE O.T. LEVELS (yes, I’m an accomplished speed reader).

It is well known that very few Scilons ever even reach OT III, not to mention the possibility of OT VIII to X. And if the Clearwater Super Power Rundown Facility ever gets finished in Clearwater, fewer yet will experience its secret rituals. The more I read of these secrets from the Scilon archives, the more I am astounded that the dull imaginings of L. Ron Hubbard could ever attract a crowd even the size of amateur night at the comedy club. The grandiose claim that a spiritual event is actually occuring during the process of auditing is as ludicrous as “thinking” yourself “thin” without pushing back from the table. Is “something” happening during auditing? Sure. But it’s not anything spiritual or redeeming … it is part of an enormously complicated mechanism that L. Ron Hubbard created to make money. It gives you something to do but never allows you to achieve what it is you’re looking for. It’s merely a giant metaphorical “carrot” than one continues to chase while giving up wads of money that could be better spent in a thousand other ways.

As illustrated by the Technical Bulletin I read this weekend, there are thousands of words describing WHAT TO DO, and HOW TO DO IT … but not ONE about what is going to be the result. The tenants of Scientology focus on the life you spent before this one (reincarnation) and the life you get to spend AFTER this one, but ask them to offer you something for THIS life and it’s pretty much an “empty suit.” If you’re on the inside, ask yourself why the “Golden Age of Tech” has never come to pass, why is it that the routing forms seem like an endless merry-go-round, why is it that the magic of going OT never materializes, why is it that no one ever talks personally about their upper level OT auditing and their alleged State of Awareness, why is it that the truly poor, sick and disabled people of society find no aid from this “religion,” and why is it that every step on the backwards-moving sidewalk of “The Bridge” involves MORE AND MORE money?

Too many questions? Well isn’t that what a big part of life is all about? The person who doesn’t have questions isn’t much interested in his or her world. But to question Scientology is “anathema,” a Greek word meaning something ‘forbidden’ or ‘off limits.’ The truth is that Scientology, for all you are required to pay, can’t even deliver on the same level as some of the country’s least expensive self-improvement seminars.

Coming back to our discussion of the Technical Bulletins … I’d like to save the PC’s a lot of time and effort (PC … potential convert or Pre-Clear, take your choice), so just for the record … the only meaningful sentences in the entire 612 page document appear on the LAST page.

[Regarding Super Power Rundown] … At some point during the running of this series of processes the person will reach a state wherein they are speechless. They will laugh with wild abandon. Their TA will be floating! They will probably also be exterior and will be unable to communicate in words what they are experiencing. This is the end result of the Super Power Rundown. It is rare for this to occur prior to the running of the last flow of this series of processes, but if it occurs then acknowledge the win.

One thing the auditor must not do is interrupt the person while in the middle of this major win or during the laughter. Otherwise it will invalidate the win. The auditor simply maintains his TRs and lets the person have his win. Do not end the session until the laughter stops as this will also tend to invalidate the person and his win.

SPEECHLESSNESS & WILD LAUGHTER … at the end of the day, that’s all you get with Scientology.

[ludicrous: lu·di·crous – adjective; causing laughter because of absurdity; provoking or deserving derision; ridiculous; laughable]

[speechless: the opposite of communicative, or talkative; "talk" being defined as having the ability to process and verbalise ideas, to interact with others confidently; to navigate a conversation; to read cues of voice inflection and body language and to present a simple argument cogently.]

A few comparisons.

New recruits to the Church of Scientology are told that they can practice their religion of choice and Scientology at the same time. The official introductory handbook “What is Scientology?” (1992) states (p 544): “In Scientology there is no attempt to change a person’s beliefs or to persuade him away from any religion to which he already belongs.”

“Scientology is all-denominational in that it opens its membership to people of all faiths.”

“Membership in Scientology does not mean that there is any necessity to leave your current church, synagogue, temple or mosque.”

“Scientology respects all religions. Scientology does not conflict with other religions or other religious practices” “The whole Christian movement is based on the victim. Compulsion of the overt-motivator sequence. They won by appealing to victims. We can win by converting victims. Christianity succeeded by making people into victims. We can succeed by making victims into people.”, HCOB 18 July, 1959, under “Historical Note”. Scientology believes that God exists, but goes on to say “As to the form in which He exists, we do not know” (Scientology: A World Religion, p. 17: What is Scientology, p. 200).

Life has meaning and significance because God loves us.

Matthew Henshaw got his name into the Guinness Book of World Records in an unusual way. After swallowing a 15.9-inch sword, Henshaw attached a 40-pound sack of potatoes to the handle of the sword and held it for 5 seconds. (This is not recommended.)

Henshaw and others like him have gone to extraordinary lengths to have their names memorialized in the world’s most famous record book. The longing for immortality compels people to do many things — some remarkable, some bizarre and some very expensive.

The immortality Jesus offers has nothing to do with anything we do or can pay for. In fact, after giving His disciples the authority to do truly remarkable things (Luke 10:17-19), Jesus said, “Do not rejoice . . . that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (v.20).

Have you ever given any serious consideration to the message of Christianity? Perhaps today would be a good day. Click here for a short presentation that could change your life forever.

Sony tries to kill Will Smith Scientology Story

Defamer has learned that executives at Sony tried to have an MSNBC story outing Will Smith as a closeted Scientologist killed. With the Smith tentpole Hancock slated for a July release, execs are clearly worried their big summer blockbuster will turn into another Mission:Impossible 3 conundrum, when Tom Cruise’s anything-but-glib antics spurred petitions against the film and damaged the film’s B.O. on both the domestic and international fronts.

UPDATE, Thursday, March 20 

The Photographer’s Right
A Downloadable Flyer Explaining Your Rights When Stopped or Confronted for Photography

The Photographer’s Right is a downloadable guide that is loosely based on the Bust Card and the Know Your Rights pamphlet that used to be available on the ACLU website. It may be downloaded and printed out using Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may make copies and carry them your wallet, pocket, or camera bag to give you quick access to your rights and obligations concerning confrontations over photography. You may distribute the guide to others, provided that such distribution is not done for commercial gain and credit is given to the author.

Where loving you to death can be a harsh reality!

One young woman who will never again see the approving smile of her father.