Fanaticism in Scientology

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From:Bob Minton
Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000
Subject: Scientology's moment of defeat

Bob Minton: It will be at the moment of Scientology's defeat that the inherent weakness of their totalitarian propaganda will becomes visible.

Translation: It's never going to happen. 

> Without the force of their movement, its members will cease at once to believe in the dogma for which yesterday they still were ready to sacrifice their lives.

Really? 

I know I wouldn't.

One of the most basic ideas in Scientology is that one should only believe those things which one has seen and experienced for oneself. Anything outside of that field one is better advised to leave in a mental box labeled "not sure about this - try to check it out later." There should be an infinitely graded scale on which we can slot things according to how certain we are about them. I've never been to Africa, but I have a reasonable certainty that it exists because of all the books, movies and first hand reports I've experienced - about herds of wild elephants; about Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle; and of exciting adventures involving their
banking systems.

The things that I can say with certainty exist in Scientology are the things I've tried out for myself with success. If the Church fell it wouldn't make the slightest difference to this knowledge.

But as I have said before, if the Church fell (something which is predicted frequently but which just isn't going to happen) I think it would be a tragedy for us all - and that includes you Bob and all the rest of our ARS pals.

>The moment that Scientology, that is, the fictitious world which shelters them, is destroyed, its adherents will revert to their former status of isolated individuals who either happily accept a new function in a changed world or sink back into their old desperate superfluousness.

I think that if the Church went down I would be more likely to give up my job and join an auditing practice full time. Right now I'm very comfortable and so the necessity level just isn't there for me. Something so tragic would concentrate my mind wonderfully.

> The members of Scientology's totalitarian movement, utterly fanatical as long as their movement exists,

Well some of us are utterly fanatic and some of us can only rouse our stumps to wander into the org every now and then for an event. Still if we get any pickets around here I promise to go and help out more.

>will not follow the example of religious fanatics at the demise of Scientology and die the death of martyrs

Yeurgh. I really hope that's not going to be necessary. Even the stuff in Germany sounded bad enough. I was horrified to hear of this poor couple who used to go ballroom dancing at some club, but then they got outed by the German thought police and suddenly all the poor brainwashed Germans turned on them like something at the end of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' and wouldn't dance with them any more.

>(even though they were only too willing to die the death of robots).

I guess you haven't met many Scientologists socially Bob. (Shouting insults at them across the street doesn't count.) I know all the guys down your office tell you bad things about us, but let's be frank here you and I, they have to. Otherwise you might lose interest and pull the brakes on the gravy train.

>Rather they will quietly give up the movement as a bad bet and look around for another promising fiction or wait until the former fiction regains enough strength to establish another mass movement.

Great! 

So you are saying here that you think the Church would come back again?

Maybe I won't have to go in for that nasty sounding martyr business after all.

>Alternatively, they will come to the Lisa McPherson Trust for help.


No, no, no Bob. I've enjoyed this essay, but now you're just being silly.

> Bob Minton

Freddie T

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