re: #5 marjoriemoon

My take, since you asked :)

The thing with agnostics and atheists is that everything with the tag of “religion” is regarded as a fairy tale. It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about cults like David Koresh or long established religions. To a non-believer, there are no differences.

Really? That’s news to me. I can easily see differences among religions. It’s true they have more in common than most believers would be willing to admit but there are lots of differences in how they perceive the world, human nature, etc.

Scientology is dangerous, not because it has found its way into our political discourse, at least not yet that I’m aware, but because it robs the individual of both monetary funds, spiritual/personal enlightenment and a relationship with God, a non-human source of love, mercy, justice and morality.

What information or insight has humankind gotten from God that it could not have figured out for itself? Honestly. Is even “love your enemies” THAT profound a revelation, that no mere human being could EVER possibly have come up with? Why is a “non-human source of love, mercy, justice and morality” a better or more authoritative source of these things than a human one? Why doesn’t God ever tell a believer something that scientists don’t know yet, that can be verified in the lab?

Note: I’m not a Scientologist, nor am I hostile to religion…I even work for a religious organization. But I have a questioning mind that I can’t shut off.