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.

To believers, there are big differences. On one hand, you have religions based on 1000s of years of scholarly study, metaphors and allegory. On the other, some charismatic fellow who claims to be Christ, like Jim Jones, or in the case of L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer who had a modicum of luck with a few novels who then decided to write the Ultimate Sci-Fi study and call it religion.

Scientology was going no where for a very long time until they decided to market it to movie stars. There they had the perfect follower. Seemingly endless source of funds and people who perceive themselves as unique, trail-blazing types who don’t follow the kinds of boring and dull ideas the rest of us plebs do. In Scientology, they found the perfect kind of exclusivity to fit their narcissism. Scientology is all about what can I do for me, not what usual religions focus on which is what can I do for others.

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. That’s the threat of Scientology.

It is true, yes, that the GOP has long had a relationship with the religious right, pushing their social and religious issues into our political discourse. Namely, abortion, evolution, gay rights and prayer in school. For me (and I know for you and many others) that’s a huge problem, but a different kind of problem than the popularity of Scientology.