Posts Tagged Scientology
Yet Another Bad Day For Scientology: Banned In Russia
Posted by Marsh in Scientology on May 5th, 2010
In the latest thrilling instalment of a series I like to call ‘Scientology Lolz’, I’d like to take you to Russia, and to a report from the Moscow Times:
“Works by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard will be added to the country’s list of extremist literature for “undermining the traditional spiritual values of the citizens of the Russian Federation,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said Wednesday. The ruling is the latest use of the hotly debated law on extremism to target systems of belief that are not traditional in Russia.” – Source: The Moscow Times
The laws have been pretty controversial over in Russia since their introduction back in 2002, originally to try and curtain the rise in violence against ethnic groups and foreign citizens. However, much like similar anti-terrorism laws here in the UK, the boundaries of what counts as ‘extremist’ or ‘terrorist’ behaviour have proven to be so blurry that lawful citizens have been falling foul of them. Still, we’re not talking about everyday lawful citizens here, we’re talking about scientologists… whom the Russia court have effectively seen fit to ban. As the paper goes on to report:
“Prosecutors said they intercepted 28 individual titles, including books, audio and video recordings by Hubbard that were sent to residents in Surgut from the United States. The materials were sent for study to “psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists,” who determined that they should not be distributed in Russia, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.”
Individuals in possession of extremist materials can be jailed for up to 15 days or fined 3,000 rubles (which is round about £80 or so).
The ruling of scientology literature as illegal comes in response to a court case last year whereby the cult won the right to be called a religion in Russia, after an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. So it looks like something of a canny move from the law makers who seem intent on keeping the space-cult out of the minds of Russian citizens. Read the rest of this entry »
Skeptics with a K – Episode #020
Posted by Mike in Podcast, Skeptics with a K on April 22nd, 2010
The Skeptics with a K discuss CRIMINON, skeptical limericks and speaking German after a coma. Plus Pet Sematary, osteopaths and free falling from 18,000 ft.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
After The Earthquake, Then Came The Missionaries
Posted by Marsh in Religion, Scientology on January 22nd, 2010
As followers of international news will know, the small island of Haiti recently suffered a devastating earthquake, leaving thousands dead and destroying the homes and lives of many more.
As we’re increasingly seeing in the wake of these natural disasters, the internet has proven to be a great source of aid and fundraising, with appeals instantly springing up on Twitter and Facebook to raise funds for the distraught citizens and destroyed towns.
But aid from charities like Unicef, The Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières and the Disasters Emergency Committee (please donate to any one of those) isn’t the limit of the help offered to those suffering the effects of the disaster – instead, smelling the desperation and sensing a chance to convert, religious organisations and dangerous cults have descended upon the troubled isle to hoover up the hopeless into their organisations. Read the rest of this entry »
Even More Bad News For Scientology
Posted by Marsh in Scientology, Skepticism on November 12th, 2009
In an update on a story we covered last week, things seems to be going from allegedly bad to allegedly worse for scientology. The St Petersburg Times – who have really taken the group to task in recent months, publishing expose after expose on the inner workings of the sect – have unveiled their latest piece of investigative reporting on the cult. The article lifts the lid on the attempts made by members to leave the group, and the extreme measures undertaken to persuade defectors back into the scientological fold.
Just to recap, recent revelations by the paper have exposed alleged abuse by leader David Miscavige, scientologies role in the death of member Lisa Mcpherson and the alleged cover-up of incriminating documents about her contraversial treatment. And now this latest report follows the attempts made by former members to leave the organisation, and the methods employed by scientology to coax them back to base. Read the rest of this entry »
More Bad News For Scientology
Posted by Marsh in Scientology, Skepticism on November 3rd, 2009
It’s been a bad week for Scientology all round, besides the ruling in France – with Academy Award-winning writer-director Paul Haggis officially and publicly resigning from the group. Paul took action after feeling his concerns over Scientology’s official stance on gay rights were not being addressed, leaving the group after writing a letter outlining his feelings on the issues and his reasons for wanting to disconnect with Scientology – more of which I’ll come to later.
Haggis’ action not only follows the ruling in France, but also the outburst made by Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis on Nightline where he linked the Anonymous movement – a movement allegedly set up to allegedly expose alleged crimes and alleged violations of alleged human rights allegedly by the allegedly alleged church of scientology – to a number of unproven illegal allegations which, to be fair, the presenter did a great job taking him to task on and highlighting that the allegations made by Tommy were not backed up by the FBI. The video is currently up on Youtube and is worth a look. On top of that, Tommy was recently interviewed by journalist Martin Bashir, citing offence of his religious beliefs and storming out after being politely asked to comment on the alien Xenu and the alien tales associated by some to Scientology, which is not recognised as a religion in the UK, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Isreal, Greece and Mexico, among other countries.
You might remember Tommy from the BBC Panorama programme, where he met with reporter John Sweeney – many times, during John’s attempts to interview other people with views on the practices of Scientology. On the back of those high-profile PR disasters, the open letter from Paul Haggis could not have come at a worst time for the group France classes as a ‘sect’.
