*Draws further off-topic*

I'm hoping you're not serious (Though I believe you are).

You *do* realize why Christianity was labeled a "cult" by the Roman government, right? You *do* realize that Christianity wasn't able to throw off the "cult" moniker until 313 AD, right? You *do* realize that the First Council of Nicaea, whose purpose was to to create the first Christian Doctrine, wasn't held until 325 AD, right (Twelve years after the Roman ban on Christianity was lifted)? You *do* realize that the New Testament, as it is today, wasn't created until the Council of Trent in 1546, right?

As we black folk say, "Nigga' please". Your distinction falls flat on it's face. The difference between a cult and a religion-- Societal views. That's it :)

*Taken from one of the links Will provided*

*Laughs to himself*

Some of ya'll TFP'ers can be real hypocrites sometimes. I guess the government's rules/laws/classifications are only valid when they benefit you, huh (Or, I should say, when it's busy restricting religious practices)? :rolleyes:

You don't. Simple :)

Moonies are a Christian cult. Catholics are a Christian religion.

I'm just going to continue using the definition you so graciously provided.

That's because it's a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

:)

And yet, I love how you've completely ignored my post, because deep down you know it's right. Their goal is to "clean the world". To remove bad people from it; in other words, world domination by "cleaning the world" of those who oppose them. It's fucking sick.

Cult or religion? Why does it matter?

Cults don't get tax breaks, religions do. :p

Alright, to move this little event right along, for the sake of argument, IL, let's say we were to concede your point that Scientology is a religion like any other. What then?

Is your whole problem with this that people have decided to take on them instead of militant Islam or something? Or that they've declared their opposition to one religion instead of all religion? Are people required to accept the existence of anything that exists simply because it exists and that creates some sort of first in time first in right quality that can't be challenged?

Regardless of how we characterize it (cult, religion, whackos, masters of the universe and psychology), Scientology has a demonstrated history of dangerous, subversive activity. That doesn't mean that there aren't other groups who are equally or more dangerous and subversive, simply that this one is the one that this group of people has decided to take on and try to break down before it can do any more harm. I don't see why that's such a bad thing.

I'm with you on this one.

Apparently lost in the debate of why we should paricipate in Anonymous protests is what exactly is the endgame here? Is the goal to get current members to up and leave? To force them to lose their tax-exempt status? Issue a press release that says, "Okay, Anon, you got us, we're shutting our doors and closing up shop." I just don't see what specific goal Anonymous has in mind when they hold nationwide protests and leak embarrassing videos.

I'm happy to see that people in my home town had better things to do with their time then stand out in the cold with a mask on...

Are you asking the desired outcome or the final part of the plan? I can't answer the latter, but the former is simply a severely weakened CoS that no longer has the ability to threaten or hurt people. This is about declawing the monster, and showing the world that it is, in fact, a monster.

And severely weakened how? Loss of tax exemption status? Membership attrition so they don't have as much money? Bring a lawsuit that results in a loss of an extraordinary amount of money? I'm not seeing that. From where I'm typing this, I see an open-ended war. Is that really a good thing?

Let's say that we only succeed in severely slowing recruitment. Wouldn't that be a smashing success? Let's say we only succeed in bringing to light illegal activities, for which some church officials are charged. Wouldn't that be a smashing success?

I really need to see a picture of will in a Guy Fawkes mask.

How would you know it was me?

The former, yes. The latter, no. Slowing recruitment will eventually weaken their organization. Bringing a few officials down only means some great job opportunties have just opened up for whoever was under them.

Of course, I don't think the CoS releases new membership numbers, so we'll never really know if recruitment will ever be affected by this 'war' will we?

I'd look for the clothing labels...duh.

There is a difference between cult and religion. Religion gives you 9 points in scrabble, but cult only gives you 6. But since a 6 is merely an upside down 9, this is irrefutable evidence that the 2 are closely related. And that, my friends, is numerology, which is a belief in a mystical or esoteric relationship between numbers and physical objects or living things, therefore making it a religion........or a cult.....I forget witch.

You forgot that comma. ;-P

Well, first of all, I don't really see where one's spiritual beliefs, up to and including atheism, counteract their freedom to protest that which they believe is wrong. Should someone who chooses not to vote not be allowed to protest the war? Should someone who does not teach their children advanced math outside of school not be allowed to protest a mad mathematics curriculum? Why does the ability to protest that which you disagree with dissipate with a set (or lack thereof) of beliefs?

It's democracy, baby!

Is infinite_loser a scientologist? He hasn't even budged from his point A ever since he came into this thread.

I protested on February 10th. I didn't do it because Scilons believe that 75 million years ago the evil lord Xenu, emperor of a galactic quadrant, dumped aliens into earth volcanos to solve galactic overpopulation and then sealed them over with giant H-bombs where their spirits congregated into clusters and settled themselves into human bodies, where they stay now, waiting for the proper training to achieve superhuman powers.

I did it because of stories like this, and this, and this.

I did it for Lisa McPherson, and others who tragically lost their lives due to this Dangerous Cult's inhumane practices.

I did it to help raise awareness of this Cult; so that the movement gains strength and actually causes change.

I did it so that in the future more will not have to suffer, and those weak enough to be tricked into this bait and switch will have a chance to escape.

I did it because I believe in free speech. It pisses me off to think that this cult is destroying people's lives because they spoke out against them. They are using my country's own laws, designed to protect an individuals rights, to instead frame, slander, and outright shatter someone's life- hiding behind a bloody wall of money culled from their victims.


I did it because it is delicious schadenfreude. Because they must eat it, for they are stuck between a rock and a hard place- if they attack Anonymous, it will be reported; if they leave Anonymous alone, their followers will increase their doubts. Because there is no leader, they have no reference in which to stop this movement.


Anonymous isn't a small internet website group anymore. Not even content to be contained on the internet anymore, on February 10th it crossed over to "the real world". This worldwide protest, containing over 9000 excited people, was organized spontaneously in less than a month. It's not an organization; it's a collective unconscious, a groupthink. A "Stand Alone Complex".

Those Nine Thousand individuals are all aware it's not a one time deal. The movement is gaining momentum, not losing it. And the biggest difference between this and every other resistance campaign is this:

Anonymous is having fun.

It's not so much a protest as a meetup. People go hang out for a while, make fun of a few people, laugh, have a good time. It's a social event, you even get to dress up. And as a bonus there is a tiny mix of excitment and danger of a ninja scientologist following you around with a camera for a while. People had a blast this Feb 10th. They will come back again, and bring some friends too. They will post party invites around town and school. It's not a flash in the pan and Anonymous will shake the Scifag tree until something falls out.


edit- wrote an essay on the last reply to the page :grumpy: ah well :P

http://video.google.com/videosearch?...man+Deposition

nuff said.

“Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.”

Perhaps a gunpowder treason is in order?

The way that man talks about things is absolutely terrifying. That is batshit crazy stuff and he believes every word of it. Wow.

Once I tried to read a second-hand book about scientology to see what it was all about. I had to stop reading because: a) it was more retarded and inconsistent than the bible, b) it was boring as hell.

Oh, dude, try Dianetics. Bullshit presented as science. As someone who reads a lot of medical and psychological journals and studies, it was like reading a comic book. I actually laughed out loud.

I'm not really sure I see how blowing up Parliament would accomplish anything.

It would accomplish the plot to blow up parliament... but nothing substantial. Unless you've got the substantial desire to blow up parliament.

... what a useless post

I feel like I ought to make some derogatory comment about politicians here, but I think I ought to restrain myself. Nobody outside the politics forum wants to discuss politics and that goes double for Canadian politics.

I didn't mean YOUR post was useless... mine was. And so is this one. Really, I'm just killing time at work. My client doesn't understand what "exist" means... and damn, you need to get very philosophical to explain what "exist" means, but when they don't understand "exist" they damn sure don't understand your explanation of what "exist" means.

jebus

Hey, no worries. I reckon somewhere between 50% and 75% of my posts are useless. If you can't be relevant, at least be entertaining.

*waits for Crompsin*

...

*taps foot*

Why stop at parliament?

Tyler Durden: In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.

This whole place needs a reboot, Scientology is just a symptom of a larger issue with mankind, people are grasping at straws and clinging to every small hope that there is something is larger than themselves, something grand and ethereal. That is the fallacy of religion and cults and self help courses, there is nothing grander than you, or me... any of us. The ones in charge of these institutions are crooks, from clergy to the Scientology auditors to the guy at the week long self help course in the wilderness that is trying to help you get in touch with something that you think you have lost.
Maybe it was never there in the first place. Perhaps they all just want your money, or your time, or your ass.

I hope every day for the fall of mankind, I hope that a virus or war, or invading aliens come and wipe out 95% of the population, and we start all over. That is our only salvation.

Perhaps I'll be a postman...

Oooo! Can I be the scientist who vainly tries to find a cure for the virus? Except I'd fortify my crib a bit better if 4.99% of the population turned into ravenous cookie cutter CG monsters.

Intuitively I doubt it, although his posts are suspiciously similar to the new OSA script I've seen their online plants following. OSA guys tend to go with the "why bother?" angle rather than outright debating whether it's a cult or not, though.

I saw one of the protests out in front of the Co$ building here in Vancouver

I hung out for a bit, got my picture taken by a Scifag, got screamed at and called a Scientologist for taking some pictures of the protest with my camera (if only they knew), then left to go do some campaigning for the By-Election.

It was pretty funny to be honest, Scientology undoubtedly had people in masks quietly "protesting" but I try to go up and talk to them honestly and I get scremed at... I realize there's no way to convince them I'm not a scientologist outside of behaving unlike a Scientologist.

Somehow, "I'm a marijuana activist for the BCMP who hates scientology" didn't cut it. Weird.

Damn, you're with the Marijuana Party? You really are a pimp.

I was a supporter for these protests until it dawned on me that this is an example of REALLY bad prioritization.

Is the CoS really as big a problem as the GWOT? Don't people have more serious things to protest about?

yeah like 4$ a gallon gas prices, but anonymous uses it's power for the frivolous.

You know it... free the weed baby

I really miss the early day's when the Repubs though it was a good idea to call it 'The War Against Terror', such a great acronym TWAT.

Hey Ace, I'll change my avatar just for your cause.....,

Well, I seem to be late to the party, but I'll jump in anyway as I tried to do when I started a post on the topic.

I don't see any reasonable person who has read anything about religion and Scientology confusing the traditional Christianity with what anyone with half a brain can see to be a cult purely in it for the money, so I will leave that nonsensical argument for others to fight.

What I can say is that I find it extraordinary how the internet has galvanized people to protest this scam. My fear is that the current under 30 crowd has such a short attention span (sorry, I don't mean to offend, but it's true). I think they mean well and want to fight the good fight, but do they have the endurance?

As for myself, I confess that I am a coward and can only support the protest so far. I cannot afford to have scientology try to ruin me...I have too much to lose. But insofar as I can, I support anonymous and their fight.