liveandgrow

Two new centers in Florida

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/orl-bk-scientology031907,0,7360975.story?coll=sfla-news-florida

Some are Clueless about NRMs

Joanne over at Clueless wrote a post about NRMs (New Religious Movements). I posted a couple of comments, which I'm also adding here:

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I read your other post on NRMs first and got kinda mad. Now I'm reading this one, and it occurred to me I could share my views, maybe provide some insight.

I know many people in traditional religions. Most of them are there out of inertia, because that's what their parents taught them, because they don't want to rock the boat.

Sometimes, people want more than that out of religion. Sometimes people want the orginal purpose, the original promise: spiritual fulfillment, salvation, a pathway to Heaven, or however you might define it.

In this case, some people choose to search for this in their traditional religion, but devote themselves deeper to it. (My sister just reunited with a childhood friend and found, to her surprise, that her friend is now a Nun.) This tends to throw off parents and friends.

Some others choose to seek for this higher purpose, this higher promise outside of the religion of their parents. They seek their own answers. Which is why you occasionally find Jews converting to Christianity or Christians adopting Judaism, or a non-believer becoming a Mormon or a Muslim.

NRMs have always been around. Christianity was an NRM in Roman times. (Roman parents would worry themselves sick if their patrician son became a Christian!) Islam was an NRM 15 centuries back. More recently, the Protestant Church was a big deal, and the Anglican. The Baha'i movement ruffled feathers a hundred or so years ago, and so did Mary Baker Eddy and Joseph Smith. In fact, the whole idea of NRMs is a bit strange, since new ideas and philosophies, new leaders and new prophets are showing up all the time. We're a culture in motion.

People who take their religion seriously devote a higher level of commitment to it than people who just cruise. Regardless of whether they express their passion within a traditional faith or a new religion. People who are not into that experience find these other people odd. Kierkegaard described this by expressing people's existence as nihilistic, or rationalistic, vs. those who choose to take a leap of faith in search of a deeper truth. A person living a life driven by morgage payments lives a different experience than a person who is driven by search for Truth.

Some people think they're just material beings. Others think they're material beings who experience spiritual moments. Some others still, believe that we're spiritual beings experiencing a material experience. These are three completely different views, and they define one's priorities and the way one deals with life.

Sociologists D. Bromley and A. Shupe once described the Tnevnoc Cult which recruited young women, required them to shave their heads, wear special uniforms, gave them new names in a foreign language, required them to give up their personal possessions and sleep on hard pallets. During their initial membership in the cult, they were isolated from family contacts. They were later required to ritually marry the dead founder of the cult.

Bromely and Shupe received many inquiries about this abusive cult from sociologists and others concerned about psychological manipulation within cults. The latter did not realize that "Tnevnoc" spelled backwards is "Convent".

Some good sites for your research could be: http://www.religioustolerance.org
http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org
http://www.cesnur.org/

best,
Greg
Scientologist and proud of it
http://www.liveandgrow.org

US Weakly

This one takes the cake.

After exploiting the Cruise-Holmes relationship all throughout the engagement, the birth of Baby Suri, the Wedding, etc., I suppose US Weakly really ran out of stuff to write. Even the Scientology Silent Birth and baby Suri's appearance at the Oscars are no longer news, so they just had to resort to that age-old journalistic principle: Make Stuff Up!

The rag claims that Cruise calls the Beckhams 18 times an hour begging them to convert to Scientology. Ok. Think about it. 18 times an hour. Even if each call lasted less than 2 minutes, that would only leave 1.5 minutes between phone calls! I mean, the most ambitious telemarketer in the world could not sustain that level of energy. And what about bathroom runs? (Not to mention the fact that Tom Cruise actualy has a day job...)

Then there's this whole thing about how Holmes is a prisoner in her own home. Sniff Sniff Booh Hooh. Poor Katie. Meanwhile, she's seen constantly seen shopping in Paris, in Rodeo Drive, and lately shooting a movie in Shreveport, Lousiana. And Celebrity Baby Blog tells a whole different story.

Take a look at these recent pics. Does this look like a depressed prisoner to you?

"Jesus Christ cannot swim"

Ah, reporters. Reminds me of that joke, where a reporter sees Jesus Christ walking on water. Next day, the paper's front page reads: "JESUS CHRIST CANNOT SWIM" ;-)

Some paper in England is bitching about the fact that Scientology Volunteer Ministers are getting disaster information in London. A guy who goes by CatVincent posted a concerned note on his blog about it; he seemed to think this was some sort of scam.

I wrote the following in his blog:
I participated in three disaster areas as a Scientology Volunteer. I was at 9/11 one week after the towers collapsed and worked closely with police and firefighters for two hard weeks (alongside 800+ Scientology volunteers.)

I was in Indonesia after the tsunami hit. So were hundreds of other Scientology volunteers from all over the world. We worked with UNICEF, with OXFAM and with the Red Crescent. We fed people, gave people vacciness and cared for them at refugee camps.

I was in Mississippi and Lousiana after Katrina hit. Thousands of Scientology volunteers were there. We distributed food and clothing, did cleanup, distributed water and cared for people in the shelters.

Our track record speaks for itself.
See http://www.volunteerministers.org

best,
Greg
Scientologist and proud of it
http://www.liveandgrow.org
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CatVincent then asked:
Fair enough, and my respects for doing good works.
But - can you assure me no proselytizing occurred?
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To which I replied:
I can't vouch for every individual out there. But I can tell you this: Our volunteer coordinators gave us all an orientation speech upon arrival. One of the points covered was "we're not here to talk about religion - we're here to help. If anyone asks you about your beliefs, say that you're a Scientologist, but that's as far as you go. Tell them there's a lot of work to do and no time to debate about beliefs. Keep off the subject."

In Indonesia, we coordinated with Muslim clerics and local leaders and did our utmost to respect their culture and customs. In Mississippi, we actually brought in Baptist Pastors to the camps so that they could have Mass.

In Mississippi, I led a group of 94 volunteers. I made it clear to my guys that if they did anything that could come accross as preachy or insensitive to local customs they'd be sent home.

Something I found interesting, worth mentioning: Even the Christian groups I met in Indonesia had the same policy. I spoke to two Pastors there. Their view: "we're here to do God's work, not to spread God's word." I found that admirable. But what I found downright slimy is that, out of the 24 reporters who approached me, more than three specifically came looking for this "Christians are converting Muslims" story, and would refuse to give it up even in light of evidence to the contrary. There was a young buck from the New York Times who kept harping on this one note, even after I had him talk to the highest ranking Muslim cleric there, through a translator, and the Cleric vouched for us. This reporter didn't care about all our good work - he wanted dirt. It was disgusting.

Sincerely,
Greg
Scientologist and proud of it
http://www.liveandgrow.org
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This whole dialog made me sad. We did so much good in those places. And all that reporters chose to focus on is whatever misconceived notions they carry in their heads. The one from the New York Times kept calling us "Christian Scientologists" - clearly had done no research about the subject at all.