Mo is being very insightful today… too bad he can’t see all the implications of his wisdom. Really, is Scientology any different from Christianity or Islam?
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference. They take shunning to a higher (illegal) level than most religious cults do, as well.
Many countries have rejected their claim to be a religion. To me they are just a personality cult with overtones of organised crime.
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference.
Christian: the RC church and its systemic hiding of priests who rape altar boys.
“they are just a personality cult with overtones of organized crime.”
LOL
Sounds like the U.S. government. Only, in the case of president Cheney and his sock puppet G.W. Bush, I would say, a personality cult fronting for for their own organized crime.
JohnnieCanuck (if still around) Enlighten us on something? Do you have a religion? And, if so, do you see yourself as a possible POINT to the whole cartoon? 🙂
When someone can prove that any religion is not a superstition, I’ll
give it a thought. But, hey, I can PROVE that spitting on bait will get
a fish to bite. See, this was on the Skagit River, and we . . . .
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference.
Well, islam was founded by a a person who was basically a gangster. He ran protection rackets and had people murdered, to give just two examples.
Actually, I’m a strong atheist. There’s very little that Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers say that I find is going too far against theists. So, no I’m not the point. I just didn’t make myself clear enough.
Yes, I know, a religion is just a cult that has been around for long enough to make a claim for respect. I begrudge Scientology their claim on the respect given to religions, even though I do not have respect for any religion.
There are criminals in every large organisation and obviously when your business model involves parasites that legally take money from gullible fools in exchange for promises that will never be kept, well, watch out.
I still maintain that getting your organisation itself convicted on criminal charges puts Scientology a cut below the rest.
On the example of scientology it’s quite obvious why religious organisations should not be tax-exempt: they are all somekind of business, acctually they should be required to pay something like a “stupidity-tax” that should be used to fund public schools and universities.
I like to refer to myself as an agnostic with latent atheistic tendencies. There is no objective evidence, so the lack of thereof goes against such a being.
Observing the state of humanity, I’d say there is no god, or there is an evil god, or the universe is run by a committee of incompetent gods, none of which agree with the others. In any case, none would be worth worshiping.
Re Scientology and other religions – this does present me with a bit of a paradox. On one hand, Scientology has exactly the same amount of evidence to back it up as any other religion, but on the other hand…you can say what you like about Christianity or Islam, but at least they weren’t invented in the 1950s by a hack science-fiction author and known fantasist.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference.
Well, islam was founded by a a person who was basically a gangster. He ran protection rackets and had people murdered, to give just two examples.
Hmmmmmmm guess you don’t know as much about Islam as you think you do hun 😉 lol
actually, the same could be said about atheism. “No matter how hard others believe, as long as it’s not what you believe, it’s not true”
And before you jump to science, God is outside of scientific scrutiny. So believing in a God is purely personal.
T…..whilst you might consider belief in God to be purely personal, unfortunately many believers don’t, preferring to impose upon others throughout the world their tyrannical and oppressive views, justified by the irrational and positively dangerous scripts written by disillusional men many hundreds of years ago when we knew so much less than we do now. I know that modern secular systems are a long way from being perfect but give me an approach that relies on people having to make an effort and take responsibility for our own actions through thought, debate and discussion.
Oh, and believing in god is also incredibly weak and silly.
@Martin T: What difference does it make re: a new religion vs. an old one?
An idea isn’t more true or more venerable or more deserving of attention because it’s old.
It’s possible that a bunch of middle eastern folks were scoffing in the 600’s “Why should we listen to this illiterate shepherd who needs to be supported by his rich wife. What a delusional bum!”
Wrong ideas still catch on despite their contemporaries being in a position to witness their origins.
Author, I know I’m late to the party but I tried to watch the video only to find it 404’d. Do you know of anywhere it’s still online or has the Evil Empire erased it completely? Thanks.
Fenchurch, you make a good point. Sir Isaac’s gravity was the Very Last Word for nigh on three centuries. It is still good enough to be used for slinging Cassini’s around Titan but young Albert added a few more words to it a century back when he decided to include his relatives in Physics.
Newtonian gravity still works well for much of the cosmos, Relativity just works a little better.
Old ideas, even old ideas from revered genius figures of authority should always be subject to testing and examination.
Rubbish ideas, however, should just be thoroughly mocked and Xenu makes Winnie the Pooh seem sensible and credible.
Teralek, your bible, in more than one book if I recall correctly, commands the believers to pray quietly in a cupboard and never to proselytise. IF believers did that and never wasted vast treasures on churches and Popemobiles, I’d have no problems with them.
They don’t.
Like all (other) infectious diseases they try to pollute the entire population with their poison, harassing and harming as they do so.
It’s not the belief, it’s the belief that the belief matters.
Believing in Tinkerbell matters. Belief in anything else is wasted life.
Okay, believing in the small gods of Discworld also matters but that’s just physics.
No, I’m not spending the entire holiday weekend reading J&M. Some of it, yes, in spurts and dribs and moments when nothing else is happening but not the entire holiday weekend.
Just a lot of it.
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December 25, 2006
yeah, that’s a classic. No matter how hard others believe, as long as it’s not what you believe, it’s not true
Wow, they just keep on coming! LOL! Another keeper.
That’s the sort of argument I used to make when I was a believer. One day, however, I started thinking, and realized it applied to me as well.
[…] Update: Jesus and Mo have something to say about this video. […]
Very funny…
Then you watch this and stop laughing.
http://www.filecabi.net/video/about_scientology.html
Mo is being very insightful today… too bad he can’t see all the implications of his wisdom. Really, is Scientology any different from Christianity or Islam?
^ it does cost a lot more money…
…but otherwise no.
So then, with a grin, the pot says to the kettle:
…………………………………
http://boskolives.wordpress.com/
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference. They take shunning to a higher (illegal) level than most religious cults do, as well.
Many countries have rejected their claim to be a religion. To me they are just a personality cult with overtones of organised crime.
Well, I hope Jesus and Mo would look at the mirror and say this to themselves! Along with their respective flocks!
Christian: the RC church and its systemic hiding of priests who rape altar boys.
Muslim: Al-qaeda, for starters.
“they are just a personality cult with overtones of organized crime.”
LOL
Sounds like the U.S. government. Only, in the case of president Cheney and his sock puppet G.W. Bush, I would say, a personality cult fronting for for their own organized crime.
JohnnieCanuck (if still around) Enlighten us on something? Do you have a religion? And, if so, do you see yourself as a possible POINT to the whole cartoon? 🙂
When someone can prove that any religion is not a superstition, I’ll
give it a thought. But, hey, I can PROVE that spitting on bait will get
a fish to bite. See, this was on the Skagit River, and we . . . .
Oh, never mind.
Well, islam was founded by a a person who was basically a gangster. He ran protection rackets and had people murdered, to give just two examples.
Actually, I’m a strong atheist. There’s very little that Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers say that I find is going too far against theists. So, no I’m not the point. I just didn’t make myself clear enough.
Yes, I know, a religion is just a cult that has been around for long enough to make a claim for respect. I begrudge Scientology their claim on the respect given to religions, even though I do not have respect for any religion.
There are criminals in every large organisation and obviously when your business model involves parasites that legally take money from gullible fools in exchange for promises that will never be kept, well, watch out.
I still maintain that getting your organisation itself convicted on criminal charges puts Scientology a cut below the rest.
On the example of scientology it’s quite obvious why religious organisations should not be tax-exempt: they are all somekind of business, acctually they should be required to pay something like a “stupidity-tax” that should be used to fund public schools and universities.
Btw.: what a boring video!
I like to refer to myself as an agnostic with latent atheistic tendencies. There is no objective evidence, so the lack of thereof goes against such a being.
Observing the state of humanity, I’d say there is no god, or there is an evil god, or the universe is run by a committee of incompetent gods, none of which agree with the others. In any case, none would be worth worshiping.
And, I like the “stupidity-Tax” idea.
It could be progressive tax, with the heaviest being applied to fundamentalists. All current Bush supporters would be in the higest bracket as well.
Err . . . “highest”
Ha! Jesus and Mo are laughing at idiots, but they’re idiots, too!
And I’m laughing at them!
Wait…
I guess the only way to avoid this trap is to believe in nothing without evidence.
Re Scientology and other religions – this does present me with a bit of a paradox. On one hand, Scientology has exactly the same amount of evidence to back it up as any other religion, but on the other hand…you can say what you like about Christianity or Islam, but at least they weren’t invented in the 1950s by a hack science-fiction author and known fantasist.
January 26th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Well, I haven’t heard of any Christian or Muslim organisations getting their leaders convicted on criminal charges for running covert operations against government agencies, so there is that difference.
Well, islam was founded by a a person who was basically a gangster. He ran protection rackets and had people murdered, to give just two examples.
Hmmmmmmm guess you don’t know as much about Islam as you think you do hun 😉 lol
This one in hilarious!!
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
actually, the same could be said about atheism. “No matter how hard others believe, as long as it’s not what you believe, it’s not true”
And before you jump to science, God is outside of scientific scrutiny. So believing in a God is purely personal.
T…..whilst you might consider belief in God to be purely personal, unfortunately many believers don’t, preferring to impose upon others throughout the world their tyrannical and oppressive views, justified by the irrational and positively dangerous scripts written by disillusional men many hundreds of years ago when we knew so much less than we do now. I know that modern secular systems are a long way from being perfect but give me an approach that relies on people having to make an effort and take responsibility for our own actions through thought, debate and discussion.
Oh, and believing in god is also incredibly weak and silly.
@Martin T: What difference does it make re: a new religion vs. an old one?
An idea isn’t more true or more venerable or more deserving of attention because it’s old.
It’s possible that a bunch of middle eastern folks were scoffing in the 600’s “Why should we listen to this illiterate shepherd who needs to be supported by his rich wife. What a delusional bum!”
Wrong ideas still catch on despite their contemporaries being in a position to witness their origins.
Author, I know I’m late to the party but I tried to watch the video only to find it 404’d. Do you know of anywhere it’s still online or has the Evil Empire erased it completely? Thanks.
Fenchurch, you make a good point. Sir Isaac’s gravity was the Very Last Word for nigh on three centuries. It is still good enough to be used for slinging Cassini’s around Titan but young Albert added a few more words to it a century back when he decided to include his relatives in Physics.
Newtonian gravity still works well for much of the cosmos, Relativity just works a little better.
Old ideas, even old ideas from revered genius figures of authority should always be subject to testing and examination.
Rubbish ideas, however, should just be thoroughly mocked and Xenu makes Winnie the Pooh seem sensible and credible.
Teralek, your bible, in more than one book if I recall correctly, commands the believers to pray quietly in a cupboard and never to proselytise. IF believers did that and never wasted vast treasures on churches and Popemobiles, I’d have no problems with them.
They don’t.
Like all (other) infectious diseases they try to pollute the entire population with their poison, harassing and harming as they do so.
It’s not the belief, it’s the belief that the belief matters.
Believing in Tinkerbell matters. Belief in anything else is wasted life.
Okay, believing in the small gods of Discworld also matters but that’s just physics.
No, I’m not spending the entire holiday weekend reading J&M. Some of it, yes, in spurts and dribs and moments when nothing else is happening but not the entire holiday weekend.
Just a lot of it.
I do get up to eat …