Don't Ask, I'll Tell

My coworker and I were talking today while manning our kids in the activity climber gym about Scientology. A big part of me expects this to be a joke put on by some sort of Moose Head Lodge VFW set in Hollywood. If you're a big celebrity you can join in on the fun, screwing with the public to show how organized religions start. If not, I wonder if the way we think about Scientology today is the same as how people thought Christianity to be 2000 years ago.

When I ask people this they usually respond right away with "No. I don't think so. I think they're different."

Are they? I'm a firm believer in the teachings of Christ. I do believe he was a real person, a teacher. A guru. I think we have a lot to learn by his teachings. But I don't subscribe to the Christian doctrine as told by the church.

I feel that church bashing is trite and overdone on blogs and throughout pop culture, so I don't want to get too too into it here. I definitely have my reservations about it, and from time to time I'll voice my opinions once in a while. But I've been doing it for so long, and I feel that writing my anti-organized religious rants in prose is about as useless as trying to convert a devout conservative Republican into a liberal Democrat in one sitting. It's a 99.9% losing streak for making the opposite side listen. And here's my reasoning:

What makes me any better than the other side of the argument? Who cares? If it makes you happy, so be it.

When you're threatened, or have a group going to battle against another klan, then we can start getting into arguments. But this, again, is middle school logic. It's a no brainer.

But ask yourself the question: could Scientology be the "2000 Years Later" equivalent to Christianity? Islam? Buddhism? Scientology sounds ridiculous and outright stupid to most of us, what with aliens dropping souls into volcanoes and whatnot. 2000 years ago, did walking on water sound ridiculous? Water into wine? Raising the dead?

I'm not taking sides with this question. I'm actually trying to imagine both sides of the coin. Could Scientology have some credibility (Hubbard didn't do a good job of putting a good face on his religion after stealing umpteen amounts of money from his own church way back when, though. Kinda makes you wonder what his motivation was for starting the craze.)? Is it too novel for us to comprehend? Was the brain behind Christianity also a thief to some degree of his own church? I happen to believe in some of the "miracles" pertaining to the lore of Jesus, Lazareth, Swami's the world over, so Christianity has some cred in that regard, for me. Scientology has some whacked out miracles as well. Is Coldplay really THAT bad of a band, or am I being swept up in the mainstream hate brigade (I happen to like "Parachutes" and "A Rush of Blood to the Head")?

This is what my brain goes through when some of those BIG debates come to fruition. The devil's advocate never fails to show up.

At the same time, I think that credit or not, the Hollywood infatuation with Scientology is getting a little scary. Watching the notorious Today Show interview between Matt Lauer and Tom Cruise during his "War of the Worlds" press tour makes me wonder how brainwashed some of these celebrities are. It's a confusing topic. It's interesting, but it freaks me out at the same time.


In all honesty, if someone asked me "Do you believe in Scientology? How about Christianity?" I'd say flat out "No". But that doesn't mean that I don't believe in the ideals that they preach and strive toward. Yet, at the same time, I also believe in some of the Third Reich's ideals, Communist ideals, Socialist ideals, Democratic ideals.

The ultimate answer: if something's organized, it's most likely plagued with corruption. Disorganized? No problem!

This is why my room is a complete disaster and mess. When people say I should clean it, I use the body of this blog entry in my retort. They usually go away with a "Sorry I mentioned it" look on their smug faces.

Assholes.

Coldplay -- "Violet Hill"