Mark Oppenheimer at Slate has an article about Scientology where he writes that while it’s strange beyond belief, it’s not very different from other faiths:
And everything of which Scientology is accused is an exaggerated form of what more “normal” religions do. Does Scientology charge money for services? Yes—but the average Mormon, tithing 10 percent annually, pays more money to his church than all but the most committed Scientologists pay to theirs. Jews buying “tickets” to high-holiday services can easily part with thousands of dollars a year per family. Is Scientology authoritarian and cultlike? Yes—but mainly at the higher levels, which is true of many religions. There may be pressure for members of Scientology’s elite “Sea Organization” not to drop out, but pressure is also placed on Catholics who may want to leave some cloistered orders. Does Scientology embrace pseudoscience? Absolutely—but its “engrams” and “E-meter” are no worse than what’s propagated by your average Intelligent Design enthusiast. In fact, its very silliness makes it less pernicious.
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But good taste, as art critic Dave Hickey says, is just the residue of someone else’s privilege. Catholicism has its Gothic cathedrals, Judaism its timeless Torah scrolls. Scientology is brand-new, but it has played an impressive game of catch-up. In its drive to be a major world religion, it will inevitably go through a period when its absurdities and missteps are glaringly apparent. But someday it will be old and prosaic, and there may still be Scientologists. And when some of those Scientologists embezzle, lie, and steal—as they surely will—they’ll seem no worse than Christians, Jews, or Muslims who have done the same.
[tags]atheism, atheist, Mark Oppenheimer, Scientology, Slate[/tags]
