From: houle@nmt.edu (Paul Houle)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Ending scientology
Date: 11 Dec 92 16:09:09 GMT
Organization: New Mexico Tech

In article <schafmei.724038030@sfu.ca> schafmei@fraser.sfu.ca (Chris Schafmeister) writes:

>What kinds of laws or programs could be created
>that would limit the damage done to society by these
>cults?

	As much as one might despite the Church of Spiritual Technology or
the International Soceity for Krishna Conciousness or the Children of God
or any other such group,  we need to remember that many of today's well-
respected religious traditions aso have a dark history.  Jesus Christ
was not well regarded by governmental authorities.  In fact,  we really
don't know all that much about what happened around Jesus,  if we realize
that the books of the Bible are not only contradictory but are also probably
revisionist to some extent.  Similarly,  Mohammad ran into resistance from
various authorities as well as Martin Luther and groups such as the Quakers.

	Well-respected religions also have done some pretty bad things
historically.  Think of the Christians burning the library of Alexandria,
or all of the hate between different factions of muslims.

>My own ideas are the following:
>
>Cults need a constant influx of mostly young people.
>Older people are probably wiser or too set in their ways
>to be seduced by glitzy advertising.

	Well,  young people are particularly vulnerable,  because people do
tend to go through several life crisises as young adults,  but so are
people at any crisis point in life.  After the death of a spouse,  or in
mid-life crisis or very old age are points where people are vulnerable.
For instance,  Lyndon LaRouche's political cult was famous for preying on
old,  rich,  widows.  Of course,  he wouldn't try to make them join the
movement,  only get them to give money because "The Reagan Revolution is
in trouble..."

>Also, most people who work within cults should eventually
>learn that they aren't getting anything worthwile and
>drop out or they become too poor to continue.

	This is very true,  and it's why cults really aren't as dangerous as
some people think -- Yes,  a few people do get seriously mentally injured
and physically hurt (or die) as a result of cults,  but the majority of
people who enter cults eventually do leave.  The main "brainwashing" technique
used by cults is to surround members with other members all the time.  The
Hare Krishna people do this in a crude way by having them all live together,
whereas the Scientologists do this by filling people's heads with weird ideas
and vocabulary so that pretty soon the only people that they can talk to
are other Scientologists.  Sooner or later,  most people do "burn out" and
end up leaving and hanging out with ordinary people again and they recover.


>Maybe if a law were created that prevented religious
>organizations from contacting ex-members,
>ex-members might be more willing to speak up against
>cults.
>This might accelerate the dissolution of the cult.

	This reminds me of how my mother still receives a book every year
from the local Polish catholic church back home that lists how much everybody
donated to the church.  She hasn't been to the church in years.  Similarly,
the Catholic church considers my (late) father to be a Catholic,  even though
he also has nothing to do with the church.

>Or perhaps we need a 'Better Religion Bureau' where
>complaints can be made against religious organizations
>the same way people can complain about businesses,
>doctors, police, etc.
>
>Anybody else have ideas?

	Cults actually are less harmful than alot of things.  Much of the
explosion in cults in the early 1970's came from the collapse of the Haight-
Ashbury culture.  Although psychedelic drugs are used by cultures all over
the world as part of a coming-of-age process for adolescents,  much of the
uncontrolled experimentation in conciousness (and the rest of the stuff
going down) produced alot of people who were not really ready yet to
function in the world.  So,  these people end up inside these alternate
social groups (cults) that probably actually did do some people some good,
since they might have starved to death otherwise.

	The only real answer to cults is to innoculate people with healthy
skepticism.  

-- 
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology