From: pae@teal.csn.org (Phil Earnhardt)
Subject: Re: The latest
Summary: David's right about one thing: it's time the TRUTH got out.
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 00:20:16 GMT

In article <pjf=3R#@engin.umich.edu> davidb@engin.umich.edu (David Bonnell) writes:
>As always Scientology is still booming across the planet.

Back in <TdV=KwA@engin.umich.edu> you said:

>[...] why [Scientology] is the fastest growing religion in the world [...]

I requested you back up that statement:

>If you know that it's the fastest, you must also know what religion
>is the second-fastest-growing. Which religion is that? What are the
>top-10 fastest-growing religions? And the amount of growth of each
>(and the time period that was used for measurment).
>
>And, as always, what are your sources?

Could you provide us this information? Should we infer by your "still booming"
claim above that it's now *not* "the fastest growing religion?"

>There are now over 16,000,000 Dianetics books sold and the fastest growing
>areas are in Japan and in Germany.

The Time article reports that B.Daltons workers were astonished to find books
from Bridge Publications coming in with price tags already on them! In other
words, at least some fraction of those books were sold again and again.

Do you deny that this ever happened?

Also, could you tell us what sort of advertising budget has been spent for
Dianetics? Is it, perhaps, more than has been spent advertising any book?

>There are many, many many more people using Scientology everyday including:

Then why can't we find a single person out there who's willing to answer our
questions in this newsgroup?  For that matter, why can't you answer the
questions that we ask of you? And exactly what was the "big suprise" you 
claimed was going to happen last month?

>Scientology literally comes from the words Scio, know, logos, the word
>or outward form by which the inward thought is expressed and made known.
>Thus, Scientology means knowing about knowing (P141 What is Scientology?)

That's what we'd like to know about! So far, the Scientologists posting to
this group have not shown us this "knowing about knowing." They avoid
answering questions. They agree to provide information to this newsgroup and 
don't ever provide it. They drop out of the discussion, leaving more questions
unanswered than before they step in.

>Scientology makes the able more able.    

From what I've seen here, Scientology disables people's ability to answer
questions. I challenge you: prove this wrong!

>In 1987 the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in 1987 that an
>estimated 94,485 Americans were admitted to hospitals or morgues because of
>drug related emergencies.  Nearly 25% of these - 22,944 - were related to
>psychiatric drugs.
>
>There is a new booklet called The Rise of Senseless Violence In Society:
>Psychiatry's Role in the Creation of Crime that is published and enroute
>to all leading governmental officials in the United States.  It was made
>possible by a grant from the International Association of Scientologists.

Does this booklet have anything to do with The National Institute on Drug
Abuse? What was the point of quoting the organization? From here, it looks
like an attempt to gain credibility for the booklet by an [implied]
association with a federal agency.

>It's time the TRUTH got out.

Exactly. That's why we have FAQs. And why we're intensely curious why
the Scientologists in this group are ignoring them.

It is time the TRUTH got out.

>Now over half the libraries in the United States have the new What is
>Scientology? on their shelves. It is the complete reference on Scientology.

Could you demonstrate this claim to us? Does the book address each and every
question asked in the FAQ? If yes, could you provide us with the answers? If
not, why not?

--phil