Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Some Questions
From: mparikh@uceng.UC.EDU (Mehul Parikh)
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 00:52:25 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati

Hello Again!

I got some good response from my previous posting. Thanks to all.

I received a brochure from the local Church of Scientology. It  is called:
Scientology: Results and successes "Improving life in a troubled world".

I am not going to quote a lot, but here are some of the eye-catching titles:

"L. Ron Bubbard: One of the most acclaimed and iwdely read authors of all time"
(Does this count include his sci-fi books? Did Scientology evolve from one
of his sci-fi books? How did this originate?)

"What is scientology: It is an applied religious philosophy. ... The application
of Scientology principles can improve your confidence, intelligence, abilities,
and skills - which adds up to a happier, more capable and successful you!...
Scientology  technology can enable you to effectively resolve problems that you
could not previously handle. It can restore your ability to improve conditions
which you may once have considered hopeless... With Scientoloy, you can attain
greater personal freedom and improve life in today's troubled world."

"Improving life in a troubled world: (with a picture of 6 young (20-something),
happy-looking people smiling for the camera) It has narrations of people
from various parts of the world (mainly USA, Canada, and most others from the
prosperous European countries) who all claim that they benefitted from the
Scientology principles."

"Living  a drug-free life (Now, here's something I always wondered about. Is
the main emphasis on detoxification for any Scientologist? I have received
numerous brochures from Scientology Church here, that talk about helping
people get rid of effects of drugs (legal and illegal). 

My question is: How does Scientology work to rid the body of these drugs? 

I mean, I might have popped 100s of Tylenols (TM) so far. Is the cumulative 
bad effect serious enough to warrant a Scientology cleansing course?)
 
The Purification rundown article has testimony of people (10 of them) out
of which 9 talk about their previous use of illegal drugs. Does this mean
that drug-free life : Purification Rundown is made to be an all-encompassing
therapy, but mainly (OR originally) intended for getting rid of illegal 
drugs (or effects thereof)? 

Another question: One takes (out of necessity) a lot of prescription medicines
during the course of one's life. Does the Purification Rundown work to rid
of those taken in the past? OR does one go thro it again and again as the
body gets more medicines? 

I wonder, how effective it can be, considering the variety of medicines and 
side-effects. Some side-effects (as I know it) are irreversible."

One more question: I was told that for the first session, it takes 2 people
(you and your friend) to help each other. For this the Church charges $200.00.
If 2 outsiders do the job, why does the Church expect a service fee? I don't
think the material costs more than 10 bucks (2 books). 

I must emphasize, that I am not biased for/against the church. I am curious.
And, I never seem to run out of questions.

Thanks for reading so far! :)

-M. Parikh

Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.recovery