Religious Freedom Watch

I was not prompted to make a blog entry when I observed the reaction of Scientologists to the hideous Anonymous harassment I just posted about, in which they seemed to genuinely believe critics still indulge in the type of forcible deprogramming depicted in the deprogramming manual.

However, I was prompted to do it when I read this blog entry, because the two situations are very similar.

It surprised me to see this entry because the Life Repairman has been blogging for quite a while now... I thought he would be more knowledgeable about criticism. Yet, he only now discovers a site that existed for years already, and he is quite stunned by it. Of course, he does not realize that almost for sure, that web site is created and maintained by the CoS.

What is more, he actually beliefs that critics are really the way they are being depicted in this web site, and of course he is horrified:

These scumbags are the lowest of low. The crimes many of these wackos are accused of include kidnapping, child molestation, theft, extortion, copyright infringement, stalking, drunk driving, frivolous lawsuits, harassment, forgery, embezzlement, to name a few.

Then, he of course falls in precisely what the CoS wants him to believe:

EVERY negative or crazy sounding rumor (all lies) about Scientology or L. Ron Hubbard on the Internet was started and spread by one or more of the criminals exposed on this site.

And now see how reading the kind of (xenu.net) horror stories critics run against Scientology (in the same spirit and manner the CoS run its horror stories against critics), just confirms him in his belief that the CoS is right regarding critics:

Every one of the usual negative rumors I've ever seen on the Internet about Scientology was either a flat out lie, or was something completely normal that was twisted and slanted to sound crazy and weird.

We are in a situation similar to what I wrote in my Deprogramming Manual blog entry above, in which critics are demonized by the CoS, and in which critics, by their own beligerent attitude, confirm Scientologists in the depiction made of them by the CoS.

Not that what either side say about the other is necessarily false. It may have a basis of truth, and sometimes more than just a basis, but eventually each side end up demonizing the other to the point that it completely distords reality.

This is the tragedy of the Scientology controversy, and why we see so much ugliness on each side.