Scary Scientology?!

Tom Cruise and Scientology 

This next post may perhaps be my post controversial as it concerns the movement known as Scientology. Until I started writing this blog I had read and knew very little about Scientology, other than the fact it involved Tom Cruise and other such famous celebrities. In this clip you can witness the very man himself talking about Scientology and how he effectively says that it is the only thing that can really help the world!

However, I wanted some more concrete answers into what the religion actually was (as I knew that there are so many rumours that go around about the religion). Therefore, I looked to what I deemed a more reliable resource for my initial answers. This online article   from The Telegraph Newspaper answers the basic questions such as - what is this religion supposedly about?! 

Having read this article a few things struck me about it. It states that members are more highly looked upon if they donate one billion dollars towards the church each year as it shows “commitment” to the church. For me this seemed a bit far-fetched. It immediately threw up the question of how can money show commitment? Money is a materialistic thing. Maybe I am mistaken but it's a bit like “give us your money and you’re in attitude”. Surely prayer, attendance at religious events and charity in the name of religion is a more outward and practical way of showing commitment. What also struck me as extreme and potentially dangerous is the fact that some members could be regarded upon more highly that others because of their financial well-being. The fundamental reason for religions is to make everyone equal in some sort of way so reading this really did alarm me. 

I then read this article which as you can see involves Scientologists believing that humans were brought to earth in a spaceship. Again, I am all for freedom of thinking but surely that is a little far-fetched??

There’s obviously a lot of material on this church, all of which I cannot fit into this one blog post! Yet, from the initial research I have done it seems that if Scientology is not monitored closely it could be endangering some people. People can believe what they like and if they want to believe in Scientology and spaceships then fine but I worry that with a church that requires vast donations from people puts the members at a high risk! How do you think we can stop or inform people of this danger?!