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News & ArtsMonday, October 26, 2009
Media / Religion "I am only ashamed that I waited this many months to act. I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology."
Posted by David Schmader on Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Better late than never: Crash director Paul Haggis resigns from the Church of Scientology, officially citing the Church's support of California's anti-gay Proposition 8. From Haggis' letter to national Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis, published in full at the Village Voice:
You....allowed [Scientology] to be allied with the worst elements of the Christian Right. In order to contain a potential "PR flap" you allowed our sponsorship of Proposition 8 to stand. Despite all the church's words about promoting freedom and human rights, its name is now in the public record alongside those who promote bigotry and intolerance, homophobia and fear. The fact that the Mormon Church drew all the fire, that no one noticed, doesn't matter. I noticed. And I felt sick. I wondered how the church could, in good conscience, through the action of a few and then the inaction of its leadership, support a bill that strips a group of its civil rights.
Read Paul Haggis' full letter—which moves from eloquent denunciations of Prop 8 to fascinating revelations about the Church's creepiest practices—here.
Then enjoy this hilarious video of Scientology spokesmodel Tommy Davis storming out of an ABC interview because answering questions about the religion he represents is too embarrassing.
Thanks for the heads-up, MetaFilter.
1
That's all very nice and all, but, um this "church" was created by a science fiction writer.
The fact that this guy stayed with the church for 35 years doesn't say much for his sanity.
I really cannot take him or Scientology seriously.
The fact that this guy stayed with the church for 35 years doesn't say much for his sanity.
I really cannot take him or Scientology seriously.
2
I really can't take this passionate_jus (@1) person seriously.
I mean, its nice and all that he can't believe that somebody else doesn't think the exact same way as he does, but the fact is that his ignorance of differing modes of belief is stupid.
I cannot take somebody who cannot take somebody else seriously for the second somebody giving up on a religion that the second somebody wasn't the closest practitioner of after that religion seemingly lied and went against something the second somebody cared about. The first somebody (passionate_jus) is a thick-headed as those still left in the CoS.
(Satire? amidoinitrite?)
I mean, its nice and all that he can't believe that somebody else doesn't think the exact same way as he does, but the fact is that his ignorance of differing modes of belief is stupid.
I cannot take somebody who cannot take somebody else seriously for the second somebody giving up on a religion that the second somebody wasn't the closest practitioner of after that religion seemingly lied and went against something the second somebody cared about. The first somebody (passionate_jus) is a thick-headed as those still left in the CoS.
(Satire? amidoinitrite?)
5
All religions believe in crazy shit... hell, it's the FOUNDATION of all religions to believe in crazy shit.
Scifientology, chrisianity, mormon-christianity, muslims, jews, the greek gods, the norse gods, etc., etc., etc.... It's all the same thing, just different ways of believing it.
Scifientology, chrisianity, mormon-christianity, muslims, jews, the greek gods, the norse gods, etc., etc., etc.... It's all the same thing, just different ways of believing it.
6
@2, a person is not "thick-headed" just because they dismiss another person's crazy beliefs. One can believe crazy stuff, but I must consider that person's lack of critical reasoning when judging whether or not to take that person's comments seriously.
Just because they believe does not mean I must respect it. Scientology is based on craziness and I give that person as much weight as I do a right-winger like Rush Limbaugh.
Just because they believe does not mean I must respect it. Scientology is based on craziness and I give that person as much weight as I do a right-winger like Rush Limbaugh.
7
The thing is, any Christian fundie or evangelical would answer questions about his/her faith, not storm off saying questions are offensive.
8
7; Exactly. A real religion would never waste an opportunity to share facts about its beliefs on national television. A secret-obsessed cult, however, will.
9
@7 has it right. Scientologists drill on questions and answers about the cult, and when Scientologists are confronted with question or thought that they haven't been drilled on, it causes them anxiety which makes them feel like they are being "suppressed" - the way they "handle" "suppressive persons" is to walk away.
The higher the OT level, the more "handling tech" you learn. Watch Tom Cruise in interviews, he does a lot of staring directly into people eyes and fake laughing incongruous to the questions asked to disarm his interviewer.
I hate myself for knowing this stuff, but I found a bunch of Scientology books at a 2nd hand bookstore years ago and read them - they were full of batshit insane exercises and "tech." They were meant for cult members who were Clear, so they were starting OT levels, but hadn't hit the "Wall of Fire" yet. Not available to the general public.
The higher the OT level, the more "handling tech" you learn. Watch Tom Cruise in interviews, he does a lot of staring directly into people eyes and fake laughing incongruous to the questions asked to disarm his interviewer.
I hate myself for knowing this stuff, but I found a bunch of Scientology books at a 2nd hand bookstore years ago and read them - they were full of batshit insane exercises and "tech." They were meant for cult members who were Clear, so they were starting OT levels, but hadn't hit the "Wall of Fire" yet. Not available to the general public.
11
The one big difference between Scientology & Christianity: There is no morality in Scientology. Not one bit. Zero. Nada. Everything else flows from that, like their "fair game" policy for dealinjg with those who speak out publicly against COS.
12
I think a lot of Scientologists spokespeople are stuck between a rock and a hard place with all this Xenu stuff.
They KNOW how ridiculous the idea sounds and are fully aware that they'll be be laughed at hysterically if they ever "come out" and unapologetically say they believe in the Xenu story. Sure, it's no weirder deep down than a lot of standard religious beliefs, but for whatever reason stories about aliens and galactic criminals conjure up a laughable images of impotent geeks rather than solemn visions of bearded sages or scary fanatics.
On the other hand, scientology spokespeople can't DENY the Xenu story because it's so deeply embedded in their founding documents and so many high-level, high-paying Scientologists have already been told about it.
So instead they have to waffle about offensiveness without ever saying, "no, of course I don't believe that."
Eventually, they'll come up with something similar to what the Mormons did with Joseph Smith's proclamation that people lived on the moon: it was just his own personal opinion, not a religious revelation. The whole Xenu story will turn out to be an "allegory" or "speculation" by Hubbard that doesn't actually make it literally true, blah blah, must remain open to the message, blah blah, how can we really be sure either way, blah blah blah.
They KNOW how ridiculous the idea sounds and are fully aware that they'll be be laughed at hysterically if they ever "come out" and unapologetically say they believe in the Xenu story. Sure, it's no weirder deep down than a lot of standard religious beliefs, but for whatever reason stories about aliens and galactic criminals conjure up a laughable images of impotent geeks rather than solemn visions of bearded sages or scary fanatics.
On the other hand, scientology spokespeople can't DENY the Xenu story because it's so deeply embedded in their founding documents and so many high-level, high-paying Scientologists have already been told about it.
So instead they have to waffle about offensiveness without ever saying, "no, of course I don't believe that."
Eventually, they'll come up with something similar to what the Mormons did with Joseph Smith's proclamation that people lived on the moon: it was just his own personal opinion, not a religious revelation. The whole Xenu story will turn out to be an "allegory" or "speculation" by Hubbard that doesn't actually make it literally true, blah blah, must remain open to the message, blah blah, how can we really be sure either way, blah blah blah.
13
12: I wonder how much of Davis' squirming is fueled by "I'm not allowed to tell you about Xenu unless you pay for the knowledge!" Just spilling the beans on TV cuts down their ability to sell the higher-level "secrets"....
15
@13, precisely. Scientology is a sales scheme above all else.
But it does seem like Miscavage's empire is starting to crack. How long before the suicide pact and the 2,000 dead bodies at the compound?
But it does seem like Miscavage's empire is starting to crack. How long before the suicide pact and the 2,000 dead bodies at the compound?
16
I think the thing that sets LDS and COS apart from more conventional religions isn't that their foundational stories are so weird, but that they are so recent. Given 'em 500 years and their stories won't seem especially bizarre next to the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac because God double-dog-dared him to... As for the founder of COS being a science fiction writer, well hey, you don't get to be the founder of a worldwide religion by being, so to speak, a saint.
17
Really? He left the COS after so long because of THAT? How about when they told him to "disconnect" from his wife? Priorities, man.
18
Not Paul Haggis. I wish I could pick and choose those with whom I want to publicly align. God, Haggis is an asshat.
19
Scientology helped his career. Now that he's made his pile of dough, he can tell them to take a hike, provided he endears himself to Hollywood's non-Scientologists by appearing to do it for altruistic (and PC) reasons.
20
Marriage reflects the natural moral and social law evidenced the world over. As the late British social anthropologist Joseph Daniel Unwin noted in his study of world civilizations, any society that devalued the nuclear family soon lost what he called "expansive energy," which might best be summarized as society's will to make things better for the next generation. In fact, no society that has loosened sexual morality outside of man-woman marriage has survived.
Analyzing studies of cultures spanning several thousands of years on several continents, Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin found that virtually all political revolutions that brought about societal collapse were preceded by a sexual revolution in which marriage and family were devalued by the culture’s acceptance of homosexuality.
When marriage loses its unique status, women and children most frequently are the direct victims. Giving same-sex relationships or out-of-wedlock heterosexual couples the same special status and benefits as the marital bond would not be the expansion of a right but the destruction of a principle. . If the one-man/one-woman definition of marriage is broken, there is no logical stopping point for continuing the assault on marriage.
Analyzing studies of cultures spanning several thousands of years on several continents, Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin found that virtually all political revolutions that brought about societal collapse were preceded by a sexual revolution in which marriage and family were devalued by the culture’s acceptance of homosexuality.
When marriage loses its unique status, women and children most frequently are the direct victims. Giving same-sex relationships or out-of-wedlock heterosexual couples the same special status and benefits as the marital bond would not be the expansion of a right but the destruction of a principle. . If the one-man/one-woman definition of marriage is broken, there is no logical stopping point for continuing the assault on marriage.
21
ok, he gets kudos to sticking it to the Scientologists but it took him 35 years to do it...lame.
also, Crash is the worst movie in the history of cinema.
also, Crash is the worst movie in the history of cinema.
22
Bot, quoting a notoriously homophobic and religious crazy like the 74 years dead "Joseph Daniel Unwin", who wasn't even relevant in his own lifetime, is a REALLLY big fail in the "I am using fake science to conceal my own bigotry" category. But thanks for playing! Here is your years supply of Turtle Wax. Now go play with yourself. At least you will be doing something useful.
24
Scientology has never been and is not against homosexuals and supports their rights just as anyone else's. Given that, the big question is: why did Haggis bother to make such show-down out of his choice to sever his ties to the Church of Scientology (after several years of inactivity, as he admits)? Guesses, anyone?
25
Effing leotard. But really, the question was wrong. Everyone knows Xenu put the aliens in the volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs - he didn't bury them in the volcanoes! No wonder why the guy ran away.
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