(April 20, 2014 at 5:24 pm)Tiberius Wrote: No they don't. If the author had done even one iota of research into the "cult" charges, he would have understood that they stem from the shit like the signing of billion year contracts, the oppression of members of the "Sea Org", the policy of "disconnection" from family members not in Scientology, and the disappearances and murders of Scientology members who showed signs of disobedience or tried to escape. Y'know, the kind of behaviour you only find in cults...Or how about telling people to ignore advice given by medical doctors? There are three GP's in my congregation and I'm sure if someone from the congregation asked them about a medical matter they'd probably offer to say a quick prayer in addition to providing proper medical advice (in fact I know of this happening at least once when one parishioner collapsed and had to be taken to the hospital while at a church service - one of the physicians from our parish gave them immediate medical assistance before the ambulance arrived and went with him to the hospital - I think the priest is the one who said the prayer, but it could well have been the physician and it wouldn't have changed the level of medical expertise), but no Christian would tell someone to ignore the advice of their doctor because it "conflicts with beliefs".
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
