Responsible for deaths...say Hitler. Both Hitler and Elron are convenient proxies for the phenomena they presided over. Neither was able to operate without a round table of of like-minded councillors. But neither will get a bye from history. Yet, isn't it true that Scientology is more aggressive now than it was with Elron at the helm?
Constitutional recognition of religion didn't help the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord or the Branch Davidians. If you're doing something illegal the feds consider they have every right to shut you down, and will, even if it leads to a national fiasco on TV. But the Scientologists prefer lawyers to guns so I take it Uncle Sam has had less incentive to investigate, and wouldn't get as far if they did pursue a case.
Most attempts to start a cult fail. Most cults that do succeed in getting off the ground die with their founder. Only rare ones like the LDS and the Church of Scientology seem on their way to becoming permanent, mainstream institutions, with the Mormons a lot farther along the path to respectability.
I don't really buy the mind control thing as sold by professional cult deprogrammers. I can even understand, to some extent, Scientology's aversion to psychiatry because much of what we have for theory in psychology remains contestable: We still have therapists who believe in Freud's Oedipal complex. We get properly credentialed practitioners who wrap teens in "primal birthing" blankets and sit atop them until they smother to death. Mental health drugs have dangerous side effects yet patients aren't monitored closely to see if their meds are harming their bodies. It is possible to get so steeped in something that your mind does get warped. But I doubt this happens without the victim's cooperation, outside extreme cases such as POW camps or Jim Jones's People's Temple in Guyana.
Constitutional recognition of religion didn't help the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord or the Branch Davidians. If you're doing something illegal the feds consider they have every right to shut you down, and will, even if it leads to a national fiasco on TV. But the Scientologists prefer lawyers to guns so I take it Uncle Sam has had less incentive to investigate, and wouldn't get as far if they did pursue a case.
(April 16, 2015 at 2:34 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: Why is the ground fertile for any cult? ... As for people who seem to have their wits about them and still choose to join: mind control techniques can be powerful.
Most attempts to start a cult fail. Most cults that do succeed in getting off the ground die with their founder. Only rare ones like the LDS and the Church of Scientology seem on their way to becoming permanent, mainstream institutions, with the Mormons a lot farther along the path to respectability.
I don't really buy the mind control thing as sold by professional cult deprogrammers. I can even understand, to some extent, Scientology's aversion to psychiatry because much of what we have for theory in psychology remains contestable: We still have therapists who believe in Freud's Oedipal complex. We get properly credentialed practitioners who wrap teens in "primal birthing" blankets and sit atop them until they smother to death. Mental health drugs have dangerous side effects yet patients aren't monitored closely to see if their meds are harming their bodies. It is possible to get so steeped in something that your mind does get warped. But I doubt this happens without the victim's cooperation, outside extreme cases such as POW camps or Jim Jones's People's Temple in Guyana.
