Christianity is the same as Scientology

[Anomalocaris]

I voted "no" to the question as asked. The only difference between a "cult" and a "religion" that the word "cult" is never used in 1st person to describe one's own religion.


That said, some religions/cults are more dangerous than others. Christianity will only take 10%. Scientology will take 100% and bond you into labor for a billion years. 

Christianity will bond you for an eternity.   

The reason why Christianity wisely settled for 10% and Scientology is foolish enough to demand 100% is simply this:

Christianity had long reached the stage where it customarily dominated the entire society that it had parasitized.   Within its reach there are therefore typically not a great amount of virgin territory to exploit for its effective aggrandizement.  Therefore its own survival became more highly dependent upon the strength and competitiveness the portion of host society it had already parasitized.    Consequently it was necessary for chritianity to be mindful of the fact the society it parasitized needs effective investment in its own continued productivity  if Christianity itself were to survive and prosper.  Hence for its own longterm interest chritistinaity learned to rein in its own extortionist Cupidity and settle for 10%.

Scientology is still a virulent cult at the beginning of its existence, and had minimal penetration into its host society.   Most of the society is still virgin territory.   Its own aggrandizement still lies in squeezing every drop of sweat and blood out of its parasitized hosts in order for its to better arm and equip itself for further penetration into virgin territory.

[Alex K]

I went with (3) as the closest to "can't tell in current context."
With answers in the back of my head from a solid 'yes' to a solid 'no' depending on interpretation of the question which I found insufficiently precise.
does 'same' mean:
identical?
equivalent?
equal?
tactically similar?
sort-of alike?
uses some of the same letters in the name?

The question and the poll are willfully badly formed because there is no way one can even begin to capture the issue by selecting a few options, and I hate surveys which break down complex issues down until the answers are meaningless without context. I'd rather hear your answer to a version of the question which seems most meaningful to you.

[Aractus]

Chuck, no the reason Christians tithe is because they lifted it from Mosaic law (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:26; Deuteronomy 14:24; 2 Chronicles 31:5). Many Christians, including myself when I was one, disagreed with that on the basis that the New Testament does not ever suggest a legalistic tithing system (1 Corinthians 16:2, 2 Corinthians 9:7, etc.)

[Polaris]

Christianity was once a cult and is now a religion. It all depends on the level of support a faith receives in a society.

[Fake Messiah]

Let's try to compare Scientology with Christianity and what is usually said by Christians.

- their god and mythology is obviously fake
But can you prove it? Can you prove Xenu never existed?

- they believe in nonsense.
I don't see how believing in Xenu is more nonsense then one man putting all animals in one boat and holding them closed for over a year. Or that a virgin gave birth to some guy that could do cheap tricks. And that every year a cup of blood gets liquefied if people pray enough.

- their holy book is stupid
Few Christians read Bible from start to finish. It's long, confusing, much of it is boring, and some parts are painfully tedious to get through. King James version is written in seventeenth-century English, which is pretty much a foreign language to most English-speaking people today. Even more troubling for would-be readers, the Bible contains numerous stories and laws that hopelessly contradict the popular image of Christianity as a religion that is about morality, peace, and love.

- they make it hard for you to leave Scientology
It's also not a pretty picture when Christians leave their faith in places like the Bible belt. We all saw how they get stigmatized as seduced by the devil, marriages frequently break and leavers get isolated by their families and friends. In fact there are many people pretend to be Christians just to avoid conflict with their parents, family and people around.

- it costs a lot of money to be Scientologist
Yes I guess that would be the biggest difference. LR Hubbard invented it to make money and is totally opposite to Jesus's ideology who was one of the most anti-capitalist thinkers this side of Karl Marx. Yet, most Christians are capitalists. What gives?
We find him telling wannabe followers to sell all their possessions and give the money to the poor, so it would be easy to conclude that most Christians live by making vows of poverty and shunning wealth like the plague. But that's not quite the way things play out.

Many Catholics had maintained a theology frowning on accumulation of wealth, but simply had chosen to ignore it in practice. Plenty of Protestants, instead, decided to feel better about the whole thing and banish hypocrisy by reinventing the economic ideology of Christianity. First step, conveniently skip the many, many passages mentioned about being poor. Second step, was to focus instead on the biblical passages (mostly in the Old Testament) approving of wealth. Step three was to argue that since nothing in the world happens without God willing it, economic success (or the lack of thereof) is a quantifiable way to judge how much God does or does not favor you.

Voila! The tables are turned and suddenly the obsession for money making has been recycled as a perfectly acceptable Christian endeavor. In the theology endorsed by some Christians accumulating wealth is not only justifiable but almost a Christian duty since material prosperity is God's reward for His faithful followers. The obvious upshot is that if you are poor, instead, it is probably because God hates your guts.

So to me the true difference is that Scientologists are honest, they tell you they want your money; while christians constantly wave with passages of being poor their Bibles but accumulate wealth nevertheless and their churches don't pay taxes. I mean "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Benjamin Franklin was a politician, not to mention non-believer.

[Isis]

[Alex K]

I did not fucking remember that I started that thread. Ok I vaguely remember it now.

[Catholic_Lady]

I've watched many Scientology documentaries. As a Christian, I cannot relate at all to what those ex Scientologists describe their experience was in scientology.

[Aroura]

In a general sense, they are the same. All of Christianity is cultism.  I actually felt this way even when I was a practicing Christian myself, though it was one of the realizations that started me on the path of questioning it all.

Different sects of Christianity vary widely in practices and beliefs.  Some are equally totalitarian (the ones that won't allow modern treatment for illness and disease, for instance, and groups that live in segregated communities, like Mormons, Mennonites, and some Seventh Day Adventists.

If you look back through history, you can even mainstream Christianity was extremely "evil" cultlike and harsh. Excommunicating or outright killing heretics and unbelievers.
I varies based on era, sect, and location, but ALL Abrahamic religions are cults.  Not all are equally harmful to members or to outsiders, but not all cults are harmful.  

They absolutely control their members, and although many are to a lesser degree than Scientology, they all practice some form of disinheriting/rejecting family members and friends who refuse to conform to the core beliefs and practices.

[Jesster]

Yes and no.

I think the beliefs of Scientology and Christianity are just as wacky. People don't usually have the same reaction to Christianity because it has become the norm for so many, but the more I step away from it the more I see how odd it is.

The actions of the two groups are another thing entirely in today's world. Christianity may have been a monster to more than rival the screwed up crap of Scientologists throughout many times in history, but it has had to adapt to the changing world in order to stay in power. Scientology is still carving its own niche through many of the same forceful tactics that many other religions did at their origins in order to become massively successful quickly. I think time and social pressure are what bring these religions away from the more cult-like practices and into a more acceptable view if we allow them to survive at all. It's up to society as a whole to pressure them into behaving and I think we're starting to do that well now.