1. Comment #427300 by popeye on October 27, 2009 at 3:40 pm

I would like to know if he is going to join another religion or call it quits. If he is against bigotry there are not many places he can look. Hopefully he sheds religion all together, but I kind of doubt that.

Either way it is good to see someone who has been in a church for so long finally have enough of its discrimination.

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2. Comment #427304 by Sally Luxmoore on October 27, 2009 at 3:45 pm

How long will it be before the scientology trolls arrive on this thread?

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3. Comment #427315 by Tintern on October 27, 2009 at 4:27 pm

It took him a while and it's a strange reason to leave an alien-worshipping cult but better late than never. However, the real story is the French ruling and the most interesting part of the backstory is how the law was quietly changed shortly before the trial to prevent a guilty party been banned. How totally convenient. Although I'm pleased to note that it is likely to be amended, it is screamingly obvious they still have low friends in high places.

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4. Comment #427318 by DocWebster on October 27, 2009 at 4:32 pm

When I was a kid I pumped gas in my home town. It was a boring job but I met all kinds of interesting people doing it. One customer gave me a book called Dianetics, He said his brother in law had gotten it from a friend but wasn't a science fiction fan so it trickled to me because I was known to be. Imagine his surprise to find out what it really was. I will always remember that absolutely terrified and embarrassed look on his face when he realized he had promoted a religion that was not his own to me and the anger he stated to feel towards his brother in law for putting him in this awful mess. I never saw him again, he was too mortified to talk to I guess.

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5. Comment #427323 by crookedshoes on October 27, 2009 at 4:42 pm

I read Dianetics a couple of years ago. My initial impression was "what a load of shit"...So i gave it it's fair due and read the whole thing. Afterwards my impression was "what a load of shit".

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6. Comment #427331 by mitch_486 on October 27, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I posted this on PZ's site but I feel it's relevant here, as well.

There's a church of scientology across the street from my office. Every time I walk by it, I feel disgusted, offended and confused.
On the weekend, I made my feelings public by walking up to a man handing out pamphlets outside of this ridiculous establishment. I simply called him an idiot, a liar and a pathetic money laundering space cadet. He didn't like this, and he ran into the church where I'm sure he was told xenu would comfort him.
The nice part about this is that most of the people around me were laughing in agreement, making my day that much better! I must say, though, that this little episode put me straight into the doghouse with the gf. Apparently, I'm insensitive......I then showed her all the cases against scientology and the people affected by it, you could say it was a day of scientology hating, but she saw the passion and let it be.
Anyway, it may have been a bit over the top, but I feel that this is the sort of thing that has to be done, publicly, to get any kind of point across. I find it very difficult to do so in a polite way - As if they're on the same wavelength.

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7. Comment #427347 by keddaw on October 27, 2009 at 5:09 pm

There's a church of scientology across the street from my office too. I am tempted to go in when I have an hour to waste and have an IQ test. Mine happens to be quite high on standard scales (over 85 at least) so I'd be interested how the CoS would rate me. I also want them to show me that in spite of what I think I am actually not happy and that I have a Xenu shaped hole that needs filling to make me whole.

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8. Comment #427352 by Lucas on October 27, 2009 at 5:15 pm

mitch - My buddy likes to snatch the pamphlets out of their hands in Times Square, then toss them into the gutter and berate the people handing them out for being lying scumbag conmen. I don't exactly go that far myself, but I'm not sure he's wrong to do that. It's one thing to hold a personal belief, it's another to actively rape people's minds for their bank accounts.

Tintern - I'm just going to post a portion of your comment again with emphasis, because I don't want anyone to miss it: "However, the real story is the French ruling and the most interesting part of the backstory is how the law was quietly changed shortly before the trial to prevent a guilty party been banned. How totally convenient. Although I'm pleased to note that it is likely to be amended, it is screamingly obvious they still have low friends in high places."

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9. Comment #427353 by crookedshoes on October 27, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Keddaw,
Do not, under any circumstances show your Xenu shaped hole to a catholic priest. And never utter the words "that needs filling"...

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10. Comment #427354 by Sally Luxmoore on October 27, 2009 at 5:16 pm

Comment #427347 by keddaw

I'm puzzled. I thought the mid score (average) on an IQ scale was 100?

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11. Comment #427365 by TIKI AL on October 27, 2009 at 5:54 pm

mitch @ 6:
The knights of Columbus tried to hit me up for money at the entrance to the grocery store yesterday. I asked them if they needed to bail a paedophile priest out of jail, and the people around us were also laughing.

Then I told them I was still mad about the knights of Columbus making Eisenhower put "under God" in the pledge, and that this was a grocery store, NOT a Catholic church.

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12. Comment #427368 by jgravelle on October 27, 2009 at 6:16 pm

Our friends at the Onion are covering the fallout from Scientology's "mass" exodus:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31006?utm_source=onion_rss_daily


-jjg

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13. Comment #427376 by Thelonious on October 27, 2009 at 6:40 pm

Could someone clarify the following quote? Should "been" be "being"?

...how the law was quietly changed shortly before the trial to prevent a guilty party been banned.

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14. Comment #427383 by alaskansee on October 27, 2009 at 7:04 pm

@ Tiki and Mitch

Good job, I think we need to keep the pressure up on these people who just assume they are "doing good" because they are doing it in the name of faith. NO YOU ARE NOT.

Plus I'm good at being rude.

Having said that I'm to chicken to berate either the "christian book nook" lady (with a Ray Comfort quote in the window for us atheists) or the fairy and angel reading lady ALL in my little office building! I'll look for someone I don't share a building with to be rude to but it will only take a small indiscretion from either of them.

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15. Comment #427406 by locutus7 on October 27, 2009 at 8:37 pm

I thought it was the Mormons who came from xenu. Do all these religions claim to hail from another planet?

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16. Comment #427410 by amuck on October 27, 2009 at 8:42 pm

Many years ago, I passed by a church of scientology cult headquarters and was invited to come in to take an "IQ test" by one of those eyes focused on infinity, rictus smile on face, acolytes.

My response was, "If I come in to take the test, doesn't that mean I've failed ?".

I must say that he came down from the rarefied heights of thetan bliss in a most satisfactory manner.

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17. Comment #427486 by Border Collie on October 28, 2009 at 1:35 am

jgravelle ... Good Onion!

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18. Comment #427563 by stephensmith on October 28, 2009 at 11:03 am

This sounds like it's supposed to be a big deal, but I have no idea who Paul Haggis is or why he's newsworthy. Guess I'm off to go Googling now ...!

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19. Comment #427578 by Flapjack on October 28, 2009 at 12:09 pm

Stephensmith
Fair enough... FYO, Paul Haggis was the writer, Director behind the TV series "Due South" and the movie "Crash" as well as the latest version of "Casino Royale".
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0353673/
You'd think a director with those credits would be able to distinguish facts from BS. I've worked in animation jobs before and being a movie Director is possibly THE most demanding job.
You have to live on your wits 24/7, answer everyone's questions at once and be able to analyse an actor's motivation for any given scene, but apparently it's taken 35 years for the penny to drop, and for him to recognise the banquet of bullshit he's been fed.

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20. Comment #427583 by Follow Peter Egan on October 28, 2009 at 12:25 pm

Nice to see Haggis now has both legs at the same length all the better for progressing in a logical straight line; unlike the mythical Haggis in The Ancestor's Tale, doomed to walk in circles around the hills of the Scottish Highlands, owing to one leg being longer than the other.

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