St Paul has a Scientology center. I’ve seen it. It always looks kind of…dead, not exactly a thriving enterprise. I guess it really is fading, because here’s an article on our local Scientology scene, and it includes what I thought were really useful numbers.
A scientologist (now an ex-scientologist) was sent here several years ago to recruit and shore up the membership. The church claims to the public that there are 10,000 active scientologists in this region. Internally they have a different story.
The church gave him a list of “950 people who were supposedly Scientologists” in a five-state region that included the Dakotas, Iowa, and Wisconsin. His task was to make sure they were still involved. If they weren’t, he would work to regain them.
Shelton soon found that most had barely any connection at all. One, who was listed as a trained auditor, had merely bought a copy of Dianetics at a flea market once.
“That’s how goofy the church’s records are,” Shelton says.
In the end, he could find only 100-150 legitimate members in the entire five-state area.
Welp, that looks like one religion that might just die out in my children’s lifetime. Now we just have to finish off all the others.
Something will come along and replace it. Never underestimate the human ability to create stupid shit.
Do they have that much stored cash that they can keep up that facade? Or are they raking it in in a few places that allows them to keep open all of the revenue-losing centers?
Not being taxed is probably a major benefit that allows them to keep their doors open. It’s the same scam that allows Christian churches to thrive everywhere — if they actually had to pay to support the services they rely on, they’d die, too.
PZ : have you seen Leah Reminis show? I shared most peoples aversion/contempt for scientology well before, but that show is SCATHING. It is brutal the level of exposure and depths it goes thru , just watch it if you thought you knew anything about this cult .only good thing it shows is that they lie systematically about its own size, but unfortunately the also go to great lengths to understate the absolutte destruction they cause to the actual families involved
This particular trick is also used by the Catholic Church which routinely counts anyone who was ever baptised a Catholic as a practising member, especially when trying to influence politicians.
I’m happy to know that they are dwindling away. It’s worth noting that they currently occupy the former Science Museum building. I’m hoping it can be put to better use.
Can’t happen soon enough.
just to be clear, that SHOULD only encourage people to work on getting rid of these things faster, not give up because there inevitably will be something stupid to come along next.
it’s like saying “don’t bother protesting the polices of George W Bush, because sure as shit, someone like Trump will replace him”
…and I would have started with Trump in that example, but I literally cannot imagine anything more stupid to come along and replace him.
and frankly, I’d rather NOT imagine it!
Somewhere in America a young eager Republican just said, “hold my beer.”
Add Mormons to the list of cults that pump up their numbers. I have a friend who grew up in a Mormon family in Salt Lake City. When his parents took him to be baptized, they locked him in a room while he waited. However, he tried a door which was unlocked. It opened to the outside, so he just walked away. No one ever mentioned it again. Despite not being baptized and being gay, they harassed him for years. Nothing he did or said stopped them from contacting him. I bet a gazillion dollars that they still count him as a member.
Scientology’s little stepbrother, Avatar, is now in the news in The Netherlands because Avatar wizards have infiltrated some private schools. And I thought Avatar died out two decades ago. So don’t hold your breath for the extinction of Scientology.
We used to have a Scientology center here in the ‘Ham.
Last I checked, it had been turned into a dentist’s office.
I told Xenu it was a bad idea to attack Kolob because he would lose his focus but would he listen?
WMDKitty the current experience in that office is likely more pleasant than it was when the Scientologists used it.
Maybe it is a real religion after all. Religious involvement has been going down long term. Now Scientology is acting like a real religion. Farmville, it aint.
$cientology has been attempting to invade Ireland — so far, I gather, without much success — and The Irish Times has been keeping on eye on their antics (much to the frauds’s annoyance). For example, and rather unsurprisingly, they appear to be trying to do a tax dodge (Why are Scientologists setting up a European hub in Ireland?, Oct-2017):
Merrion Square is in a very nice (read: expensive) part of Dublin, close to St Stephen’s Green and the National Gallery.
Complaining about alcohol and sports in a Dublin pub? Those eejits are truly clewless.
Here in France, $cientology is officially considered a “dangerous cult”; and in 1978, L Ron Hubbard was convicted of fraud.