Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France

All I can say about this group is, I guess if you've the money it would work. Better keep working on them hollywood films though, translating them into Chinese some more.

$cientology: cults' Nova.

"Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations."

Freedom of scam?

"Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations." Freedom of scam?"

Religion is a scam!

skipthesong: "Religion is a scam!"

Such strong beliefs in Atheism are exactly the same thing as religion, skip. Like it or not, you seem to have faith in your conviction, and as such seem pretty 'religious' to me.

I still think Battlefield Earth was a horrible mistake, and L. Ron Hubbard should stop writing scripts.

skipthesong:

Religion is a scam

Scientology is a religion

Therefore Scientology is a scam

smithinjapan:

"L. Ron Hubbard should stop writing scripts" Don't worry. He stopped a while a go.

I hope I don't get "criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling" them as a bunch of idiots. They are the Soka Gakai of the US. Pure cult.

And Smith. You must not know the meaning of atheism. Cuz if you did, you wouldn't be saying that. Not proving your point very well. Especially when you suggest LRH should stop writing scripts. Ha ha. Ya Thetan.

franz: "L. Ron Hubbard should stop writing scripts" Don't worry. He stopped a while a go."

Alright, then allow me to qualify; people should stop making movies/shows from his script... although The Andromeda Strain wasn't too bad.

MeanRingo: I do indeed know the meaning of Atheism, but when people believe so strongly in something, that BELIEF (not necessarily what they believe in) is not really any different than the belief one holds in religion. Again, I'm talking about belief itself, not the dogma, tenets, creeds, or what have you contained in the religion (or lack thereof).

Back to Scientology; let the people believe as they wish, so long as it doesn't harm or interfere with others. If they're breaking the law, though, at the very least the people doing the breaking need to be punished (I don't think the religion/belief system as a whole need necessarily be punished). What gets me about Scientology gets me about Christianity, Islam, Atheism, and everything else under the sun; those who wield a lot of power control the media. You see it with Christian schools/influence banning books, Islam going as far as putting bounties on the heads of authors who decry Islam and Mohammad, Tom Cruise having a South Park episode banned because it slams Scientology (and Cruise himself), etc.

L. Ron Hubbard is dead, kids. I wouldn't worry about him writing anything else.

... after being recruited in 1998 ...

"Brainwashed" is more like it. Anyone else been accosted by those Dianetics droids? They'll chase you down a few city blocks.

Such strong beliefs in Atheism are exactly the same thing as religion, skip. Like it or not, you seem to have faith in your conviction, and as such seem pretty 'religious' to me." Oh man, what I could say but would be off topic... Anyway, how do you come up with that? first of all, I am not saying anything about god or a god being a scam, but religion as in groups. They take your money, lay down some rules all ultimately try to achieve some crazy thing after you die! So, I purposely call myself a a borderline atheist! I'm sure I'll find everything out once I go.

Did anyone here ever read Dianetics? I threw it in my fireplace after a few pages and I regret even ordering it because they called and called until I cut off my phone line to move here.

really, good on France for this. Just hope their next step is getting the other money grabbing religions.

It is so easy to pick one of the tiny religions. Would the French courts have the guts to take on the murderous ambitions af huge religion whose members are willing to respond with riots and death threats? Bah, never.

Hypocritical cowards.

The Church of Scientology ... claims 10 million members around the world

I remember when they claimed several tens of thousands of members in Australia, then someone produced the census data that showed only 270 or so people wrote "$cientology" as their religion. It's a complete scam and the French courts findings are justified. At least they, unlike the US government, stand up to these types of scams.

strong beliefs in Atheism are exactly the same thing as religion. EXACTLY the same? That's going to need some explaining. But I don't believe there's an invisible, massless, undetectable elephant that follows me around everywhere. But there COULD be. The point is that once you start believing in God then there's no reason not to believe a whole lot of other nonsense as well.

Scientology is clearly a cult. It exists to make money for their shady owners by preying on people with weak minds. It's far worse than any main Christian group and should be outlawed.

So the French give suspended sentences too?

Scientology is a fraud but it's certainly not alone.

I have no problems with faith, it's religion that I can't stand. Scientology, more than others (except maybe the Unification Church in Korea) is nothing more than a money making scam. The whole thing was dreamed up by L. Ron Hubbard back in the 50s and is being perpetuated by a bunch of fraudsters who use freedom of religion as an excuse to fleece the gullible. With their different levels that you have to buy into and all the classes you would think they had re-invented the RC church before the reformation. The French have this one right. Just don't dring the kool-aid guys!

first of all, I am not saying anything about god or a god being a scam, but religion as in groups. They take your money, lay down some rules all ultimately try to achieve some crazy thing after you die!

The same could be said of any group set up for any purpose. I go to my church because I like the people there, I enjoy the sermons, and I find the ambience to be quite peaceful. And I don't know what congregations you've been to but nobody has ever held a gun to my head to add to the collection plate.

So, I purposely call myself a a borderline atheist! I'm sure I'll find everything out once I go.

I believe you qualify for agnosticism but far be it from me to clump you in with a larger group. To do that would be to marginalize you're personal world views that could be both offensive and small minded. And nobody wants that.

add a comma after 'views' otherwise the inflection is all off.