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October 13, 2008 2:08:47 PM CDT

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Scientology: No Weirder Than The Others

Posted Aug 1, 07 10:36 PM CDT in Arts & Living,  Opinion 

(Newser) – Scientology has earned cult status for many outsiders, but Slate’s Mark Oppenheimer argues it's no more bizarre than any mainstream faith. He says the peculiarities of the celebrity-friendly religion abound, but that they're reflected right back in the wacky ideas of more accepted theologies—say, by the Book of Mormon or Intelligent Design.

As to spaceship-volcano-thetan creation myths, Oppenheimer takes the word of Scientologists over the word of ex-Scientologists that such science fiction isn’t central to the religion. And rumors of authoritarianism don’t impress him either. He chalks up the abundant backlash to Freud’s “narcissism of small differences: we’re made most uncomfortable by that which is most like us.”

Source Slate

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A Scientology funded anti-psychiatry demonstration in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 2005. An alternative to psychiatry is one of Scientology's most fundamental recruitment selling points.   (Wikimedia Commons)
A combo of file pictures shows U.S. actor Tom Cruise, left, in a March 22, 2007 file picture taken in Los Angeles, anti-Hitler plotter Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, center, in an undated file picture...   (Associated Press)
Science fiction author and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard contemplates the universe around him.   (Archive Photos)
The Church of Scientology might be best known for its high-profile members such as film and television star, Jason Lee, as seen here at the Church's 33rd Anniversary Gala.   (Getty Images)
A young person is tested for potential benefit from Scientology in an underground subway station.   ((c) Del Far)
The Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre 36th Anniversary Gala   (Getty Images)
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Tom Cruise addresses psychiatry on the Today Show.   (plimpymagnifico (YouTube))

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religion  • Tom Cruise  • Scientology  • Mormonism  • L. Ron Hubbard  • intelligent design


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