“The one true religion, as you call it, is Religion,” the Supreme Arbiter interjected. All religions are different pathways to God! Whichever way you want to interpret God. For the Christians, it’s loving kindness. For the Buddhists, it’s enlightenment. For the Jews, it’s study and discipline. For the Muslims it’s wholeness and submission. For the Hindus, it’s karma. I could go on, but the point is, Ms. Remini, for someone so concerned about other people’s faith, you have none of your own. You don’t believe in God or the spirit or immortality or anything at all, really, and you’ve said so, loudly, to many.” https://www.standleague.org/blog/leah-remini-dies-and-goes-to.html
This is an excerpt from a blog post written by Martin Landon for Scientology’s STAND League website.
The whole piece is nothing but smug snark in which Landon imagines Leah Remini’s final judgement.
This article is interesting, but not in the way Landon probably intended.
It shows clearly how little understanding he has about religion and it’s purpose.
“Whichever way you want to interpret God.”
God IS.
No matter the religion one is affiliated with it is understood that God (no matter how he/she is named) is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.
The simplistic breakdown Landon uses to express the various religious paths is not an interpretation of God. It is a description of just one small part of the path each takes for Man to journey to God. Each Faith is so much more than what he states.
All true religions believe in God.
True religion directs the individual outward. The person is encouraged to good works to better the community. It is love of neighbor, forgiveness for wrongs and treating others as we would want to be treated. Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsa, non injury, in thought, word and deed. Christians are taught to forgive and turn the other cheek. No matter the religion, our similarities are in the focus being on how our actions reflect on and affect our community and family.
Humility and recognizing that there is a Being higher than ourselves is at the core of all the main religions. We admit that we are not the end all and be all of the universe. Our purpose is to move forward on our journey and by our actions to give glory to God. Our interactions with each other as a family and community are the conduit through which we better ourselves. Mainstream religions are about forming a Family of Man. No religion teaches selfishness as a virtue. Man acknowledges his limitations and his need for God to attain salvation.
The religions Landon mentions all have founders who, by action and words, drew their followers together in love and goodness.
Muhammad, Abraham, Jesus.
All wanted their followers to achieve holiness and to rest in God’s Presence.
The Buddhists carry a different belief of the afterlife that is nothing at all like what Landon describes.
“From the Buddhist point of view, those who go to hell can work themselves upward by making use of the merit that they had acquired previously. There are no locks on the gates of hell. Hell is a temporary place and there is no reason for those beings to suffer there forever.” —budsas.org
The Source and Founder of Scientology dismissed God, Religion, Heaven and Hell as fiction. These things were just false implants given to the Thetans to further confuse them.
Scientology has no faith.
“Nothing in Scientology, however, need be taken on faith. Its truths are self-evident, its principles are easily demonstrable and its technology can be seen at work in any Church of Scientology. One need only open the door and step through.” —Scientology.org
The Scientologist believes only what he sees or experiences.
“What is true for you is what you have observed yourself. And when you lose that, you have lost everything.” —L. Ron Hubbard
Where is God if there is no faith?
Hubbard disparaged Jesus, calling Him a “molester of little boys”.
He announced that he, Hubbard, was Lucifer, that he was the Light Bringer.
Scientology teaches that ultimately the only Supreme Being is Man.
Their Bridge and their other teachings are actually a giant circle that lead not to God, but right back to the person.
The “Super Power Rundown” which can only be done once one has achieved the 8th Dynamic, claims to imbue the person with infinite, magical ability.
Scientology promises godlike powers if one can just pay enough money and study hard and long enough.
Where those who practice Christianity believe that “I can do anything through Christ”, meaning we understand that we need God’s help, Scientology leans on no one but itself.
The most interesting thing about this particular article is that it actually contains the dichotomy that plagues Scientology; How can it be a Religion without fulfilling all the perimeters Landon claims Leah is lacking?
For a group so concerned about other people’s faith, they have none of their own.
David Miscavige states “Scientology is not something one believes in, it is something one does.”
So Landon, up on his pillar of superiority, condemns Leah to an eternity of Hell because he claims she does not believe in God and has no faith.
Recently a conversation occurred between this writer and a dedicated member of Scientology, Gemma Harris. During that conversation Gemma stated that she was an atheist. She further stated that one “could” believe in God if one wanted to.
God is optional.
If this is the case, then either:
A. Landon is wrong in his understanding of Scientology
B. Gemma is wrong in her understanding of Scientology
C. They are both wrong because Scientology cannot be a Religion because it cannot be forced into the accepted ideas of what constitutes a Religion.
If a belief in God is optional then Leah can have that check mark removed from Landon’s tally sheet.
If a belief in God, also known as the Supreme Being, is optional then Scientology’s 8th Dynamic is neither a true spiritual belief nor is it achievable by all Scientologists as they claim.
Religion is the pursuit of the soul for God. Without a Supreme Other, what is the point of religion at all?
Landon continues his article with God checking his book after Leah denies his accusations.
“…Not with your mouth, of course—you’re too sly for that. But with your actions. Every time you attacked the beliefs of people. Every time you mocked what people all over the world held in their hearts as sacred. Every time you used your TV series as a platform to dismay and discourage people from having faith. You made a lot of money sending people away from Heaven, and for that, I’m afraid, we’ll need to fire up the furnace.”
This is almost laughable as Landon could be writing about any one of his more public colleagues or even David Miscavige himself.
Scientology is known for speaking with a forked tongue.
They vehemently deny Fair Game is a policy, yet hire Private Investigators to stalk former members or other so-called enemies, create hate filled websites, steal people’s trash and scream “what are YOUR CRIMES!”
They deny their policy of Disconnection yet one sees the word “prohibition”, a very clear statement in itself, on their own website;
“Once the person has been restored to good standing, the prohibition against fellowship with other Scientologists is lifted. Similar practices have been part of religious communities for thousands of years and have been recognized by courts of law as a fundamental right.” https://www.scientology.org/faq/scientology-attitudes-and-practices/what-is-a-suppressive-person.html
Scientology claims tolerance and to be the protector of human rights, yet denies its own followers the right to question and speak out against the abuses they suffered while behind the razor topped fences.
Mr. Landon, if hypocrisy and a lack of faith are sins worthy of Hell then Scientology is in deep trouble.
This farcical piece of patronizing drivel ends with Leah condemned for her perceived sins.
“Leah Remini, for thy sin of sowing the seeds of hatred and doubt among the multitudes, this Tribunal condemns you to an Eternity of listening to stupid sitcom pitches.”
Leah Remini and Mike Rinder together have provided compassionate healing for those who have suffered at the hands of Scientology. They have both shown great courage by admitting their own faults and mistakes made in the name of this dark cult and great humility by asking for forgiveness and working to correct whatever harm they feel they have done.
It is ultimately up to God to judge who goes where but for a Religion there is a deep responsibility to bring people closer to Him, not run them away through erroneous teachings.
When the time for judgement comes Mr Landon, God is not going to ask you what Leah Remini did or what Mike Rinder did. He is going to ask you about your life and how you drew people to Him by your words and actions.
Will your patronizing, hate filled STAND League writings show God’s demand for tolerance and forgiveness?
Scientology, for thy sins of sowing the seeds of hatred and doubt among the multitudes…
Confront And Shatter 