“Scientology has no dogma. It does not demand of you that you be or believe anything at all.”
—John Logothetis, https://www.standleague.org/blog/how-does-it-feel-to-be-a-scientologist.html
“Certain characteristics are generally attributed to churches. These attributes of a church have been developed by the IRS and by court decisions. They include:
Distinct legal existence
Recognized creed and form of worship
Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
Formal code of doctrine and discipline”
—Source: Publication 1828, Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations.
On October 10th, 2019 Scientologist John Logothetis posted an article on the STAND League website describing what it means to be a Scientologist.
He calls it liberating.
It would be more accurate to label it confusing.
Logothetis describes his spiritual questing during his younger years. “God, why are there so many rules for so many things? Why is it I HAVE to act a certain way that doesn’t seem to fit who I am? Why is it my parents fight? Why do other people fight? Why are there wars and why can’t people just be happy?!”
He, like so many, wanted to understand his life and its purpose. Seeking answers, Logothetis even turned to the Bible which he describes as “wonderful” and “interesting” but ultimately not very helpful.
“One quote from Jesus really inspired me: ‘Seek and you shall find.’ I was seeking answers and that was a good answer for me: that I needed to keep asking. The Bible was very spiritual and I loved it, but it didn’t answer a whole lot of my questions.”
Given that the Bible was never intended to be a one time read nor is it a “Dictionary of Pat Life Answers” it is understanding that he got very little from it. He read it once and dismissed it.
Interestingly he says that when he found Dianetics it gave him all his answers and left him liberated.
How sad for him.
How limiting.
Especially since he, like so many of his brethren, is so obviously confused about his own so-called religion.
Logothetis is not the first Scientologist to demonstrate ignorance. There have been multiple members who have claimed one erroneous thing or another.
Some gush that COS is “multi-denominational”, Karen Pouw scoffed that belief in past lives was a sign of mental illness, Gemma Harris Wood insisted that Scientology had spiritual beliefs but for the life of her she couldn’t explain what they were.
Logothetis denies that Scientology has any dogma and writes that there is no requirement to believe in anything at all.
It is not the first time he essentially admits that COS is not, after all, a religion.
In March of this year he wrote in Why I Chose Scientology that “It’s not dogmatic (meaning it doesn’t tell you that you must believe this or that to be one of ‘us’).” Further demonstrating his ignorance he stated “Scientology is all-denominational. That means anyone from any denomination is welcome in Scientology. No strings attached.”
CSI Representatives stated under oath in the IRS Attachment form, that Scientology “is a very exact faith, and a fundamental doctrine of the religion is that its religious services must be orthodox. This doctrine holds that spiritual salvation can be obtained it, and only if, the path to salvation outlined in the Scripture’s religious technology is followed without deviation.”
That John is proclaiming the exact opposite shows a deep breakdown in the “formal code of doctrine and discipline” department.
Ask any Christian what their core beliefs are, what defines them as a Christian, and the response will be universally the same. This can be said of other faiths as well. A Jewish person can tell one what their basic doctrine is. So too any of the other, formal and recognized religions.
Certainly each sect falling under the various belief systems will differ in practice, however even here a Catholic will be able to explain what differentiates them from a Baptist or a Methodist for example.
There is a formal organization, a common rule that each member understands makes them the spiritual follower that they are.
Scientologist do not display this cohesion. Ask one member what their spiritual beliefs are and his answer will invariably differ from a fellow member. More times than not, the Scientology practitioner’s answer will, as shown with Logothetis’ blog posts, conflict with officially stated policy.
According to the guidelines published by the IRS, in order to qualify for and maintain the religious tax exemption as a church certain criteria must be met.
Scientology has no unique, universally understood or accepted form of doctrine if the members are publicly proselytizing an ever differing understanding of what Scientology IS.
Members like John Logothetis, Ryan Prescott and others who insist that one can be a Christian or member of another faith and still be a Scientologist at the same time are proving that there is no cohesion.
Logothetis states that “Scientology works”, “If I have a problem I am looking to solve in life, I can always find a solution in Scientology. And the solution always works. This does not mean I have no problems (impossible) but if I am determined to handle any problem, I can, with the help of the tools in Scientology. This frees me up to concentrate on bigger and better things in life.”
He goes on to say “Scientology is all-denominational. That means anyone from any denomination is welcome in Scientology. No strings attached.”
If Scientology works so well then why would anyone even need any other religion? What would be the point?
Further, if the solution to any problem can be found in Scientology then why are so many consigned to months or years of punishment in the RPF?
Scientology works so perfectly that there are no Clears, the planet still has not been cleared of insanity, war or crime and membership is dropping epically.
If Scientology has all the answers and is so liberating…
Where is Shelly Miscavige?
Confront And Shatter 
Lying is a sacrament in scientology. The organizations of scientology lie, as do its members. They even have a “training routine” called “TR-L”, which is a communication drill that develops the ability to lie smoothly and convincingly. There are a bunch of culty euphemisms for this dishohesty: telling ” acceptable truths ” ; NOT being
“out-pr” by forwarding/repeating criticisms of the church and its policies, practices, founder, and current leader; introducing scientology “on a gradient” , and so on. With a scientologist who is indoctrinated enough to believe in the value of and pay for the courses and the auditing, there is, generally, an assumption of superiority over the non-scientologist, inasmuch as they know what’s REALLY GOING ON with the mind and spirit…and operate on the assumption that the non-scientologist, with his “reactive mind”, cannot only NOT handle “the truth”(scientology), but will misunderstand, resist and/or even denigrate it because he is too degraded and “lost” to “cognite” that it is the one true path to spiritual salvation. In this “low state”, he must be “handled”( i.e. manipulated, controlled, directed, love-bombed, hard-sold, tricked, lied to) until he “comes up the tone scale” enough to “wake up”. Probably the KEY policy that enforces strict, unwavering obedience to the practice of scientology as it is, without alteration or evolution(that idea is blasphemous; scientology is perfect, period), is KSW, Keeping Scientology Working. It is straight, 100-proof dogma. So is the book DIANETICS. So, finally, is all of scientology. For context, see Lifton’s 8 Criteria For Thought Control. These scientologists who write the weak blogs such as the one you alluded to tend to be barely literate, ad hominem spouting propagandists. They are shining examples of the kind of stupidity, arrogance, and ignorance that the long term practice of scientology produces.
AGAIN: lying and manipulating are baked into the DNA of scientology; these behaviors are policy-driven and have ALWAYS figured prominently in the group, in both its organizational behavior AND in the behavior of its individual members. There are numerous Hubbard quotes and policies that are easily found that confirm this point.
Thanks for another excellent post👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽😁
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