Your Fly Is Down
Made you look!
I just read the post on fMh about the Tom Cruise Scientology video that I mentioned in The Xenu Files. It’s interesting how many people there are unwilling to criticize Scientology because they realize that their own religion looks only a little less bat-shit insane to outsiders. Instead of people pointing out how stupid it is to believe that we are infected with the souls of hundreds of billions of aliens whom Xenu, leader of the Galactic Confederacy, executed eons ago by packing them around volcanoes here on Earth and detonating hydrogen bombs, they refuse to criticize the obviously ridiculous fabrications of a science fiction writer. They don’t want their own religion criticized, so they refuse to criticize another’s religion.
Those who refuse to criticize Scientology are following the Golden Rule. This provides a great example of one of the failings of the Golden Rule. Following it makes us enablers of each others’ delusions. More love is shown when we are willing to point out each others’ mistakes so that we can correct them. We may not like it when our own mistakes are pointed out, but it needs to be done on occasion.
Think of it like a piece of spinach wedged in your teeth or like the zipper on your pants being down. It’s uncomfortable and embarrassing to have someone discreetly point it out, but it’s much better than getting home from your date, looking in the mirror, and realizing that everyone let you look foolish all night. You might question why no one had the decency to point it out to you.
Being unwilling to lovingly criticize someone when the time is right shows a lack of empathy and concern. Religion seems to mute some of its adherents’ ability to provide empathetic correction to another if they are too afraid that they might look just as crazy.
Tags: religion, Scientology
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February 4, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
I’m ambivalent about the whole Scientology thing. I know that it can have a positive impact in some people’s lives, so it can’t be all bad. My impression of the Scientologists that I know is that they are basically good people trying to do the best they can (at the very least, obey traffic laws at it relates to pedestrians). I don’t always agree with their methods and beliefs (viz., it’s a horrible waste of time and money), but ultimately, it comes down to their choices and their beliefs. If they want to devote their time and their money to something that they perceive as positive, who am I to second guess them or decide how they should invest their resources? I can think of a million different things that people spend their time and money on that I view as wasteful. Dressing dogs in clothes and feeding them better food than what most of the world eats comes to mind. Spoon collecting comes a close second, though.
February 4, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
I’m all for respecting the Scientologist’s right to choose what to believe and to practice. I also respect our right to tell someone what we think about their beliefs, and I hope that we exercise it when we feel that those beliefs are looney tunes and probably dangerous (e.g. anti-psychiatry). I hope that we can help persuade people to act more rationally. I don’t want to start a pogrom against people with irrational ideas.