We have been giving the Mormons a hammering over the last few days. Although I find their beliefs highly improbable, it is hard not to admire their loyalty to them and their willingness to defend them. They say adversity makes us stronger, and this sect has had enough of that to become very strong.

For me, what is far more concerning are the pseudo religious cults that abuse their members and challenge us all through their defiance of our laws and societal values. Prime amongst these must be the fast-growing Scientologists whose depravity is becoming increasingly better understood.

For some strange reason we have given this cult the status of being a religion even though it has no gods, and is antithetic to everything we understand by the term “religion”, (except on the fund raising side) even when taking into account the full broad sweep of religious beliefs and practices across the entire world.

This false status greatly assists this cult by giving it force of law in spreading its influence and in enriching itself through the misappropriation of the wealth of all who come under its influence.

We could take the view that anyone who puts themselves in the position of becoming under the power of this cult deserves what they are going to get. There can be no doubt that the cult exerts some extreme mind power over its believers because it is able to make them work very long hours for almost no pay and to accept disgusting punishments, break up families and so on. Presumably, the followers can opt out at any time if they are willing to accept eviction from the cult, but somehow this seems to be an intolerable punishment to most of them. If they can leave like that then it is presumed that they are free, but is that really true if some mental trick has been used to remove their free will. I think we have enough knowledge of psychology and psychiatry now to understand that there are mental prisons. This cult certainly does, because these disciplines feature highly in their practices and teachings.

While I accept that adults should be free to choose any religious belief and practice, there must be limits regarding what is an acceptable way for our citizens to be treated by any organization, whether it masquerades as a religion or not. It is horrific to consider that children inevitably become involved, and have their lives ruined before they have really begun.

If you think I am exaggerating here and that Scientologists are merely harmless weirdos, then I urge you to do some research on the subject. These dangerous criminals have been inflicting their cult on the people of other countries since the 1960s, and that is the kind of export that America should not be associated with. It is worse than our pushing a toxic narcotic.

It is time that Americans stood up to this true evil among them and called enough. We know what they are really like now, and there is no excuse for letting them exist any longer. We must be careful not to pick ineffectually at them as we have with the Mormons, because that will only make them stronger. What we need is some strong urgent leadership demanding, if necessary, that laws be passed to make the practices (not the beliefs, but the way this organization behaves) illegal. I suspect that the laws are already there, but are not being used because of the misguided respect for religion that dominates in this country, combined with a fear that if I attack their religion I am opening the way for others to attack mine.
An investigation process will be necessary because the Scientology leadership manage to hide their crimes through extreme security. Therefore it will be necessary to have them thoroughly and exposed before the American public will appreciate the abomination that they are dealing with.

I never thought I would live to see myself advocating religious intolerance, but I am wide open to that accusation now. Before leaping in to accuse me of this I hope you will do a little research to find out if my claims about this cult are sustainable. You should know by now that your Occams is agnostic about religion, so this is not really a defense of Christianity, or an expression of anti religious sentiment or anything like that. Really it is an expression of horror at depraved behavior by an American business that is now harming tens of thousands of people around the world, being condoned and supported by the state.

Enough is enough!

This article was edited after publication by the author on 10 Mar 2010. View changes.