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I don't know. I saw this episode, all the while wondering why they weren't equally critical of any other religion. All the lord Xenu stuff seems no more absurd than having the Jesus resurrection, Jesus superfriends, and Satan coming from hell to rule the earth. Don't get me wrong. I'm an Atheist so I understand being critical of scientology. It just seems like they were pulling a kind of double standard for that religion, and not others that also require money to run, that even have an inherent disdain toward equal humane rights for anyone, period. Including gays, atheists, wiccans, etc. Instead of trying to expose Scientology as some big absurd myth lie, because realistically, any religion can be pointed out as such, maybe they should have actually done something funny with the lord Xenu story, having a real lord Xenu come down to sue Stan, for trying to expose the lie, or something in that vein. That could've been funny too.

They've made fun of other religions plenty of times..

Yeah, they certainly make fun of other religions, all the time. Their stock in trade is making fun of christianity and judaism.

I personally agree that all religions are pretty silly and could be held to the same ridicule as Scientology. But I do think there is an important difference, as well. Scientology, like Mormonism, is a very young religion. We can easily trace its entire history, which makes it very easy to see for what it is, a giant scam. More ancient religions are a bit more complicated, simply due to the hundreds or thousands of years that have passed since they originated. I personally don't think that makes them any more reasonable, but I do think that it makes people's belief in them more understandable.

"More ancient religions are a bit more complicated, simply due to the hundreds or thousands of years that have passed since they originated. I personally don't think that makes them any more reasonable, but I do think that it makes people's belief in them more understandable."

This is very correct. However, had Scientology been created 2000 years ago, as Christianity has been, how would it still not be a scam? Just because many people have believed the scam for a long period of time does not still make it a scam. It's just a scam that's lasted 2000 years.

To be truly fair, South Park should have probably made the mythical Scientology characters real as they did with Jesus, God, Buddha spirits, and Satan, instead of trying to expose it as a scam.

I agree that all religion seems fairly ridiculous from the outside. Still, it's a bit overzealous to suggest that we have to make fun of them all, at all times, in equal ways. Just because many things are funny, doesn't make any one of them less funny on its own. Similarly, if there were three funny things, but only two of them were extremely funny, the third one could still be somewhat funny, even in the presence of the first two. Additionally, if you had four equally funny things, and you took the square root of them. . .

" agree that all religion seems fairly ridiculous from the outside. Still, it's a bit overzealous to suggest that we have to make fun of them all, at all times, in equal ways."

No way dude. Let us be fair here, and treat all ideas with equally fair scrutiny. As the prince once said, "all are punish'd!"

"Similarly, if there were three funny things, but only two of them were extremely funny, the third one could still be somewhat funny, even in the presence of the first two. Additionally, if you had four equally funny things, and you took the square root of them. . ."

This, is funny ;)

"It just seems like they were pulling a kind of double standard for that religion, and not others that also require money to run..."

Other religions may require money to run but they don't require they're followers to pay. I could never give a cent to the Catholic church and I'd still be granted all the konwledge and privledges of it's most generous benefactor. I don't have to pay 10,000$ to confess my sins or to learn that Jesus was Gods only son. But all that XENU stuff, that's the core doctrine of their religion and they won't tell you it till you've spent over 100,000$ on courses and conseling and stuff.

Perosnally I don't think Matt and Trey really have a problem with anyones religous beliefes. Look at the Mormun episode. Sure, they tear into the book of Mormun pretty badly but in the end their message was "So what if these people beleive in something stupid. All that really matters is that it makes them better, nicer people". But of course a Mormun will gladly tell you all about John Smith for free.

"John" Smith, eh? ;)

The main diffrence between the religions of the world vs. Scientology is that they are commonly based on a person that actually lived and have history to prove it! ie. Budda, and Jesus actully walked the earth. Zenu is a pure fiction with absolutely not one drop of evidence to support this story. At church they pass around a collection plate and the few time s a year I go on holidays no one ever even looks at you funny if you dont donate. Even if you do donate you get no more information or special status if you do. How would anyone recieve info about something that occured over 75,000 million years ago. Seems like Zenu would have have coverd his tracks better than that!

Yes, i agree with all of the blogs about $cientology and Christianity. But we all remember what happened the last time the popes picture was torn up, South Park took the safe road I think.

What happened the last time the Pope's picture was torn up?

Did Fritz wig out or something?

Clearly, we don't all remember that. What happened?

Ahh Fritz.. I miss him.

"Other religions may require money to run but they don't require they're followers to pay. I could never give a cent to the Catholic church and I'd still be granted all the konwledge and privledges of it's most generous benefactor. I don't have to pay 10,000$ to confess my sins or to learn that Jesus was Gods only son. But all that XENU stuff, that's the core doctrine of their religion and they won't tell you it till you've spent over 100,000$ on courses and conseling and stuff."

There's a difference: In scientology, levels are done with an auditor which works one on one with you. It costs money for the person to sit there (since they are an employee of the church).

Pastors get paid to be a pastor at a church, scott. Rabbis get paid too. So do many other people who serve as kind of a facilitator/priest/counselor role in whatever religion they have.

The difference is that you are not required to hand over hundreds of dollars every single time you go talk to a pastor or a rabbi for an hour. The pastor or rabbi will not send you a bill, and they will not come after you for everything you're worth if you don't pay them.

The people who have the most to give will give out of their own free will to the church or synagogue to make sure that the pastor or rabbi is taken care of.

In that sense, your comment's ignorant. Sorry.

Right Jimmy, but how to you expect the church to grow without any constant funding? The churches you listed already have a huge presence where there's no longer a need for growth.

I can't recall any instance of a person talking to a pastor for hours at a time on a daily basis. Most Catholics or Christians just attend mass once a week, and have no other interaction with the priest. However in Scientology, almost everything you do is one on one (not 200 to 1 like during mass), with no one else involved. The person you are working with has to pay rent, support their children and buy clothes. That person is completely focused on you, and you alone for hours a day.

I know scientologists, even ones that are at the top of the bridge (OT 8). When they heard about the episode of south park, they were all extrememly upset about the fact that it spread completely false data.

Let me also add that I was once a Catholic and am no longer part of any church.

I'm sorry, but my comment wasn't ignorant at all.

Scott, can you explain what "false data" the episode contained? As far as I know, what it said about the CoS was actually very accurate.

It's true that all religions are involved in money, but paying the salary of the "counselors" in Scientology is no excuse for requiring money to provide "help" and for requiring a certain "level" before certain "truth" are revealed. This is just absurd.

Beyond that, the biggest and most important critique of Scientology not about money but about free speech and suppression of dissent. The church regularly sues people who denounce them, claiming copyright over the terminology of their beliefs. Any ideology that seeks to suppress and harrass its detractors is worthy of extreme scorn in my book.

Anyway, I'd be very interested to hear what "false data" the South Park episode supposedly spread. Is the Xenu myth false? Is it false that you have to reach a certain level to be told that myth? Is it false that the church uses copyright law to stifle dissent?

Clearly the false data is that L Ron Hubbard was reincarnated into the little boy in the episode. If he was reincarnated at all, my guess would be that he's in the form of a weasel instead of a little boy, but that's just my guess.
When the screen displayed "What scientologists actually believe", it would have been technically more accurate to say "What high-level scientologists actually believe" because the majority of scientologists supposedly have not reached a high enough level to have those secret beliefs shared with them, which the episode did otherwise accurately portray.

Wow, thats all i can say...WOW!...no kidding that was false about the little boy (who is STAN by the way), its a freekin cartoon! and a weasel? I mean C'mon. I hope your post is a joke, for the sake of civilization.

And by the way, for that first post up there, South Park has poked fun at all other religions too, it wasnt just "poor scientology" that got picked on. They have hit them all at one point, and they are all quite funny as they point out the rediculousness in each one. It's important to step back and take these things for what they are, entertainment and a funny way look at how silly some of the things we believe in actually are.

wow, amazing to see how many people, in this forum at least, that support scientology. Hey, a good analogy to this behavior is the comparison of right wing voters supporting the President as one would support a poorly performing pro football team, like the 49'ers. I have a message to those people, SCIENCE FICTION ISN'T SCIENCE FACT. If Christianity or Judiasm are absurd religions, then the Xenu-Theaten-Level-e-meter-Brain Washing-Soul-Catcher is S H I T too. Get with the fucking program people!

That's what im talkin' about! i dont think i could have said it any better, anyone who believes what they read in a science fiction book is a complete doucher.

"If Christianity or Judiasm are absurd religions, then the Xenu-Theaten-Level-e-meter-Brain Washing-Soul-Catcher is S H I T too."

At least with Christianity or Judiasm they have both been around for a while. There is a history, a culture, filled with traditions. If nothing else there is a couple of nifty books with some really good stories filled with death murder and mayham. And to boot Buddhism, Judiasm, and Christianity all played a role in the development of better printing technologies and literacy. Sure you "could" say it's a load of bunk but if that belief makes you feel better that's your business. There *are* people in this word who need the fear of eternal damnation in order to actually be nice to each other. Donations are up to the paritioner... which at least at my local church most get used to help the poor and esp the poor and sick. I have less experence with Judiasm but at least with the catholic church there is a community, and while yes there is a fee there are people dedicated people who go out of their way to do charitable works. One if they so desired could bum $50 or $100 off church no questions asked.

I don't see this with Scientology. From my limited understanding Scientology uses a form of electroshock thearpy. They do their best to sue others who speak out against them and worse of all... worse of all they accept tax free status yet keep their documents propriority under copyright protection. While not illegal this is a violation of the spirt of the copyright. Mandatory donations? No 'one on one' consulting ? I may not be part of the church anymore but when I was questioning my faith I got one on one help and and and english copy of Koran and an intro to Buddism just on the off chance I was more moved them them than the Christian system. I may not respect the people in the church but I do respect the people who honestly believe in the idea of making this world a better place... but none of this I see as being part of Scientology... only people who use emotional manipluation and rigged tests the answer is "you need a copy of Dianetics $15.99 please". Heck I can get the book of Mormon for free just by asking for it... with a video of a blond haired blue eyed Jesus, I can forgive them as they likely taped it in Utah. Mormons are also pretty young in terms of religions but I at least have some respect for the Mormon community. I have a harder time respecting this whole Xenu business of 75 billion souls nuked in a volcano who's purpose in live now is to make me unhappy and need to spend $400/hr to get these suckers out of me. I mean, it's one thing to believe in a heaven a hell, a soul and live after death. It's another thing to bill someone for removal this surplus soul that was nuked in a volcano 75 billion years ago.

Call me silly but i'd sooner put my trust a Amimsh community... at the very least their socity *works*.

Cruise in South Park boycott claim
March 18, 2006 - 3:52PM

Actor Tom Cruise threatened to boycott promotion of his upcoming Paramount Pictures film unless a sister cable TV network pulled a South Park rerun lampooning the Church of Scientology, industry sources said today.

Representatives for Paramount and Cruise, a prominent Scientologist, denied he made any such threats or had anything to do with the Comedy Central network cancelling plans to air a repeat of the South Park episode titled Trapped in the Closet on Wednesday.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the crudely animated cartoon hit, issued a quirky statement, filled with references to Scientology and the science-fiction writings of church founder L. Ron Hubbard, suggesting Scientology was behind the scheduling change.

"So, Scientology, you have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun," the pair wrote.

"Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

Instead of the Tom Cruise episode, the network aired reruns of two South Park episodes featuring the character Chef, voiced by veteran soul singer Isaac Hayes, also a Scientologist, who quit the show earlier this week.

Comedy Central, which like Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc, declined comment on the rerun switch, other than to say: "In light of the events of earlier this week, we wanted to give Chef an appropriate tribute by airing two episodes he is most known for."

Two industry sources familiar with the situation said Comedy Central pulled the "Trapped in the Closet" episode from its South Park rerun rotation after Cruise threatened to cease promotion of his upcoming Paramount film, Mission: Impossible III.

Cruise spokesman Paul Bloch said neither the actor nor his representatives "had anything to do" with the scheduling of South Park reruns and that Cruise had never said to anyone he would refuse to promote his film. Paramount spokeswoman Janet Hill denied any knowledge of such a threat.

South Park, marking its 10th season next week as one of Comedy Central's biggest hits, centres on the antics of four foul-mouthed fourth-graders in a small Colorado town.

- REUTERS

One more note:

L. Ron Hubbard is a liar and a scam artist. That is a fact. He lied about his education, military record, and background in his books. He claims to have been a freaking war hero and never served in combat. In fact, his military records show he was a worthless soldier. The man, in fact, practiced phsyciatry as a form of scam in California and was once quoted as the best way to make money was to creat a religion.

Scientologists are morons. Their founder is a proven, documentable, fraud. We can say what we want about other religions, but the reality is that there is nothing wrong with faith. There is something wrong with faith in lies. That leads to dangerous responses by irrational people.

While I agree that all religions have equal rights and those rights are inalienable, Scientology is not a religion. It is a greedy, money sucking, life stealing, time demanding, family destroying, science fiction cult that has no right to exist on this planet or any other planet that was once under the evil Xenu's control.

Nothing else needs to be said.

Scientology is nuts....just look what its done to Tom Cruise, the guys flailin his arms around and standing on chairs...nuff said

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