Scientology is taking a bashing from the BBC news documentary Panorama. John Sweeney of the BBC had a bit of a rough go of it while chasing down the story. He was pretty much provoked to the point of extreme aggravation by the comments of Tommy Davis (spokesman for the Church of Scientology):

Tommy walks away from an interview

Get the context from the BBC:

This brought back to my attention an old flame of mine. I have had a number of infatuations over the years… many of which are simmering on the back burner right now. Basically, among the interests I have in Søren Kierkegaard’s view of the synthesis of the self, and themes in the authorship of Philip K. Dick, there is this thing ominously called mind control.

I have had a vested interest in researching the claims of various cults over the years. Last year I dug around for more about the Jonestown Massacre. Before that… it was Kabbalah and Christian Science. Before that… Numerology and even some Atheism. Atheism is more annoying than most. Recently… I have brushed against the bulwarks of Atheism again… and now I find myself drawn back to Scientology… and in the midst of this all, I have been looking for ways to instigate dialogue with some members of The Way International. Mind control is a linking trait throughout all of these various bastions of misinformation. Mind control and so-called brainwashing go on within the darkened corridors of the esoteric organization. The hidden knowledge, the ‘gnosis’ hidden like poison in an otherwise harmless looking bowl of Jell-O, this is a telltale sign of the use of mind control to dupe the believers into doing things they would never do in their right mind.

I have not sat down and organized my notes and my thoughts into a thesis paper… but it is a tempting idea. The idea that there are so many mere ‘ideas’ thwarting the existence of humans across the globe is fascinating to me. Mind control happens on so many levels… in so many places and in so many ways. But there are methods, and there are arenas where it is employed effectively and deliberately. I think that I have seen cults as the primary purveyors of such tactics.

So, Scientology… in all of its ritzy glitzy grandeur and practically vitriolic whiplash responses to criticism… watch out! Because Joel Manahan is going to write a thesis paper.

But seriously… what more can be added to the sea of information available to us in this day and age? Scientology stands in the shadow of the Cross… and it is obliterated. Or how can a religion based upon the dubious writings of a man who practiced occult magic in Central Park continue to endure? If our age is so ‘informed’ then it is informed with massive amounts of only the poorest quality information… or we have minds of a greater degree of destitution. It seems to me that humanity is giving up more and more to automation… and proclaiming progress… while the ancients possessed knowledge that seems to have been a lot more precise than we’ll ever know. While Scientology employs high technology to advance their ‘religion’ into the forseeable future… the Cross continues to stake a hole in the great root of history. There is no turning a blind eye to the exoteric Gospel. There is no gnosis. There is no poison in the Jell-O.

But who will stand up and try to cut the chatter? John Sweeney seems to have torched his chances of doing that with credibility. How much credibility does the Church of Scientology retain, in any case? The fact that it is allowed to endure is a true testament to the provisions of our Constitution. But I sincerely hope that people trapped in the vice of L. Ron Hubbard’s mind control mechanisms can be reached and brought to (at the very least) the light of real life.