I've had it with Scientology Adverts

For personal and professional reasons, I do a lot of surfing the World Wild Web.

Now what pisses me off when I do this, is that I regularly encounter weird advertisements for a commercial science-fiction cult naming itself the Church of Scientology. With this page, I'm calling on all news outlets and internet providers to PLEASE stop this nonsense.

[Skip two paragraphs if you like, they are merely background as to why I surf]

Among my personal reasons for extensive surfing is not only the natural curiosity of a 21st century digital primate, but also the fact that I live in a tiny village on Crete (Greece) from where I do want to know more than whether or not the olives and the grapes will have enough water this year to get us good oil and wine. In other words, I read the daily news (from various outlets) and the more relevant and interesting weblogs (Europe and the US) that may aid me in keeping Alzheimer's at bay, prevent me from taking these tainted swine-flu shots, or convince me that there IS - against all odds - some intelligent life out there.

As for professional surfing, I'm not only a web-designer needing to keep abreast of the latest changes to CSS specifications (for example), but I also maintain two websites of my own because my wife is an artist and I'm a published author of books and essays in several languages.

OK. Like many others, I do like some of the roles Tom Cruise played in movies, I even can appreciate one or two films starring John Travolta - but that doesn't make me enough of a "fan" to go anywhere near the total fiction they believe in and try to push into the mainstream of our (already damaged) culture ... the delirious visions of science-fiction author Lee Ron Hubbard. Don't misread my intentions: I'm all for science fiction writers to have amazing and outrageous and impossible visions in order to entertain their readers (including myself) ... but such flights of fantasy can better remain flights ... not become tools to manipulate vulnerable humans, to pick their brains and drain their purses.

Hubbard started Scientology in the 1950th, and he created this cult in which a God (naturally male and aggressive) named Xenu plays a large role - as do volcanoes and death and souls and; last not least, anyone so mislead that she or he pays the Church of Scientology to become a "Clear" - that is: cleared of all problems and destined to be among the elite of the universe, obliged to "help" others to attain that lofty status themselves.

Now several countries have made the mistake to accept - after much lobbying - Scientology as a "church", but some countries didn't. One example is France (where this church is a cult), another one - closer to home - is Greece*.

Congratulations to these countries - although I'd rather see such resistance turn into an effective prohibition. Why? That's totally difficult and long-winded to explain - especially for myself who has always been against all prohibitions. Legalize assisted suicide, legalize smoking whatever you like, legalize nudity, legalize criticism of any religion, legalize the burning of national flags, legalize polygamy, legalize incest between consenting adults.

But don't legalize an abomination calling itself "religious technology". It is difficult for me to ask for a prohibition ... but in this case I do. I don't want to see any more adverts for Scientology on my monitor ...

And if you want to know why ... just click and surf over to various websites and articles that may help you to see what I'm getting at ...

The Greek Shutdown
More Greek News
A Most Informative Website
Salon.com
BBC October 2009
France 24

* Note
I don't want to imply that Greece is an especially enlightened country. It may well have been the dominating influence of the Greek Orthodox Church that has made this country a "safe haven" - along the biblical lines of "Thou shalt have no other Church before me."