A Real Religion is NOT about money

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I'm gonna give you the Truth®, straight up: ALL religions are about money.

Scientology is just more honest about it than most, like the Catholic/Orthodox Churches, Mormons, Jewish synagogues, etc that require annual tithing based on earned household income. The synagogues are actually far worse than any Christian church, because you have to be fairly affluent to be able to afford annual membership plus the additional costs of paying for tickets for seats during the High Holy Days, and most Jews (in spite of stereotypes) aren't able to afford them -- the synagogues claim it's because of limited seating and the even more limited number of temples in each regin, which is true, and which is why poor and working class religious Jews are increasingly under pressure to immigrate to Israel where they don't have this nonsense.

But here's the thing that most anti-Scientology types don't get: it's actually a GOOD thing that Scientology is super expensive!

If Scientology was at all affordable to the average Joe & Jane, they would have many thousands more members than they do now. From the 1950s to 1980, the cost of Scientology training and auditing was negligible and before the mid-to-late 1970s, most people got their auditing free of charge because there were so many auditors getting trained and not enough preclears (people who receive auditing, which today is the most ridiculously expensive way of doing Scientology) to audit.

The current pricing structure in Scientology was set between 1980-1984 after David Miscavige led the Sea Org takeover of Scientology's international management, and prices were raised again after 1986 when Miscavige became the sole undisputed leader of Scientology. Today it costs, on average, somewhere between $250,000 (if you do only the minimum required services) to $400,000 (if you choose to do everything, including optional rundowns like Super Power and the Ls) to do the so-called "Bridge to Total Freedom". Before the 1980s, adjusting for inflation, we're talking about a mere fraction of that amount, and like I mentioned before, even if you couldn't shell out any money to get trained as an auditor, you could always get the Bridge free of charge from student auditors.

Whenever you hear of wealthy Scientologists like Jason Beghe or Leah Remini getting "free" auditing (there is no such thing as "free" in Scientology anymore), its always student auditors. The one exception to this is Tom Cruise, who is probably the only person in Scientology who has never been audited by any students or novices.

Long story short, you won't find any religion that doesn't revolve around money. Even those you think may be different, like the Buddhists or the Falun Gong or whatever, still require cold hard cash, for the simple reason that anything we do as humans requires money. It's basic economics, from Adam Smith down to Karl Marx. Everything in life can be broken down to economics.

The majority of Scientologists are not wealthy. Remini mentioned that they take out person loans, open new credit cards, mortgage their homes, or anything it takes to get the money.

There is NO church that can run without money from it's members. Tithes and offerings are used to keep the church running and/or pay the pastor.

Say that the next time you donate to your church

It's NOT a religion. It's an EVIL cult, and they should have their tax exempt status revoked.

😐

Last week I heard a commentary on how Jehovah's Witnesses are being persecuted in Russia. While I decry religious persecution, I'm not sure the commentator understands what a cult JW is. When you take a bunch of misguided people who are in an oppressive regime, they are setting themselves up for punishment. Seriously, these people must want to be martyred if they can't simply dial back their behavior. I really dislike JW just as much as Scientology, except maybe for the $$ aspect.

I think most churches are about money - for better or worse. Thing is, how much money you contribute is up to you. Most members are adults, so if you spend aka waste thousands of dollars, that's on you. But what Scientology asks of its followers goes beyond tithing and money in general. It's about how it asks its members to treat each other that is horrifying.