Human beings fervently wish to be special. They aspire to win the trophy, claim the Green Jacket at the Masters, be the last one standing on Survivor or American Idol, be profiled in People Magazine or The New Yorker, or at least be a member of an organization that has the Truth. Preferably a Truth that is not fully understood by less special people.

Paul Haggis, an Academy Award winning Hollywood writer and director, so already special, was recently profiled in The New Yorker because he very publicly split with the Church of Scientology after being a member for thirty-five years. He wonders now how he could have failed to question not only the theology but some of the harsh rules enforced by the Church. With the exception of the particular religion you happen to belong to and believe in, all religious theology sounds rather bizarre when you come upon it cold. Scientology is just bizarre with an edgy kick.

After obtaining Church documents submitted in a lawsuit against the Church in 1985, The Los Angeles Times printed a summary:

“A major cause of mankind’s problems began 75 million years ago,” the Times wrote, when the planet Earth, then called Teegeeack, was part of a confederation of ninety planets under the leadership of a despotic ruler named Xenu. “Then, as now, the materials state, the chief problem was overpopulation.” Xenu decided “to take radical measures.” The documents explained that surplus beings were transported to volcanoes on Earth. “The documents state that H-bombs far more powerful than any in existence today were dropped on these volcanoes, destroying the people but freeing their spirits—called thetans—which attached themselves to one another in clusters.” Those spirits were “trapped in a compound of frozen alcohol and glycol,” then “implanted” with “the seed of aberrant behavior.” The Times account concluded, “When people die, these clusters attach to other humans and keep perpetuating themselves.”

Scientologists carry a certain smugness that is personified by Tom Cruise. They have the Truth; you don't. Smugness, too, is characteristic of members of all institutions that claim exclusive knowledge of Truth. Scientology just manages to irritate outsiders more vehemently because the church intentionally cultivates celebrities and encourages them to publicly testify. A saintly, purified Tom Cruise seems even scarier than the intergalactic alien ruler named Xenu.

Celebrity Savior

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by the followers of L. Ron Hubbard, but whether a cult or a church, Scientology is just one more Only We Have the Truth organization. The common underlying assumptions of such organizations are:

Only We Have the Truth that can save mankind; our followers are Special.
All non-followers will suffer dire consequences.
All ex-followers will also suffer dire consequences and we'll make sure of it.

Having a lock on salvation gives all such organizations the power to ex-communicate, disconnect or just in general, to cast out anyone who doubts or doesn't conform. While becoming a "lost soul" is a sort of abstract dire consequence, losing close contact with your entire circle of friends and some or all of your family members is immediate. Scientology defectors are full of tales of forcible family separations, which the church almost uniformly denies. The somewhat sanitized version written by L. Ron Hubbard is as follows:

“Anyone who rejects Scientology also rejects, knowingly or unknowingly, the protection and benefits of Scientology and the companionship of Scientologists,” Hubbard writes. In “Introduction to Scientology Ethics,” Hubbard defined disconnection as “a self-determined decision made by an individual that he is not going to be connected to another.”

Irrespective of the religious founders' or the corresponding deities' original intent for the Only We Have the Truth organizations, the power to "disconnect" another human being, to strip them of specialness, to forever shun them, never turns out well for anyone involved. A church or cult that holds on to its members by threat invites corruption and vindictiveness. The Truth may set you free, but Truth peddling organizations are very reluctant to let you go.