There’s going to be an interview on 702 this morning between 9.00 and 12.00 with the “head honcho” of scientology in South Africa.
Sorry that I missed it. Just caught the last comment.
Shame, sounds like the poor tolerant scientologists are just misunderstood. Also it seems that people are confusing Christian Science with Scientology.
I’m sure there was a lot of focus on the feel good side of Scientology and not much on the more brain dead, bad science fiction side of it…
It really sickens me how they try to use legitimate issues to try and win converts.
Seems that “The Church of Scientology through the Citizens Commission became a real thorn in the side of the apartheid government” according to this page:
Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology Johannesburg
There are many more worrying statements on those pages.
Greetings,
I have an MP3 of this interview, approx 9 megs in size. Should there be any interest, I would be happy to make it available, somehow. I am unsure of where or how to share the file, and any guidance would be appreciated (forum n00b here).
Cool thanks for sharing. Did you record it yourself?
Space is limited on the server, so best to host it somewhere else. Otherwise, email it to me and I’ll put it up somewhere 
Hi Bluegray,
Yes, recorded it myself. I edited out the ads and newscast. Have sent it to you via email attachment.
Brilliant WillNorth!!
I missed the last 45 mins. because of a family emergency, Bluegray V let us know when you post it. I really wanted to hear what the guest had to say.
A few things I got from the interview:
- Even though they try very hard to sound like they know what they’re talking about, there’s very little science in Scientology.
- From the way Ryan Hogarth answered the questions about Xenu, it is clear he decided not to talk about it at all. Good for the interviewer to keep asking the question. Why not talk about it Ryan? If it’s true, people have the right to know that’s the sort of stuff that is revealed to them after paying all the way to OT level III. If it’s not true, why not just say so? But saying you don’t know anything about Xenu? Surely as president of Scientology SA you must have heard about it. So you lied on national radio. Why?
- Near the end there was a caller commenting on the harm done by scientologists. Ryan told the caller he was probably confusing Scientology with Christian Science, and laid the blame at CS. Right after a caller also confused Scientology and CS, but because she had positive things to say about it, Ryan did not jump in to clear the confusion, just thanked the caller. Not very honest…
I had no idea Scientology was so established in SA. Something interesting to read: Scientology’s fight for apartheid
Very interesting, indeed!
Personally, I was almost caught by scientology some years back after reading L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics. At first, the book seemed to make sense. After some reflection, I decided that it seemed to oversimplify too far the human psyche, which prompted further investigation. In turn, this led me to reject scientology, after reading about some of the horrors and abuses allegedly perpetrated during “auditing” and also the enormous cost of their “training courses” and books. Later, I found a Dutch website where one was able to download the complete scientology training material up to and including OT VIII (Tom Cruise apparently is one). For an 8-hour period, a dedicated link was made available after an e-mail request for the training materials. Suffice it to say that Hubbard’s ravings in said training matter are indistinguishable from a coked-up, richly amphetamined, sleep-deprived and lobotomised Hunter S. Thompson.
On a different note, perhaps we as sceptics can select a saviour, say Carl Sagan, and bill ourselves as a religion for critical thought. We might label ourselves “Critians” or “Sagians,” all for the purpose of obtaining tax exempt status from SARS…
It’s just a thought, though.
'Luthon64
I wouldn’t mind being called a “Sagian” - he inspired my love of science and astronomy. ;D
'Luthon64: Like you I was given a book by Ron L. Hubbard by a scientologist who cornered me in an elevator at a shopping centre about 25 years ago. He had my attention until he started telling me that the reason that children stutter is because we parents interrupt them while they’re talking and that only scientologists were able to give the child “real” help. He was given his book back very quickly. But what I’d like to know 'Luthon64 is what was in that auditing literature you read that makes Tom Cruise “the” expert on drug rehab, etc, etc. and better than the rest of us mere “mortals” or should that be PCs?
mdg
As I recall, the course material didn’t cover auditing in any kind of great or useful detail. All it did was outline the basic ideas (and very basic they are indeed) behind the practice, and that its purpose was to clear away those dreaded “engrams.” I think the auditors make most of it up as they go along, depending on gut feel (because brains have little to do with it). I suspect that the main difference with higher-level Operating Thetans (like Cruise) is that they are supposedly sharper at recognising engrams and what produces them since these OTs have been “trained” in the complete history of humanity, including our psychological one. This increased knowledge leaves them better equipped to do the auditing.
I’ll have a look on our old PC for the archive. It was almost a decade ago, but we might still have it. What I do remember is that the material was written mostly in curt numbered-point layout in a clipped, automaton-like grammar with many acronyms and abbreviations, which all together made little apparent sense - no doubt because of our unfamiliarity with more basic CoS concepts and jargon. Another thing I remember is that CoS tried to suppress the free availability of those materials as “work papers” (read “trade secrets”). They also admonished the public that to study them out of sequence and/or without the guidance of a trainer (read “paying for them”) would probably kill the student. I make no joke! It must irk the CoS apostles no end that, ten years on, we have not yet died.
'Luthon64
Hi all,
I return from my year end/beginning with some time to spend here.
Over the year end I was working up to 18 hours/day, and I worked every day except Christmas from Dec 21 until the weekend before last. :’(OK enough pity-whining.
I wish I had not missed this, and had been able to call in.
It is a bad idea to label ourselves. In the culture wars in the US especially in Texas and Florida currently, the religious kooks are trying to argue that “Darwinism” is a religion.
The argument is to get their religion into the public schools, or if that fails to get evolution out of the curriculum. Other times the religious kooks argue that atheism is a religion. I don’t know where I first heard this expression, but I like it: “Atheism is not a religion, just like bald is not a hair color”.
I am about to visit my family back in Texas, and believe me, I will be on my soapbox about the recent happenings there with regard to education standards and textbook selection.
Nope, I’m sad to report that we no longer have the archive of scientology materials mentioned earlier. Dr Luthon64 set up the old PC for a young relative, and this involved formatting of the hard drive. 
'Luthon64
Did anyone hear about the war going on at the moment between scientology and the internet group called ANONYMOUS? Apparently there are protests going on at most of the major Scientology churches around the globe. Well mostly Europe and the States. Wonder if they’re gonna protest at SA’s churches as well.
Another interesting rumour is that Tom Cruise’s wife Katie Holmes is pregnant with the founder Hubbard’s frozen sperm. I’m not giving credence to such a claim but it will make for a nice and wacky conspiracy theory.
Well for the most part I think these guys are batshit crazy!!
And some further reading at wikileaks.org
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology_collected_Operating_Thetan_documents
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Scientology_cult_Johannesburg_Confessional
It sickens me that of all the countries in the world with an established presence of scientology, South Africa is one of the only places without an established resistance… I guess it serves as further proof that South Africans really are too complacent, we just accept things, never questioning… Check out my blog for regular updates on my own personal fight…
http://poetry.blat.co.za/
It’s still new but I’m hoping to get as much in the way of resources and information as I can… any help would be appreciated
Hi, and welcome to the forum. I’m sure many people will benefit from your experiences with scientology. I found it interesting to read this post you made: http://poetry.blat.co.za/2008/06/19/scientology-a-baseball-religion/ and will look forward to hearing more about it. Maybe you can start a new thread with updates to your blog?