Give Scientology another 150 years and it will be just as "legitimate" as the other religions. BS is BS, folks- don't be hatin' on Scientology because their BS is different than your BS.
You are missing the point. Sure, BS is BS and I couldn't agree more, being a atheist myself, but as Australian senator Nick Xenophon so eloquently put it, in a free society you can believe whatever you want - you can't just do whatever you want. Scientology routinely confuses the two in a major way that I don't think it's members are really able to comprehend.
Many mainstream religions committed atrocities in the past. That is true. Then they got reformed and now they acknowledge, at least in the west, that they must respect the basic human rights of their flock.
Scientology does not.
If Scientology was just a set of beliefs and not a very particular organization that has corporate policies that revolve around mental and physical abuse, splitting up families and defrauding it's flock(not in the sense that their beliefs are a fraud, but that they routinely demand money for services not rendered)....then I would have no problem with them. If people want to audit each other until the cows come home, or belive in the tale of Xenu and the loyal officers and whatnot, I couldn't give a flying fuck.
One of the fundamental principles America was built on was that all religions were allowed, BUT that freedom came at the price of having to play nice and respect the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. I view that principle as America's most brilliant invention and greatest export(even though the Dutch actually beat them to it :redface: ), and couldn't be happier that this principle is also in effect throughout the western world.
There is no such thing as "church law" that trumps the law of the land. And Scientology breaks the law of the land every fucking day in a highly systematic way that Baptists, Mormons, Catholics, Muslims etc. do not.
When news broke that the Catholic church had covered up child molestation, Catholics across the world were free to protest and demand change without risking expulsion or excommunication. No such option allows for reforming the leadership of Scientology - if you as a Scientologist publicly criticize David Miscavage, your ass is toast. You will be expelled and disconnected from all of your Scientologist friends and family members, and if they do not comply with that directive, they in turn are excommunicated.
There is no paradox in advocating religious freedom while demanding that the Church of Scientology be dismantled "in it's present form".