[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Oh I went through a phase of being totally obsessed with Scientology, so bizarre

But what makes Scientology and "cults" any different from other religions though? Scientologists shape the beliefs of their followers? so does every other religion

I can't recommend "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief" enough. It's a documentary film (about Scientology obviously) and it's brilliant, really eye opening, and quite shocking too, and puts across really well how it's very different from 'normal' religions.

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

Mormonism and Scientology are two modern cults

the only difference betwixt them and say Judaism or Islam is time

I think there's a lot more to it than that tbh. Mormonism is very new but it still follows the classic pattern of how religions have been set up, and why people become followers etc. Scientology on the other hand is totally separate in my opinion from any other 'religion', especially in it's methods of how it treats people involved in the 'church' but in many other ways too (and shouldn't even be classed as a religion... again, watch "Going Clear" if you haven't seen it, it's great).