On 26 Feb 2000 04:11:20 GMT, byll23@aol.com (Byll23) wrote:

> If even a tenth of what you critics say is true, then the CoS is the biggest
> threat to America since the McCarthy red hunts, _that's_ what I think.
> And while I have a bit of trouble believing some critical claims, most of
> them ring true. While _everything_ that the CoS has posted here has set my
> bullshit-detector blaring. (With the exception of the attacks on head-shinking,
> but they were excerpted from real newspapers, so their coherency proves
> nothing.)
> And it's not so much the content of people's posts that's caused me to lean
> towards the critics, but the style. The CoS style shows all the signs of 'big
> lie' PR, as developed by Goebbels and co. (And their russian counteparts.)
> Sorry, CoS, but your going to have to work even harder now to convince me that
> you're telling the truth. At this rate, I'll be a full-fledged critic by the
> end of the week.
In 1989 I was an active, agressive supporter of the "Church" of Scientology. I firmly and energetically insisted that the attacks against Scientology were being committed by religious bigots and Fundamentalist Christians who were bad-mouthing Scientology out of a sense of religious competition and bigotry. I opposed the Cult Awareness Network as just one more example of a hate group full of bigoted Christians who did not want a competing religion "stealing away"

potential members.

In 1990 I learned that I was wrong. I had been defending Scientology out of a MISPLACED sense of "fairness." I had not even bothered to study the issue!

(Which in retrospect I find shameful.) I just did a "knee-jerk reaction" every time I saw some person, magazine, or organization criticize Scientology. That is, I was ignorant about the issue, therefore I defended Scientology. When _Time_ Magazine came out with their expose', I was outraged that they would write such a thing---- even though I did not even bother to read it.

In the mid 1990s I learned a huge amount of facts about Scientology and the business that calls itself a "church." I found out that in fact it deserved every bit of negative criticism that I had been ignorantly denouncing as "religious bigotry." The criticism I had heard about Scientology was true; it was not based upon "religious bigotry." It was not based upon any kind of wrongful "bias." It was and is based upon justice, fairness, and compassion for the victims (past and present) of Scientology.

Now, in the year 2000, I am still ashamed that I defended Scientology out of ignorance. I have "made up for" that poor behavior by educating people about Scientology and thus innoculating people from joining the crime syndicate.

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