I have just posted Regime Report #5 to truthaboutscientology.com:

http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/read/regime/regimerptvol01no05.html

The Few, The Proud, The Weird

By Murray Luther Unofficial Correspondent for the Church of Scientology

You can call it good news or bad news depending on your point of view, but it's a safe bet that the Church of Scientology will continue to exist regardless of what some detractors may hope and wish for. I know this because I know that the world we live in is a near infinite smorgasbord of belief systems with no shortage of willing and enthusiastic believers.

Let's face it, we love to believe in stuff, even when we know that it's fantasy. From Santa Claus coming down the chimney to the Chicago Cubs winning the pennant, our faith in the improbable knows no bounds.

The Mormons have been around for over 150 years and are still going strong, 11 million members worth. Refute if you must their belief that descendents from two tribes of the Old Testament migrated to the American continent in submarine-like craft. Never mind that they believe that Jesus visited America after the Resurrection--it apparently hasn't hurt their numbers. So what about that Xenu thing, you may ask, that off-beat sci-fi cosmology that is the basis of Scientology's OT III? I'd say it holds up pretty well when compared to the Raelians. If Xenu isn't your particular cup and saucer full of tea, you can read "Space Aliens Took Me to Their Planet," by founder Claude Vorilhan, who believes that the human race is descended from--quite literally--little green men. Although the Raelians aren't as big as Scientology, they do have 40,000 members in 50 countries.

But who knows? Give them time. They've only been around since 1975. And then there's that self-appointed guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who turned a sixties-era hippie fad into a multi-million dollar movement that continues to thrive, so much so, that it spawned an international political party, the Natural Law Party which regularly runs candidates in elections around the world.

Suffice it to say that there's no shortage of eccentric people with off-the-wall beliefs and practices. Hey, the line forms at the left, folks, and it goes around the corner and way down the next street. From Charasmatics to Rastafarians, from healing crystals to energy focusing pyramids, there's a UFO leaving the station about every twelve minutes, embarking for destinations beyond the fringe. Welcome to planet Earth, your friendly cosmic Amtrak station. All aboard, and have your ticket ready.

And so, in this quirky world in which we live, Scientology finds itself in ample company. However, there's an aspect to this that doesn't bode well for the Church. At this point in time, they face the prospect of having already found their peculiar little niche. What once professed to be a worldwide movement could slowly subside to irrelevance. The Church of Scientology, having reached a saturation point could settle down to some insignificant and static level. What that level will be isn't immediately evident, but we can at least discount the ridiculously inflated numbers that Church PR publicizes. Although accurate numbers are difficult (but not impossible) to determine with reliable accuracy, objective estimates have ranged anywhere from 50 thousand to 750 thousand. In any case, Scientology, like hundreds of other oddball groups, will always have a loyal base of followers. One can only guest as to how many.

It doesn't take that many believers to keep a spiritual movement afloat. A few hundred wealthy devotees can often be sufficient. In the Church of Scientology's case, that number can be expressed in mere thousands. The International Association of Scientologists is a 24/7 operation that focuses on the Church's most generous and prosperous members. On their affluent shoulders rests the overall viability of their church. These upscale members receive phone calls, sometimes on a weekly basis, from IAS staff imploring them to donate more money. It doesn't matter if you donated several thousand dollars the week before, it's never enough. It's not unusual for such members to occasionally get a personal visit from an aggressive IAS registrar, sometimes even a team of them who invite themselves into your home with another desperate appeal for more money.

From time to time a few IAS staff have confided to me that the number of Scientologists who are bearing most of the financial load is only a fraction of the overall IAS membership. I've been given numbers ranging from 1,500 to 3,500 members worldwide who are personally bankrolling the cause. That's not very many when you consider that every person that signs up for a service gets at the very least a free provisional IAS membership.

The Scientologists I know have donated anywhere from ten to forty thousand dollars to the IAS. These numbers represent the lower end of the IAS financial elite. But the amounts can become absolutely staggering. It's not unusual for the wealthiest Scientologists to shell out tens of thousands of dollars that eventually exceed in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars. The ordinary Scientologist who scrimps and saves just to get a course paid for is of little interest to the IAS. But as long as there are those few who are willing to underwrite the various exploits of Scientology, the Church will endure.

A recent news story from Australia exemplifies how the Church actually stays in business. James Packer is a billionaire who has reportedly been taking some Scientology services. Although it's unlikely that Mr. Packer has yet to disburse some of his millions into Church coffers, the IAS is no doubt watching and waiting for the right moment to make their pitch.

You get yourself a John Travolta, a Tom Cruise, and a handful of other wealthy Scientologists and you have a viability that can't be equaled by squeezing a few dollars out of your rank and file Scientologists.

What does this mean for the fate and future of Scientology? In whatever way the Church continues to evolve it will likely be an unspectacular process. Scientology will neither emerge as a great world religion, nor will it crumble dramatically like some empire from a golden age. As long as there are Rosicrucians, Freemasons, or Interplanetary Guardians of the New World Order, you can be certain that Scientologists will continue to walk among us. Just another off beat secret society trying to make its way through the vast murk of the unknown. Sort of an Odd Fellows for the new age. Perhaps this is what Scientologists fear the most. Not extinction, but a long trivial existence of no consequence.

There's an unlimited supply of peculiar ideas out there. And for every thought, notion or concept, no matter how outlandish it may appear, you'll find someone enthusiastically carrying the torch. One need only explore a few of the dozens of websites available via the Charles Manson web ring to realize what a thoroughly crazy world we live in. There you can find, among other things, all of his record albums, titles such as "Live at San Quentin," and "The Manson Family Sings the Songs of Charles Manson." CDs are available, and for you collectors, the original vinyl LPs. And if you'd rather just sample a portion of the Manson catalog, just download a few MP3 sound files, before making that purchase commitment.

No doubt about it, it's a nutty world. What I find so astonishing is the level of ingenuity and the methodical lengths that people will go to forward even the most preposterous of causes. Hunter S. Thomson put it best: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

Murray Luther is the pen name of a Scientologist of over twenty-five years who currently remains in good standing with the Church. He's the founder of the Scientology Independent Network, (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scn_Ind_Network/) an advocacy group for former members of the Church of Scientology.

All views expressed here are those of Murray Luther and do not necessarily reflect the views of truthaboutscientology.com or scientology-lies.com.

All material by Murray Luther is copyrighted, with all rights, either stated or implied held by the author. Material posted by Murray Luther on the internet may be reproduced for non-commercial use only.

-- Kristi Wachter the activist formerly known as "Jour" (before $cientology outed me)

If I am not who you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.

- James Baldwin

I think $cientology is hurting people and breaking the law, and I want them to stop it. See http://www.scientology-lies.com for more.

KSW: http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/alteringtech.htm

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