Having completed my first picket of Scientology and looking at many of the members up close, I have come to a realization about this cult.

The saddest situation is the children growing up in Scientology. They did not make a conscious decision to join this group, many were born into Scientology or their parents got in when their kids were young. They are being taught that everyone that is not in Scientology is bad. If you are told something from birth or a very young age, that becomes YOUR truth. Not the actual truth. It would be very hard to convince some of these kids that they are living a lie.

If you have ever seen a copy of FREEDOM magazine, which is printed by Scientology, there are numerous articles which distort the truth and defame the Clearwater Police, The St.

Pete Times, and others. This is what those kids grow up reading, and they come to believe that The St. Pete Times is an enemy of Scientology. So if they see a story of the front page, they are basically programed to immediately dismiss it as false.

These young people have not much hope of living a normal (free) life unless they leave Scientology. Which would be a very hard adjustment if they even had the desire. I'm sure that many of them don't know what the actual "real world" consists of.

Imagine growing up sheltered and being censored from anything that others don't want you to see. Many of these kids would probably do poorly if "set free" in the real world.

One could make the comparison to those babies that we see on television that are starving. Those babies did not choose to starve and be subjected to hardship, the parents and other adults are the problem, the children are the victims.

So we must remember to make the separation between these young people and the upper management of the cult who are the real bad guys. Unfortunately, many of the people is Scientology are in the dark when it comes to reality. Now that does not excuse those who got in at an older age and are being manipulated or doing the manipulating, they know better.

Keep up the good work Tampawog

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