Path: rambo.bobo.net!xs4all!xs4all!newsfeed.wirehub.nl!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.corridex.com!news-peer-west.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.concentric.net!207.155.183.80.MISMATCH!global-news-master From: inFormer@informer.org (Rev Dennis Erlich) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: Re: A message to Rebecca Date: 10 Nov 1998 19:05:52 PST Organization: inFormer Ministry [a 501(c)3 non-profit, religious organization] "... in service of cult victims and their families." Lines: 54 Message-ID: <364cfdf1.7005016@news.concentric.net> References: <364577b2.8308351@news.tiac.net> <3647631d.353795@news.snafu.de> <727qq5$8ci$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> <364a734f.6623263@news.mindspring.com> <72abto$f6q$1@nntp1.u.washington.edu> Reply-To: informer@informer.org NNTP-Posting-Host: ts031d35.lax-ca.concentric.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451 X-No-Archive: yes Xref: rambo.bobo.net alt.religion.scientology:142396 ceon@u.washington.edu (Ceon Ramon): >Look. I don't mean to minimalize the suffering that membership in the CoS >has brought to some people. I have a rather broad perspective on suffering >and endurance because of the work I've done with the Crisis Clinic. There >are people who have been in terrible and abusive marriages for twenty years, >who having struggled against terrific odds managed to gather the emotional >and financial resources to leave that marriage but who have the been stalked >and threatened and terrorized by a spiteful and cruel ex-spouse. What I'm >saying is that singling out the cult of Scientology as a source of evil that >is unpredecented in making miserable the lives of those who have left a >relationship, whether that be with a cult or a person or anything else, is >giving it too much power. Most people have brief experiences with the CoS >and leave without having their lives made hellish ever after. > >I have great sympathy for those who have in fact been made targets of the >malice and viciousness of the cult policy and management. It's wrong. It >should not be allowed to continue. I work in my own small way to see that >people are informed of its dangers and warned against it. I support in my >own small way those who have been victimized by it. When compared with other victimization going on, the scienokult is not yet the biggest, meanest bully on the block. But think about this for a minute: I, Your Humble Narrator, am no weakling (except perhaps in a personal moral sense.) Nor have I ever been easy for anyone to control, and especially not against my will. You have to admit: they got me. They got the ~hell~ outta me! They got me into the basement, and would have gotten me the "babywatch" treatment except that I kept my head on my shoulders. I was "24/7-got" for over 15 years, and hounded "got" by them for another 16. And I wasn't any more vulnerable than the average 21 year old, married with a kid. How easy would it be to crush the will of someone weaker than me? Someone like Lisa. Like Madwog. Like Gitte. And think about this: is anyone you care about possibly vulnerable to them? It is true that the victimization is not of the same magnitude as Pol Pot, and the plundering is perhaps not as bad as Panama, but it is an evil I know all about. It is an evil to which I contribute the best years of my life. Since I wasn't in the military, fighting this evil is my way of finally being of service to society. Perhaps it ain't much. But it is the least I can do. Rev Dennis Erlich * * the inFormer * *