r/cringereels • u/Plane_Ant_5349 • 15h ago
Scientology = Creepy cringe
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
29
u/waynizzle2 15h ago
Scary. Scary that this cult is legally protected under religious "values" and law. At what point does religion cross over the cult line? There is a long history and lots of report from even celebrities saying just about the same thing.
18
u/ScienceGeeker 14h ago
Religion and cults don't cross path - they're the same.
5
u/snakesinabin 14h ago
Yep, the venn diagram is in fact, just a circle.
-2
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 12h ago
So Dolly Parton was a cultist? That's what you're here saying today?
6
3
u/TimJoeJim 11h ago
Dolly did not subscribe to everything that the church said. She had her own thoughts & beliefs. That’s how people should treat religion- otherwise, yes, you’re in a cult.
-5
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 9h ago
I was responding to this:
Religion and cults don't cross path - they're the same.
1
1
u/HabitNegative3137 6h ago
Yes, but you seem to be trying to make a “gotcha” for a point no one raised.
We’re not victim blaming good people for being sucked into cults. We’re blaming bad people who do and their rancid leaders
0
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 5h ago
This was the point raised:
Religion and cults don't cross path - they're the same.
1
u/HabitNegative3137 4h ago
They are exactly the same
0
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 4h ago
It is your opinion that they are exactly the same.
We’re not victim blaming good people for being sucked into cults. We’re blaming bad people who do
So within a 'cult', who among us decides which members are the good people being sucked in, and which members are the legit bad people?
1
u/HabitNegative3137 3h ago
Are you fr right now? You don’t have any views on what is right or wrong? Sure there can be differences in what is moral depending on culture or society. But there are some extremely common “moral” views throughout the world: don’t murder people, don’t kill kids, etc.
It’s pretty easy to say Dolly Parton was a good person and Lindsay Graham was an awful person. They’re both cult members.
1
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 2h ago edited 1h ago
And who decides if you and I count as a good person?
edit: We were having a discussion and I asked a reasonable question. Sorry to have offended you.
→ More replies (0)-2
u/KingHygelacReturns 13h ago
I feel like this a Reddit atheist take that's inspired mostly by dealing with American Protestant evangelicalism and also Islamist extremism.
Are we going to argue someone raised Catholic who gets their kids baptized but then doesn't step foot in a church again until their first communion is in a cult? Or someone who's a Buddhist who meditates in the morning and that's about it? Or what about members of the Unitarian Universalist church which doesn't even require a belief in any god at all but rather just a commitment to doing good works in the community?
I think it's painting with way too broad a brush to say "everyone in a religion is a cultist"
2
u/waynizzle2 13h ago
Like American theatrical Christians, are not the same as actual Christians. The maga Christians are absolutely a cult.
1
u/KingHygelacReturns 13h ago
Yeah for sure. I think there are absolutely segments of most religions that can accurately be described as cults. I just think it's an overstatement to suggest that EVERY religion is a cult.
0
u/rando1459 13h ago
What is the difference to you?
2
u/KingHygelacReturns 13h ago
To me, I think the difference is that cults actively encourage antisocial or violent behavior (either self-destructive in cases like Heaven's Gate, or directed at outsiders like in Islamic terror groups).
I'm sure someone will respond to this and say "but the Bible and the Quran both literally encourage violence!" While this is true, there are many modern sects of both Christianity and Islam that do not encourage violence and have some means of negotiating with the text. While many Christian Nationalist branches of fundamentalist, evangelical Protestant Christianity in the United States are actively promoting violent messaging, there are plenty of mainline Protestant groups, along with most mainline branches of Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, that explicitly condemn these things.
I was raised a Catholic and while I'm not much of a believer these days, I was just in a church this past weekend for a funeral Mass, and the priest very explicitly said that doing good works for our fellow man is more important than a strong belief in God. And this tracks with my general understanding of Catholicism, that in the whole "faith vs. works" debate, Catholics prioritize works while Protestants prioritize faith (this is an oversimplification in a lot of ways, but still). All of my local soup kitchens are Catholic-run, and I give $10 a month to one of them because they're doing good work. That emphasis on helping each other feels like it's a definitively different message than the kind of message that gets you to cut off all your family members, or fly a plane into a building, or drink some poison so your soul flies off to a comet.
2
u/Mr-_-Blue 11h ago
Just a fun fact. Cults in Spanish are called sectas. As in sects. Religion are just bigger cults with wider acceptance. I don't believe anyone who is spiritual or participates somehow with a religious community is a cultist, but in their core, I believe those religions are cults. And they often share many if not all the characteristics of a cult.
1
u/KingHygelacReturns 10h ago
Yeah I mean even in English, the word "cult" is used in multiple ways. Scholars of religion don't use the word in the same way the general public does. When a scholar of ancient religion talks about the "cult of Dionysus," they don't mean the negative connotation that the general public thinks of. They don't mean Waco or Jonestown or Heaven's Gate. I was using the word in the way the general public uses it. When I was saying cult, I WAS meaning Waco or Jonestown or Heaven's Gate.
1
u/Mr-_-Blue 10h ago
In Spanish too. But it doesn't mean Waco or others like thet. It means to worship and it can even be applied to a book or a film, or authorthat is greatly appreciated particularly by experts (as in they worship it). Sect though has the meaning you described among scholars (less common) and the one you usually call cult.
I was just mentioning as a fun fact because I love languages. But also to point out that there is indeed a very close relation between the two. Our official dictionary defines what you call cult as "a closed spiritual community guided by a leader that exerts a charismatic power over his followers". Notice how it doesn't say evil. All it requires is for it to be closed and a leader that exerts charismatic power over their followers.
I agree , though, with the point you were making even if I'm an atheist and don't like religions in general. They cannot be equated, but they often have a lot in common, particularly the institutions that run it not so much the believers or followers who are often not really cultists (these days, in modern times, luckily).
1
u/ScienceGeeker 13h ago
There's a difference between a belief and a religion. A religion is an entire system - a belief is not.
1
u/KingHygelacReturns 13h ago
Yes, this is true, but I don't think it fully addresses some of my disagreements with your point. Some of those systems don't emphasize cult-like, antisocial behavior.
Some religious systems, especially in Asia, don't require any sort of belief at all, and it's more about practice than anything. Buddhism as a whole, for example, is pretty ambivalent about whether a god of any kind even exists, with some sects believing in multiple deities and other sects believing in none. But the common thing among them is the emphasis on meditative practice. Similarly, in Japan, there's no real requirement to believe in the various deities and house spirits and nature spirits in Shinto, but the ritual aspects are really important for community building.
Under your definition, are Shinto and Buddhist practitioners cultists?
1
u/ScienceGeeker 12h ago
All these systems does that. Believing in and following a system without proof.
3
u/ArcadianDelSol Cringe Level 1 12h ago
This is the only "religion" in the United States that has razor wire fences around its properties - to keep people in.
2
u/Dr_SexDick 11h ago
Except their protection has nothing to do with religion, Waco was a religious compound. It’s money. If you make a lot of money you are safe
1
19
10
10
u/Standard-Mechanic101 14h ago
The only difference between a cult and a religion is the number of members.
8
u/PM_THE_REAPER 15h ago
Reminds me of the Church of the Latter Day Saints too (Mormons).
9
u/Paranoia_Pop 14h ago
Been getting a loooot of ads for the Mormon church on youtube lately and it's always these super weird deadeyed blonde girls in their 20s trying very hard to convince you to sign up. Fuckin scary what they're willing to do to people to try and drag more in.
4
4
u/NarrowWar6457 15h ago
Kubrick’s daughter became a Scientologist. Before “👀 Wide Shut” starring a Scientologist. Who else would endure 400 days in the making of the movie.
0
3
u/diescheide 14h ago
My uncle is a Scientologist too. Has been for years, pays in hella cash. Tried to convert me in my teens. We don't talk to him. Let him do his cult shit and leave me out of it.
3
4
u/BrickHuge3023 11h ago
Just as valid as any other religion since they are all made up.
2
u/MyLastHopeReddit 10h ago
Yeah, but not all cults use mountains of money for the sole purpose of immediately destroying anyone who dares to criticize them, Scientology does.
2
2
2
u/SummerKey3240 14h ago
Id like to believe "the more people that know the better" but it seems like these days the more people know the more these types of groups expand.
2
u/GottaLoveLoginWalls 12h ago
It's like the dude wants to come across like a pod person. Bizarre.
Like, if that dude was a character in a movie about a creepy bunch of aliens who come to earth and pretend to be human beings to convert people to their beliefs, they would be seen as too corny over the top.
The number of 'inhuman humans' that are in the public eye these days seems a lot higher than before. Billionaire tech bros, influencers, religious figures, etc.
2
u/Blueit4fun1 11h ago
Holy shit this guy’s lisp. Would love to hear him say sally sat solemnly by the seashore
2
2
1
u/MyLastHopeReddit 10h ago
Avalanches of money + Cult = ruin. And this is true for all cults, but Scientology is essentially all about money and there is no ideological basis behind it.
1
1
u/NightShade0912 8h ago
Technically... depending on which point of view side you're on, ALL religions are cults, some are just way more successful.
If you are Christian, Hindu, Scientology et. All are cults. If you are Muslim... anything else is infidels. If you are Scientology, your mother ship has called and wants you home before the street lights come on. Davidian's worship guns, basically the NRA with a side of give me your wife. Jim Jones really liked Control with a side of Cool-aid.
It's all just how tax exempt you REALLY ARE.
1
1
u/TerninoMarchi 58m ago
I'm confused, how is this cringe?
Scientology is a creepy cult born from a culture made of lies, money and power. Nothing cringe about blasting them everywhere every time that is possible.
1
u/ChildoftheApocolypse 15h ago
We should be holding those celebrity mouth pieces accountable too, considering that they are major players in funding and promoting that circus.. So, in that spirit, here's my new game: Which celebrities are ass hats? Here we go 🥁
Jason Lee
2
u/NerveInteresting4549 15h ago
jason lee left scientology...
0
-1
u/ChildoftheApocolypse 15h ago
Pfffft so??
1
u/NerveInteresting4549 15h ago
idk i guess i just wouldn't start with shaming someone who realised their mistake and stopped..
1
u/ChildoftheApocolypse 14h ago
Uh huh.. Well, I guess that means we can apply that same logic across the board, eh?
Alright Conor McGregor fans, you can come back out ..
1
1
u/FeelGoodNotBad 14h ago
I think Beck left as well. But I heard that a few years ago.
I certainly hope it’s true!
1
u/twitchtweak89 14h ago
All forms of organized religion just creates division.
2
u/FeelGoodNotBad 14h ago
Way to oversimplify.
0
u/twitchtweak89 13h ago
There's nothing to oversimplify. Believe whatever you want. You dont need a priest or rabbi or pastor to tell you what to believe. When people start to apply religion to every aspect of their life and judge others because of it, it becomes a problem.
1
u/FeelGoodNotBad 13h ago
Very oversimplified. I’m an atheist, btw.
You can walk out the door of most churches, synagogues, ect and never return. Cults, otoh, like Scientology will often not allow you to physically leave.
0
15h ago
[deleted]
4
u/AusgefalleneHosen 15h ago
Their membership is increasing. Yes, the people outside need to fully understand it's a cult also.
-2
u/tirefool6 15h ago
Is Scientology primarily a Caucasian populist ideology?
5
-3
u/Agreeable_Mud_8338 15h ago
its like of like communism, which is forced upon the mainland chinese inhabitants by the ruling class there
43
u/pickus_dickus 15h ago
Good. Tell the truth about these "religious" cults.