NPR - Lewis Black on Scientology - June 10, 2008

[darkmiles22]

Actually, the Puritans wanted freedom to impose their own theocracy, and even persecuted a bunch of people to the point they founded Rhode Island just to escape Puritan theocracy. Even then, religious freedom didn't really catch on until the Enlightenment thinkers of the mid 1700s over a hundred years after the Mayflower. For that matter, the phrase "separation of church and state" was effectively invented by Jefferson in the late 1700s.

[toobularbells]

HEY! THEY'RE ALL FUCKIN BATSHIT!

JUDAISM,CHRISTIANITY,ISLAM,WIC­CAN,MORMON,SATANISM

For anyone to say one is worse than the others is a fucking retard as well.

[SaberScorpion]

'As a member of Anonymous...' Oh God what an asshole. I don't care what you believe in, but that caller was an asshole. Lewis Black should have said, "member of WHAT now? You protest this shit? Can't you find something more important to protest than rich idiots making up a religion for other rich idiots? Who the hell cares? Get a life!"

[Dakarn]

@SaberScorpion More important things? Here's a story that actually happened. Scientology recruited a guy into their folds. They got him to take out a loan against his house. Then they got him to mortage it a 2nd time for more money for their courses. Then a THIRD time. Got ahold of all his credit cards and maxxed them out. Then, when he couldn't pay for more courses, or pay his debt, told him to commit suicide to start his new life. Do any other religions do that? Is that worth protesting?

[Kaalec]

I love the fact that some people condemn Scientology while clinging to mainstream Christianity (or Islam or Judaism). They can't believe that our "thetans" or souls may have lived on other planets and came to Earth in spaceships. But they can believe in an old man who lives in the sky and runs our lives and makes sure his favourite actors win Oscars they're always thanking him. They're all equally ludicrous.

[DrEbolasauce]

@Kaalec As a Christian I'm baffled how people can over-simplify things like this. Oh yeah dude, that's what its like, I could go outside right now and point to an old man who sits on a cloud and runs the universe. Scientologists can go on believing whatever they want, and I'm in no position to talk ill of something that fulfills them. Same with you, keep doing what you are doing if it makes you happy. Just keep your athiesm to yourself if you don't have anything nice to say.

[Kaalec]

@DrEbolasauce I came to a page of someone who is known to reject religion in all its forms. I came to talk to people who share this point of view. If you don't like what I write (and it's a free country by the way so I am allowed to say what I like), then you shouldn't visit atheist-friendly pages. As a Christian, you are simply baffled. Period.

[DarkZekeX]

@DrEbolasauce Atheists would probably have no problem keeping to themselves if Christians and others would keep to themselves, not attempt to convert people, and not enact and enforce legislation that hurts other people. But unfortunately a ton of people in your faith do that stuff, as do many in other faiths too.

[jmoney507]

@Kaalec are you a scientologist?

[Kaalec]

@jmoney507 No, I'm an atheist, or at least an anti-religionist. To me, Scientology is no weirder than any other religion. They're all nonsense and superstition.

[Thoralmir]

I honestly have no idea how L.Ron Hubbard managed to sell that one. You do know that the guy was high on LSD while writing it right? The scientoligists are mad at wikipedia and South Park for blowing the lid off of their little cult scam they're running.

[SubaruOfTheTriad]

I think it's arrogant for us to assume we know what's beyond our side of life. I choose to believe that there's something on the other side, because it would be kind of boring and pointless if there was nothing. As to what that something is, hell if I know. I'll wait until I get there to find out. If it's God, goodie. If it's 72 virgins, okay then. If it's a fat bald guy at peace with the universe, okidokies. If it's an old grizzled hippie smoking a bong, I'll bring the grass.

[wakkawakkaheyhey]

I find it sad that your life is 'boring and pointless' without the thought of an afterlife - try living for NOW - it's the only chance you'll get!

[SubaruOfTheTriad]

@wakkawakkaheyhey Where did I say that LIFE was boring and pointless? I said the idea of there being nothing after death was boring and pointless, LIFE is far from boring and pointless.

Don't be so quick to pounce on what you THINK I said ;)

[RedNymph234]

I heart Anonymous

[Cavman]

Should have called himself David.

[sadisticfreak432]

ROB IS A MEMBER OF ANONYMOUS!

Are you fucking kidding me?

[CommanderPayne]

hurr anonymouse is legion guise, let irl raid!

I die a little inside every time I see something like this

[iam2danditiscool]

me too, man, me too.

[kaktuzz]

ANONYMOOS IS A LEGUUN xD

[moonlily1]

why the fuck is there a laugh track?

[microKORG17]

they had an audience

[barenakedfan87]

"as a member of anonymous"

"thank you rob"

...

Fail!

[PhatassFred]

And your agnostic, so your whole philosophy in life is a big, honking "Maybe". So uncertain to the point of ecstacy. Sign me right up.

[manka6]

My antagonistic what?

[manka6]

*agnostic

[ShaithMaster]

bellend? english fuck

[omnissient]

He said that because christians always say that jesus gives people happiness and moral guidance. You can have hapiness and morals just as well without him.

agnostic and atheist is the same. If about an item X nothing is known then X is to be considered not existant. An agnosticist will say X might exist but i dont know it, which gives the same implication as saying X doesnt exist until i find more information.

Just wordplay no meaning, thats what christian like to do to entangle peoples minds.

[bonwell]

Nope, no, atheism and agnosticism are not the same thing, not at all. The statement you made is a logical fallacy and completely untrue. I can't stress this enough. Stop calling agnostics atheists, it's not the same thing.

[FerretJohn]

Actually you couldn't be more wrong, athiesm and agnosticism is not the same at all. Athiests believe that there is no god or afterlife, that this is it. Agnostics, of which I am one, believe in God and/or higher powers and the afterlife but they don't believe in organized religions. Next time try researching before trying to make the profound intelligent statements.

[Kite197]

@FerretJohn

All the same bullshit.

Nigger.

[FerretJohn]

@Kite197 And in five little words you show just what a moron you are. How very efficient of you.

[Kite197]

@FerretJohn

u mad?

[jmoney507]

@Kite197 trollish bullshit

[kcveitch]

close, gnosticism refers to whether you believe it is POSSIBLE to KNOW if there is a god or not. Theism refers to whether you BELIEVE there is a god or not. Therefore it is possible to be an agnostic atheist, meaning you don't believe it's possible to know whether a god exists or not, but you believe that it doesn't. What you described for yourself is Deism, which refers to the belief in a god that set forth the laws of the universe but doesn't think of humans as all that significant.

[Narwal88]

@FerretJohn

If you believe in god, you are not an agnostic. Next time, I think you should try doing some research yourself.

agnostic |agˈnästik|

noun

a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God. (American Heritage Dictionary).

[SeppukuDoll]

Wow, you're trolling, right?

[atork88]

@FerretJohn actually there's a slight correction for your explanation as well. You're actually explaining what a deist is. An agnostic is someone who doesn't deny god's presence but is unsure of god's existence as well because of lack of evidence. A Deist however, is someone who believes in God but doesn't adhere to any religion.

[jmoney507]

@atork88 are you speaking as a deist? i would actually like to know more about deism

[atork88]

@jmoney507 No, i'm jewish borderlining on atheism, but i have plenty of friends who consider themselves deists. Deism is more of a mindset than a religion. A religion has two components, belief in a higher being and adherence to certain beliefs and practices of that religion. A deist believes there is a higher power but doesn't follow any specific religious practice like going to church if you're christian or keeping kosher if you're jewish. hope that helps.

[jmoney507]

@atork88 i see. makes sense. I myself am critical of organizesd religion, but believe in the Bible and God (though I think people understand what they believe at timesand take it too far).

[atork88]

@jmoney507 Well, criticism of organized religion is a foundation of deism, since they believe that all religious works are man made not divinely influenced. Actually quite a few of the founding fathers were deists or influenced by deism like Ben Franklin (became atheist later in life), Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, etc.. They were critical of the power of organized religion as well.

[Suprahampton]

@atork88 Is that why there's supposed to be seperation of church & state in America?

[atork88]

@Suprahampton Separation of c and s started with the first settlers who were puritans escaping religious persecution in Britain, a protestant state. To keep this from repeating the 1st amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." SCOTUS later read this to mean that there should be a separation of church and state so that one can't control the other, leaving people to believe or not believe as they wish (ideally).

[magikamerika]

"Anything Tom Cruise believes in I don't have time for..." Well said Mr. Black...I agree completely.

[Lacunamoto]

As a memeber of anonymous... wait, what?

[Breaker3051]

Google 4chan lol

[Sanguiluna]

Scientology is not a religion; it's a fucking hobby! They just called it a religion so as to sound a little less nerdy. But come on, really, when you're part of a "church" that was founded by a frickin sci-fi author, you're already on a one-way street to Nerdville, and changing the name of the town won't help any.

[ccricers]

Technically, Scientology should mean "the study of science", but they took our werdz!

[mettedraq]

dey took our werdz!

[NWOSupporter2012]

From the definition I am a scientologist,but the religion of Scientology is absurd. It is not hard to make any religion you want, all you need is a enough people to believe anything.

[tassadar32]

It's a good way to make lots of money too. That's a good way to make any buttload of money... Religion...

[barrusDemonPlucker]

Wait isn't the study of science redundant.

[forelelyon]

get out

[theunknownknows]

Mostly, scientology is called a religion to get non-profit status and protection under the law. There's another reason, too. Let's just say it was how they got big.

[AndrewAnarchy101]

Go Anon!

[dolega84]

Lewis has it right lmao.

[Strifus]

Rules 1 and 2 no longer apply when fucking everyone knows.

[zxFarSide]

Besides those rules only apply to raids.

[cutes22]

"They make every other religion look like science" OMG, I laughed my ass off. How true!

[SlaerAkuyume]

FUCK YEAH!

[utar88utar]

go Lewis! go!

[smurfiennes]

lol

[thebeastlacey]

I love Lewis Black! This guy uses "principled" thinking and applies it with to his art. I am a devout Christian and I am a huge believer in people's freedom to honor their own personal religion so long as WE use good, core valued principles in our lives and live as one, together in our community. Lewis, much like George Carlin, I don't always agree with their beliefs, but, they at least are educated as to why they believe what they do.

[66kompis]

you're so right couldn't have said it better..... they have good insight and then they speak "they at least are educated as to why they believe what they do"

[BnThDnTh]

Scientology is wacked. Here's a quote from L. Ron Hubbard about the between life stations on MARS!!

"The Martian operation is a fascinating operation, simply because it has gone into 100 percent holding force. It does everything it does with tremendous coversion. It's sitting behind a defense screen of enormous size, and nobody - it's practically impossible to penetrate that, except as a thetan. If you penetrate it as a thetan, you go through the Martian screen, and they got you!"

:-)

[ZeldaQueen64]

Oh lord, I did a project for my Comparative Religions final project in which I compared Hinduism and Scientology (this was before I fully knew what Scientology was). I was floored when I read about what Hubbard said happens after you die (your "thetan" goes to Venus then back to Earth...) When I gave my presentation and was explaning this view of the afterlife, a girl basically asked me if this was really what they believed.

[zarda999]

Rules 1&2 MOTHER FUCKER!

[vongoloid]

Scientology makes... "every other organized religion look like science." Hahaha!  Hilarious!

[AnonMomAnon]

this video confirms how intelligent lewis black is...

i <3 lewis black!

can't wait to see the disney/$cientology episode.