Christopher Hitchens: Scientology is a Racket and a Con-Job

[Sconezeta]

HAIL Christopher RIP you are missed!

[CelestialEmbodiment]

I'll vote for Dr. Paul.

[CelestialEmbodiment]

Good riddance to the braying jackass Christ' Hitchens who supported the sanctions and the war of pelf against Iraq. [Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"; Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it." — "60 Minutes" (5/12/96)]

[MerryGoFuckYourself]

@CelestialEmbodiment BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA­

[movcrit]

correction -- Christopher HItchens is not an academic by that he is not a scholar.

[StigJensen123]

ALL religions are horrible disgusting cults! Christianity, Islam, Judaism etc etc are no better or worthy of more respect than Scientology

[FuturePants]

@StigJensen123 Agreed.

At least Scientology is kind of tongue-in-cheek with the fact that people realize they are a bunch of con artists.

The church would die before hint that they might possibly be in it for the money/fame.

Heavens no!

[PointlessSteel]

@FuturePants Tongue-in-cheek? The sad truth is that there are many Scientologists who are plainly deluded, brainwashed, rotten.

[albert475]

Both Scientology and Mormonism are fucked up. Scientology wants ur money and Mormons just want to be polygamists

[acr08807]

@albert475 The Mormon church is far more interested in money than it is in polygamy.

[CaptainChaos]

What do you mean, "_However_, in this brief clip..."? That implies that it is somehow in contradiction with what came before (his being anti-religious and saying that all educated people should have knowledge of the bible). Why would that be contradictory?

[floisheremuch]

theunfunnytruth. ytmnd. com

[SuperSquishface]

@0d12m23

Couldn't of put it better myself!

[lilsm555]

Christians will agree that Scientology is fake but they cant see it in there own religion. Scientology makes as much sense as Christianity.

[ukanian]

I dont think he would describe himself as AN academic.

[2CSST2]

Hitchens want people to be instructed about religions because he knows, for example, that the best way to make a christian an atheist is to make him read the bible completely

[12InchesUnBuffed]

@2CSST2 Indeed, I stopped being a Christian after reading the bible. The book has so many discrepancies that I do not understand how people twist their logic to ignore these fallacies and continue to believe in non sense.

A terrifying scam religion truly is. It capitalizes on human weakness (i.e greed and fear) and completely took control over human minds and manipulate them to an extent that they are willing to go as far as to ignore inconsistencies just to continue to believe in fairy tales.

[mrzipdisk]

not sure i would call him an academic, he's more of a writer and a journalist, not to defame him in anyway.

[Frappuccino1988]

the maker of this film is right but he didn't go all in on explaining why Hitchens children are instructed in religious history (history being the key word) is because the best way to prove someone wrong is to use their own argument against them. If you blabber on about how the bible is a tool for genocide, murder, ect... then it really helps to be able to point out where in said bible such possible inspirations exist.

[KnightOwl2006]

$cientology is indeed a racket.

[TheDano1947]

What religion isn't a racket, they all need money to do god's work but what exactly is that anyway,You don't nee money to create poverty, or needless suffering and yet suffering is the corner stone of every religion, along with fear, guilt and shame.

[VerboseMinimalist]

If the maker of this video meant to say that Hitchens is somehow inconsistent by saying that the Bible is historically important and that Scientology is largely a scam, then the maker of this video missed both of Hitchens' points entirely.

[davey6000]

chris, your the man!

[guevaira]

Christopher Hitchens is not an academic. He just has a British accent and has a tendency for large words.

[GloriousReturns]

Yeah, Scientology is a racket, but so is Chris Hitchens.

[AristophanesNow]

@GloriousReturns Christopher Hitchens was a key architect of the propaganda to go to war in Iraq. He personally and viciously attacked weapons inspectors because they were not finding WMD prior to invasion. Rather than simply going away in shame, he jumps on "God is Dead" bandwagon to redirect attention from his war atrocities. Nazi Party propagandists were tried as war criminals following WWII. Hitchens should be forced to account for his libel and slander and the death of innocents.

[GloriousReturns]

@AristophanesNow I do know that Chris always seemed to want to be in the limelight, and used shock to keep himself known.

[TheDano1947]

@AristophanesNow What for, opinion is not a crime at least not yet. Innocence's is the realm of childhood and has no place in an enlightened world. Ignorance isn't bliss, it's just another name for enslavement. 

[macktruk13]

thank you for spending half the video transcribing what Hitchens said. The video is so much better for the 25 seconds of pre video reading

[stonewickison]

Careful Christopher....They might sue you..."Sue you in England!"

tee hee

[BloggerMusicMan]

I went to a scientology centre in Toronto a couple of days ago just to check it out and ask questions and what not. After watching a film on dianetics at this centre, it was confirmed to me that scientology is nothing more than a fraud.

[TheGoalSetter]

Chi$topher Hitchen$ is nothing but another Jewi$h I$rael-fir$ter.

[BloggerMusicMan]

@TheGoalSetter

I don't always agree with Hitchens, but are you saying that a Christian raised, Greek-Orthadox indoctrinated (to appease ex-wife's family), anti-theist who has spoken against the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank for thirty years is a "Jewish Israel-firster"?

[SupremeChimp]

@BloggerMusicMan Being an ally of Israel does not mean enabling them to commit atrocities just because they can. The fact that someone wants Israel to be able to defend themselves in a tumultuous region doesn't mean they want them to be on the offensive crushing any dissenters in that region.

[jerzy862]

I love this man... Sincerley hope that he gets through his cancer.

[Pableetoh100]

$cientology is a particularly nasty cult that uses all manner of ruthless and underhanded methods to slander, ostracize ("disconnection") and bankrupt (usually through excessive litigation) those who dare to leave the cult or speak out against it.

$cientology was founded by a deranged paranoid bastard who was also a sci-fi obsessed lunatic: L Ron Hubbard.

Most of the Cult's teachings are total fantasies, a blend of pseudo-science, sci-fi and Hubbard's very active yet crazy imagination.

[Obasiliasfilosofos]

@Pableetoh100

battlefield earth sucked so bad that it can't even qualify for "the so bad that its good" category like Plan9.

[TheDano1947]

@Obasiliasfilosofos That's because the director is delusional and thinks his film is a masterpiece of high art.

Check out the audio commentary and see for yourself.

[derekdb2]

Joel 3

1For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink

[briantotse3]

You don't need to be a world famous academic to realize what Scientology is.

[Robstailey]

@briantotse3

or any other religion. i figured out what a con job catholocism was when i was 12

[SpellboundSolution]

The ear candy starts at 0:32

[ZakBrownrigg123]

@SpellboundSolution

haha good way to put it!

[ba3cool]

Scientology seems especially ridiculous because of the whole "aliens get lured to earth under the false pretence of filing their tax returns, get h-bombed in volcanoes and then get brainwashed in some 3d theatre" thing, but to me it isn't. Magic Jew, with virgin mom and a space daddy / Monkey man with Blue warrior dude shooting cruise missiles out of bows in Sri Lanka / Zeus banging his own mom: Are all equally insane.

[darkhyena]

Which is worse? Scientology or Mormonism? I vote Scientology, as it impoverishes people, encourages the harassment of free thinkers and apostates and has a track record of leaving behind legacies of suicides and deaths through neglect

[Jman0011]

Okay, Scientology is just ridiculous. But Mormonism I wouldn't really consider to be any more of a "con" than any other religion. I don't know where he comes off comparing Mormonism and Scientology.

ps. Before you make any assumptions as to why I'm defending Mormons, I'm Athiest.

[sgmarshall]

@Jman0011 He says Scientology and Mormonism are "the record of a successful con job". Presumably he simply means that the founders of both were conmen, which seems historically correct. Mormonism makes an easy example, because even most Christians think they're wacko, but moreso because we have well documented accounts of Scientology's and Mormonism's founding and can see both the con and the insanity as it develops.

[Jman0011]

@sgmarshall

Yeah, mormonism definitely has some off the wall beliefs even for a religion. I would consider them to be some of the kindest and most sincere people(for the most part) I have ever known. I suppose the reasons mormonism was created could be considered con-ish(tithing), but no where near as much as scientology.

[sgmarshall]

@Jman0011 Once you have personal revelation you have dogma and dogma leads to irrational stances. Just look at how much church money goes into trying to control politics. The problem isn't that they have some odd beliefs, the problem is when they can't step back and understand that personal revelation is BS and because of this, they let the political arm of the church do evil. This doesn't even touch on how religion has dumbed down this country.

[sgmarshall]

@Jman0011 Sorry, youtube just doesn't really have the space to have thoughtful conversations only Fox News type rants and soundbites. If I could take a page to explain, I think you'd find we really don't differ all that much. You might try someplace like evcform (net not com).

[chackers]

Sorry, but I think I must have missed something: you state "However...he reveals his disDain for Scientology," as if doing so somehow contradicts what you previously mentioned about Hitchens. Did you forget a page of this PowerPoint presentation?

[TheGreatDeciever55]

i gotta say. From all the different perspectives i can gather....Religion seems adjacent to Blackmail.

[murderousbastard83]

@0d12m23 Shit eatin, cockmastering fuckwad to be exact. Lol.

[JacksonOssea]

I don't agree wtih Christopher Hitchens on everything (being agnostic instead of an athiest) but I do think that if his mindset was the one used to run in the United States, a lot more would get acomplished and a lot more criminals would finally get what's coming to them.

[latuman]

@JacksonOssea Hitchens is also an agnostic. He does not claim to know the answer to the god question. However he does not actively believe (Knowing is not the same as believing something) so he is also an atheist.

An agnostic atheist.

[Robstailey]

@latuman

an agnostic acknowledges the possibility of a god, but that hypothetical god really has nothing to do with any of the world's religions, as none of them have any proof of their claims whatsoever. they admit the possibility of the christian god, jew god, islaamic god, xenu, the great all knowing sandwich, the flying spaghetti monster, Time Lincoln, zeus, giant pink mushroom people, etc, etc, etc.

[latuman]

@Robstailey Yes, I think thats just what I said. Hitchens is also an agnostic in addition to being an atheist, like any reasonable person should be.

[stayjit1]

Oh ye of little faith. I can't wait to see Hitchen's face when the mothership shows up with the Galactic Overlord Xenu. I bet he tosses ol' Hitch into a volcano like he did to the last batch. L. Ron Hubbard said so. I hope there's room on the mothership for me, I hear Tom Cruise is the first one onboard. Hail Xenu !

[jerryhello100]

His "distain" for Scientology? What the fuck is distain, is this a new laundry product?

[sgmarshall]

I don't get the 'however'. it almost seems as if you believe that Hitchens has exposed his children to the Bible for moral instructions yet has an issue with Scientology. Knowledge of the Bible in the sense he uses it does not mean buying into religion, nor would he have, I suspect, a problem with people having knowledge of Scientology. How else are his children to know why to avoid either if not properly exposed? So again, I don't get your point.

[maddtappin]

@sgmarshall yeah, I thought the exact same thing!!?

[amindbody]

how can you hate something about which you have no knowledge? aren't parents the first teachers? do not parent's have a right to teach their children what they want as long as it's objective and not indoctrination?

[sgmarshall]

@ amindbody You lost me somewhere. What would parents be teaching that is both objective and not indoctrination?

[LaughingMan42]

What do you mean "however"? Scientology is a con job.

[WoWHicollin]

wtf up with like 5+ pages of comments stegocephalian? do you really think it needs to be that long i mean 3 or 4 sentences would be good physco

[PR13STG0RD0]

The maker of this video fails to mention that Hitchens believes we all must have knowledge of the bible in it's literal history so that we are not taken in by it. Leave uit to believers to skew the truth to their POV. They can't even debate their weak position without lieing or making things up.

[DrakeDun]

"Nothing more than the record of a successful con job."

Succinct, articulate, and true. Nice.

[NearlyShaoKahn]

Christopher Hitchens is a glorious SP

[BEANPOLE111]

@NearlyShaoKahn What is SP?

[AdairZionist]

@BEANPOLE111 Suppressive Person. It's Scientology cult-speak for a critic.

[yetitracker]

people hate religion for a couple of reasons....1. the way religion divides the world and causes pain. 2. because nobody wants to be judged. that being said.....religion is the base for law in most societies....if one doesnt fear the afterlife...why fear how you live your life? do what you want and it doesnt matter,why be good if you dont have to?if people are animals,nothing more than a glorified ape....whats the point in caring other than to ensure your offspring survive? why care about others

[Stegocephalian]

yetitracker - One of the central reasons I dislike religion is that it is a parasite on morality; it claims authorship of morality, when in fact the effect it does have on morality is largely negative; whenever people have felt it profitable to justify attrocity, they've looked to religious dogma to offer them the justification. Why I dislike religion is that it claims superiority, and absolute truth, while at the same time relying on ancient texts which are brutal and primitive...

[Stegocephalian]

...when taken literally, that contain conflicting messages of what is moral and what is not, and that allow innumerable different interpretations, so that a believer can find whatever morality he prefers - whether it has good or bad consequences - in their scriptures.

Why be good without fear of an afterlife? How about because we are social animals, and as such, have evolved to co-operate; for co-operation to be possible, we have basic moral intuitions, on which to build our cultural...

[Stegocephalian]

...moral concepts. How about because we live in societies grounded on co-operation, and thus have laws to discourage anti-social behavior? How about because if we act anti-socially, we get shunned by the larger community and end up alone? There are a multitude of reasons to be moral and good that don't involve any afterlife, or god-belief. Most of moral philosophy written makes no mention of anything supernatural! If you are good only because of fear of an afterlife, or the promise...

[Stegocephalian]

of an eternal reward, then what does that tell about you?

In fact, the vast majority of theists who believe their morality to be grounded on the threat of a punishment, if they do lose their faith at some point, find out that their inclination to do good, and the bad feelings they get from anti-social behavior are still there, even when the childish fear of eternal torture has evaporated.

In that sense, those who argue that without a fear of eternal consequences they'd cease doing good...

[Stegocephalian]

...go on some sort of a selfish rampage satisfying their basest desires with no regard for anyone else, are like young children, who imagine that when they grow up, and are no longer under parental control, they'll stay up all night, and eat only candy and ice cream.

By the time they do grow up, they find that their understanding has grown with them, and they now appreciate the need for good nutrition, and a good night's sleep, without the parent to dictate their actions.

[malfeam]

well, i can tell you that i have been diagnosed with socipathic tendencies and the only thing that keeps me from doing whatever i want is religion. killing a person would not bother me, and the dictates of society honestly mean nothing to me and do nothing to stop me. only my faith does. so you might want to thank one of those false religions for sparing a few extra human lives.

[Stegocephalian]

If that's the case for you, then keep believing, by all means. Though I do wonder why you wouldn't consider the serious risk of getting caught and punished while still alive a deterrent, while you consider punishment after the death a deterrent.

And what if you were taught under the many branches of Christianity that aren't the "turn the other cheek" variety? The Bible does after all, give license to a variety of destructive behavior, including sanctioning slavery!

It may take religion to....

[Stegocephalian]

...force a sosiopath into socially acceptable behavior, but it also takes religion to make a normal person act in a way that a sosiopath might without it.

I'm very skeptical of whether a threat of horrible consequences after death would actually work, in most cases at least, to make a sosiopath to act in a socially acceptable manner - I'd have to see some proper studies about that. I suspect that the sociopaths thus influenced are a tiny minority, when compared ot those sosiopaths that seek...

[Stegocephalian]

...justification for their actions FROM those very same religious texts you say are keeping you in line.

[malfeam]

honestly, if you're smart you won't be caught doing wrong in modern society. the system is pumped full of so much garbage that you can do anything you want as long as you approach it in a systematic and intelligent fashion. you can steal, rape and kill all you want without any fear of repercussion if you aren't a fool. and i have never needed any sort of justification for attaining what i wanted.

[Stegocephalian]

That is what every "mastermind" in jail believed too.

Even if you were to grant that such mastermind sociopaths existed that could guarantee to themselves that they'll never be caught, and that they'd be so numerous to be of any significant consequence to the socity, one would still wonder why these supposed masterminds weren't clever enough to find justification for whatever they want to do in their holy texts, and thus become convinced that they don't have to face eternal punishment....

[Stegocephalian]

...It's a strange mastermind that can't master this rather simple task, given the content of the Bible. Moreover, Christianity doesn't work very well as a deterrent, because every act (aside perhaps for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit) can be forgiven by simply asking forgiveness from Jesus and beliving in the Christian dogma about him. It's the ultimate "get out of jail free" card!

Consider then how many non-sociopaths require some justification that they can convince themselves with, in...

[Stegocephalian]

...commiting attrocious acts, such as genocide, killing or enslaving of unbelievers and percecuting minorities. The vast majority of the populace is such normal non-sociopaths, and without what they see as ultimate justification in some dogma, they would not be able to commit such acts without horrible guilt.

So my point still stands - if there are a number of people that "need" the carrot and stick of heaven and hell, in order to behave well, they are vastly outnumbered by the people...

[Stegocephalian]

...who need no such threats, but who may use those very same texts to placate their consciences in doing what they intuitively know to be wrong. Note that the dogma does not need to be religious - any dogmatic ideology that is believed in with absolute conviction may be used as just such a weapon - though most often the dogma in question is based in religion.

[adsfgfdhgsgjsdfg]

@malfeam - Bull. I assure you that religion is not whats keeping you from doing sociopathic things.

sociopathic - Having the characteristics of a sociopath; Unconcerned about the adverse consequences for others of one's actions

Your involvement in religion shows you have concern and your comment indicates your not a sociopath.

[malfeam]

i'll tell my therapist that i'm cured then. thank you random internet guy. =)

[adsfgfdhgsgjsdfg]

LOL - Well played

[AtheistRevolutionX]

I'm an Atheist and I have read the bible several times, I am starting the Qu'ran as well. This video is an excellent example of the religious mind. They read their one little book and stop right there.

I would never assume to be an Atheist unless I had done my homework on exactly what I wasn't believing in. I just wish religious people would do their homework and study the reasons people become Atheists in the first place. If they don't and choose to just read the bible, they are ignorant.

[brunt3]

Every child should be given a "childs" copy of the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Children aren't capable of making decisions for themselves. Offering a book like this may help to rid the world of the disease I like to call religion. One day we will find a cure, for all the various types of religions!

[indiandawgloser]

i'd consider myself an atheist, but wouldn't trying to shove atheist-oriented books down the throats of children be just as bad as what religious people are currently doing? Don't get me wrong, it would be a much better place if people weren't religious, but when it comes down to it, people have to make their own decisions about how they want to live.

[brunt3]

Well that's where we differ....Childhood Indoctrination is a big problem. I disagree with by giving a child (I'm talking 10+ years) an "atheist-oriented" book I'm just like them. See, the book I would be giving them would make a hell of a lot more sense then the bible.

Children will listen to whatever their parents tell them to do. That is the single reason why there are soo many people involved in religions.

Give them a Dawkins book...before they're too "Indoctrinated"

[brunt3]

Also, Dawkins DOES NOT shove Atheism down your throat as much as MOST religions do.

In Atheism if you choose not to believe in Atheism no evil make belief spaghetti monster is gonna commit you to eternal damnation. So if you don't agree with it kids can choose not to read it without fear.

[indiandawgloser]

If you put it that way, then yeah, i agree that they should be given a book that points out fallacies in all currently practiced theisms (may be too many to acknowledge), but then goes as far as to explain why there are those contradictions or scientific impossibilities. But yeah the idea of giving them a Dawkins book before they are too indoctrinated may be a good strategy to let them see the other side of the "story" and get ideas flowing through their heads.

[UnknownFace101]

Um I'm Atheist and I wouldn't have a problem with my children learning about other religions. It makes for a well versed and open-minded individual. Keep in mind the spawn of my Atheism was due to being raised in a religious family.

[Bojaxs]

I have no problem with people learning about religion in a literature sense. The same way we learn about Egyptian and Greek gods in history and/or English classes.

We can learn about Scientology and Christianity and Islam and talk about and laugh at people who used to believe in a giant invisible man in the sky who watched over 6 billion people at the same time.

It would definitely make for an interesting and hilarious class.

[kennebacasiskyle]

I see nothing controversial about this, unless you happen to be a deluded scientologist (most know none of its true), or an "all-in" Mormon. Neither of these groups of people have opinions worth listening to, anyway, so i see this as a rather cheap shot for Hitchens...

[gitsandshiggles]

d-i-s-d-a-i-n.

fuck.

[revan80]

shit! im mormon. im not even kidding. lol

[chbrules]

Ha! He added Mormonism. It's quite true.