would the church go after anyone who basically kind of stuck up for them and said, "listen, scientology wasn't for me but it isn't what people are saying, it can help people and I respect it as an organization?"
This sort of seems like a two-part question. A) Are there former members who do as you say, and "sort of stick up" for the church? And B) would the church still go after them.
I'm sure the answer to A) is probably YES. I'm sure there are a lot of former members who don't bad-mouth the church in public. As to question B), I have no idea. On one hand, I'm sure there are a lot of former members who now live peacefully and don't make any trouble for the church. But on the other hand, I wonder if they first had to go through a rough time of being followed and harassed before it became apparent that they wouldn't make waves. How often do people leave the group without experiencing
some form of repercussion or harassment? I don't know that i've heard of any such instances off the top of my head. This show has mostly interviewed high-level people; maybe low-level members, normal working stiffs, for example, can walk away with minimal problems. If so, they probably wouldn't say anything too terrible about the church. (Of course, if they're low level, they might not have experienced anything too terrible to talk about, either. )
But as I said earlier, I think the reason some former members do speak out so publicly is that they realize that something is terribly, terribly wrong with how the church is run. I don't think it's a matter of the church's "beliefs" (whatever those are), but the way in which the organization is managed: with lies, deceit, intimidation, and greed. I think that's what they're opposing.
No one asks the church heads why there is no one who used to be in the church who isn't anymore who speaks positively about it. Why it's one extreme or the other.
That's another good question. But I think maybe it's like being in a trance or something. While they're in the church, they think what they see is normal, they're slowly, incrementally inured to what they see. Some may call it desensitized. But when they finally hit the breaking point and get out, it's like they finally "snap out of it" and realize how extreme the actions of the church really are. Part of them knows all along that something is wrong... after all, they know they have to sneak out and act surreptitiously to escape. Once they're out they fully realize that members of other churches don't have to do that, don't have to secretly pack a bag, formulate a plan, contact people "on the outside" for help, etc. Maybe that's why they're so violent in their refutations of the church once they're out--it has fully, completely dawned on them how much they'd been manipulated for decades. Or all their lives, in some cases. Again, that doesn't happen with other mainstream religions. There isn't such an enormous sense of betrayal so the effect isn't as dramatic. (sexual abuse claims notwithstanding)
I know, this is long-winded, and probably didn't make a lot of sense. But
long story short, I think that most people leave other churches because of faith/doctrine differences, but most people who leave the cult of scientology do so because the people who run it and the methods they use are downright bat-crap crazy.
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