10.9.12

In my normally so calm surroundings...

I normally don't treat about politics, religions... in my posts, but...

The other day, I was surprised to find a large number of police vans around « my » park. I soon found part of the - totally probably too numerous - police forces. They were obviously there to avoid violent clashes between members of the Church of Scientology and an assembly of people – most of them being the famous “Anonymous” - who protested against the Scientology  presence in our neighbourhood. Yes, the scientologists have a “Scientology Celebrity Center” here …  and the scientologists are still present in France (40.000 adherents?), despite a number of convictions, rather heavy fines …



The protesters were not allowed to approach the Scientology building and gathered on the nearby little square. In the crowd was of course our local “clown”, “Nono la Patate”.


There have been regular clashes, court cases, between “Nono la Patate” and the Scientologists and last year it became quite violent.  He and a friend were obviously aggressed by some scientologists. As you can see he looked then less smiling than usual.



The event was closely surveyed and filmed by some Scientology members. I guess even I was filmed, taking photos of their building.





Learning something about Scientology? From Wikipedia:
"Xenu was according to the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the Galactic Confederacy who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology scriptures hold that the essences of these many people remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spritual harm."  

24 comments:

Olivier said...

la scientologie est une des sectes les plus violentes et dures dans le monde. Comme toute secte, elle ne pense qu'au fric "Le meilleur moyen de devenir rapidement millionnaire est de fonder une religion". L. Ron Hubbard, gourou de la Scientologie, 1947, discours de Newark.
Elle est dangereuse dans ce qu'elle dit ""La radiation est apparemment énormément soluble dans l'eau et même s'enlève avec celle-ci. Selon les chercheurs, il n'y a qu'à arroser la surface d'un bâtiment ou d'une route pour en laver la radiation. Ce facteur est bien connu du personnel entraîné à la protection." L. Ron Hubbard- Bulletin du HCO du 3 janvier 1984 - Publication III
etc..... J'arrive pas a comprendre que la Scientologie soir considere comme une religion aux USA.
Il faut lire le tres bon livre "Ron hubbard : le gourou demasque"

Maria said...

EI am not religous, so a secta, in my opinion, is not good because they take the control of you live.
No, no, I want be absoluty free.
Either the Scientology nor other religion.
Besos.

Anonymous said...



I*ve told many wild stories to my grandchildren at bedtime...

Wikipedia*s description of Sciencetology sounds like one of them...

Very interesting post, Peter.
Mil gracias!

Anonymous said...



I*ve told many wild stories to my grandchildren at bedtime...

Wikipedia*s description of Sciencetology sounds like one of them...

Very interesting post, Peter.
Mil gracias!

We love LUNA said...

Bonjour dear Peter!
When I see this kind of things, I'm so sad... :(
Human being are so complicate! That's the reason I LOVE ANIMALS!
purrs and love
Luna =^.^=

hpy said...

J'ai du lire un ou deux livres de Ron, mais c'étaient des livres écrits avant qu'il ne devienne scientologue. SF.

hpy said...

Ou je n'ai peut-être pas compris le message chientologique des livres...

Cergie said...

Moi non plus je ne parle ni de politique ni de religion, je comprends ton message cependant...

claude said...

J'ai vu un reportage sur la scientologie, c'est effarant.
Je vois qu'Olivier est calé sur ce sujet qui ne m'intéresse pas plus que cela, sauf à voir de pauvres gens se faire berner, dépouiller de leur pognon et de leur âme.

claude said...

Par contre il est quand même intéressant de voir que certaines personnes manifestent contre ce genre de sectes, car, cela en est bien une.

Adam said...

So you didn't see Tom Cruise then?

Studio at the Farm said...

I definitely prefer Ron Hubbard's science fiction to his scientology. That is one very bizarre credo!

aeh said...

As far as I'm concerned, many religions have remarkable stories of how they came to be. At least Scientology claims a history before 6,000 years ago! Evangelists, for example, not only take Genesis literally, they believe it took place about 6,000 years ago and that anything scientists claim to have come before that is untrue. They also believe that they can speak for God on earth thus certain American politicians believe they have been "called" by God to public service.

And have you ever read the genesis of the Mormon religion? But then Catholics believe in a virgin birth, a Holy Ghost, and many other things that have to be accepted on "faith".

Owen said...

It never fails to amaze me how gullible human beings can be as they swallow hook, line, and sinker the most amazing array of nonsense, fairy tales, and delusion from any number of sources, which then obsess them to the point where little or nothing else matters in life, and of course giving their money and houses away is normal because it is part of the whole deal...

Charismatic charlatans have been numerous throughout history, but the stories all seem pretty similar and sadly pretty sick. Fortunately they don't all end as badly as the sect in Jonestown, Guyana did, but "religion" or religious issues in general have probably caused more war and famine and death than most any other reason over the centuries. Shucks, there is even a modern "religion" today that puts out death warrants on anyone who dares to criticize them. Now isn't that amazing ??? So much for freedom of speech and intellectual expression.

And I didn't shed any tears when I saw the obituary the other day for a certain Moon in the news.

We remain a highly superstitious and viscerally violent species I fear, despite claims to the contrary by some who speak of an odd notion called "civilization"...

Nathalie said...

Owen (in English) and Olivier (in French) have said pretty much all about how I feel about the subject.

We have a Scientology book store in Avignon and it makes me angry.

My sister used to live near one in Paris too. She was accustomed to seeing young members of the sect approaching passers-by, trying to get them into it. She never came anywhere near them... until she felt lonely and baby-blues stricken after she had her son. Then, when the "nice" young scientologists approached her, they had a friendly chat to her. Within a few hours they had managed to sell her for 1,000 French francs worth of Scientology books. In 1987 that was a lot of money. Coming back to her senses she went back the next day to demand her money back. It took her the better part of the morning but she finally got a refund. She never let Scientologists come anywhere near her again.

Nathalie said...

Oh, and great report by the way, Peter. If the action took place near "your" park, no wonder you were right there in a flash!

Alain said...

Secte ou religion, la différence est parfois bien mince.

PeterParis said...

As I said in the introduction of my post, I would normally not treat with political or religious matters on my blog. However, I imagine that most of you would understand my “message” here. Also, as some of you have clearly stated their feelings in your comments, I thought I should somehow try to clarify mine.

At least for the moment, I do not believe in any religion, but have full respect for those who do. However, my respect disappears when believers pretend that they are the only ones to know the “truth”, when the tolerance towards others disappears, when there is fanaticism. History and present days show too many examples when too strong, false or true religious feelings have led to disaster (wars, prosecutions… ), when they have not only been a pretext for other objectives.

We must perhaps also remember that religions which have their origins hundreds or thousands of years ago hardly can be compared to new pretended religions. After all, science and general knowledge progress since then change the issue. Few people would today accept the word-by-word reading and interpretation of different religious holy “books”. (To believe in the “message” behind is something different.)

I can appreciate that true believers still today try to persuade others to follow them in their belief as long as they do so with tolerance and without clear economic objectives. … and it hardly seems to me that Scientology is a good example in this respect.

Mr. Hubbard may have written some good science fiction, but the "fiction" somehow later has semed to disappear.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Owen for putting everything I feel into words and well done Peter, as always, for highlighting the interesting topics.

Lucy

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

Thank you, Peter, for stepping outside your usual topics to cover this one and for the thoughts that others have brought to light here.

If you do see Tom Cruise, please get a shot of him and then RUN! (wink)

Bises,
Genie

Vagabonde said...

I enjoyed all your past posts and especially this one, for a change of pace. I agree with you as I respect religions but living in the US for decades I see that the people here don’t respect people who are not religious. Even though 34% of the US is not religious President Obama had to mention religion in his acceptance speech last week to please the public. The US is the most religious country in the western world and has a multitude of sects – Scientologists in America declare that they have at least 2 millions adherents but I don’t think it is true. Religion here is big business and churches get tax exemption (even though many of their preachers tell their members how to vote!) The South of course is one of the most religious regions. They equate patriotism with Christianity. I just checked and there is a Scientology Church in Atlanta. I am pleased that in France they protest against these types of sects, here they would not dare. It is hard in Georgia to get away from religion – I just checked and in Atlanta alone there are 1000 places of worship! There is no separation of church and state like in France – during the political campaigns all candidates mention their religion.
I also enjoyed your photos taken in Rome.

Indrani said...

So tragic. Hope things get sorted out fast.

Starman said...

Scientology makes as much sense as any other 'religion'! People can be really stupid without even trying.

arabesque said...

i hate politics too.
but this is nice reportage.
as for the Scientology beliefs,
i agree what you posted in this comment,
as long as people don't confuse beliefs into fanaticism, because once they're deep into it, it's hard to convince them from truth to fiction.
okay, sharing too much info already. ^0^