By far their favorite tactic is to tar critics with the "religious bigot" brush. That is, anybody with the audacity to call Scientology a "cult" or mock its preposterous ideology is automatically accused of denying the church its First Amendment rights. In doing so, Scientologists appear to operate under an expectation that all religions are to be afforded an equal degree of respect by the general public. This is made evident in their favorite debate tactic: label your opponent the equivalent of a Jew-hater. That is, challenge their opponent to justify his position if it were about Judaism instead of Scientology. This Jedi mind trick is remarkably effective -- partly because a sane person avoids even the specter of anti-semitism, but also because most people have only a vague notion of the parameters of religious freedom.
Their implicit argument is that treating Scientology any different from more established faiths (
eg. Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam) in and of itself somehow constitutes unfair discrimination. This is total bull
. Just because the government has to observe strict impartiality toward a citizen's cherished mythology doesn't mean the rest of the general public does too. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about it being illegal to ridicule or deride someone's lameass religious beliefs.
In America, it is your undeniable prerogative to practice religious freedom -- meaning, you can join any spiritual faith you like, no matter how ludicrous its theology or venal its leadership. For that matter, you are free to declare yourself an atheist, or even start a new religion. This fundamental right was enshrined in the Bill of Rights because the Founders knew all too well the gruesome history of religious persecution in the colonies (not to mention mother England).
Members of the Church of Scientology apparently fail to grasp that those other religious groups have developed their reputations as more-or-less benign organizations over centuries of good works. On the other hand, Scientology has instead demonstrated itself to be a paranoid institution obsessed with quashing dissent and establishing world hegemony.
To repeat: the Church of Scientology is certainly entitled to proselytize and share their nutball theology with everyone. For that matter, anybody who feels like surrendering themselves to the cult are free to do so.
But no American -- not one -- is obliged to show them the tiniest modicum of respect, except insofar as the law requires (fair housing, equal employment, etc). And if they don't like their image, maybe they should stop acting like such thin-skinned, vicious
holes all the time.
