With the exception of a few radical fundamentalists and money seeking televangelists, we can see that Adventist, Bahai, Catholic and Protestant Christian, Hindu, Latter-day Saint, Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhist, Jain, Jewish, Masonic, Native American, Pagan and Neo-pagan, Shinto, Spiritualist, Shia and Sunni Muslim and Zoroastrian organizations have learned to accept if not respect, and even to value their critics, and have adopted policies which make their internal administration in mundane affairs such as finance relatively transparent. Is the Church of Scientology incapable of doing the same? In academia one current trend is for scholars to be (in the words of Russell T. McCutcheon) "Critics not caretakers" of religion. How is the Church of Scientology going to cope with finding itself under the microscope of the dozens of bona fide scholars, hundreds of graduate students, and literally thousands of undergraduate students who will be examining this young religion during the next few quarters/semesters? These people are sharp and the normal distraction routines, threats, and lies are not going to be effective. The Church of Scientology is going to have to reform itself, and become more open to outside observation, or face a similar situation to that in which the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found itself in the last few years. Once the FLDS prophet was charged with crimes, and light was shined on the towns he controlled, it was only a matter weeks before the government had stepped in and taken control of the administration of the towns (actually one town with two names straddling a state line) to protect the followers who had given everything to the church, including the homes they lived in, from further fraud and abuse. Featured Link: http://wellspringretreat.org/index.php treats people who have been victims of psychological, emotional or spiritual abuse from religious cults, toxic relationships or other manipulative groups. Helpful websites:
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