Absinthe & Cookies (a bit bitter, a bit sweet)

I don't get it. Wouldn't a sect want members 'born in'?

The Corner is doing that annoying thing where they report the sensational bits and leave out the background.

Sea Org's the Scientology elite (of their work force, anyway, celebrities being the real elite). Workers at Sea Org are not to become pregnant lest it cut into the hours they have to devote to the cause--kind of like how you wouldn't want a convent of nuns getting pregnant, except that the Catholic church wouldn't suggest "abortion" there as the remedy.

It doesn't mean other Scientologists can't get pregnant. Geez. Does K-Lo not know how to find Operation Clambake?

What's Operation Clambake? Still seems creepy to me :) My Scientlogist coworker has a kid, so I figured it wasn't all of them.

Okay, I googled and now I know what Operation Clambake is!

Ilyrka,

I am not sure I see what you mean by "The Corner is doing that annoying thing where they report the sensational bits and leave out the background."

I read the excerpt as saying (a) Scientology promotes abortion - which it does - and (b) Sea Org members are discouraged by the sect from giving birth - which is also true.

Where is the sensationalism that would be rectified if the background information was provided?

Also, honestly, there are two reasons, I wouldn't be surprised if there was not an "anti-procreation" bias in Scientology. First, Hubbard was against genital relations (apparently Ith's software won't let me use the "s" word), probably because he contracted venereal disease from a prostitute. That kind of thing has been known to lead to that kind of mindset.

Second, if you think about it, Scientology is exactly like Gnosticism in that it holds that our true essence is little bits of "spirit" (for the Gnostics) or "thetans" (for Scientologists) that have been cruelly trapped in matter by an evil God/Warlord and need special knowledge for liberation. The last thing the Gnostics wanted was to trap more "spirit bits" in matter through procreation, and this meant that they had a distinctly "anti-s*x" attitude. (This is just one of the many, many areas were Dan Brown has it completely wrong.) Similarly, Scientology posits trapped thetans - actually trapped through procreation since they are into reincarnation - seeking liberation. The buried premise is that the best thing one can do is to end the cycle by not trapping more "thetans" through procreation.

The pro-abortion position is therefore consistent with this Gnosic disregard for the material world and is 180 degrees opposed to the reasons that nuns in convents are virgins.

Hey, and people are actually commenting! We like that!

I read the excerpt as saying (a) Scientology promotes abortion - which it does

No, it doesn't. The religion overall does not promote abortion. It does promote--even enforce--abortion for the Sea Org workers.

Look, man, I really loathe that "religion." You're preaching to the choir, honest, when you criticize it.

But I do like people to get things right and keep things as accurate as possible. And it isn't accurate to say "Scientology promotes abortion" any more than it's accurate to say "Catholocism promotes celibacy."

Ilyika,

I am not clear where the investment in preserving the Scientologists from the charge of promoting abortion, or vice versa, is coming from. Scientology clearly promotes abortion; it requires its leadership elite to get abortions, notwithstanding the horrible trauma that such events purportedly inflict on the subsequently reincarnated "Godbit." If that's not promoting abortion, the concept has no meaning.

Let's compare that situation to your example of celibacy in the Catholic church. The Church promotes (a) celibacy for those with a vocation for religious life and (b) it promotes vocations to religious lfe. (Incidentally, that connection is painfully obvious to all Catholics with any inclination to religious life, and I speak from the experience of a few of my friends who "tested the waters.") So, yes, I'd say that the Catholic Church promotes celibacy.

What the Church really promotes, however, is chastity. All unmarried Catholics have the same obligation to refrain from s#xual relations. (If you don't believe me, you can look it up.) The Church doesn't promote one set of standards for its clergy and another for the laity, unlike Scientology. (Priest often function in the "person of Christ" and are to that extent "married" to the Church; nuns are often called "brides of Christ.")

The Church explains that persons without a vocation to the priesthood should look for their vocation in marriage. Hence, there are two equal, mutually exclusive sacraments that reflect these generally mutually exclusive life options - Holy Orders and Marriage. For the latter, the Church counsels chastity and reminds its members that s#x is great and is a sacramental act.

This coherent approach to promoting chastity inside and outside of marriage is the opposite of Scientology's approach, which promotes abortion explicitly for its elite and, by example and scandal, for its membership, whatever its attempts to rid paying customers of bodyclinging thetans who have experienced the horrors of abortion.

Finally, you seem to want to treat abortion as a BFOQ (Bona Fide Occupational Qualifier) but my earlier points is that the "anti-life" perspective is more likely woven into the knitting of Scientology's real dogma than a convenient force multiplier. Similarly, as I've indicated, there are theological reasons for celibacy in the Catholic priesthood, which make it also something other than a mere BFOQ.

Following a religion invented by a science fiction author...am I the only person who sees a bit of humor here?

Why anyone would listen to what they have to say, let alone kill their own child because it cuts into their schedule (or somehow traps thier spirit) is beyond me.

Definitely Creepy!