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Post by respect77 on Dec 18, 2017 17:43:15 GMT
Leah Remini Returning to A&E to Investigate Other ‘Cult-Like Religions’Leah Remini’s crusade has just started — a source tells Us Weekly that the actress, who won an Emmy for her docuseries, Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, will return to A&E to investigate other “cult-like religions.” The first episode will be about Jehovah Witnesses and another episode will be about Nxivm, a controversial self-empowerment group, according to the source.
As previously reported, the Kevin Can Wait actress hinted at a new angle for her docuseries while speaking with Entertainment Weekly in September: “I’m open to doing a season 3 in a different way. We’ve been getting an overwhelming amount of emails and people contacting us through [social media] about other cults that are similar [to Scientology], so I’m looking into that.” Remini, 47, left the organization in 2013 after questioning leader David Miscavige and claiming that members of the elite sea org were being abused, among other allegations. In 2015, she published Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, the story of her experience. Since then, she has also spoken out against Elisabeth Moss and Tom Cruise, who are members of Scientology. Remini has been vocal while exposing the practices of the organization — even calling on the FBI, the IRS and Department of Justice for their help. “If the FBI ever want to get anywhere, all they would need to do is a raid. Everybody who’s ever gone to Scientology has folders and everything you’ve ever said is contained in those folders,” the King of Queens star told The Hollywood Reporter in August. The Church of Scientology has repeatedly refuted the star’s claims. “Leah Remini continues to foment anti-religious bigotry and will do so as long as the media acts as her enablers in monetizing her bias and hatred,” Karin Pouw, the church’s spokeswoman, told Us Weekly in August. www.msn.com/en-au/entertainment/tv/leah-remini-returning-to-aande-to-investigate-other-%e2%80%98cult-like-religions%e2%80%99/ar-BBGOORW?ocid=st
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Post by Liberian Girl on Dec 18, 2017 17:59:14 GMT
Scientology has had so many figures come forward now, talking of some of the abuses and cult-like behaviours that go on that I'm surprised that they even bother to deny it anymore. I have read a couple of books from people who have been a part of it and ended up leaving, and the story always ends the same: an unhappy individual who feels broken from having been coerced into abandoning families and loved ones, and being pressured into revealing private things about themselves.
Sounds awful to me. I can understand why people may have joined in the beginning (as in, people join belief-systems all the time etc) - before all of this stuff was made public - but how on earth they have new members all the time now after all this is dumbfounding to me.
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Post by Snow White on Dec 19, 2017 5:12:39 GMT
It's terrifying to me JWs would rather have loved ones dying than allowing them to have blood transfusions during surgeries. I wonder if Michael needed blood due to the scalp reconstructions but him or his mother consented such procedure. I may had been speculating before but there was no question that cult almost destroyed the artist if it wasn't for Branca that saved Thriller from Michael's own zealotry and left emotional scars on the human being. I'll be looking forward to watch that episode and as well as the rest.
It will always baffle me the huge need of people to believe in something bigger or greater than themselves without evidence despite of destroying their lives, being robbed of their freedom, their dignity, money, literally killing them. I guess I don't get it because I'm fully freed of belief in the supernatural, I require reliable evidence and I accepted my insignificance compared to the vastness of the universe.
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Post by respect77 on Dec 19, 2017 6:16:33 GMT
I think often the difference between what we call a cult and a religion is just how mainstream a religion is. You don't call Catholicism a cult, but it is not like they don't have their harmful practices (eg. obligatory priest celbiacy - and let's not get started on the historical attrocities of the Catholic Church). The same with Protestants. I don't think in America most people would call evangelical Christians a cult, but here where I live and where people were only used to traditional churches like Cathloics, Calvinists etc. actually for a long time they have been considered a cult. Now people got used to them so they aren't considered that much of a cult now, but I remember when I was a member of such a church there were all kind of TV programs bashing them in the 1990s. So that's my view of the JWs as well. They are no more or less a cult than mainstream Christians IMO. They just have different practices. True they have their share of harmful practices as well - eg. the thing with blood transfusion, but then it is not like evangelicals, for example, don't have such dangerous views as well. For example, in many evangelical churches people believe in "faith healing" and it is considered a lack of faith if you go to the doctor instead of praying to make an illness go away. Now, my church wasn't quite that extreme, but I have heard of churches where children died because their parents refused to take them to the doctor out of religious reasons. There have been trials about that in the US. And even if in my church it wasn't explicitely taught that you shouldn't go to the doctor, but what if someone, say, stops taking his medication because of a blind faith in his healing - and then dies because of that? (Eg. stops taking a blood pressure medicine.) And that is very possible to be in that mindset in the church I went to. As for Michael, I guess when he had an operation they drew his blood before. I heard that's how they do with JWs - they draw their own blood and if needed they get their own blood transfused back. I can totally feel the suffocating control that MJ felt at the hands of JWs. Two elderlies followed him around everywhere and they were trying to tell him what to do all the time. I am glad he found his way out and was able to say "enough" at a point. And you don't have to be a JW to think the innocent fun of something like Thriller is "demonic". That would have been the view in my evangelical Christian church too. This was the letter sent around in the church wen MJ quit. That MJ was able to say "enough" to cult like behavior is also evidenced in his stance towards Scientology. At least if what Jermaine is writing in his book is true. So I think if his children had ever needed blood transfusion, even if he was still a JW, he would have been able to say to JW teachings "fuck that, save their life". So many people get completely sucked into total brainwash when in a cult, but MJ was able to keep rational in that regard IMO.
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Post by Liberian Girl on Dec 19, 2017 9:14:02 GMT
I agree with you that there are harmful practices there, but I think more "mainstream" (for want of a much better word) religions out there are harmless for the most part, and have good intentions.
I think certain extreme religious beliefs/practises are magnified by the media to highlight an angle or interesting story, but, much like the media seem to want everyone to believe all Muslims are dangerous and a threat (ridiculous!) I also think the same thing happens with other religions - media only like to find the scary little pockets of believers who are extreme and make it look like a representation of what members of that religion are like.
In the same way that (so very obviously) not all Muslims are extremists, most members of other mainstream religions are simply faithful, happy people with the best intentions and actually try hard to live a good life according to those beliefs.
Having studied religion and Theology, I do disagree that all religions/churches are a "cult like scientology". I know many, many people of faith, and the most they get up to is attending a church and praying etc, it's not exactly common to ask a Christian to cut off family members, abuse fellow believers, force them to confess personal things and take part in financial abuse etc. Most churches are not a cult like that at all, it seems unfair to say that in my opinion.
JW are cult-like, though, in certain ways I see what you mean on that.
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Post by Snow White on Dec 19, 2017 14:42:49 GMT
That MJ was able to say "enough" to cult like behavior is also evidenced in his stance towards Scientology. At least if what Jermaine is writing in his book is true. So I think if his children had ever needed blood transfusion, even if he was still a JW, he would have been able to say to JW teachings "fuck that, save their life". So many people get completely sucked into total brainwash when in a cult, but MJ was able to keep rational in that regard IMO. L. Ron Hubbard's issue was with anything related to psychiatry since the psychiatric medical association mocked his methods to "treat" mental illnesses, Scientologists don't have issues with medicine in general despite the cult claiming the parrishioners could cure cure for themselves cancer, being immortal if they used the Scientology technology. I even remember watching LM herself campaigning against medicating children for the treatment of mental illnesses, I wonder if she regrets it nowadays and realize how harmful it really is.
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Post by respect77 on Dec 19, 2017 16:54:58 GMT
I agree with you that there are harmful practices there, but I think more "mainstream" (for want of a much better word) religions out there are harmless for the most part, and have good intentions. I think certain extreme religious beliefs/practises are magnified by the media to highlight an angle or interesting story, but, much like the media seem to want everyone to believe all Muslims are dangerous and a threat (ridiculous!) I also think the same thing happens with other religions - media only like to find the scary little pockets of believers who are extreme and make it look like a representation of what members of that religion are like. In the same way that (so very obviously) not all Muslims are extremists, most members of other mainstream religions are simply faithful, happy people with the best intentions and actually try hard to live a good life according to those beliefs. Having studied religion and Theology, I do disagree that all religions/churches are a "cult like scientology". I know many, many people of faith, and the most they get up to is attending a church and praying etc, it's not exactly common to ask a Christian to cut off family members, abuse fellow believers, force them to confess personal things and take part in financial abuse etc. Most churches are not a cult like that at all, it seems unfair to say that in my opinion. JW are cult-like, though, in certain ways I see what you mean on that. I don't doubt that most believers have good intentions. Even in fundamentalist churches most believers have good intentions. Most of the people I have met in my church were people with good intentions. But I do think that religions can make people believe in things that aren't good to believe and that are more harmful and hateful than good. For example, see Christians (or Muslims, for that matter) very problematic relations to homosexuals. Even many mainstream Christians will condemn homosexuals. Of course, they will say something along the lines of "hate the sin, not the sinner", but they don't realize already calling someone a sinner based on something that is a part of their being, something that they were born with is deeply offensive and how hurtful that can be to that person. Another thing is, that fundamentalists (whether Islam or Christianity) usually aren't people who twist the teachings of the religion. No matter how much moderates like to pretend that those are some sort of bastardized versions of their religion, they are not. Often it is actually the fundamentalists who are most faithful to the original teachings. And it is moderates who follow a watered-down, twisted version (I guess because the original teachings are kind of embarrassing). For example, you say: Well, Jesus said things like: Luke 14:26 or Matthew 19:29 Sounds pretty cult-like to me. Jesus told his disciples that those who leave their families to follow him will be more rewarded in heaven than those who don't. If any spiritual teacher would say such a thing today, it is safe to say we would consider him a cult-leader. In fact, Christianity itself started out as a cult. It's not a cult any more because so many people practice it that they would consider it offensive. And frankly, often that is what seperates a "respectable" religion from a cult - how many followers there are. If JWs were the mainstream and Catholics were a small minority within Christianity then I suspects it would be Catholics who would be called a cult with all their weird teachings and practices - which often aren't any less weird than JW teachings. It is just people are more used to them because they are mainstream. And abuses (physical, sexual, financial, mental etc.) happen in all kind of churches. Inculding mainstream ones. No one has to be reminded of the Catholic Church's problem with child sexual abuse and its systemic cover-up within the church, for example.
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Post by Liberian Girl on Dec 20, 2017 8:28:04 GMT
I definitely agree that abuses happen in all sorts of groups/churches/religions, I have read stories from all types of backgrounds of beliefs, and sadly know this is true. But I still believe the majority of churches have members who have these beliefs who don't abuse others, I think the harsh abuses mentioned, such as forcing break-up of relationships in families and coercing people to give confessions of personal details etc isn't exactly an everyday thing in most common churches, or they wouldn't have the members they do. Scientology got the bad press because they earned it. And when Christian churches do something bad (or a dodgy priest) they earned that press, too. But not often because of members. Often the corruption is in some of the leaders, unfortunately.
I think JWs are seen as a Cult (but other mainstream Christian religions are not), is because JW is more extreme/demanding. I know many Catholics and trust me, most of them are sweet kids who either enjoy Sunday school and practicing the Nativity play in December, or older couples who are going out of family tradition and who are the sweetest people. They cannot be held accountable for dodgy priests who have abused their power (anymore than we can be for the politicians who represent us and abuse their power) but they are generally good people.
JW has earned its reputation because of the strict codes they adhere to, and because, I guess, people literally DIE in the name of it, by having to refuse medical treatment etc.
Interesting point you made though, about how Christianity would have been seen as a Cult, but I guess it grew and it was made acceptable to the masses. I think it's tempting to look at all new groups/churches/leaders as "Cultish" but time often tells where the intentions are, and I think at the heart of Christianity lies something that isn't intended to harm individuals.
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