For a time, the 'Church' of Scientology was illegal in various states of Australia. Unfortunately, it is now not only legal, but has the tax exempt status of other religions, both true religions and other pretend religions.

Its chief reason for being appears to take as much money as possible from credulous people. I could never understand how anyone could be so foolish as to be drawn in. Below is one person's account, and it is no longer so hard to understand. It is a direct copy of a post from the informative blog of Rob Robinson, who has kindly given me permission to reproduce it.

To read in its full original version (complete with relevant graph) go to:

http://worldcultwatch.org/2015/05/25/the-making-of-a-cult-member/

The Making of a Cult Member

Posted on May 25, 2015 by RobRobinson

It is really very simple. And there are Universal laws that apply. Do you remember the old stories about Vampires and Demons? You know whether your windows and doors are opened or closed, they can’t come in unless you give them permission. So you say, “Fine, I’ll never give them permission”. The thing that you don’t know is that they don’t play fair. If you even give them a moment to talk to you, you are doomed.

That is sort of the way it is in the Church of Scientology. Make no mistake, once you have let them in, (which means walked into an Org, took the Personality Test, and bought your first service), they have you and they will suck you dry. They will steal your life, your will, and if you let them, your soul.

Now I don’t know anyone who ever woke up in the morning and said, “Hey! I think I will go out and join a cult today”. But, they might say, “Hey! I got this offer to take a free personalty test. It’s a $500.00 value! I think I will do that today”. If you were watching this on T.V. You would be yelling at this guy, trying to tell him about the Vampire, but like all movies on T.V. they can’t hear you. How do I know this? For 7 years I was the Vampire that would sucker you into the cave with promises all of of your desire fulfilled and riches beyond your imagination (yeah I know, mea culpa). And if you did find out that I had not told you the truth, it was too late. You have already joined the undead.

I was in charge of the division that is responsible for bringing new people into Scientology and getting them signed up on their first services. Usually they were Life Improvement courses that sold for anywhere from $55.00 to $75.00 including course materials. Here is the way it would go.

You walk into the Org. (short for Organization). The receptionist meets you and you say that you are here to take the free personality test. (Originally the American Personalty test, the name was later changed to the Oxford Capacity Analysis, to lend it some authenticity. Not because it comes from Oxford). The receptionist leads you back to a quiet place and sits you down at a desk. She gives you the test booklet and an answer sheet. It has two hundred multiple choice questions. You are done in about an hour, and then she takes your materials from you and leads you back out to the lobby to wait for your results. The lobby is usually either part of the Book store, or right next to it so you can gaze at all of the pretty books by Hubbard.

I would come out shortly and escort you back to my office and sit you down in a chair across the desk from me. I would then place the graph down in front of you and raise my eyes to heaven and say, “Oh my, this is not good at all”.

(graph not shown)

You are sitting there thinking that it doesn’t look all that bad to you. After all, almost half of it is above the line. It is not like it was all on the bottom. That is what you tell me. And that is what I was waiting for. I tell you those good points are part of the problem. That I would rather have all of your points under the line. And I go one to explain why. By the time I am done you have a tear or two and you ask me what you can do about it. I tell you that Scientology has just the right course for your problem. I sign you up and take you and your money to someone who takes your money and prints up your receipt. Then I take you to the course room and introduce you to your course supervisor.

These are very short courses, usually 3 to 5 nights, and they are designed to help you solve specific problems. And surprisingly, the data in them makes sense. At the end of the course, you actually see that not only do you have this problem but there are steps you can take to solve this problem. You start to feel good about it, maybe for the first time in years.

You have finished the check sheet and have been signed off by the supervisor. Then you are asked if you would like to write up your success on this course. You say sure and tell just a little about what you learned and how you feel. The Supervisor then calls a halt to everyone and tells all that you have just finished your course. Everyone applauds and congratulates you. You then go down to qual and they ask you if you liked the course, you say yes. Then they ask you if you would like others to feel the way you do right now. Of course, you say.

Feeling pretty good about yourself now aren’t you? Good. Let’s go over and see the registrar. (Scientology sales person). Their job is to take you down a peg and make you see that although you have solved this problem (temporarily), it is not a permanent fix. To make it permanent you will really need to take this series of courses. Yeah, they cost more, but you really do want to feel this way all the time, forever, don’t you. Of course you do. Good just sign here. You go back out and pay for your course and then you go to the book store and buy your course materials. Then you go to a real course room. This supervisor is nice also but she/he gives you a list of rules that you are expected to follow.

You see how it goes. Ruin you, build you up. Ruin you, build you up again. What you have not learned and hopefully will never learn is that we have all been trained and drilled on doing this, with only one thing in mind. Getting you on to your next service.

The very first thing you see when you open your course pack is a policy letter written by L. Ron Hubbard. It is called Keeping Scientology Working, Series 1. Every course pack you will ever open for the rest of your Scientology life will start with these words. If you wish to read the whole thing, you can click here. Basically what it is telling you is that you are now a Scientologist. Here is the pertinent excerpt:

When somebody enrolls, consider he or she has joined up for the duration of
the universe-never permit an “open-minded” approach. If they’re going to
quit let them quit fast. If they enrolled, they’re aboard; and if they’re
aboard, they’re here on the same terms as the rest of us-win or die in the
attempt. Never let them be half-minded about being Scientologists. The finest
organizations in history have been tough, dedicated organizations. Not one
namby-pamby bunch of pantywaist dilettantes have ever made anything. It’s a
tough universe. The social veneer makes it seem mild. But only the tigers
survive-and even they have a hard time. We’ll survive because we are tough and
are dedicated. When we do instruct somebody properly, he becomes more and more
a tiger. When we instruct half-mindedly and are afraid to offend, scared to
enforce, we don’t make students into good Scientologists and that lets everybody
down. When Mrs. Pattycake comes to us to be taught, turn that wandering doubt
in her eye into a fixed, dedicated glare and she’ll win and we’ll all win. Humor
her and we all die a little. The proper instruction attitude is, “You’re here so
you are a Scientologist. Now we’re going to make you into an expert auditor no
matter what. We’d rather have you dead than incapable.”

We’re not playing some minor game in Scientology. It isn’t cute or something to
do for lack of something better.

The whole agonized future of this planet, every man, woman and child on it, and
your own destiny for the next trillions of years depend on what you do here and
now with and in Scientology.
This is a deadly serious activity. And if we miss getting out of the trap now,
we may never again have another chance.

Pretty tough words huh? You, like all Scientologists will come to live, and maybe die by these words. Yes, it has happened.

If you do not fully agree with this policy letter. You did not understand it. There is a word or words that you do not understand. So you need to read this policy while being word cleared. This is a process where in you read this policy out load to someone else while they watch you for indicators of the word you don’t fully understand. It will not take too long before you get it that you will understand and agree with this or you will never get through your course. Why do you want to get through the course? First, you actually felt good after the last one, and second because you actually liked it when everyone applauded you.

All of this, and more. The continual tearing down, building up, applauding, cheering at events, the “friends” that you will make, yelling “hip hip hooray” and clapping for Ron (long dead). It is all designed to do only two things. To take your mind farther into the cult and to take more and even more of your money.

Hey you! Yes you. Do you hear me yelling at my T.V.? “Don’t go in there!”

Thank you so much for reading this. If you have not yet read my previous post, Why I Left Scientology, please click here. If you like this please share it with your friends, and subscribe to this blog so you can be alerted when the next post comes out. As always, I welcome your comments. Thank you again.

There are other posts on Robinson's blog, equally absorbing. I recommend it.