Hello,

I am really, really curious if there are any Scientologists on the board reading this. I am really curious as to the war on psychology. I did not know about this till just recently. I had a lot of respect for Scientologists up until hearing this:

In 1966, Hubbard declared war on psychiatry, telling Scientologists "We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one."

The Church claims that psychiatry was responsible for World War I,[95] the rise of Hitler and Stalin,[96] the decline in education standards in the United States,[97] the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo,[98] and the September 11 attacks.[99] The Church has not publicly presented any evidence supporting this view of psychiatry.

After the publication of Dianetics, the American Psychological Association advised its members against using Hubbard's psychotherapy techniques with their patients until their effectiveness could be proven. Because of this critique, Hubbard came to believe psychiatrists were behind a worldwide conspiracy to attack Scientology and create a "world government" run by psychiatrists on behalf of Soviet Russia:

He committed the Church to eradicating psychiatry in 1969, announcing "Our war has been forced to become 'To take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.'"[102] The Church founded the Citizens Commission on Human Rights that same year as its primary vehicle for attacking psychiatry.

Around the same time, Hubbard claimed that psychiatrists were an ancient evil that had been a problem for billions of years. He cast them in the role of assisting Xenu's genocide of 75 million years ago. In a 1982 bulletin entitled "Pain and Sex", Hubbard declares that "pain and sex were the INVENTED TOOLS of degradation", having been devised eons ago by psychiatrists "who have been on the [time] track a long time and are the sole cause of decline in this universe."[103]

Celebrity Scientologists, notably Tom Cruise, have been extremely vocal in attacking the use of psychiatric medication.[104] Their position has attracted considerable criticism from psychiatrists, physicians, and mental health patients and advocates who cite numerous scientific studies showing benefit from psychiatry.
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After reading this, I hoped that it was a vindictive kid writing this, but I inquired to the local Church of Scientologist - when I told them I was a psychology major, they hung up on me! All I said was, "I just had a few questions regarding the views of Scientology, you see, I am a psych major... *Click*" I was not looking for an argument whatsoever but simply clarification. I like to consider myself civil and respective enough to honor other people's views, but at least hear me out! Hear my curiousity - I just want to know if this is true, that is all.

I honestly gaped at this. So far, I have not seen any real justification for these statements! Based on the completely fallacious reasons and neglection of insurmountable evidence, I am afraid of losing my sincere respect for Scientologists - and I am not fond of making enemies. Furthermore, psychology has a plethora background to support how Scientology works (ie. effervesence).

Someone... say it ain't so!

~