roommate in a cult?

...yes, I think he probably got taken in. As far as being obligated to do anything about - I dunno, I personally wouldn't mess with those people for nuffin', unless is was like my best friend & I thought he was unhappy. If he's happy, well, I don't really believe in "brainwashing" - "brainwashed" happines=happiness as fair as I'm concerned & I'm fairly sure that my minions "agree."

actually I'd worry anyway. utter loons...

i've emailed him, hopefully i'll hear back soon enough.

and the only way to compete with the feeling of acceptance, understanding and inflated ego one can only get from a cult is with an even bigger and beter cult. perhaps becoming a yakees fan.

would that be beter¿

The aforementioned cult has an office across from the UT-Austin campus offering personality tests/screening. I almost took them up on the freebie, but I figure they'd never leave me alone. The other cult-test I wanted to take was the ASVAB. They're worse than cultists about bothering you, though.

When was the last time you heard about L. Ron Hubbard raping little boys? (Pedophiliac necrophilia...mmmm)

x-post: I don't think secrecy necessarily is bad. Maybe every organization doesn't want all of their inner workings made into a public spectacle. I can't say I really blame them. And as far as weirdness goes, I think comparing the relative amounts of weirdness in various religions/cults/whatever is a fool's errand. Any religion will seem weird to someone who doesn't believe in it (or hasn't become familiarized to it by constant exposure).

it's for this distinction these organizations cannot be said to be a religion. they do not promote compassion or understanding, but rather a rather puritan ethic of successful work and salvation, a mean vision of it too. the wealth of the pope notwithstanding, religions to not charge for participation. no cover charge at a church, man, maybe a embarrassed cough as you pass the collection plate without putting anything on.

As far as religions promoting compassion and understanding - hey I like understanding and compassion as much as the next guy - but I would not dictate that every spiritual practice has to have these concepts as their foundation. It's a free country, people are entitled to their own views. Certainly Nietzsche wasn't too big on the supposed virtues of altruism, but I don't deny people their right to agree with him.

I think those websites also have their own advice sections on how to cure ppl. of their krazy kultish ideas.

By the time you get to the part about the volcano, he'll be cured.

You're assuming that people don't like their religions to have an element of absurdity - I don't think the evidence bears this out.

Do Scientologists obsess over trivial details in your mp3 and book collection? Because I stopped exchanging e-mail with my old roommate over his obsession with my books and mp3, spicing up those e-mails with those scintillating and obscure exchanges like it's some kind of bond.

I threw out the creep, could use the rent money but living with someone that OCD is traumatizing. No he wasn't a Scientologist. I think his personal "creepy cult" is called Imtoowhiteology.

whatever happened to elmo's roommate?

i got an l ron hubbard tract in the mail as a "holiday gift" from my dentist :-/

Californlol.

Do scientologists let you wear a coat during auditing? I've always wanted to run a small copper wire through a coat and attach the wire ends to my left and right thumbs. You could do some fun things with their "quantum e-meters," aka "fucking ohmmeters" with a copper wire. Perhaps I'd get to meet Tom.

whatever happened to elmo's roommate?

he went into the military

also:
(9 years ago)

woah, i sometimes forget i've been around here that long

he went into the military

Weird "The Master" vibe to that!

Um, how does one politely decline a previously-accepted invitation to what one has subsequently become reasonably sure is a cult gathering? Particularly when one rather likes the inviter and is really disappointed to realize what she's become involved with? I'm asking for, uh, a friend.

try to make it seem like it's yr problem a/o/t making it seem like she's a freak? i had been briefly intrigued by both soka gakkai and those diamond way weirdos but quickly distanced myself once i realized their game. i wasn't rly closely related w/ anyone but this girl who was into DW whom i knew from some classes who was asking why i stopped coming to meetings.