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Re:Anonymous Austria leaks 2.8 GB Scientology Emails by lmkg on Sunday June 10, 2012 @07:49PM (#4092633)
Objections to Scientology are not (for the most part) based on their religious beliefs, but their practices and behaviors. They have a history of being aggressively litigious, similar to patent trolls[1], and have used frivolous lawsuits to harass critics into giving up the fight. There are also some indications that they're emotionally abusive to their members, and encourage them to cut off all contact to non-Scientologist friends and family. These allegations are difficult to substantiate, in part because the Church is so aggressive about quelling criticism.

In general, the Intarwebs regard Scientology as an organization that invests substantial financial and legal resources in limiting free speech on the internet. This is generally unpopular, regardless of who is doing it. The Church's status as a religious institution is largely immaterial to this perception.

[1] Very similar, actually. They claim copyright on their religious writings, and use that to sue people who release them.

Re:Anonymous Austria leaks 2.8 GB Scientology Emails by jontas on Sunday June 10, 2012 @08:59PM (#4092773)
There is a free book online by an ex member called A Piece of Blue Sky. Once I started reading I couldn't stop.. it a very compelling story and it covers a lot of history in the broader sense (not limited to this specific member's experience). Definitely worth the read if this is something you are interested in:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/

Re:Anonymous Austria leaks 2.8 GB Scientology Emails by rdmckenzie on Monday June 11, 2012 @02:00AM (#4093391)
Thanks for posting the link... that was a fascinating and illuminating link. Bookmarked in case someone else needs it later. +1
Re:Anonymous Austria leaks 2.8 GB Scientology Emails by zzzeek on Sunday June 10, 2012 @08:51PM (#4092754)
> There are also some indications that they're emotionally abusive to their members, and encourage them to cut off all contact to non-Scientologist friends and family. These allegations are difficult to substantiate, in part because the Church is so aggressive about quelling criticism.

curious, why aren't the testimonials of ex-members adequate substantiation ? While it was extremely difficult to get access to information critical to Scientology prior to the late 1990s, there is a tremendous amount of critical information and ex-member testimonials available today.

http://www.xenu.net/, http://www.freedomofmind.com/Info/infoDet.php?id=230, are good places to start.