Of course I enjoyed last night’s Panorama about the Scientologists. John Sweeney’s screaming fit was a bit shocking, but I strongly suspect that I’d react in a similar way if I’ve been subject to the same kind of treatment that he had received.
I’ve been interested in Scientology for a long time. Fifteen years ago I spent a lot of time hanging round the Scientology newsgroups watching as the cult resorted to whatever tactics they could to prevent people publishing copies of the the science fiction that passes for “holy writ” to them. The stuff that adherents pay thousands of dollars for.
And we should never forget that the man who started Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, was a science fiction writer, and was once (pre-Scientology) quoted as saying “If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion”. He invented a fascinating backstory for his new “religion” based on the life of the galactic overload Xenu. It was a shame to see Scientologists in the programme denying all knowledge of this story.
It seems that the BBC has made an enemy of the cult. I didn’t see this as I came in this morning, but apparently a bit later on there were Scientologists outside the building handing out DVDs (presumably their version of the documentary) and filming people.
I suspect that this story isn’t over yet.