neopets and scientology?

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does anyone have any experience with scientology? the local kids are quite into a site called neopets, and i found out it is owned by a scientologist named Doug Dohring. I asked parents on Family forums, and responses varied pretty widely.
Lil’
 
Scientologists are a clever lot. Whatever else you may think of them, give them credit for marketing savvy. The **Church of Scientology **has been placing a full-color insert (16 oversized pages) in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, and the insert is attractive and has been noticed. It praises Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

The insert asks if there is a solution to today’s woes, particularly drugs, stress, and violence. “YES: SCIENTOLOGY IS THE SOLUTION.” For proof, just look at the bar chart to see what Scientology can do for you. “Made me much happier”: 64 percent. “Enabled me to help others better”: 80 percent. “Improved my life”: 89 percent. Above the chart are photographs of a smiling young couple, a pair of middle-aged joggers (also smiling), a junior executive being congratulated by his colleagues (all smiling), and a performing artist (not smiling).

What does Scientology do and teach? “The Church provides individual counseling called auditing. . . . Scientology auditing takes up areas of a person’s life that he is having trouble with or that he is confused about and relieves the upset and trauma associated with them, restoring happiness and lost abilities. . . . Auditing is the only workable solution which allows one to reach full spiritual freedom.”

The auditing process uses what’s called an E-Meter. “The E-Meter does not diagnose or cure anything, but is a religious artifact used by Scientology ministers to assist in locating specifically what to address in auditing. It is the only instrument that can accurately measure thought.”

The E-Meter looks not unlike a young child’s toy airplane cockpit. It’s made of plastic and has fold-out legs so it can stand before you at a sharp angle. On the face are several knobs, three digital read-outs, and a needle indicator. To make it work, you sit with an auditor, who watches the indicators while you clasp two metal cylinders which look suspiciously like tin cans. You’re asked questions, and the cylinders pick up certain signals from your body. These are displayed on the E-Meter and guide the auditor in counseling you.

Auditing can be great fun, apparently. (A photograph shows a man and women sitting across from one another. She’s making notes about what the E-Meter says. He’s holding the cylinders and laughing.) Auditing also can be expensive–very expensive.

To reach “clear,” the state in which your problems have been identified and removed, requires a lengthy series of auditing sessions, some of which are grotesquely expensive. It’s not uncommon to hear about Scientologists who have mortgaged their homes and spent tens of thousands of dollars on auditing sessions. The deeper they get into debt, the less reason they have to leave Scientology. After all, they’ve made such a giant investment.

The principles (or, depending on your point of view, gimmicks) of Scientology were “discovered” by the late L. Ron Hubbard, who outlined them in Dianetics. You’ve probably seen the television ads for the book, which is claimed to be a best seller–which is true, but there’s a twist to the story.

Non-Scientologists don’t seem to buy Dianetics. Those few who do buy it don’t seem to read it. Most of the purchasers are Scientologists assigned to visit book stores regularly. Their marching orders: buy, buy, buy. Some Scientologists have closets full of Dianetics. Some purchase every copy a book store has.

How are the books getting onto the shelves in the first place? Through sweetheart deals with the book stores. Most publishers give retailers a 40 percent discount off the list price. From this the stores pay their overhead and make their profit. The Church of Scientology gives a far steeper discount, and it “guarantees” sales. (The book stores don’t have to worry about “returns,” unsold copies.)

…con’t
 
Scientologists are a clever lot. Whatever else you may think of them, give them credit for marketing savvy. The **Church of Scientology **has been placing a full-color insert (16 oversized pages) in newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, and the insert is attractive and has been noticed. It praises Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard.

The insert asks if there is a solution to today’s woes, particularly drugs, stress, and violence. “YES: SCIENTOLOGY IS THE SOLUTION.” For proof, just look at the bar chart to see what Scientology can do for you. “Made me much happier”: 64 percent. “Enabled me to help others better”: 80 percent. “Improved my life”: 89 percent. Above the chart are photographs of a smiling young couple, a pair of middle-aged joggers (also smiling), a junior executive being congratulated by his colleagues (all smiling), and a performing artist (not smiling).

What does Scientology do and teach? “The Church provides individual counseling called auditing. . . . Scientology auditing takes up areas of a person’s life that he is having trouble with or that he is confused about and relieves the upset and trauma associated with them, restoring happiness and lost abilities. . . . Auditing is the only workable solution which allows one to reach full spiritual freedom.”

The auditing process uses what’s called an E-Meter. “The E-Meter does not diagnose or cure anything, but is a religious artifact used by Scientology ministers to assist in locating specifically what to address in auditing. It is the only instrument that can accurately measure thought.”

The E-Meter looks not unlike a young child’s toy airplane cockpit. It’s made of plastic and has fold-out legs so it can stand before you at a sharp angle. On the face are several knobs, three digital read-outs, and a needle indicator. To make it work, you sit with an auditor, who watches the indicators while you clasp two metal cylinders which look suspiciously like tin cans. You’re asked questions, and the cylinders pick up certain signals from your body. These are displayed on the E-Meter and guide the auditor in counseling you.

Auditing can be great fun, apparently. (A photograph shows a man and women sitting across from one another. She’s making notes about what the E-Meter says. He’s holding the cylinders and laughing.) Auditing also can be expensive–very expensive.

To reach “clear,” the state in which your problems have been identified and removed, requires a lengthy series of auditing sessions, some of which are grotesquely expensive. It’s not uncommon to hear about Scientologists who have mortgaged their homes and spent tens of thousands of dollars on auditing sessions. The deeper they get into debt, the less reason they have to leave Scientology. After all, they’ve made such a giant investment.

The principles (or, depending on your point of view, gimmicks) of Scientology were “discovered” by the late L. Ron Hubbard, who outlined them in Dianetics. You’ve probably seen the television ads for the book, which is claimed to be a best seller–which is true, but there’s a twist to the story.

Non-Scientologists don’t seem to buy Dianetics. Those few who do buy it don’t seem to read it. Most of the purchasers are Scientologists assigned to visit book stores regularly. Their marching orders: buy, buy, buy. Some Scientologists have closets full of Dianetics. Some purchase every copy a book store has.

con’t
 
con’t from above

How are the books getting onto the shelves in the first place? Through sweetheart deals with the book stores. Most publishers give retailers a 40 percent discount off the list price. From this the stores pay their overhead and make their profit. The Church of Scientology gives a far steeper discount, and it “guarantees” sales. (The book stores don’t have to worry about “returns,” unsold copies.)

This means a fantastic profit for the stores, which, in the industry custom, then report that Dianetics is moving fast. This means Dianetics gets listed on the all-time best-seller lists. And that, in a roundabout way, is how Scientology is “proved” to be true.

After all, the book wouldn’t be selling out if the public weren’t interested in Scientology, right? And people wouldn’t be interested in Scientology unless it were true, right?

Many folks think that makes sense–but not as many as the Church of Scientology would like you to think. No matter how slick its promotional pieces or how ubiquitous its books, the Church of Scientology has few members.

Here is what it claims: “In just over 35 years, the Church of Scientology has grown from one church in the United States to over 700 churches, missions, and groups in more than 65 countries around the world. As the fastest growing religion in the world, it has millions of members on six continents.”

This claim is undercut two ways. The insert in the Los Angeles Times lists Scientology churches–41 in the United States, others in Canada, the United Kingdom, even in Zimbabwe and South Africa. In all, 72 churches. But are all of these really churches? The one in San Diego is in an office building downtown. Presumably others are mere storefronts. Perhaps these are what Scientology terms “missions” or “groups.” No matter how you add up the floor space, you can’t squeeze “millions” of Scientologists into these places.

There’s another reason to think the claim of millions of members is advertising puffery. The insert claims that last year 10 million hours of auditing were given. If there are just one million Scientologists in the world, that would be an average of ten hours of auditing for each.

But auditing is the sacrament of Scientology. Without auditing, Scientology ceases. Does it make sense to say each Scientologist spends only ten hours a year auditing? No, especially when you factor in that many of them spend thousands of dollars yearly for auditing sessions.

Assume a modest 200 hours yearly spent in auditing. That works out to 50,000 Scientologists. And if the figure of 10 million auditing hours is inflated (which it probably is, considering the Church’s book store scam), then there are even fewer Scientologists.

Is Scientology dangerous? Not as dangerous as some think. It’s too silly to be really dangerous. (E-Meters look like toy surprises you’d expect to find in super-giant-sized boxes of Cracker Jacks.) The Church has been in trouble with the IRS, which says it really isn’t a church at all. Be that as it may, Scientology is known only because it advertises itself and its founder, not because the masses are streaming into it.

Scientology attracts a certain crowd: mainly young, professional, on the way up the corporate ladder–people who admit they have problems but who seek the solution in technology, not faith. A disproportionate number of Scientologists are avid science fiction fans. (Hubbard wrote science fiction stories–we mean other than Dianetics.)

The folks who are attracted to Scientology seem to consider themselves special, forward-looking, avant garde. Scientology has a certain cachet. It’s new, it’s fun, and you can spend your way into thinking it works. But don’t expect it to be around in a few more decades.

(above was filtched…err… borrowed from “This Rock” Oct 1990
 
Normally I would suggest going to a counter-cult type website to read about a cult group such as Scientology but in this case I think you should go directly to THEIR website: www.scientology.org . But I will warn you… it is so creeepy. Click on their “beliefs” and you’ll see that they believe you achieve everything - from a moral code to eternal life now - all apart from God. It’s all within man’s grasp by himself with the aid of Scientology. They say it’s a “new Religion” but actually it’s as old as the garden of eden when the serpent said to Eve, “You will not surely die… for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good & evil.” From the very beginning Satan has been trying to convince mankind that God is irrelevant - that we have all the power within OURSELVES - we make our own rules - we can even achieve our own salvation - apart from Him. And Satan has always twisted God’s own words & ideas - it’s no wonder that the Scientology symbol is a “cross” and that one of their practices is “confessions.”

For those who doubt it’s actually a cult, note that they use the term “suppressive” which is anyone who does not support Scientolody - you are told to “disconnect” from that individual. According to their website, there is a subgroup of Scientologist - they are members of the “Sea Org.” and again, according to the website these members sign a “billion year contract.”

Is it stupid? Yes. Unfortunatly so are people and lots fall prey to this sort of cult. Once in, it’s very difficult to leave. As I stated in the other thread in the family forum - since the CEO of neopets is a top ranking Scientologist and their 100 employees are also Scientologists and much of the profits are funneled BACK into the Scientology “Religion” - a religion that is diabolicaly opposed to my Savior Jesus Christ… I would NEVER support that website. My loyalty to Jesus is more important than being entertained by a silly website.
 
This is fascinating information; however, the OP asked about Neopets too. OP, were you asking if there is a connection between Neopets and scientology or merely commenting that the owner just happens to be involved in scientology?? 🙂

On another note, I think there is an older thread here that talks about all the celebs who are scientologists: Travolta, Tom Cruise, to name a couple. :nope:
 
New age spiritualism and the church of scientology take partial truths and bastardize them into a slick package for American consumers. Satan would love to lull us into a sense that sin doesn’t exist, that hell doesn’t exist. that we put our own wants and will above the Truth and Will of God. Followers soon become drunk on self,
 
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Subrosa:
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Secrets/E-Meter/travolta.jpg

John Travola!
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That’s like so we-ad.
 
carol marie:
Normally I would suggest going to a counter-cult type website to read about a cult group such as Scientology but in this case I think you should go directly to THEIR website: www.scientology.org . But I will warn you… it is so creeepy. Click on their “beliefs” and you’ll see that they believe you achieve everything - from a moral code to eternal life now - all apart from God. It’s all within man’s grasp by himself with the aid of Scientology. They say it’s a “new Religion” but actually it’s as old as the garden of eden when the serpent said to Eve, “You will not surely die… for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good & evil.” From the very beginning Satan has been trying to convince mankind that God is irrelevant - that we have all the power within OURSELVES - we make our own rules - we can even achieve our own salvation - apart from Him. And Satan has always twisted God’s own words & ideas - it’s no wonder that the Scientology symbol is a “cross” and that one of their practices is “confessions.”

For those who doubt it’s actually a cult, note that they use the term “suppressive” which is anyone who does not support Scientolody - you are told to “disconnect” from that individual. According to their website, there is a subgroup of Scientologist - they are members of the “Sea Org.” and again, according to the website these members sign a “billion year contract.”

Is it stupid? Yes. Unfortunatly so are people and lots fall prey to this sort of cult. Once in, it’s very difficult to leave. As I stated in the other thread in the family forum - since the CEO of neopets is a top ranking Scientologist and their 100 employees are also Scientologists and much of the profits are funneled BACK into the Scientology “Religion” - a religion that is diabolicaly opposed to my Savior Jesus Christ… I would NEVER support that website. My loyalty to Jesus is more important than being entertained by a silly website.
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Excellent post, I agree 100% very creepy, very evil, very slick and sparkley. I always thougt neopets were creepy, but didn’t know this connection, now I think they are super creepy. Sometimes I just wish I could keep my kids away from the commercial world of false gods, just go live in a convent but I guess we have a cross to bear as Catholic families, to teach our children Truth and hold fast to their FAITH.
 
well, I’ve had a very educational few days since my original inquiry. So glad i brought it up! I guess it hammered home the lesson that we must be awake and aware. So many things look like one thing, but become another under scrutiny. I am not in a position to condemn scientology, but I am so much more aware than I was. It’s made me realize that I need to keep my eyes open. And, btw, no more neopets.
Many thanks for all the research and response.
Lil’
 
I seriously doubt Neopets has anything to do with Scientlology. So its owner happens to be a Sceintologist. Last I checked, the site doesn’t promote Scientology in any way. Unless you think Neopets is a covert way of promoting it (would be hard to find out how though).
 
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Milliardo:
I seriously doubt Neopets has anything to do with Scientlology. So its owner happens to be a Sceintologist. Last I checked, the site doesn’t promote Scientology in any way. Unless you think Neopets is a covert way of promoting it (would be hard to find out how though).
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Although the site does not promote Scientology, the advertising dollars raised goes to fund Scientology. Neopets’ CEO is a top ranking Scientologist as are over 100 of it’s employees. The more members noepets has (over 70 million currently) = the more $ for Scientology.

Ask yourself - would I want to support a company, who’s profits go directly to fund Planned Parenthood? What’s the difference between that & Scientology? One robs a life - the other robs a soul.
 
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