Whoa - Leah Remini files missing person report on Scientology head's wife.

[pnwmom]

100. When you were growing up was some time ago. And even then no one was prevented from

attending Mass because of not using an envelope.

How can you say that "every single parish" had an envelope system? Did you visit every single parish? And even the ones that had them never required people to use them. We had envelopes in my parish, and the vast majority of what was actually in the basket were single dollar bills. This was also true in any parish that we visited on vacation. Single dollar bills and an envelope every once in a while.

By contrast, no one can be a Scientologist without paying heavily for their "courses."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_as_a_business

Several of the Church's practices resemble business operations, including paying recruiters a cut of the money made from the people they attract and the franchising network that results in large revenues for the highest levels of the Church. Such activities distinguish Scientology from other religious organizations. The Church pays 10% commissions to recruiters, called Field Staff Members (FSMs), on new recruits they bring in who take a course or receive counseling.[6][7] In addition, Church of Scientology franchises/missions, pay the Church roughly 10% of their gross income.[8] The Church charges for auditing and other Church-related courses required for advancing through the ranks of Scientology. These programs can run to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.[9]

The Scientology Bridge to Total Freedom consists of one half relating to levels of higher states of spiritual existence, and the other half the skills relating to helping another reach that level. Training is described as "50% of the route"[10]
The Religious Technology Center maintains strict control over the use of Scientology symbols, icons, and names. It claims copyright and trademark over the "Scientology cross," and its lawyers have threatened lawsuits against individuals and organizations who have published these protected images without permission in books and on websites.[11] Because of this, it is difficult for individual groups to attempt to practice Scientology publicly without any affiliation or connection to the "official" Church of Scientology. Scientology has sued a number of individuals who attempted to set up their own "auditing" practices, using copyright and trademark law to shut these competitors down.[12]

Writing in Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer contrasted such practices with mainstream religions: "Envision converting to Judaism but having to pay for courses in order to hear the story of Abraham and Isaac, Noah and the flood, or Moses and the Ten Commandments. Or imagine joining the Catholic Church but not being told about the crucifixion and the resurrection until you have reached Operating Theological Level III, which can only be attained after many years and tens of thousands of dollars in church-run courses."[13]

SNIP

^ Shermer, Michael. "The Real Science behind Scientology". Scientific American 305 (5). Retrieved 16 January 2013. "So did its founder, writer L. Ron Hubbard, just make it all up--as legend has it--to create a religion that was more lucrative than producing science fiction? Instead of printing the legend as fact, I recently interviewed the acclaimed science-fiction author Harlan Ellison, who told me he was at the birth of Scientology. At a meeting in New York City of a sci-fi writers' group called the Hydra Club, Hubbard was complaining to L. Sprague de Camp and the others about writing for a penny a word. "Lester del Rey then said half-jokingly, 'What you really ought to do is create a religion because it will be tax-free,' and at that point everyone in the room started chiming in with ideas for this new religion. So the idea was a Gestalt that Ron caught on to and assimilated the details. He then wrote it up as 'Dianetics: A New Science of the Mind' and sold it to John W. Campbell, Jr., who published it in Astounding Science Fiction in 1950.""