Scientology - cult or helpful

[Lochnessgiraffe]

My dcousin has recently started going to the local scientology place and I have been concerned. He is doing and paying for the self improvement courses. He says that they are friendly and helpful and supportive. He is not long separated from his wife and family and I think v vulnerable. He has no other friends. I live over 3 hours away from him but try to contact him about every week but this is all he talks about now and posts about. He seems happier with himself and more confident. But I'm concerned.
Aibu to be worried or just leave him as he's happy?

Oh Cult, bloody hell. I'd be concerned

What's a dcousin?!! Don't you just mean "your cousin"?

He says that they are friendly and helpful and supportive.

Yeah they will be whilst he gives them money and is vulnerable. As soon as he stops either of those, they won’t be very nice anymore!

Cult total cult, they have been banned in a number of country's make of that what you will.

Cult. I'd be doing everything possible to get him away from them.

@GinDaddy is there any point at all to your post except to make OP feel small?

Don't be such a mean bastard, why bother?

Before he gets fully sucked in, Google Leah Rimini and the work she's done since leaving the cult. Then share with him what you find.

I have mentioned to him that I am worried its a cult. He said the self help and dianetics (sp) books are not the church but he can't tell me what is the church? Maybe if he leaves/stops after the self help books he won't get involved more?

It's long been classed as a cult. And the more he pays for "improvement" the more he become vulnerable. They're nice enough now, but it'll change as he gets pulled deeper in.

I suggest you google "auditing" in relation to Scientology. It's controversial, because the one being "audited" never sees any of the notes made by the "auditor" and has often been at the basis of claims of blackmail, etc.

cult cult cult.

It's a cult. Dianetics is their front to suck in vulnerable or gullible people under the guise of doing 'personality tests'. I'd be very worried.

It is the cultiest cult going.

cult!

Absolutely a cult. Dianetics is the thing that hooks vulnerable people in, like all cults it starts off fairly reasonable and relatable at first - if it was 100% mad to start with no one would join. Like toxic relationships.

So there is no chance he can leave after a few courses? From what he's told me it's just a bit of reading and answering questions. I think he's done 4 courses so far.

Not just a cult, but one of the most hilariously messed up cults around.

The man who started it was a (crap) science fiction writer. Who once remarked to a friend about how much money cults made and how easy it would be for a sci-fi writer to start one.

So he started one.

Once you have invested silly amounts of money in the cult, you get the secret truth revealed to you - all your misery is caused by ALIEN GHOSTS (Thetans) who are the remains of an alien civilisation wiped out MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO. From Earth? Oh no. THEIR FROZEN CORPSES WERE DUMPED IN EARTHS VOLCANOES. But why don't the ghosts remember being aliens? BRAIN WASHING. BY GIGANTIC SOUL CATCHING MACHINES.

I'm not lying, and neither was southpark. season 9, episode 12, "Trapped in the Closet", enjoy the Tom Cruise/R Kelly subplot.

It's certainly not a cult and anyone who says it is is probably part of the evil Galactic warlord Xenu's forces.

In America it's now classed as religion (probably because a lot of money changed hands). Not much help for your cousin but I'm always puzzled when i hear 'normal' celebs are scientologists. A good example is Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, Handmaid's Tale, etc). She seems so grounded, thoughtful and rational - how can she also be a Sci?!

It's a cult.

If he's in need of the support of a community, maybe he could look for some other groups to join-- something relating to an interest or hobby he already has or might want to take up.

Or if he's feeling curious about religion, there are plenty of "real" churches (i.e. not cults) he could join.

I suspect it's going to be difficult to dissuade him from involving himself with Scientology, if it's what he wants to do. You're a good cousin to try to help him, though.

@GinDaddy you're a dick.

As for the question - yup, cult. I'd be concerned too.

My ds and his gf had one of their "assessments" done for a laugh. The report was horrible. Even his positive traits were so negatively described.
If he was so grounded it could have really affected his MH. It was all about you sre badly broken and we can fix you.

It’s absolutely a cult
And one with a long history of targeting people coming out of marriages as a particularly rich recruiting ground
They have access to cash with no one to rein in their spending; they don’t have a partner to question their decisions and they have a predisposition to looking for new social groups.

It’s going to be difficult for you to counter their very well-established and sophisticated recruitment tactics though. They know exactly what they are doing from targeting him in the first place to keeping him sucked in

You know the best thing - invite him round and show him the Scientology episode of South Park. Ridicule may work better than reasoning.

GinDaddy because they're obviously close and who are you to police how people refer to family members here anyway

Theres a documentary, Going Clear, that I watched about it after passing the scientology centre in London and wondering what it is all about. It is really scary how they hook youths in, and then break them down and rebuild them. Tom Cruise had to stop contact with his daughter after he broke up with Katie Holmes, because if you leave the cult you are considered an enemy. If you are outside the cult and have never been in, you are also an enemy if you don't join, and the member will be dissuaded from contact, sometimes through virtual imprisonment (eg the wife of the leader of Scientology hasn't been seen in public for over 10 years). Its terrifying.