Zaden
Registered User
And the Bible sanctions all sorts of nasty acts towards non-believers.... but that's exactly why we don't discuss religion in lodge and why we don't restrict certain religions. Messages taken out of context could mean anything. I don't recall ever seeing L. Ron Hubbard making such sanctions, not saying he didn't, but regardless even if I had, without knowing a heck of a lot more I would not necessarily trust that because the founder of the religion made such a statement that it necessarily meant the followers believe that.
In the end it should come down to does the man believe in some form of deity, and is he a worthy man. His specific religion is not really important, he could believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster for all I care, as long as he is sincere in that belief.
Just contributing info here, no disagreement with your statements. It is the individual that matters, not necessarily the founder of his religion.
That said: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)#Policy
One could give the benefit of the doubt and say his policy was misinterpreted, but when you state that those declared as Fair Game can be "deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed." it is pretty easy to "misinterpret". Even his wife seems to have "misunderstood": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Freakout
Again, this says nothing to the character of the ordinary Scientologist, most of them are probably told this stuff is all made up.