Scientology - not reformed in the UK

One of the things I learned on my "VIP" tour of L. Ron's washington home is that England is the adopted homeland of scientology. L Ron started in the US, but England is where he found traction, and it is there that one finds multi-generational homes of scientologists.

Scientology is a few hundred years behind Mormonism in the progress from cult to conventional religion, so it's not surprising that it has an abundance of rough edges. In the US the organization seems to be a bit more polished, but in the UK it still shows its old flair. It's not surprising, then, that a BBC journalist got the "Full Monty" treatment ...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Row over Scientology video

... While making our BBC Panorama film "Scientology and Me" I have been shouted at, spied on, had my hotel invaded at midnight, denounced as a "bigot" by star Scientologists, brain-washed - that is how it felt to me - in a mock up of a Nazi-style torture chamber and chased round the streets of Los Angeles by sinister strangers.

Back in Britain strangers have called on my neighbours, my mother-in-law's house and someone spied on my wedding and fled the moment he was challenged...

Alas, Mr. Sweeney has a temper (happens to the best of us), and his adversaries trigger a fine explosion. They then YouTube it around the world, but to his great credit Sweeney doesn't buckle

...If you are interested in becoming a TV journalist, it is a fine example of how not to do it. I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine ... it makes me cringe...

His BBC article on the story includes a link to the clip, with a fine full face roar. In a Guardian interview Sweeney says ..

...This morning Mr Sweeney said his behaviour had resulted in him being seriously reprimanded by the BBC.

"What I did was wrong and stupid and I am embarrassed about it. I let down the team and I let down the BBC," he said. "It was my seventh day with the Scientologists and I snapped. I have had my arse kicked by the BBC but they have not fired me."...

In the BBC article Sweeney mentions one reason why the UK doesn't classify Scientology as a religion ...

Scientology is a pay-as-you-go religion - which is one of the reasons why the Charity Commission in Britain does not class it as a religion.

There are some good points on the Slashdot discussion, including those who've viewed the video and say Sweeney is being too hard on himself. In any case, the advance publicity should do wonders for the documentary. I wonder if the video will try to explain why Scientology has such an odd attraction for vacuous celebrities? It it because it promised to make them deities?