ScientologyTM homophobic? No!

Uh-oh. Looks like the Cult of Self is forced into damage-management mode again (H/T: Religion News Blog):

John Travolta and Tom Cruise have forcefully denied allegations that they turned to Scientology to "cure" them of their supposedly gay urges. But critics continue to claim the religion is rife with homophobia.

Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote in his 1950 best seller, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health," that gays were "sexual perverts" and "very ill physically." . . .

Scientology spokeswoman Gaetane Asselin scoffed at the suggestion that celebrities such as twice-married Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, Kirstie Alley and Isaac Hayes embrace a theology that sees gays as weak or demented.

"Mr. Hubbard abhorred discrimination in all its forms," Asselin told us. "In today's liberal society," she argued, the church encourages any relationship that is "ethical."

[Full Story]

I never believed the claims that Travolta or Cruise were gay or that the Scientologists^TM held their supposed homosexuality over their heads as blackmail material in case they blew the cult. But when cult spokesmen tell you that Hubbard "abhorred discrimination" or that Scientology^TM does not disdain homosexuality as aberrant, they are simply whitewashing the truth.

For example, the article quotes Hubbard's book Dianetics, the foundation of Scientology^TM "therapy," as saying:

The sexual pervert (and by this term Dianetics, to be brief, includes all forms of deviation in dynamic two such as homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism, etc. . . .) is actually quite ill physically. . . . (Dianetics 140)

On the very next page, Hubbard writes of perverts:

Hence the pervert, containing hundreds and hundreds of vicious engrams, has had little choice between being dead and being a pervert. But with an effective science to handle the problem, a society which would continue to endure perversion and all its sad and sordid effects doesn't deserve to survive. (141)

In other words, Hubbard's argument can be summed up like this:

1. Homosexuality is a perversion.
2. Perversion is caused by engrams.
3. Therefore, homosexuality is caused by engrams.

Of course, the very purpose of Dianetics "auditing" is to create a "Clear" by removing all the engrams from the person's mind, giving the "Clear" perfect memory and vision, immunity from disease, even bigger breasts. Hubbard's argument is unmistakeable: Since Dianetics removes engrams, Dianetics cures homosexuality.

Now, I'm no big fan of homosexuality to begin with, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing junk science and phony "therapy" when I see it. What is really alarming, however, is that these people, through one of their front groups, is currently attempting to influence Florida's mental health policy. While we're at it, let's appoint the moon-hoax conspiracy theorists to head up NASA.