Tom Cruise: Batshit crazy; gourmet chef?

[Sethomas]

Kahl, to learn the "secrets" of scientology requires a long process of paying to be elevated into a new tier, and this runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. A decade ago, someone found out the secrets (which are not easy to come by) and posted them on the internet, and naturally the "Church" tried bitterly to sue. So, while you can make the trite observation that many conventional faiths have a "tithe" (a term which strictly refers to a 10% donation, something to which generally only fundamentalists live up), you can go to any Catholic or Lutheran or Buddhist center and freely enquire what the religion is all about. You might not get an honest evaluation of each faith's ups versus its downs, but you're essentially allowed free access to as much knowledge as you want.

And threatening people with eternal damnation is not quite in the same league as putting snakes in their mailboxes. The former can be countered by simple incredulity, the latter is just fucking weird.