# Why are Mormons and Scientologists made fun of in America?



## Chris3322 (Aug 4, 2010)

I just don't understand it. I see Christians calling these people crazy all the time. Many also hate Muslims due to the wars in the Middle East. Do they not realize their own religion has as much evidence supporting it as these "crazy" religions? There are dozens of religions on earth, and Christians in America have the audacity to claim all of them are crazy or stupid. What makes them so sure their religion is what is right?


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## markwalters2 (Mar 18, 2013)

Chris3322 said:


> I just don't understand it. I see Christians calling these people crazy all the time. Many also hate Muslims due to the wars in the Middle East. Do they not realize their own religion has as much evidence supporting it as these "crazy" religions? There are dozens of religions on earth, and Christians in America have the audacity to claim all of them are crazy or stupid. What makes them so sure their religion is what is right?


They are very special people.


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## tieffers (Jan 26, 2013)

I grew up with Mormons, and they're...very different, to say it politely. When I meet regular Christians, I feel blown away by how progressive they seem...just by my standards, because I'm so used to the ultra conservative ways of Mormons. They have some strange practices, including mysterious youth get-togethers called Mutual and the actual magic underpants. They do wear them, and they do consider them special. The people I've talked to are actually very serious about it, which I can't say I understand, but whatever floats your boat.

Unlike many other religions, Mormonism is cult-like in that it's pretty much an exclusive club. You're in or you're out. And if you're out, they'll stop at nothing to convert you. They barely acknowledge you as a person if you're not a Mormon. Regular Christians and Catholics have never treated me any differently for not being of their religion, however. Mormons _(in my experience)_ are incredibly judgmental compared to people of other denominations, though I realize I probably sound like a hypocrite because it's judgmental of me to say that. Again, just my experience.

Another weird thing is that you're considered to be acting sexually provocative if you're wearing shorts or a skirt that is more than a couple inches above the knee or if your bare shoulders are showing. This is mostly true for older Mormons and the ones in more conservative areas like mine, not necessarily all Mormons.

It's things like that that make them a target. I tend to believe some conspiracy theories that I won't mention here because I'd sound like a total nut, but believe me, it's very eerie and droney during church services. I was roped into many in my childhood.

This post really got out of hand.


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## noscreenname (Feb 24, 2013)

Mormons get a lot of flak from other Christians for being "unchristian" like which is ironic as they are the most Christ like Christians I have ever met at least in terms of good works (Prop 8 aside) 

It's funny that people who believe their God gave birth to his own son through a virgin woman and then sacrificed this son for the good of the world because the first people ate an apple and cursed humanity think Mormon beliefs are "weird" 

There are some sections and cultures in the LDS that are cult like and overtly conservative. But this is true of all Christian denominations. 

Scientology on the other hand is nothing but a scam and a cult that fleeces people out of money and deserves all the scorn it deserves *yeah, yeah insert joke about all religions doing that you're so clever*


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## DarrellLicht (Mar 9, 2013)

Because Scientology and Mormonism are freshest in the spotlight. All the other institutions are old, old, old news..:stu


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## Dark Alchemist (Jul 10, 2011)

Scientologists are laughable by nature. Mormons (of those I've met) tend to be very nice people so I'm more easygoing on that, but then again their faith is based on a guy who claimed he could read magic rocks out of a hat.


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## jingybopa (Jan 26, 2011)

Chris3322 said:


> I just don't understand it. I see Christians calling these people crazy all the time. Many also hate Muslims due to the wars in the Middle East. Do they not realize their own religion has as much evidence supporting it as these "crazy" religions? There are dozens of religions on earth, and Christians in America have the audacity to claim all of them are crazy or stupid. What makes them so sure their religion is what is right?


"Do they not realize their own religion has as much evidence supporting it as these "crazy" religions?"

Have you read The Book Of Mormon, or anything about Joseph Smith...or anything about Dianetics, or in any way related to Scientology? I am not defending historical christianity....but seriously, Have you read anything about either of those two religions????


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## TobeyJuarez (May 16, 2012)

its america.... everyone makes fun of everyone... and if u dont make fun of others you end up at places like SAS


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## Barette (Jan 17, 2012)

Cause Scientology is ****ing crazy and a huge scam. I've no beef with Mormons, they're an alright group.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

It's because of how these religions were started. For instance, in the case of Mormonism Joseph Smith was a fraud and a con-man and was exposed as such. This site might interest you: http://www.exmormon.org/whyileft.htm

"There perhaps is no other religion [than Mormonism] that can have its official history be refuted so thoroughly"

Now Christianity on the other hand, cannot be refuted. Obviously certain Christian beliefs and certain Christian churches can be discredited. But, Christianity was founded by the person of Jesus Christ and he has never been discredited or exposed as a fraud. Christians can debate and disagree on all variety of different teachings and doctrines and Bible interpretations and certain doctrines can and have been discredited or discarded over the centuries. But all Christians agree that Jesus Christ taught he truth, it's only in our interpretations that errors arise.

So I don't agree that Mormonism and scientology have just as much evidence as Christianity. Christianity has the benefit of being founded by someone who was never exposed as a fraud. Of course Christians believe in things which are just as "crazy" as Mormon beliefs but the difference is that central to Christianity is faith in Jesus Christ and discrediting a specific interpretation of Jesus's teachings serves only to discredit that interpretation and not Jesus himself. Josepth Smith and his interpretation of Christianity has already been discredited. Jesus warned us that there would be many false Christ's and false prophets and there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that Joseph Smith was one of these. That is why Christians regard Mormons as crazy for following him. It's not there mere fact that their beliefs conflict, it's how Mormonism has unfolded, how the Church and supposed prophets have failed and then attempted cover ups and deceptions. For example, the Mormon prophets and highest authorities within the church were fooled in the 1980s by forged documents. Now how would that be possible if they were true prophets and possessed the light of divine revelation as they claimed? Jesus said that we could know the difference between false prophets and true prophets by their fruit. The Mormon prophets have failed to produce good fruit, hence they are false.


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## noscreenname (Feb 24, 2013)

Recipe For Disaster said:


> It's because of how these religions were started. For instance, in the case of Mormonism Joseph Smith was a fraud and a con-man and was exposed as such. This site might interest you: http://www.exmormon.org/whyileft.htm
> 
> "There perhaps is no other religion [than Mormonism] that can have its official history be refuted so thoroughly"
> 
> ...


Christianity has the advantage of being a couple thousand years older than Mormonism. It's hard to discredit something that has been whitewashed and edited so thoroughly by its follower to appear positive at a time when record keeping was poor.

For instance the gospels are not eye witness accounts but many simply assume they are because they are so old and accepted.


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## jingybopa (Jan 26, 2011)

Barette said:


> Cause Scientology is ****ing crazy and a huge scam. I've no beef with Mormons, they're an alright group.


http://www.mormonwiki.org/Lying_for_the_Lord


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## nullptr (Sep 21, 2012)

I know a mormon they're nice. It's not that I don't like scientologists, I don't know any to make a judgement. Just the church of scientology, it steals participants money to gain their "knowledge", I mean what religion does that? They're behaving exactly like wall street firms do, welcome to scientology street.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

noscreenname said:


> Christianity has the advantage of being a couple thousand years older than Mormonism. It's hard to discredit something that has been whitewashed and edited so thoroughly by its follower to appear positive at a time when record keeping was poor.
> 
> For instance the gospels are not eye witness accounts but many simply assume they are because they are so old and accepted.


This is true but it does mean anything. You can't say there isn't a difference between believing something that has already been discredited and believing something which might be discredited if there was more information. Besides, many people founded religious and spiritual movements in modern times when good records were kept and they haven't all been discredited like Joseph Smith. Obviously this doesn't mean they were real prophets, perhaps they were just better con-men. But Christians still have the right to call Mormons out for believing in a guy who was exposed as a fraud. No matter how crazy and unlikely you think Christians beliefs are to be true, it's still more logical to believe in Jesus than to believe exposed frauds.


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## Rich19 (Aug 11, 2012)

Well Christianity has been around far longer than the other two. Anyway all religions are in the same boat, having little evedince to support their beliefs


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## minimized (Nov 17, 2007)

Christians have a hard time looking at themselves in an objective way. Lord Xenu and mythical golden tablets can't be any sillier than eating the body and blood of a zombie who came to earth via god's good rapes, I mean graces.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Its all childish superstition and scams. None of them have any more evidence supporting them than Peter Pan or Santa Clause. If you want to be respected, do something respectable.

If Christians are offended by criticism? GOOD! Because I am glad they're offended. I'm offended by their defense of child molesters, history of violence, unconstitutional encroachment into the public sphere, imposition of dogma onto people who don't believe as they do and their general assault on science. Similar things can be said of other religions.


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## Levibebop (Feb 15, 2013)

My neighbors are mormons, and they're pretty cool. They've never really asked about my personal beliefs.


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

1) Jesus touring the Americas, the garden of eden in Missouri, basically the ultimate American religion relocating biblical events to the good 'ol USA. How can you not laugh?

2) Xenu, volcanoes, thetans... you can't not laugh at a religion with a bad sci-fi plot, written by a sci-fi writer, designed to extract maximum cash from the gullible.

Most other religions are old enough and vague enough to not be as obviously silly and self-serving. Perhaps in 500 years mormonism and scientology will be possible to take seriously.

I keep a straight face when they're around to be polite, of course.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

Noca said:


> Its all childish superstition and scams. None of them have any more evidence supporting them than Peter Pan or Santa Clause. If you want to be respected, do something respectable.
> 
> If Christians are offended by criticism? GOOD! Because I am glad they're offended. I'm offended by their defense of child molesters, history of violence, unconstitutional encroachment into the public sphere, imposition of dogma onto people who don't believe as they do and their general assault on science. Similar things can be said of other religions.


It's not logical to hold all Christians accountable for the actions of some of them. Different Christian sects can be just as much in disagreement with each other as atheists are with Christians. Therefore, claiming that say a Southern Baptist preacher who never had any child molestation go on in his church, is guilty of defending child molesters because of the actions of Catholic Bishops is absurd and ridiculous. What do the two have to do with each other other than the fact that they both consider the Bible a holy book? Using your logic, atheists could be also be criticized. Jeffrey Dahmer was an atheist and said that because he felt like life had no meaning and we all end up the same anyway, it didn't really matter if he killed people. Does that mean it's fair for me to criticize atheists on the bases that they are serial killers? This is like saying all people who believe in capitalism are bad because some people who believed in capitalism put profit ahead of the health and well being of their workers and destroyed the environment to further their business ventures. Absolutely any sort of idea or belief system or philosophy that has a large number of adherents, is going to have some of the adherents do bad things. I find it ironic how atheists like to pride themselves on logic, but then fail to use it.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

tieffers said:


> Unlike many other religions, Mormonism is cult-like in that it's pretty much an exclusive club. .


I've heard this as well, with a slightly different connotation, but basically the same message. The way it was put to me is that these people believe that they're going to heaven, and that all their fellow Mormons are going to heaven, while others aren't, and as such, why bother really building relationships with outsiders when they're only on the Earth for a few years? He said that they're polite, and nice, however don't make much of an attempt to be inclusive at all.

As for Scientology, I feel really bad for it's everyday followers, who are subjugated and abused greatly by the utterly reprehensible and plainly evil leadership. Go look up the experiences that ex-scientologists describe, and also read up on just how far the scientology leadership goes in ruining the lives of everyone and anyone who they see as a threat.


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## realitysucks (Jan 18, 2013)

If you study their histories and beliefs, you'll know why it's a good thing they are made fun of.

I mean, imagine if they weren't.


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## Implicate (Feb 1, 2011)

I make fun of anyone who believes in any form of religion. My hate is equal.


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## Dark Alchemist (Jul 10, 2011)

Its not just the U.S. Didn't Germany try to ban Scientology a while back?


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## rawrguy (Mar 29, 2008)

Cuz it's 'murica


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Dark Alchemist said:


> Its not just the U.S. Didn't Germany try to ban Scientology a while back?


I think Belgium did as well


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## IamSociallyAwkwardPenguin (Sep 7, 2012)

Chris3322 said:


> I just don't understand it. I see Christians calling these people crazy all the time. Many also hate Muslims due to the wars in the Middle East. Do they not realize their own religion has as much evidence supporting it as these "crazy" religions? There are dozens of religions on earth, and Christians in America have the audacity to claim all of them are crazy or stupid. What makes them so sure their religion is what is right?


They are made fun of because their religion is obviously fradulent and a lie.
Mormonism was created by known conman Joesph Smith. Watch this South Park clip, it basically makes fun of the story and show how silly it is to think he was telling the truth. 




Also scientology was created by a science fiction writer and is basically a money making scheme used to make money from naive and ignorant people. They have extremely stupid beliefs. Its founder L. Ron Hubbard, the sci-fi writer even said in an interview before starting the religion "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion."


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## IamSociallyAwkwardPenguin (Sep 7, 2012)

Seems like the Youtube link might not have worked. Here it is:


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## lonely coward (Feb 5, 2013)

has a roman catholic,a lover of religions and philosophy. i even like to call my self a Scientologist for applying Scientology in my life. i believe its compute ignorance and false information about the church of Scientology and the church of later day's saints and the same with Islam and ever other religion. why did you go their websites or books one of their books like the fundaments of thought or the book of Mormon? many practice their religions with passion. respect the religion befits of other is a virtue and moral for all people. of course we respect you my atheist bothers and sisters.


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## Zyriel (May 20, 2011)

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
- Benjamin Franklin

But what does that also say between the lines. That most people are sheep and have a flock mentality


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## inerameia (Jan 26, 2012)

I don't hate anyone because of their religion, but Mormonism and Scientology are cult-like compared to most denominations of Christianity and Islam so I tend to think the followers are not in their right mind. Christianity and Islam in general are illogical religions so I don't think those followers are in their right mind either, but they aren't as outlandish as Mormonism and Scientology. I don't mean to come off as arrogant, I don't think religious people are inferior, but I don't support what they do when it comes to proselytizing especially with a narrow-minded thought process...


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## Funnybutsad (May 7, 2013)

As a recovering Mormon, I want to just chime in for a second. I have been what Mormons would call inactivate for about 10 years. I grew up Mormon and know they prefer to be called LDS. I would not defend their ideology anymore than I would another religion, but would like make a comment. 

Most LDS people are descent people, some not so descent. I never thought of the church as a cult. They do religious people stuff, and churchgoing for the most part is terribly boring to attend. In order to maintain a good standing in the church you must stay activate, and that just means you attend church meetings and other "callings", and be obedient to God by listening to his apostles and prophets, living and deceased. The ideology is different from catholicism and Protestant but mainly concerning heaven and god hood. They do believe non-Mormons can go to heaven but not the highest level, what they call the celestrial kingdom (they have three levels of heaven and of course hell). 

I don't think Mormons get a bad rap today like they used to, mainly because of not allowing black men into the priesthood or the polygamy issue. Their conversion rate is still high even though that is more international than in the US. There are several Mormon US senators and congressman, governors in the US and the US almost had one for a president, and tons of music artists, actors, and news figures. 

In brief, if anyone is saying anything funny about Mormons, then those people probably talk about everybody that way. 

As for Scientology, I read Dianetics, and L. Ron Hubbard was a pretty fair science-fiction writer at best.


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## Brad (Dec 27, 2011)




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## worldcitizen (Aug 28, 2011)

Because Americans are intolerant.


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## Digidog (May 13, 2013)

As an Ex-mormon, I can tell you the religion is a joke, and it deserves most of the criticism it gets.


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## PickleNose (Jul 11, 2009)

I'm actually not really against any given religion so long as they leave me alone. I had some issues with Mormons years ago because I saw the commercial for their book where they were offering it for free. I thought it would be interesting to read it so I ordered it and they asked me if I minded if they visited with me. Like a fool, I said I didn't mind and they tried to suck me in. I didn't want to be rude but what do you say when you don't want someone to come back and they obviously want to?


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## SaikoSakura382 (Nov 8, 2011)

Probably because Mormonism was founded by a man who lied everytime he opened his damn mouth. The sole purpose of there lives is to convert people and marry as many wives as they can. Never looked at scientology so I can't comment on that one.


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## AngelClare (Jul 10, 2012)

Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard. If you read their claims then you know why. It makes little sense to try and lump Catholics and Protestants in with Mormons and Scientologists. It's not a sincere argument. It's just a juvenile way to try to bash Christians.

Are you honestly defending Scientology and Mormonism? I didn't think so.


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## DeadInsideGuy (May 20, 2013)

I fell deeply in love with a Mormon girl years ago. At the time I knew very little about Mormonism. I proposed to her and she accepted but with the stipulation that we be married, actually 'sealed for time and all eternity' in the temple.

In order to do that I had to be a Mormon in good standing for 6 months to get my temple recommend card.

At that point I/we started studying the book of Mormon every day. We went through the entire book. I also got the Doctrine and Covenants on CD's and listened all the way through twice.

To say the least coming from a Christian upbringing, I had a lot of questions. The missionaries were more than happy to come to my house many times in an attempt to answer them. Trouble is though that often times they could not. The same thing happened time and time again. They would leave by telling me that they would get the answers for me and return then I would never see them again. I would find that all of a sudden they would relocated to another state and two more missionaries would take their place.

I started studying outside of Mormon writings and was quickly told by my fiancee at the time that doing so was prohibited. I was only to read books authorized by the church itself. This to me as troubling.

In the end I came to the unequivocal understanding that Mormonism is a complete and udder hoax. The book can be discredited in literally thousands of ways. There have been over 1800 changes made over time to what they call 'the most accurate book on earth'. Go figure. 

In the end I never married her and her religion was the reason. She would have never been happy without me becoming one of them and I couldn't do it.

Funny thing now though is that I have come to the conclusion that all religions are a hoax. Religion in and of itself is a manufactured set of rules and rituals to keep populations in line. Without a belief in Satan and the possibility of going to hell for your actions, many people would become barbaric. Actually religion is becoming more and more irrelevant all the time and people are becoming more and more ruthless. 

Given my current beliefs it's too bad I didn't go ahead and marry her and play the part of a good little Mormon just like joining a club. What the heck?


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## seahero (Feb 19, 2011)

Mormons are made fun of because they're weird. There are a lot of weird things they do that other people can't seem to understand. There is a lot of history in Mormonism that is troubling. Mormons who aren't total prudes make fun of themselves. I, being a Mormon, find a lot of the ways people portray Mormonism to be a little off . . . like the whole magic underwear thing. We don't actually believe the underwear is magic. The markings on them simply remind Mormons of our commitment to contribute good to the world, you know, serve others and try every day to be better people than we've been. The constant reminder that comes from wearing them is equivalent to any other Christian wearing a cross, or the special clothing worn by Jews and some Catholic/Christian ministers. They all have a special meaning. The reason Mormons don't wear a cross is because we don't like to see Jesus as a bloodied up, suffering, dying man, but rather as one who still lives. That being said, there is a time set apart every Sunday that Mormons do think about Jesus' suffering and crucifixion, so we remember that imperfect people (everyone) would be doomed without him.

And the whole exclusive club thing, well, yeah it can sometimes seem that way. Some Mormons won't let their kids play with non-Mormon kids, which IMO is totally wrong. Makes no sense to me.
And I think someone said that Mormons think all non-Mormons are going to hell. Well, as a matter of fact, Mormonism is one of the few religions that believes very few people are going to hell . . . you know, people on the level of Judas or Cain--people who actually knew for a fact that Jesus was everything he claimed to be, but outright betray and deny him anyway. In some religions, many degrees of hell are described, somewhat like Dante's circles of hell. In Mormonism, it's just the opposite. There are several degrees of heaven described in Mormon doctrine, which makes sense to me. Someone may be an atheist, but that won't condemn them to hell if they do good things and help others. I've learned a lot of good things from atheists. They're people who have usually thought a lot about religion and, as a result, have a lot of helpful insight when it comes to religion.

The problem I have with many people who dispute Mormonism is that they come across as very hostile and like they have an agenda to fulfill. And sometimes, the way they describe some things in Mormonism is unfair or just completely wrong.

Something that sort of bugs me, but really not much, is that it's completely politically incorrect to make fun of Muslims and Jews and the like, doing so would result in many people getting offended, whereas making fun of a Mormon isn't really looked down upon. Maybe it's because Mormons don't really retaliate.


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## michijo (Nov 12, 2011)

I always tell them to go back to Utah.


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## michijo (Nov 12, 2011)

Dark Alchemist said:


> Its not just the U.S. Didn't Germany try to ban Scientology a while back?


Yes, but recently Germany embraced Mormonism. I think there are some Mormons in Scandinavia as well. Germany is pretty good to block religions and tax them. If you register as a Catholic, the German government puts a tax on you, or so I read. Perhaps I have only half understood the latter.


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## Digidog (May 13, 2013)

seahero said:


> The problem I have with many people who dispute Mormonism is that they come across as very hostile and_ like they have an agenda to fulfill_. And sometimes, the way they describe some things in Mormonism is unfair or just completely wrong.


And Mormons don't have an agenda? :roll


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## seahero (Feb 19, 2011)

Some Mormons do. I never said they didn't. That isn't necessarily a bad thing but it can be if you're willing to go to extreme lengths to promote whatever your agenda may be. There are some on both sides who are guilty of that, and those are the people I was referring to in my last post. Maybe I should have been clearer. My point was simply that there are misconceptions about Mormonism. Some of them are exaggerations or lies. Others of them may start out as jokes but people end up believing they are true. Mormon leaders have offered controversial opinions in the past. Those opinions are sometimes interpreted as Mormon doctrine by fanatics and anti-Mormons when in fact they were just opinions. When all these things come up, sensitive, quiet Mormons get hurt in the process. Other more brute Mormons may retaliate and end up fueling hatred against or misconceptions about Mormonism. I try to be somewhere in the middle. I'm not trying to convert all people to Mormonism. I don't want to offend people. I just want to discourage people from calling all Mormons crazy or stupid. Few Mormons believe every little thing that has ever been said by a Mormon leader. I follow this religion because I believe the basic doctrine of it and it inspires me to help people and be a better me every day. Have I ever hurt people in some way? Yes--but that is a result of my fallibility as a human.


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## wonderfulmilk (May 25, 2013)

Because they're easy targets. Just look into those religions and you'll see what I mean... Sure, christians and muslims can be worse in the grand scheme of things, but mormons and scientologists do a lot of crazy (some might say "illegal" or "bat**** crazy") things as well.


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