Spokesscientologist refuses to answer the volcano question

By Cory Doctorow at 1:01 am Saturday, Feb 5

In this ABC video clip (uploaded in 2010), Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis is asked gentle questions about his faith by the interviewer, who wants to know if it's true that a Scientological article of faith is that the human race has its origins in the strange business of energy beings strapped to volcanoes by a space-tyrant and so forth. It's true that there's nothing objectively stranger about this than reincarnated saviours, plagues of boils, transubstantiation, or talking burning bushes, but Davis doesn't say this. Instead, he evinces this bizarre, put-upon reaction, insisting that this factual question is "offensive" and eventually storming off the set.

I'm pretty convinced that the volcano/galactic tyrant business is the basis for the Scientological faith, and I'm also convinced that if this was more widely known, it would be harder to get people to take the institution and its beliefs seriously. "Free personality test" is a lot more attractive than "Free personality test from someone who thinks your problems stem from an earlier incarnation in which you were strapped to a volcano by a galactic space tyrant."

While I think you should be free to believe in anything you want, I also think it's pretty shabby to try to bring people into your faith while deliberately disguising the tenets of the religion because you know that if you do, you can't get them in the door.

Galactic Emporer Xenu? Scientology (via JWZ)