Only in America...

Only in America would 'we the people' allow a group started by a science fiction writer in the 1950's to be called a religion and thus receive tax exempt status.... a group that believes humanity's every problem derives from the spirits of murdered space aliens. They believe that 75 million years ago an evil galactic ruler named Xenu solved overpopulation by bringing trillions of people to Earth in DC-8 space planes, stacking them around volcanoes and nuking them. Then the souls of these dead space aliens were captured, boxed up and taken to cinemas where they were shown films of what life should be like, false ideas containing God, the devil and Christ, and told to get ill. After that, they supposedly clustered together and now inhabit our bodies. They believe that if they rid themselves of these body thetans, then they will be healthier and will gain special powers like mind-over-matter. This group's founder wrote a book in 1950 called "Dianetics, the Modern Science of Mental Health," and his movement grew out of the book when his followers began "auditing" each other. He was quoted as saying, "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion." Followers pay a lot of money to "audit" and get the "souls of these dead space aliens" out of their bodies... They have been banned in several countries: in 2000 France debated dissolving them as a religion, in 1999 they lost their charity status in Britain, and in 1997 they were banned in Greece. I recommend you read Andrew Morton's unauthorized biography about Tom Cruise to find out more about this 'religion.'

Truth is stranger than fiction...