Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: thomson@cs.sfu.ca (Brian Thomson)
Subject: Re: Scientology questions
Message-ID: <1991Jul31.144454.903@cs.sfu.ca>
Organization: Simon Fraser University
References: <14949@goofy.Apple.COM> <17250@life.ai.mit.edu> <1991Jul30.202312.32439@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Distribution: alt.religion.scientology
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1991 14:44:54 GMT

[Warning JARGON alert -- nonscientologists should
 hit "n"]

Several people have responded to my suggestion that Church
of Scientology services are overpriced.  The responses are
well reasoned and clearly well intentioned, but maybe they
will oblige me if I make the point more forcefully.

The money question is actually an important one.  The public
perception of the C. of S. is driven largely by the
perception that it, like the Jim Bakker's and Jimmy
Swaggart's of the world, is driven soley by a desire to
fleece the believers.  The magnitude of the "donations"
serves to reinforce this.

The question of the E-meter pricing is most transparent and
should be easily seen as the most blatant.  It is also the
easiest to research and document. My bet is that the "real"
price of this object (without the unnecessary frills) is on
the order of magnitude of $35. Lets multiply by a factor of
ten to give the C. of S. the benefit of the doubt.  That's
$350. But they still charge another order of magnitude ---
listed at $3500 currently. That's the price of a modest
workstation, but for an electronic instrument that you could
kludge together out of standard parts for a triviality.
(One poster to this newsgroup has promised to have her
fiance (an engineer) look inside an E-meter and report what
he sees.  I hope she will post this.)

Now how about courses?  I took many courses including SHSBC,
CLASS VII and VIII and interneships on all three. I'd
recommend them highly to current Scientologists (not the
general public of course). Here is a recent price list of
some of these services with which I am more than familiar at
prices (in US dollars) that two decades later seem like
parodies.

E-METER         3,523

STUDENT HAT       850
SHSBC          10,000
SHSBC INT.      2,000
CLASS VIII     15,000
CLASS VIII INT  2,000

OT I            2,500
OT II           4,755
OT III          7,650
---------------------
TOTAL          48,278

This is the minimum training in order to claim to have an
overview of the "technology".  Twenty odd years ago it was
accessible to any normal mortal with the available time;
indeed time would have been more of a factor to most people
than the cost of the courses.

I find it scarcely credible that any current Scientologist
does not bitterly resent an administration that has priced
these services beyond the reach of all but the very rich (or
the poor jerks who serve on org staff for slave wages in the
hope these services will be given free).  This kind of
pricing is not at all in line with any of the stated goals
of the church.  It is entirely in line with making the very
top echelon fabulously wealthy.

Back when LRH was in charge I felt he could do damn well
what he wanted (as long as it was legal -- although that
didn't bother him any!).  After all it was entirely his
creation and all of it, from the worst crap to the most
elegant of the "tech", flowed from him.  Take it or leave
it.  But I haven't seen any credentials possessed by the
current leadership that should demand any great loyalty or
explain why they have to become rich.

As a disclaimer I've seen nothing of the church in nearly
two decades except what has appeared in the press.  If I'm
missing information I'm open to enlightenment.
-BST