Phobos1 asked this question on 4/27/2000:

This is an exercise I like to use to assess the objectivity of anyone who strongly advocates a position, either for or against.

To those experts who count themselves as critics of the Church of Scientology, I'd ask you to tell me something you think is good or positive about the organization.

To those experts who consider themselves Scientologists in good standing, I'd like you to tell me something about either Dianetics or Scientology that you disagree with or disapprove of.

desertphile gave this response on 4/27/2000:

That's an easy one! The Church of Scientology makes several thousand people happy and gives them a sense of accomplishment and self-respect. That is a very positive influence in their lives. If people feel they are happier, I for one think that is a very good thing.

For them anyhow. The negatives about the organization far outweigh the positives. Remember how the National Socialist Party was seen as an answer from God as the cure for Germany's social and economic problems? MILLIONS of people joined the Party, and they felt their lives were almost infinately improved.

Just my observation. Other's will vary.

The average rating for this answer is 3.8.

Phobos1 rated this answer a 4.

I'm not convinced that making people happy is, in this context, really a good thing, if it is so instrumental in bringing about the evil you speak of. In a sense, then, this making people happy could be seen as part of the problem itself. If you could have undermined the Nazi party's ability to gratify its followers, for example, you could have prevented them from ever coming to power in the first place. So that quality of making people happy is in that context an instrumental evil.