Scientology setting up shop in India..

[KMomma]

Very interesting article about Scientology (they don't use the term Church in India, btw) promoting in India. http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArti..._standard11773


"Mathew Andrews, the public executive of the Church of Scientology in India, spoke of impressive figures. He said the church is the largest volunteer service in the work with over 87,000 members who have assisted in 100 major disasters. It shocked us to learn that Mumbai has around 30 Scientology volunteers who have been trained to assist when disaster strikes. Alas, when disaster did strike Mumbai, they simply never surfaced. Conceivably that is the reason Andrews has made India his permanent base, to network with a lot more people than the 30 volunteers and bring about an awareness of the organization."

[Emma]

It doesn't surprise me they are setting up shop there. While the economy is growing at a fast rate, there are still zillions with no access to the internet. Scn tries to expand in these types of environments because the battle is basically lost in the west.

[tamaritha]

What is ironic is that Scientology will fare better in India for not pushing their "religion" status - Hinduism, practically the nationalised religion of India and is culturally entwined into every aspect of their lives, also enforces a caste system, at the bottom of which are the "Untouchables" - foreigners, and anyone who seeks to escape the caste system themselves are piled on at the bottom of the heap.

Any Hindu can become a Scientologist, and since it is not a religion, they can keep their caste.

It is also highly likely that Dainty Davey will promote this as the crucial link between Scientology and Buddhism (though Buddhism's been dead in India for hundreds of years), and the Scientology orgs in India may not even be used to recruit the Indians, but to ship the current Scientologists over much like what they do with FLAG, except the direct advantage in the GDP difference will be that they are able to skim a lot more profits because the costs to be covered are very cheap in India.

[Peter Schilte]

Isn't there a small problem? Because most people in India have just enough money to not starve. How are they going to pay for their services?

[Oingo Boingo]

Isn't there a small problem? Because most people in India have just enough money to not starve. How are they going to pay for their services?

Well, what usually happens? Can't pay for services? Here's a billion year contract. Work for us in exchange for your services!

I don't want to sound ignorant or, god forbid, racist, but with the level of wages I hear of in India, if SCN pays the same amount of wages there as they do here in N. America, wouldn't that seem kind of like a dream wage to many Indians who are often reduced to sweatshop labour earnings? A comparison of that would be interesting...

[Peter Schilte]

I am afraid that the wages they will pay are going to be related to the "normal" wages in India. That would result in much lower wages than the cult pays in western countries. I assume also that the cult is not recognized in India as a religion, so there will be no tax examptions. That means they will be struggling with their low income. At least that is what I hope!

[tamaritha]

I am afraid that the wages they will pay are going to be related to the "normal" wages in India. That would result in much lower wages than the cult pays in western countries. I assume also that the cult is not recognized in India as a religion, so there will be no tax examptions. That means they will be struggling with their low income. At least that is what I hope!

If the country collects taxes in any sort of uniform manner to begin with. Considering this is also a country where people fake an envied relative's death to "inherit" their land and assets, I doubt there are any sort of formal taxation records.

As I said before, Scientology actually fares better by NOT being recognised as a religion: Indian taxation law, last I remembered, allows tax exemption certificates for overseas entities in exchange for services rendered to the country. Normally, this law is invoked for charity organisations that have short missions coming into India, but according to this website, any other government-approved charitable institution can apply for this, regardless of the length of stay.

Given that those Volunteer Ministers have already been sent to India several times, I would say that Scientology already has their tax exempt status secured. The only way to revoke such a ruling is to get India to recognise that Scientology is not a charitable institution.

[oudeis]

Isn't there a small problem? Because most people in India have just enough money to not starve. How are they going to pay for their services?

I have read that the cost of Scientology services differs in different countries; that it is based on a percentage of the average income in each country.

For that reason, some Spanish-speaking public people in North America used to go to Mexico for services. The quality was the same and the cost less.

[KMomma]

What is ironic is that Scientology will fare better in India for not pushing their "religion" status - Hinduism, practically the nationalised religion of India and is culturally entwined into every aspect of their lives, also enforces a caste system, at the bottom of which are the "Untouchables" - foreigners, and anyone who seeks to escape the caste system themselves are piled on at the bottom of the heap.

Any Hindu can become a Scientologist, and since it is not a religion, they can keep their caste.

It is also highly likely that Dainty Davey will promote this as the crucial link between Scientology and Buddhism (though Buddhism's been dead in India for hundreds of years), and the Scientology orgs in India may not even be used to recruit the Indians, but to ship the current Scientologists over much like what they do with FLAG, except the direct advantage in the GDP difference will be that they are able to skim a lot more profits because the costs to be covered are very cheap in India.

Exactly, Tam! But how does the Church of Scientology expect to be taken seriously if it is blatantly obvious that they change around their religious status to fit whatever demographic they are promoting to? I don't know of any other "religion" that does this.

[tamaritha]

Exactly, Tam! But how does the Church of Scientology expect to be taken seriously if it is blatantly obvious that they change around their religious status to fit whatever demographic they are promoting to? I don't know of any other "religion" that does this.

I doubt many religions are asked to prove that they are a real religion very often either - which says something really interesting about the human psyche (which Scientologists deny exists) : The more you try to convince someone else "hey! We're a religion!" the less they buy it.:D