I just got my first pro-Scientology e-mail from someone called “Beka,” under the subject “Jesus The Scientologist”:

If Jesus came back to Earth what would he see. He would see folk being electroshocked in asylums rather than being shown a little kindness and allowed to recover. He would see the education system decaying with the students being prescribed drugs rather than having their study problems addressed. He would see drug-crazed kids going on shooting sprees wiping out their teachers and classmates. He would be in grief with what he saw….

http://www.kalgoorlie.com/forum/showthread.asp?parentId=0&messageId=854&subjectId=1

(The post on the message board also added this tidbit: “Jesus would look around for those people in society who were doing something effective to handle the situation and he would find the Church of Scientology. And Jesus would become a Scientologist himself.”)

I wrote her this note in response:

Hi Beka,

I fear that you may have me confused with someone who is an advocate of Christianity or Christian ethics. I am not. I am an atheist and an ethical egoist. As such, not only do I deny that Jesus was divine, but I believe his teachings of renunciation of the world and self-sacrifice to be deeply wrong. (That isn’t to say that I don’t regard the problems you cite as genuine problems though.)

Additionally, the fact that some Scientologists retain their Christian beliefs only indicates that people are often philosophically confused and inconsistent. Christianity is just as incompatible with Scientology as it is with Hinduism.

Thanks for the link, diana.