When it comes down to the bare bones, I think Scientology is just like any religion – people within the same faith use religion for different reasons, they put emphasis on different elements of the religion, and most importantly – they have religious believes that can be entirely independent to themselves. The god of a pro-choice Christian is not necessarily the same as the god of a Pro-life Christian. Your faith is always something unique and personal to you.

And in this sense, you have different kinds of Scientologists. For instance, you have Tom Cruise (probably THE poster boy of Scientology) who publicly lashes out at and browbeats any opposition, jumps up and down on Oprah’s couch, smiles wide for the paparazzi, etc., generally drawing negative attention to the faith. Adversely, one of my favorite musician’s, Beck, is a Scientologist, but practices in a dignified, solemn way, and is more concerned with how the religion helps it’s members than how people judge him for practicing, etc.

In the end…I can understand, and, in some instances, agree that Scientology is a cult, or exhibits cult-like behavior. But Scientology is also one of those cases where people judge it based on a generalized overview, and ignore it based on the personal, popular level.