I think everything has an answer but I just don't think God is ever a good one. I don't think we have enough information yet to have a good theory on the origin of the universe. I subscribe most to Buddhism because it feels most natural to me, not forced at all.
Yeah, it started off very interesting but it seems to have lost it's momentum. Now, it's pretty much just spending an hour with a former member telling the same story every episode - I left and my family shunned me.
I've given up hope that the majority of the people currently in the church will ever see the "church" for what it is and what it really does to people. But the increased awareness and bad press I think will definitely doom them to eventual failure. They can't be getting all that many new recruits these days. I heard an interview with a guy who was a member for 27 years and got pretty high up in the organization. He said that they have lied since the very beginning about how many members they have. They claim every year that it is in the millions. But based on the documentation he knew that they kept of every member or former member, the grand sum total of members is at most 500,000. That's not small but if people aren't coming in I could see them totally dissolving in a decade or two. Once they get small enough to no longer have any real power or influence, the true grand exodus will take place because people won't be scared anymore. This guy (wish I could remember his name...it was an interview he did on the Oh No! with Ross and Carrie podcast) also said that David Miscavidge is slowly re-arranging Scientology so that he holds all the power and money. If he were to die today, the vast majority of their holdings would be in a place where no one would be able to get to them, because Miscavidge is the only one that knows all that. It was a fascinating interview and really made me think that despite their successful strong arm tactics in the past, the Scientology organization is not really long for this world. And that makes me happy.
It is no where near 500,000. miscavige changed the business plan from new recruits to squeezing existing members of all their money a long tome ago. Also he has all the power and has had it for a long time. the vast majority of their holdings is in real estate which is why they are constantly opening new buildings that are and will remain empty. a church isn't allowed to just stockpile cash in a bank so they buy real estate that they never pay taxes on.
