…http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/celebrity/PhotoGalleries/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3893165&wa=wsignin1.0<br><br>…and the joy continues.

“People in the street have been calling out things like ‘Welcome home, we’re so excited you’re here.’” Victoria wrote on her blog. “That has been fantastic, and one of the best things about this trip.”

I have one question: WHY? What exactly are the Americans so excited about?? What is Victoria Beckham bringing to American that has them so excited they took the Big Mac out of their mouth for a second and shouted compliments after her??

Sad.

It’s not the saddest thing I’ve ever seen though. Well, since you asked, I don’t really know off the top of my head. Here is one of them though:

SCIENTOLOGY

This is what the Oxford English Dictionary has to say about Scientology: “Scientology is a collection of nonsense ramblings by a fucking nutjob who didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. It mostly attracts overpaid ignorant window-lickers who have more money than sense, but want to rebel against mainstream religion by something they consider new, different, and exciting.”

Don’t ask what edition of the OED this was…I can’t remember.

Let me justify some of that by saying this: scientology isn’t a religion. It shares nothing in common with any accepted definition of religion. If scientology is a religion, then so is supporting a particular football team, or believing in astrology.

Scientology isn’t a science. In fact, there is nothing scientific about scientology. It is a hodgepodge of one man’s confused and irrational metaphysical views of the world. L Ron Hubbard would have us believe in centuries old dualism of the mind and the body; in enternal souls; that the human brain has only 3 months’ worth of memory; that he himself was a great scientist who made many discoveries working in secret and cured many people.

Where are these people? What are these discoveries? Ok, Hubbard was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but is that any excuse for his modern day followers living in the 19030s?

Most religions, faiths, beliefs, New Age notions, belief-systems, can be debunked by critically examining them, testing the evidence, demanding proof etc… Scientology doesn’t. All you need to destroy Scientology is to read about its founder. I wouldn’t put Hubbard in the Rev Jim Jones catagory, but on the other hand he isn’t fit to clean the ants off the laces of the boots of Einstein, Darwin, Hawkins, Dawkins. In fact, all anyone need do is read this: http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/hubbard.html

Scientology in a way is worse than religion and dodgy metaphysics, because it claims to be everything that it isn’t. It is almost miraculous that one man’s self-delusion has spread so well.

Having said that, scientology, in a lot of important ways, is far better than religion in that nobody has killed anyone over scientology just yet; small cults necessarily start off by being peaceful and innocent, and try not to offend anyone or rock the boat… that’s just how Christianity started…