With Crappy Photoshopping, the Church of Scientology Risks A Fatwa

Nobody ever accused the Cult of L. Ron of PR expertise.

As we pointed out in yesterday's Studies in Crap post, the hilariously titled promotional pamphlet "Scientology: Something CAN Be Done About It" features a doozy of a photo-illustration guaranteed to offend, say, 3/4s of the world's religious believers.

It presents the great leaders of religious history, from Buddha to Christ, all lined up evolution-chart style beneath a dinner-jacketed Scientologist wielding his oversized official handbook.

The implication: all of religious history has been building to this schmoe measuring your thetans.

What truly startles, though, is the inclusion of Mohammed just to the left of that bored looking Bed-Sheet Jesus. Yes, only the prophet's eyes and hands are visible, but that's not likely to comfort followers of the Hadith rules that strictly forbid any such depiction. Remember those Danish cartoons a couple years back?

Here's Mohammed and a friend.



When it comes to offending all faiths with garish Photoshoppery, the Scientologists hit for the cycle.

Gape at its creepy, aestheticized "photo" of the Holocaust, which manages to make concentration camp victims look like Jesus, gray aliens, and REM's "Losing My Religion" video . . . but sexy!


Doesn't it look dreamy? This being the Scientologists, the pamphlet blames the Holocaust on psychiatrists. Who but L. Ron's followers could unite Jews, conservative Arabs and western atheists in outrage?