Although some people blame God, or Buddha, or the supreme being of their choice, a common thread that crosses most (not all) religions is that sometimes bad things happen to good people.

The devout Scientologist know this was not a punishment, but rather Jett was called to his final reward. There is always a period of sadness when we lose someone close to us, but rather than focusing on our loss, it is better to celebrate his life and the time we had.

I’d blame Tom Cruise, personally.

What about psychiatrists?...Scientologists call them evil and blame them for many bad events in the world, including Hitler’s genocide and terrorist attacks. (or so says my Scientologist uncle)

I wouldn’t be surprised if they said that psychiatry was somehow behind this, causing the untimely death of John’s son, bad medicine perhaps?

sniff I smell a lawsuit.

Space aliens, I think. Somebody fire up an e-meter, connect it to an iPhone, and call up L.Ron in the Great Beyond. He might have some insights.

Final reward?

Creepy how the Fluther ads are promoting Scientology in banners based on the keywords here.

I don’t want this to become a slam on the religion though with this group, we are all a bunch of cynical, sarcastic, and patronizing dolts! I really am interested in the idea of grief and suffering in other religions. @DrBill had a good start on answering this question. I think that all believers (of all faiths) believe that a person moves on to some higher place.

But

There is still the idea of human grief and suffering. Why do bad things happen to good people? In the context of grief, humans (Christians, Scientologists, whatever) look to place blame. In a religion that doesn’t have a specific “god”, where does the blame reside? Maybe that’s the better question.

Why is blame necessary?

From what I gather about Wackotology, uh, I mean Scientology, the “clear” should be capable of controlling the universe, and every aspect of their own lives. Maybe they blame themselves.

you probably want to go Beliefnet.com and ask Scientologists.

by the way, I want to say that you can have a problem with psychiatry without believing in Scientology. I don’t believe and have never believed in the Church and I hope it goes bankrupt. at the same time, psychiatry actually hurts more people than the Church. (especially not now that the Church has shrunk. it has around forty-five thousand members worldwide, according to Wikipedia. and a number of those leave after a couple of years, after they have had enough.)

I’m assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that Scientologists do not believe in psychiatric drugs. What about anti-seizure drugs?

Scientologists do not believe in the use of drugs to treat mental conditions.

However:

“Do Scientologists use medical doctors?

Yes. The Church of Scientology has always encouraged its staff and parishioners to see medical doctors to handle the physical aspect of any illness or injury. Once a Scientologist with a physical condition receives the needed medical treatment he can resume hisauditing and so handle any spiritual trauma connected with the physical condition. Many medical doctors also are Scientologists. ”

(from here )

Also,

“SEIZURES

In its press release, the CoS explicitly addressed seizures, aligning it with medical conditions, and thereby making it fall under the rule of medical treatment. It also is false to claim that Scientology would be against the use of drugs to treat seizure. Again, whoever spread that rumor was either misinformed or malicious, or both.

However, there is a catch:

“The majority of seizure medications out there are also used as psychiatric medications – Tegretol and Depakote are used for bipolar illness, Klonopin and Valium for anxiety, Lamictal for depression, and so on. ”

That would probably be a dilemma for many Scientologists, but at the end of the day, they don’t have much choice. From what I understand, as long as these drugs are being used to threat medical ailments and not mental symptoms, Scientology would not object and would consider it a personal matter, leaving to the parents and individuals affected to decide.”

(from here )

Disclaimer: The above shite is the opinion of the Church of Scientology, and is posted merely to help with an informative discussion. Ben Seven does not personally believe in Aliens, thetans, or Tom Cruise.

@bensecen

“Many medical doctors are Scientologists.”

shudder how the heck could I trust the intelligence and judgment of a Scientologist doctor when I know that he believes humans came from clams and that psychiatric drugs are EVIL.

You know, people don’t need to blame someone all the time. It isn’t necessary.

@PIXEL True. But the question asks, who do you think they blame?

In other words, if they were to blame someone or something (even if you don’t think people should blame someone all the time), who or what would a Scientologist blame?

Xenu?

@benseven, @seekingwolf, “many medical doctors are Scientologists”

the Church of Scientology has only 25–50,000 members worldwide. I seriously doubt any of us would ever run into a Scientologist MD in the course of our lives.

BTW, you can pretty much rely on any official Scientology document to put a spin on or outright lie. for instance, they claim to have millions of members. they pretty much count anyone who ever went through auditing or bought Dianetics as a Scientologist, from the early ‘50’s to the present.

@Ria777 – I didn’t write that, was a copy and paste job. See the disclaimer:

Disclaimer: The above shite is the opinion of the Church of Scientology, and is posted merely to help with an informative discussion. Ben Seven does not personally believe in Aliens, thetans, or Tom Cruise.

Scientogy is so different and expensive to be a member of. The only one to blame in the case of tragedy is the ones enticing poor individual into joining such a cult.
They take all the money they can; write down one’s confessions and keep those confessions in a vault, and its hard to be comforted by such stuff.

@benseven: oh I spotted that as a cut-and-paste job, all right. that does not mean I can’t comment on it, though.

“There is still the idea of human grief and suffering. Why do bad things happen to good people? ”

We all grieve the ones we loose. In our own way, no matter who or what we follow or don’t.. We are such a bunch of pack animals.
“Bad things” are not bad. Things happen. Shit happens. And, it is going to happen to someone. Our choices are 50/50 so is everyone else’s.
That is why you live for today. So when that “bad” thing happens. We can find pleasure in having known you and who you meant to us. That memory, that story those feelings, will be a part of so many others and yourself.
That is all you can hope for and expect.

Themselves. For everything good and everything bad.