I guess in the eyes of some this post is anti-religious bigotry. But as I’m somewhat religious, that characterization probably doesn’t suit me well. I’ve read a little about cults in the last few years since buying a copy of Seductive Poison, Deborah Layton’s excellent story of her experience in the People’s Temple. A close friend of mine growing up battled drugs for several years and has since joined a fundamentalist cult. Speaking to him on the phone several years ago, he sounded like a different man altogether, not for the better either; bitter, angry and perhaps a bit deluded. Cults are serious things. As opposed to what we call religions, I suppose cults are lead by charismatic leaders who demand the full amount of energy and resources they can get from their followers, who sacrifice what they have to provide a better life for the leader. Mainstream spiritual movements allow for a person’s familial and social decisions–right or wrong–to be made by the adherent and those who choose to walk away are less likely to be berated for their conscience decisions. Cults, like totalitarian regimes, require absolute loyalty and employ surveillance. Betrayal can have disastrous consequences.

Nevertheless, the other side of the coin in life is often humorous and to lighten things up a bit, I thought that I’d propose some excellent Scientology T-Shirts. Actually, these shirts would be best worn by ex-members, though maybe the summer line will have some designed for the believer to wear. We’ll see. It’s really about what’s in style in Milan. Here goes.

First up, this one is best for the disgruntled, excommunicated Scientologist who was lucky enough to realize his church’s beliefs were pulled out of L. Ron Hubbard’s ass, but unfortunate enough to have wasted perhaps a decade or two of his life in the cult:

I really think that is quite nice.

The on up top is really more of explanation for why someone would leave the Co$.

Next, we have a very swell design that really should be described as pop culture:

The next one seeks to make the cult of L. Ron Hubbard more accessable to those who are too poor to pay enough to learn the theological underpinnings of Dianetics:

And finally above, an ode to the man who was the inspiration behind losing all of your cash, going through psychological torment and likely having to attend counseling to handle the readjustment to the real world.

I hope you like them.