Apparently, the core tenets of Scientology, i.e. how you're supposed to live your life daily, morality, et cetera, are halfways decent. My friend, who is now an ex-Scientologist, still loves the basic rules and "commandments" (can't think of another word for it) that Scientology lays out for you. L. Ron Hubbard apparently borrowed a lot from Buddhism, so it ends up being a pretty humble way to live one's life.
Basically, my friend has become a sort of secular Scientologist, in that he keeps the basic, low-level philosophies behind it all, and has completely dropped out of the corrupt, money-grubbing machine that is the Church of Scientology. Clearly, the Church is insane. According to my friend, the basics behind Scientology are not, and they have been warped by the bureaucracy into something Hubbard never intended.
I still don't know where I stand on the matter. It's still nice hearing his point of view on things. I mean, I lived with his family for eight plus months. His family until recently were all Scientologists. I heard it all during the eight months. They are as normal as you and I. They dislike the Church as much as most people, but I think they still find the basic philosophies valid. They could care less about all the science fiction nonsense. I mean, I'm no Scientologist, and they never tried to convert me. But I found it fascinating to hear their story.
For those interested: they dropped out recently because a relative of theirs was seen at an Anonymous rally against the Church, and thus they were all labeled Suppressive Persons, i.e. they were exiled. Several of my friend's buddies in the Church no longer talk to him. It's kind of a sick microsociety where people can turn on you in no time, "de-friend" you, and never speak to you again, no matter how much of a history you have with them. It's sick and twisted. It is, indeed, a cult.
But, again, some of the philosophies in Scientology are, apparently, a-okay; I mean, if Hubbard modeled a lot of it after Buddhism, it can't be that bad. Buddhism is pretty solid logic. What I'm trying to say is that Scientology isn't complete gibberish. A lot of it is, but the basic stuff, having been borrowed from other religions, is halfways decent, according to my inside source.