Scientology raids have become a minor sensation. At a moment of rising intolerance against religious minorities, the new social media trend of “speedrunning” through Scientology churches is an ugly and cheap opening for broader hate.
It’s another misbegotten TikTok-level fad, as (mostly) kids storm a Scientology facility with a GoPro and see how far they can get before security nabs them.
What started in Los Angeles has spread and become a minor sensation.
One jokester assembled a group of dwarves to race through the LA Scientology Center carrying signs mocking the church’s tenets.
A mob flooded the New York center, throwing smoke bombs and apparently dropping a “large knife” in the process.
The Church of Scientology is a perennial subject of controversy; many people find it weird or silly.
But every religion seems weird to at least some outsiders.
Religious liberty requires tolerating all creeds, with no exceptions — though it also means no faith is protected from criticism or satire.
Federal laws protect all religious institutions from interference for good reason.
Let the law come down like a ton of bricks on the privileged children playing these stunts.
Smug self-satisfaction doesn’t exempt you from the basic expectations of civilized decency.
