Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu

The issue of intolerance of criticism, be it satirical or otherwise, isn’t restricted to Islamic fundamentalists.. although, while the cult involved in this next example may call itself a religion, few outside its own adherents give that claim any credence. ANYway.. one such adherent is Isaac Hayes, as quoted in the Guardian, “There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends, and intolerance and bigo-try towards religious beliefs of others begins”. What’s he talking about? Scientology.. or the ‘Church of’ as the notoriously litigious and secretive organisation prefers to be known as for tax reasons. More specifically South Park and Scientology. At which point I’ll drop beneath the fold.Hayes’ statement continued with this claim, “As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices.”

The response of the creators of South Park is an exercise in moderation –

“This has nothing to do with intolerance and bigo-try and everything to do with the fact that Isaac Hayes is a Scientologist and that we recently featured Scientology in an episode of South Park,” said Matt Stone, who created the series with Trey Parker. “In 10 years and more than 150 episodes Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons and Jews. He got a sudden case of religious sensitivity when it was his religion featured on the show. To bring the civil rights struggle into this is just a non sequitur. Of course, we will release Isaac from his contract and we wish him well.”

They may wish Isaac well.. but not Scientology.. which, reportedly, seems to have been, unfortunately, successful in its attempt to pressurise Comedy Central into dropping the episode in question.. an episode which also featured a sequence depicting another well-known adherent of the cult, Tom Cruise [isn’t he a Level 7 Operating Thetan? – Ed], refusing to come out of the closet – instead of a recent scheduled repeat showing, a different episode was aired.

Btw as Damien Mulley noted yesterday, you can still watch the episode in question online.. or at youtube.

Thankfully, Matt Stone and Trey Parker didn’t let that go unanswered.. and as Emily pointed out, and here, the latest issue of Daily Variety reported what they had to say –

“So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!”

The duo signed the statement “Trey Parker and Matt Stone, servants of the dark lord Xenu.“

More on the dark lord Xenu, Thetans and other fairytales[™ Comrade Stalin in comments] from S’tology, and lots more besides, can be found at Operation Clambake

Just one more thought, perhaps when the Anti-Racism Network have finished talking about censoring the satirical cartoons about Islam they will start talking about censoring the satirical cartoons about Scientology?.. as I said.. just a thought..