The Church of Scientology held an event for the opening of a new facility in Portland over the weekend. The crowd was around 450-750 people. But the church claims it was more like 2,500, and it Photoshopped in the proof.


Except the proof is about as convincing as your thetan's origin story. In reality, there were no people in the right-hand side of the photo. There was actually a line of rented trees set up to block the view of people not so friendly to Scientology (see the photo below), as well as police blocking off a four-block radius for the event. And it's not just that the picture was doctored, it's that it was done quite poorly. They added people right on top of the trees in the altered section. So it very obviously wasn't the buzzing crowd of L. Ron Hubbard supporters the church would lead you to believe. But when you're in the business of convincing people to buy into a faith created by a sci-fi writer, you need all the spin you can get. [Mike Rinder, Tony Ortega via BoingBoing]