http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6650545.stm

you should throw that link in the description

I really understand why he got so pissed off. Thing is it makes my eyes bleed when i read youtube comments. Most of them are falling into the church of scientology's hands and saying shit like "LOL BAN BBC" "HE SHULD BE FIRED LOZL" ._.
At this day and age it really makes me think how so many people don't want to look at the facts.

Man, thought I saw Gandalf there. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

BBC denies 'death threat' in Scientology row

That was probably very justified, he actually didnt do anything else than use words. clearly his opponent here was taking something out of context.. Loud, sure, but when a group of very religious people doesnt hear it the first 50 times, you might as well just shout it out loud.

I'm sorry but after watching the documentary I got the impression that the reporter wasn't very capable for the job. He wasn't ever level headed and acted as if he had no idea what he was getting into.

His resulting outburst and overly ignorant manner cut his insider access short and resulted in an unsatisfying dive into the cult that barely presented anything at all.

If a more 'hardened' journalist was in his place I think we could've got a better documentary.

They should have sent Louis Theroux ;]

That dude has SO many theetans! He needs to give money to Scientology or he'll never be rid of them!

I agree. Too many Theetans. Heck, I thought he was emulating Xenu.

I've done plenty of arguing with Scientology members, and this is a completely understandable reaction. They keep repeating the same things over and over, give no evidence that they hear anything you say, and usually have an annoying smirk on their face. I haven't seen the rest of the documentary, but I'll bet there are two or three "Sea Org" members gang-arguing with his, accusing him of various "crimes", repeating nonsensical phrases...basically, these jerks could rile Mahatma Ghandi into a kill frenzy. Look at how he's totally calm in the middle. He's just trying to shout over their constant chatter.

You can watch the full Panorama programme at this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/programmes/panorama/default.stm

The Panorama programme showed the museum to be apparently using images of the Holocaust to sell its message which Sweeny said had upset him before he was confronted and harrangued by Tommy Davis - not that it excuses the outburst but it makes it a little more comprehensible. I also like Sweeny's comment in the Panorama programme: "I apologised then and I apologise now. I lost my voice, but I didn't lose my mind" - sadly it gave them enough ammunition to slur him once he rose to their bait.

I have an ambivalent attitude to this Scientology stuff - I consider all religion to be a cult, it is just that some have the weight of thousands of years (and millions of lives) behind them forcing certain beliefs and attidutes on those in their thrall.

I also feel that societies are similarly 'cult based', and people have no choice in where they are born or how they are brought up, just in their preferences and groups they join later. It makes this battle between the BBC and the Scientologists a kind of a clash of culture as well, between who can utilise the media better.

Similarly the shouting fit thrown by John Sweeny and the intimidation techniques used by Tommy Davis are the kind of nasty nose-to-nose confrontations that occur between people every day of the week on the street, in bars, in offices etc.

However, having said all that, watching the Panorama programme showed Scientology to be extremely creepy. I have nothing against people, much less Hollywood stars, giving all their money away to a cult if they want to, and even have some sympathy with the Scientologists getting upset at being investigated but listening in and then interrupting interviews with people with dissenting opinions by walking up to an interview in progress and relating the interviewees faults and criminal convictions in lurid detail is incredibly rude and insulting as well as creepy.

They just seem to be incredibly insecure - if you have to follow people around and confront them if you see them speaking to 'undesireable' people then you must be worried about what they will say and perhaps even have something to hide that you might be worried about them talking about.

Surely the best way is to let people with dissenting opinions talk - even if they have a good point there is a good chance a lot of people will still sympathise with the Scientologists! The confrontation however just makes the Scientologist look weirder for acting up, and Davis immediately lost any sympathy from me when I saw him get upset at Sweeny just trying to conduct an interview. It is also interesting to see from the Panorama programme that Sweeny shouts at Tommy Davis after Davis has already tried to shout him down (and we have been shown two other incidences of Davis shouting Sweeny down and Sweeny backing off and letting him have his say previous to this)

I'll be very interested to see whether Anne Archer, Juliette Lewis "and the rest" who were interviewed for the Scientology cause but then withdrew their comments have any influence in preventing the BBC from showing their films or programmes etc or whether they will still turn up on the BBC in the future - i.e. whether their 'beliefs' are stronger than the almighty dollar.

I'm also surprised the BBC didn't have a little ticker at the bottom of the screen ticking off the number of times they used the word 'cult' in the programme! That would have lightened the tone while still pissing the Scientologists off! I counted around 14 uses of the word (15 if you count that one that described Tommy Davis, but I might have heard a 'l' instead of an 'n'!)

You can actually see the moment at -0:25 when his face goes from normal but shouting, to purple and "STFU and listen biatch!"