By definition, a “debate” requires two opposing sides holding mutually exclusive opinions. At Ireland's Trinity University Philosophical Society, also known as The Phil, that notion of a debate, recently, all but vanished.

The “debate” was on Scientology and the debaters formed a mixed bag of atheists, anti-religionists and an apostate. These were the perfect participants to engage in a lopsided, rigged, one-sided debate – commonly known as a stacked deck, or, in this case – a fake debate.

Put aside the atheists and the anti-religionists – you would expect them. It is the apostate, Mike Rinder, who was the joker in the deck. Still in collaboration with those who wanted to witch hunt and vilify Scientology, Rinder wanted to do much the same - impersonate a Scientologist to ensure that the witch hunt was a success and that the fake debate was in the bag.

But, as it turned out, it was Mike Rinder who was the impostor.

And, what the other debaters didn’t know — the students in the audience or the Trinity University Philosophical Society — is that Mike Rinder pulled off a religious and philosophical fraud. He scammed them all. 

If there is one thing that Trinity University Philosophical Society objects to it’s plagiarism. And that is precisely what Rinder did. In a condescending, pontificating manner he presented his proposition to the Society as if it were his own. Instead, he was stealing from the concepts of the late Dr. Bryan R. Wilson, Ph. D, Emeritus Fellow, University of Oxford England.

Rinder, the self-appointed religious guru, plagiarized Dr. Wilson’s treatise – "Scientology: An Analysis and Comparison of its Religious Systems and Doctrines."

Standing at the lectern knowingly withholding his fraud, Rinder took the words and propositions of Dr. Wilson that Scientology was a bona fide religion and presented them as his own. But, he left out the clincher that would have pulled the rug from underneath all other propositions, pro or con. That act of omission would have blown Rinder right off that lectern.

Apostate Rinder had the audacity to state in the fake debate, “Numerous scholars have also offered opinions on the subject. I’ve just referred to one, Dr. Bryan Wilson from Oxford University. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Dr. Wilson on a number of occasions. I’ll just take one of his quotes. He said, “After 20 years of studying the subject, it is clear to me that Scientology is a bona fide religion and should be considered as such.”

What Apostate Rinder did not tell one and all is that Dr. Wilson had the distinct pleasure of telling Aposate, Mike Rinder, to his face:

“The apostate has an atrocity story.  He has to justify having the joined the movement, he has to justify having come out of the movement. In both instances he's likely to be derided by those who know him. So he has to tell a story which goes ‘I was deceived, they caught me  when I was at a low ebb, it wasn't my own doing, I'm not really responsible, they are responsible.’  The apostate story, well we call it an atrocity story, widely recognized by sociologists of religions as something which is put out by apostates when they've left a group. Not only Scientologists of course, any religious group may suffer from that.”

“What I'm suggesting to you what the judge said was informed by apostates and apostates are not really reliable witnesses with regard to the nature of religions. If you look at the people who belong to the religion and ask them more and deal with apostates less but I know you're interest is sensation.”

There was the self-anointed religion guru Mike Rinder withholding the above words of Dr. Wilson as they would have skewered him right into the mahogany walls of the Society had the other debaters and student body but known.  

But what is plagiarism and fraud to Apostate Mike Rinder? After all, he was a co-conspirator in suborning perjury and obstruction of justice not to mention — a walking “hate crime.”

There’s only one word to describe Apostate Mike Rinder the Debater — a F-A-K-E.