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Scientology is a system of beliefs and teachings, originally established as a secular philosophy in 1952 by author L. Ron Hubbard, and subsequently reoriented from 1953 as an "applied religious philosophy".

It is most prominently represented by the Church of Scientology, claimed by its critics to be a commercial organization with a long history of defending its teachings by use of copyright and trade secret law, and sometimes using high pressure sales techniques to extract money from its members. Its history of using its full commercial weight in litigation against private individuals has attracted criticism as not being in keeping with the image of a religion.

Scientology as a religion

Scientology is considered a religion in the United States and Australia, and thus its practice enjoys the constitutional protections afforded to religious practice (First Amendment to the United States Constitution; Australian Constitution, s 116). Some European countries do not consider the Church of Scientology to be a bona fide religious organization, but a commercial enterprise, or a cult (see the list of alleged cults). The nature of Scientology is hotly debated in many countries, regardless of the official position (see: Scientology controversy).

The Church of Scientology pursues an extensive public relations campaign arguing that Scientology is a bona fide religion. The organization has a number of sources supporting this position, often cited by its spokespersons. As an example, they note the following studies on the religious doctrines of Scientology conducted by prominent experts of religion from various faiths:

• Scientology - An Analysis and Comparison of its Religious Systems and Doctrines by Bryan R. Wilson, Ph.D., Emeritus Fellow, Oxford University, England
• Scientology - The Marks of Religion by Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies, Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
• Scientology - Its Cosmology, Anthropology, System of Ethics & Methodologies by Régis Dericquebourg, Professor, Sociology of Religion, University of Lille III, Lille, France
• Scientology - An Analysis and Review of a New Religion by M. Darrol Bryant, Ph.D., Professor of Religion and Culture, Renison College, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• Scientology - And Contemporary Definitions of Religion in the Social Sciences by Alejandro Frigerio, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology, Catholic University of Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Scientology - A True Religion by Urbano Alonso Galan, Doctor in Philosophy and Licenciate in Theology, Gregorian University and, Saint Bonaventure Pontifical Faculty, Rome, Italy
• Scientology - The Relationship Between Scientology and Other Religions by Fumio Sawada, Eighth Holder of the Secrets of Yu-itsu Shinto

Critics usually dismiss these studies as biased, contending that the studies were commissioned by Scientology to produce exactly the results that Scientology wants the public to hear.

On the other hand, there are also some academic papers that Scientologist contend were commissioned by critics, which do not come to the conclusion that Scientology is a religion:

• Scientology — Is this a Religion? by Stephen Kent, Professor of Sociology, University of Alberta, in Marburg Journal of Religion
• Is Scientology a Religion? by Georg Schmid, Professor of Theology, University of Zurich (translation, German original at http://relinfo.ch/scientology/religion.html
• Scientology - Religion or Racket? by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Professor of Psychology, University of Haifa, in Marburg Journal of Religion

In the U.S., in October of 1993 the Internal Revenue Service, after reviewing voluminous information on the Church's financial and other operations, recognized the Church as an "organization operated exclusively for religious and charitable purposes." The Church states that the tax exemption is proof that it is a religion. This subject is examined in the Misplaced Pages article on the Church of Scientology.

In 1982, the High Court of Australia ruled that the State Government of Victoria could not declare that the Church of Scientology was not a religion (Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner Of Pay-roll Tax (Vict.) 1983, 154 CLR 120). The Court addressed the issue of belief, rather than possible charlatanism: "Charlatanism is a necessary price of religious freedom, and if a self-proclaimed teacher persuades others to believe in a religion which he propounds, lack of sincerity or integrity on his part is not incompatible with the religious character of the beliefs, practices and observances accepted by his followers."

Origins of Scientology

Scientology was expanded and reworked from Dianetics an earlier system of self-improvement techniques originally set out in the 1950 book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Immediately prior to this work, Hubbard was intensively involved with the occultist Jack Parsons in performing the occult rites developed by Aleister Crowley. Some critics have pointed out the many similarities in Hubbard's writings to the doctrines of Crowley .

By the mid-1950s, Hubbard had relegated Dianetics to being a sub-study of Scientology, although it is still promoted and delivered by Scientology organizations. The chief difference between the two is that Dianetics is explicitly secular, focused on the individual's present life and dealing with physical and mental or emotional problems, whereas Scientology adopts a more overtly religious approach focused on dealing with spiritual issues spanning multiple past lives as well as the present day.

Hubbard was repeatedly accused of adopting a religious facade for Scientology in order for the organization to maintain tax-exempt status and avoid prosecution for false medical claims; these accusations have dogged the Church of Scientology to the present day, bolstered by numerous accounts from Hubbard's fellow science-fiction authors that on various occasions he stated that the way to get rich was to start a religion .

The word scientology has a history of its own. Although nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hubbard's work, it was coined by the philologist Alan Upward in 1907 as a synonym for "pseudoscience". In 1934, the Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz published a book using the word positively: Scientologie, Wissenschaft von der Beschaffenheit und der Tauglichkeit des Wissens, or Scientology, Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge. Nordenholz's book is a study of consciousness, and its usage of the word is not greatly different from Hubbard's definition, "knowing how to know". However, it is not clear whether Hubbard was aware of these earlier usages. The word itself is a pairing of the Latin word scio ("know" or "distinguish") and the Greek λόγος lógos ("reason itself" or "inward thought"). It seems plausible that Hubbard's meaning derived, like that of Nordenholz, from a simple translation of these root words.

Beliefs and practices

Main article: Scientology beliefs and practices

Scientology's doctrines were established by Hubbard over some 33 years from 1952 through to his death in January 1986, issued in the form of thousands of lectures, books, essays, and policies. Most of the basic principles of Scientology were set out during the first 15 years of its existence, with Hubbard devoting much of his later life to the more esoteric upper levels (or "Advanced Technologies") of the Scientology belief system. The church describes his actions as improving and expanding on the workability and use of these principles.

The central beliefs of Scientology are that a person is an immortal spiritual being (referred to as a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body, and that the person is basically good. The life one should lead is one of continual spiritual and ethical education, awareness, and improvement, so that he/she can be happy and achieve ultimate salvation, as well as being more effective in creating a better world. Scientology claims to offer specific methodologies to assist a person to achieve this.

Another basic tenet of Scientology is that there are three basic interrelated (and intrinsically spiritual) components that are the very makeup of successful "livingness": affinity, reality (or agreement), and communication, which equate to understanding. Hubbard called this the "ARC triangle". Scientologists utilize ARC to enhance their lives, primarily based upon the belief that raising one aspect of the triangle increases the other two.

In an attempt to clarify the concept of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious minds, Hubbard wrote that the mind of man is structured in two parts: the "analytical mind" and the "reactive mind". He described the analytical mind as the positive, rational, computing portion, while the "reactive mind", according to Hubbard, operates on a stimulus-response basis. Scientologists believe the reactive mind is the root of an individual's travail, as well as the root of mankind's inhumanity and inability to create lasting, prosperous, sane societies.

The central methodology of Scientology is called "auditing", (from the Latin root aud-, to listen), which is one-on-one communication with a Scientology-trained "auditor". The auditor assists a person to have realizations about himself and unravel the reactive portion of his mind, ie, emotional "charge", specific traumatic incidents, his own ethical transgressions, and bad decisions of his past that tend to lock him into a life not totally under his own control.

The Church states that the goal of Scientology is a world without war, criminals, and insanity, where good decent people have the freedom to reach their goals.

The Church of Scientology

Main article: Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology was first incorporated in the United States as a nonprofit organization in 1954. Today it forms the center of a complex worldwide network of corporations dedicated to the promotion of L. Ron Hubbard's philosophies in all areas of life. This includes drug treatment centers (Narconon), criminal rehab programs (Criminon), activities to reform the field of mental health (Citizens Commission on Human Rights), projects to implement workable and effective educational methods in schools (Applied Scholastics), a campaign to return moral values to living (The Way to Happiness), an organization to educate and assist businesses to succeed (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, or WISE), and a crusade directed to world leaders as well as the general public to implement the 1948 United Nations document, "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

The Church of Scientology has been, and remains, a highly controversial organization. Countries have taken markedly different approaches to Scientology. The United States government regards Scientology as a religion, and thus considers the activities of the Church of Scientology to be protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; other countries, notably in Europe, have regarded Scientology as a potentially dangerous cult and have significantly restricted its activities at various times, or at least have not considered that the branches of the Church of Scientology met the legal criteria for being considered religion-supporting organizations. In Germany for instance, they are not seen as a religion by the government but as a financial organization. Scientology has also been the focus of criticism by anti-cult campaigners and has aroused controversy for its high-profile campaigns against psychiatry and psychiatric medication.

The many legal battles fought by the Church of Scientology since its inception have given it a reputation as one of the most litigious religious organizations in existence. (See also: Scientology and the legal system)

Independent Scientology groups

Main article: Free Zone

Although "Scientology" is most often used as shorthand for the Church of Scientology, a number of groups practice Scientology and Dianetics outside of the fold of the official Church. Such groups are invariably breakaways from the official Church and usually argue that it has corrupted L. Ron Hubbard's principles or has otherwise become overly domineering. The Church takes an extremely hard line on breakaway groups, labeling them "apostates" (or "squirrels" in Scientology jargon) and often subjecting them to considerable legal and social pressure. Breakaway groups avoid the name "Scientology" so as to keep from being sued, instead referring to themselves collectively as the Free Zone.

Free Zone groups are extremely heterogeneous in terms of doctrine—very unlike the official Church. Some Free Zoners practice more or less pure Scientology, based on Hubbard's original (Church-published) texts and principles but without the supervision or fee system of the official Church. Others have developed Hubbard's ideas into radically new forms, some of which are barely recognizable as being related to Scientology.

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Scientology controversy

Of the many new religious movements to appear during the 20th century, Scientology has been one of the most controversial almost since its inception. The Church of Scientology has come into conflict with the governments and police of several countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany) numerous times over the years. Another point of controversy is Scientology's infiltration of the United States Internal Revenue Service in what Scientology termed "Operation Snow White". Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, served time in federal prison for their involvement in this infiltration.

The ongoing controversy involving the Church of Scientology and its critics involves:

• Criminal activities by the Church of Scientology and its members.
• Claims of "brainwashing" and mind control.
• Scientology's disconnection policy.
• Accounts of L. Ron Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion to make money
• Differing accounts of L. Ron Hubbard's life, (critics charge Scientology with being a cult of personality, with much emphasis placed on the alleged accomplishments of its founder)
• Deaths of Scientologists due to mistreatment by Scientology.
• Scientology's harassing and litigious actions against its critics and enemies.

Scientology vs. the Internet

Main Article: Scientology vs. the Internet

Leaders of Scientology have undertaken extensive operations on the Internet to deal with growing allegations of fraudulence and exposure of unscrupulousness within Scientology. The organization states that it is taking actions to prevent distribution of copyrighted Scientology documents and publications online; however, its critics (and many Internet users) claim the organization is attempting to suppress free speech. In January 1995 Scientology lawyer Helena Kobrin attempted to silence the discussions taking place on the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup by issuing a control message intended to remove the newsgroup from all Usenet servers, and started to sue people for posting copies of its scriptures on the group, acts that resulted in thousands of Internet users around the world taking a closer look at Scientology. From mid-1996 and for several years after, the newsgroup was subject to another form of attempted suppression, in the form of hundreds of thousands of spam messages posted on the group. Although the church neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the spam, some investigators claimed that some of the spam had been traced to church members. Scientology's response to criticism was to issue a statement insisting that their actions were actually an assault against hate speech, making numerous claims about hate and violence directed against Scientology.

See also

• Alt.religion.scientology
• Cult checklist
• List of articles about Scientology
• List of famous Scientologists
• List of purported cults
• List of religious organizations

Further reading

• Bare-Faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard by Russell Miller (N.Y.: Henry Holt & Co., 1987) ISBN 0-8050-0654-0 online book
• L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman? by Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard Jr. a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf.(Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, 1987) ISBN 0-8184-0444-2 online book
• A Piece of Blue Sky, by Jon Atack (Lyle Stuart, 1990), ISBN 081840499X online book
• The Fishman Affidavit (article), Fishman Affidavit (external link).

External links

Official Scientology sites

• Dianetics.org - Official 'Dianetics' site
• FreedomMag.org - Scientology's 'Freedom' Magazine
• Scientology.org - 'Church of Scientology' home page
• Scientology.org - Scientology News-Media
• ScientologyHandBook.org - Online Text: Scientology Handbook
• Theology.Scientology.org - Online Text: 'Theology and Practice of a Contemporary Religion'
• Theta.com - Scientology 'Human Rights Newsroom'
• VolunteerMinisters.org - Scientology Volunteer Ministers
• WhatIsScientology - Online Text: 'What is Scientology?'

Other pro-Scientology sites

• AmericanReligion.org - The 'Church' of Scientology
• Cesnur.org - Information on Scientology
• ItsARuby.com -Recommended sites on Scientology
• ItsARuby.com Tips For Success - articles based on L. Ron Hubbard's alleged 'discoveries'.
• ReligiousTolerance.org - 'Religious Tolerance' Site
• UCalgary.ca University of Calgary: 'Religious' Status of Scientology

Current news and discussions

• Groups.Google.com - Google link to Usenet newsgroup: alt.religion.scientology
• ReligionNewsBlog.com - Religion News Blog: Scientology News Tracker
• ReligionNewsBlog.com - Article from The New York Times on Tom Cruise and his involvement with the church, March 22, 2005
• SlashDot.org - Dutch Attorney General Supports Scientology v. Spaink Verdict

Critical links

• ApologeticsIndex.org - Entry on Scientology
• audio clip - Audio of (agitated) Heber Jentzsch
• critical links Australian Critics of Scientology Resource Collection
• Clambake.org - Operation Clambake (Xenu.net mirror site)
• CoSVM.org - Scientology Volunteer Ministers
• Crackpots.org - Scientology's Narconon front
• FactNet.org archive - FACTNET online archive on Scientology + Dianetics
• FactNet.org Books 'The Road to Xenu': a narrative account of life in Scientology
• Scientology-Lies.com - News, links, opinion
• RonTheWarHero.org - Hubbard's Navy Record
• Scientology-Kills.org - Scientology Celebrities & More--Spreading Entheta Since 1997
• ScientologyWatch.org - Scientology Watch
• Time Magazine article repost - Time cover story on Scientology, by Richard Behar
• TruthAboutScientology.com - The Forbidden Side of Scientology
• WhyAreTheyDead.net - Scientology-related deaths ]
• Xenu.net - Operation Clambake (clambake.org mirror)

• New religious movements
• Scientology