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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.

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FUCK NIGGERS

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.

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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

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

Other pro-Scientology sites

Current news and discussions

Critical links

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