Scientology Controversy

The church of Scientology has been the subject of controversy since its inception. Its methods and beliefs have attracted the attention of scholars from around the world. The church has been under government investigation and has endured a countless amount of lawsuits (Reitman 14). It is also a hot topic by the media with several endorsements by some of the most recognized Hollywood celebrities. However, the main topic of debate regarding the Church of Scientology is its status as a religion. Some members claim that the church has helped them overcome their struggles and that they are happier people, while others condemn it as a dangerous cult (Sweeney). The church of Scientology is a religious group whose purpose is to retain their

According to Remini, people want to join the Church of Scientology because they think that they are “helping mankind.” However, she said

The book I read this month was Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. This is a nonfiction book that dives deep into Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. It investigate the role Scientology plays in Hollywood by showing how through Scientology people are able to gain more opportunities in Hollywood. The book gives a biography about L. Ron Hubbard and makes the connection that he created Scientology because of his upbringing and things that happened later on in his life.

Scientology has a lot of kinds of beliefs. One of the basic beliefs that scientology has is that experience is saved in the brain as à series of memory traces named engrams. These engrams can cause negative behavior such as, self-dating. Engrams can keep happening if à person is going through hard times, for example: When à relative passes away, à person needs to stop thinking about the situation of someone’s death; otherwise, the engrams are going to reinforced and recur. One of the purpose of scientology is to make people clear when it comes to engrams,and also become more self-determining. Scientologists believe that engrams are not beneficial for people, so they try to prevent them by not thinking about hard situations that can recur. The

The strangest “religion” we have covered so far is The Church of Scientology.  There is a reason why I put the term “religion” in a quotation marks in relationship to Scientology. For me, L Ron Hubbard turned Scientology into a mixture of a cult-like following, and a Ponzi scheme on the similar levels of Bernie Madoff.  For Scientologist, they believe that the Earth is 75 million years old, that volcanoes threw out spirit animals and that we came from an ancient alien war.  While studying the beliefs system of Scientology and its history, you can get a clear understanding that L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction writer. A lot of Hubbard teaching of what Scientology “stands for" came straight out an old science fiction book that he authored.

have the ability to supervise the usage of their material. Since the laws were unclear, the

Scientology all began because of a man named Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, or L. Ron Hubbard for short. L. Ron born in 1911 in Nebraska at a young age had seen it all and had traveled everywhere, which all probably helped him to create Scientology. As a boy he was a quick learner and very knowledgeable at such a young age. He joined the boy scouts, and eventually became the youngest in the world to become an eagle scout, but L. Ron also started an interest in in subjects such as philosophy, science, and the pillars of western literature. His father was a United States Naval Officer so L. Ron traveled around the world at a young age this would lead him to meeting a Naval Officer who had studied under Sigmund Freud who introduced L. Ron to the theories

Scientologists also believe in salvation, and salvations occur when à person goes through the practices and techniques of scientology. According to theparthway.com “Salvation is the enlightenment of thetans (immortal souls) as to their true nature and abilities” this quote explains that, the goal is to become à person who can control their own selves such as, their emotions,thoughts,beliefs,etc.The ultimate goal for salvation is to recognize one’s self as an immortal spirit(Thetan).The way scientologists increase their salvation is through the increments of mental awareness, or clearness. When scientologists control life,thought,energy and time; they are known as operating thetan. When à scientologist is seen as minister or assistant of others

Scientology has a concept of God, but more so they believe in a Supreme Being. They don't want their members to rely on faith alone, but rather on the training one does through the “Eight Dynamics” to eventually understand their relationship with the Supreme Being once they reach the eighth dynamic. Another aspect of the religion is the concept of “clear”. The term is described as a state of mind in which a person has no worries, erratic behavior, or insecurities. When what they refer to a being no longer having a “reactive mind” that person can become much more than themselves. This state of being “clear” they say is achievable, and many around the world have done so and it is the goal of man for more than 2500 years. Another concept that

I understand that if you are born into a family who strictly follows all of these rules, you aren't going to know any different. On the other hand, why would someone decide to join the church of Scientology? If you have the chance to experience life without this major part to it, it interests me to know what the pro's and con's are to this situation and explore if there is a biological factor to their specific decision.

Scientology is a collection of beliefs and practices that were created by science fiction writer L. on Hubbard. It began in 1952 and was based off one of Hubbard’s previous works, Dianetics. Hubbard recognized the organization as a religion from the beginning and quickly began campaigned for it to be legally recognized as one as well. In 1953 he incorporated the collection of beliefs into The Church of Scientology and based the new church out of Camden, New Jersey. (Melton, 1992)

Followers of some religious practice have gone into the new ages of self-awareness. God and the Bible have become a scientific isolated fundamental development. Individuals are searching, and anything new come along they jump because it is saying what they want to hear. In my research, it was hard for me to see God in Scientology. It spoke about man life force and man's environment and men healing themselves. It does speak of the spiritual being but nothing pertaining to Man or God indwelling spirit. L Ron Hubbard founded Scientology because of monetary reason not because he was inspired by God according to his profile. General Booth was overcome by the poverty and the depraves and wanted to do something to help. Then he was inspired by

Lafayette Ron Hubbard was the founding father of Scientology. Hubbard was born on March 13, 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska to a Naval officer and a teacher. Hubbard was an intelligent kid who excelled in many area of studies such as math , science and writing. Hubbard went to college to be a science/math major but ended up making a living as a writer. In 1950 Hubbard published “Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health” a best-seller book on which scientology is based on. The book was critically acclaimed receiving several awards and gaining various recognitions. “Dianetics is the study of what the soul is doing to the mind” (Church of Scientology). Some of his beliefs involves “thetans” (theta means spirit in greek). He believed that there are three parts to a human each playing a crucial role in the development of humans. Thetan ( the spirit) being one , the mind which helps the exchange of communication between the himself and the

Many people tend to associate Scientology as the religion of some Hollywood celebrities, but in reality it’s not true because many people around the world associate

The world can be a dangerous place. It can be even more dangerous if someone proves to be different, or are seen as unusual in any way. Scientology may be one of the strangest religions in the world. Because of this, Scientology has experienced intolerance since it was first founded in 1954. Religious intolerance is a social issue, and affects every level of the religious community, from the followers to the conductors of Scientology. Even though many view Scientology as a cult or fraudulent religion, as well as that that the religion is so small and the beliefs so strange it can simply be written off, and the intolerance ignored, Religious intolerance is a huge problem for scientology because Only one side of the argument is broadcasted, so scientology receives a lot of hate, simply because they believe differently than many other people. Scientology has responded to biased and intolerant media and their replies have been covered up, or scarcely brought up at all, and scientologists have been threatened with violence and even received hate mail and death threats