What is exactly scientology?

Question

I´ve heard about it a lot but i dont understand what it is...can someone explain in an easy what what it is to me? What do the people that practice that "religion" (if thats what it is) believe in?

Just fyi im atheist

Answer 1

Its like a country club that treats people like cattle.

Answer 2

I don't know a lot about it, but I know that they don't believe in taking medicines.

Answer 3

Its Science Fiction.

Answer 4

Scientology is the biggest scam since the pet rock. It started as a self help philosophy mixing many theories and a lot of  psychobabble. It was a fabulous business and grew all over the world because desperate people are always looking for a quick way to improve their lives and faith has always been exploited as a very powerful moneymaker. Weak and not smart people wouldn´t recognize that Scientology precepts are a bunch of nonsense because they are afraid of being rejected by the group. It is like that.

It became a "religion" because in this way it could avoid paying taxes, so what was a great business turn out huge. It has recruited hollywood stars and celebrities to appeal a lot of people drawn by their charisma. It has all the operational style of a sect.

Answer 5

The word Scientology comes from Latin SCIO basically meaning "knowing" or "truth" and Greek LOGOS "the study of".  It means "knowing how to know" or "the study of knowledge".

It's a philosophy that can be applied to life to improve one's self and help others.

"The full story of the development and codification of Scientology can be found in scores of books, more than 15,000 pages of technical writing and more than 3,000 taped lectures. All told, these works represent a lifetime of research by L. Ron Hubbard to discover a workable means to set men spiritually free — to replace ignorance with knowledge, doubts with certainty and misery with happiness. "

http://www.whatisscientology.org

You can find all 18 of the basic books that show the development of Dianetics and Scientology in the public library.  Best ones to read to understand the basics of what we do are

1. Dianetics: Modern Science of Mental Health

2. Scientology: A New Slant on Life

Here is what we believe:

The Creed of the Church of Scientology was written by L. Ron Hubbard shortly after the Church was formed in Los Angeles on February 18, 1954. After L. Ron Hubbard issued this creed from his office in Phoenix, Arizona, the Church of Scientology adopted it as its creed because it succinctly states what Scientologists believe.

--------------------------------------...

We of the Church believe:

That all men of whatever race, color, or creed were created with equal rights;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives;

That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense;

That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments;

That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others;

That all men have inalienable rights to the creation of their own kind;

That the souls of men have the rights of men;

That the study of the mind and the healing of mentally caused ills should not be alienated from religion or condoned in non-religious fields;

And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.

And we of the Church believe:

That man is basically good;

That he is seeking to survive;

That his survival depends upon himself and upon his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

And we of the Church believe that the laws of God forbid man:

To destroy his own kind;

To destroy the sanity of another;

To destroy or enslave another's soul;

To destroy or reduce the survival of one's companions or one's group.

And we of the Church believe that the spirit can be saved and that the spirit alone may save or heal the body.

Answer 6

She wants a summary, we should give her a summary.

Scientology was first invented as "Dianetics" by a hack science-fiction writer called L.Ron Hubbard who introduced it in 1950.  He said by having people hold up tin-cans hooked up to an e-meter (a device like a lie-detector), you could discuss stuff and see where they were tensing up and blocking things.  So he devised exercises to "clear" people of negative thoughts and associations.  But the real purpose of all this was to extract money from the victims, and the e-meter exercises were more about training people to obey their "auditor" more than directly dealing with problems.

He caused friction because his stuff did not work and because he wasn't paying taxes on his profits, so he declared it was all a religion and called it Scientology.  He told all sorts of lies about himself, that he was a war-hero in secret covert operations (he never saw action in the Navy; the closest was when after whining and begging he got command of a ship and conducted a shelling exercise, inadvertently shelling an island which belonged to Mexico and causing a mini-international incident.)  He has been tape-recorded saying he nearly got run over by a freight-train on the planet Venus during one of his "astral travel" sessions.  Claiming that someone practicing Scientology would achieve super-human states, perfection of the mind and body, he was awfully obese when he died.  Opposed to psychiatrists and drugs, he was heavily pumped up on drugs according to the coroner's report.

The religion mutated from some sort of fascist lie-detector therapy into a claim that an evil alien murdered billions of aliens transported to volcanoes on Earth, and their spirits still wander the Earth latching on to humans and becoming "engrams", negative associations which hinder us, keep us from acting and which can ONLY be cleared by Scientology nonsense.  Scientology has created levels upon levels of "progress up the Bridge to total fulfillment"; any time a sucker has paid enough thousands to finish the last level of "training", they invent new levels above THAT.  But precious little training goes on.  Scientology inflates its importance and claimed 8 million members, but does only 2 million hours a year of auditing (can people really be "saved" with 15 minutes a year of therapy?)

It's a deluded pseudo-religion, and it's imploding.  The leaders are less interested in gaining new converts as in squirrelling the millions from the Swiss bank accounts and the real-estate of Scientology into their own accounts before the whole thing collapses.

It's full of group-think and peer-pressure.  People who try to leave it and who condemn it will suddenly learn that the revelations they made in the spirit of therapeutic progress are now a "dossier" that Scientology will use against them.  There is endless speculation about what is in the "dossiers" of celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta that keep them glued to the cult.  Scientology, like Communism and Islam, sincerely believes it will "inevitably sweep the world" and form the world government, and anybody opposing them is evil.  They say people quit because they are afraid Scientology is going to expose their "crimes".  If the defectors left such a noble and pure organization as Scientology, they reason, it MUST be because the defectors have crimes!

Answer 7

Scientology is a very difficult religion to summarize in just a few paragraphs. It was founded in 1953 by fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, just four years after he made the statement, "I'd like to start a religion. That's where the money is," to Lloyd Eshbach; quoted by Eshbach in Over My Shoulder. That is indeed where he found wealth—Hubbard became a multi-millionaire. An easier question to ask would be, "What are the similarities between Christianity and Scientology?" The answer to that would be, "There are none."

Scientology teaches that mankind is an immortal being (called a Thetan) not originally from this planet who is trapped by matter, energy, space, and time (MEST). Salvation for a Scientologist comes through a process called 'auditing,' whereby 'engrams' (basically, memories of past pain and unconsciousness that create energy blockage) are removed. Auditing is a very lengthy process and can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. When all engrams are finally removed, the Thetan can once again control MEST instead of being controlled by it. Until salvation, each Thetan is constantly reincarnated.

Scientology is a very expensive religion to associate with. Every aspect of Scientology has some sort of fee associated with it. This is why Scientology's "pews" are filled only with the wealthy. It is also a very strict religion, and very punitive against those who would try to leave behind its teachings and membership. Its "scriptures" are limited solely to the writings and teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.

Scientology is, without a doubt, a cult. Its teachings are taken from science fiction and eastern mythologies; it promotes man as the ultimate power in the universe (he just hasn't realized it yet); salvation comes through an extremely expensive process of mind games; and it categorically denies the existence of the God of the Bible, heaven, and h**l. To a Scientologist, Jesus Christ was just another nice guy who unfortunately was wrongfully put to death and whose story ends at that death.

Though Scientologists will claim that Scientology is compatible with Christianity, the Bible counters each and every point of belief they hold to: God is the sovereign and only creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1); mankind was created by God (Genesis 1:27); the only salvation available to man is by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Philippians 2:8; Acts 4:12); salvation is a free gift that mankind can do nothing to earn (Ephesians 2:8-9); and Jesus Christ is alive and well and seated at the right hand of God the Father even now (Acts 2:33; Ephesians 1:20; Hebrews 1:3), awaiting the time when He will gather His children to Himself to reside with Him for eternity in heaven. Everybody else will be cast into a very real h**l, separated from God (Revelation 20:15).

Scientology differs from biblical Christianity on every important doctrine. Some of the most important differences are summarized below.

God: Scientology believes that there are multiple gods and that some gods are above other gods. Biblical Christianity, on the other hand, recognizes the one and only true God who revealed Himself to us in the Bible and through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2). Those who believe in Him cannot believe the false concept of God as taught in Scientology.

Jesus Christ: Like almost all other cults, Scientology denies the deity of Christ. Instead of having a biblical view of who Christ is and what He did, they assign to Him the characteristics of some sort of lesser god who has obtained a sort of legendary status over the years. On the other hand, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was God in the flesh and through His incarnation He could act as a sacrifice for our sins. It is through Christ’s death and resurrection that we can have the hope of eternal life with God.

Sin: Scientology believes in the inherent goodness of man and that it is despicable and utterly beneath contempt to tell a man he must repent, that he is evil. On the other hand, the Bible teaches that man is a sinner and the only hope for him is to repent of his sins and acknowledge Christ as his Lord and Savior.

Salvation: Scientology believes in reincarnation and that personal salvation in one's lifetime is freedom from the cycle of birth and death associated with reincarnation. They believe that religious practice of all faiths is the universal way to wisdom, understanding, and salvation. On the other hand, the Bible teaches that there is only one way of salvation and that is through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.

The teachings of Scientology in comparison with the Bible have little if anything in common. Scientology will only lead us away from God and eternal life, and the Bible will lead us to God and eternal life. There is nothing to gain by associating with Scientology and everything to lose.

God bless !

Answer 8

Go here xenu.net.

It's a corporation that feeds on emotionally unstable people and shirks them of their money.

Answer 9

I have wondered the same thing and read several sources and none of it makes any sense. So, good luck.  

Answer 10

Scientology is a religious applied philosophy.

“It is possible to know about the mind, the spirit and life”

Scientology states that man is a Spiritual being that controls a body through a mind. To represent this life force, the Greek symbol for though: “Theta” was selected to avoid confusion with any prior practice.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBcbVtEwU...

The mind (we are not talking about the brain that is just the center of the nervous system) is a bank of mental image pictures. This bank is what the spirit uses to make decisions; it is composed of the analytical mind and the reactive mind. The analytical mind is clear; it doesn’t have any hidden influences and is fully accessible by the Thetan. The reactive mind is a collection of bad mental image picture that include pain, unconsciousness and command value. The reactive mind is the hidden influence that aberrates reason. The reactive mind is the cause for all human aberration, insanity or evil purpose.

Scientology’s approach to solve human aberration: Auditing.

- “Communication is the Universal Solvent.”

- “All problems of the mind are created by the mind.”

- “The mind can solve all the problems of the mind”

To solve the problem of the reactive mind Hubbard developed Auditing; a verbal therapy that uses questions to help the individual address what is bothering him. So the person by his own volition can solve his own problems. The big difference between Auditing and Psychoanalysis is that the Psychoanalyst evaluates for the person and tells him what to think. In Auditing you just ask and listen and let the person make his own mind about things.

There are no suggestions involved in Auditing, all conclusion are done by you by your own intelligence. Auditors are bound the Auditor’s Code to never evaluate for the preclear (preclear is a person receiving Scientology processing).  Never get in a relationship with the preclear.  All information released during auditing is protected by law and not even the police can gain access to that information. Enforcing this code of conduct is the Scientology Ethics Officer and Scientology law. Any violation to the Auditors code is considered a high crime in Scientology and will result removal of any Auditing Certificates and/or expulsion from the church. I have seen this happen and is a very serious matter.

Any friend or family member can audit you for free. Or you can take the courses and get your Auditing with other students. Taking Scientology courses is no more expensive than taking courses at your community college. Scientology also offers correspondence courses for a little as $30.00.

Professional auditing is also offered by highly trained specialists. An auditing team is composed of the Auditor, Ethics Officer, Quality Assurance (the person that tells the Auditor what to do), Corrections (the people that constantly train the Auditor on how to do the process) and the rest of the administration of a Church of Scientology. These are not one on one services, these are a whole team working to better you. It is expensive because is expensive to create, train and maintain the team.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kwK1byq0nd...

How Scientology evolved?

Scientology evolved from Dianetics when it was discovered that man is a spiritual being. Scientology differs from Dianetics in that Dianetics deals with the mind and the rehabilitation of mental image pictures and Scientology deals with the rehabilitation of the human spirit itself.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FhrlHU0W9U...

We don’t ask for your faith in Scientology. There is no faith needed, when you can observe and experience it working by your self.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXR0XgmDN...

“Self confidence alone is security. Your ability is your security. There is no security but you. Let's make the best possible you."  L Ron Hubbard

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dziK04-9qq...

Cult status?

All great religions have been misunderstood, persecuted and attacked. Jesus was sentenced to death by a lynching crowd; his only crime:  to teach Love and forgiveness. Christians were KILLED for centuries for their beliefs and they were accused of performing cannibalistic rituals (didn’t they ate and drink the body of Jesus?).

Scientology is a worldwide religion that claims 10 millions of members. It has centers in almost every mayor capital in the world: Washington, London, Berlin, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Sydney, Tel Aviv Israel and Moscow to name a few. And for a church that is barely 40 years old this is great. Scientology is not a small sect based in a small town in Texas isolated from the rest of the world. Scientology thrives in the center of mayor cities, its member are community leaders, doctors, teachers and workers from all sectors of society. The fact most Scientologists have a college education says a lot.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=lI0AbwtQ7B...

Scientologists are involved in all kinds of community improv

Answer 11

Scientology = crazy

It's a tax fraud created by a second rate sci-fi author. It's just a scam and a cult. It has nothing to do with science, despite its deceptive label.

Know how Tom Cruise is batshit insane? Yeah . . . Scientology did that to him.

Answer 12

Scientology, which questionably calls itself a new "religion", is the brainchild of science fiction writer & occult enthusiast L. Ron Hubbard. The organization, by means of Hubbard’s self created psychotherapy technique called “Dianetics”, claims to be able to help rid members of any & all mental constraints including but not limited to emotional scarring (from this & "past" lives) due to "engrams" (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind), psychological disorders & chemical imbalances (the solution is to convince members that these things don't actually exist) & drug dependence (including legally prescribed psychopharmaceuticals which counteract the effects of psychological disorders Scientologists believe to be nonexistent). Their “treatment” of substance abuse includes little more than massive, often dangerous doses of vitamins and unhealthy extended sessions in a sauna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics#S...

Dianetics review: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/deto...

http://www.nypress.com/20/22/news&column...

Scientology is most certainly NOT a religion. In fact, one of the only reasons they enjoy "tax exempt status" on religious ground in the United States is because they bullied the IRS into a "deal" through extremely aggressive barratry (which is the offense of persistently instigating groundless lawsuits) against said government agency & its officials, & arranged to drop all 2,500 frivolous lawsuits only when an "agreement" was reached. In addition, Scientology's lawyers hired private investigators to dig up any "dirt" on IRS agents which was then used to blackmail or publicly smear all "vulnerable" agents. It was an all-out WAR that Scientology had waged against the IRS, & was even described as such by Scientology's "CEO", David Miscavige, in his 1993 speech to the International Association of Scientologists.

http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/fe...

http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/...

http://www.factnet.org/headlines/give-aw...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/...

The official Scientology organization is composed of a number of “levels”. One begins as a “preclear” & works their way up. One must purchase virtually every service crucial to advancement directly from the "church" & at staggering prices. "Auditing", for example, is purchased in 12½ hour blocks, costing anywhere from $200-$750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions. Basically, Scientology claims to possess exclusive knowledge of the path to religious redemption & then charges obscene amounts of money for every tiny incremental step towards this end. Visit this link to see how $380,000 is a conservative estimate for the total cost of moving all the way up the Scientology hierarchal ladder:

http://www.xenu.net/archive/prices.html

These are the total costs for auditing alone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology...

Here’s an explanation of what “auditing” is:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

At level OT III (Operating Thetan Level 3), some very strange & fiercely guarded secrets are imparted upon worthy members who have paid enough money to advance to such a level (and no, this isn't a joke): The evil alien ruler Xenu killed millions of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by kidnapping them, bringing them to earth in golden DC-8 “space-planes”, stacking them around volcanoes & blowing them up by dropping “h-bombs” into the volcanoes. Scientologists believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") were captured, brainwashed & released; they then attached themselves to our ancestors (and according to Scientology’s belief in Thetan immortality, they also attached to us during “past lives”) & cause many of our mental & physical ills to this day. Auditing is said to “clear” us of these Body Thetans as well as the “mental implants” they supposedly impose on our minds.

http://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/atack_o...

http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/spaink-ot3.html

http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/Xenu-Let...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII/

Scientology has taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional during everyday life. It doesn’t recognize legitimate conditions like autism, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ANY neurological disorder / chemical imbalance at all, & the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). The “Church” blames psychiatry for the Holocaust, as well as school shootings & even September 11th. It’s been suggested that Hubbard’s vehement opposition was born of the psychiatric community’s rejection of his “tech” as a valid treatment method, but it’s also possible that Hubbard chose psychiatry as a scapegoat. Organizations like Scientology are notorious for villainizing a specific out-group because their “stand against the enemy” fosters cohesion within said organization, & psychiatry was an effective rallying point considering many people already distrust & oppose the mental health profession.

http://www.anti-scientologie.ch/usa-scie...

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id...

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/...

http://perkinstragedy.org

L. Ron Hubbard, the man behind the creation of Scientology, was & still is a controversial figure. Biographies & lists of personal accomplishments differ greatly between Scientology & non-Scientology publications as the “church” tends to exaggerate & outright lie about his early life, his education, his travels, his achievements etc, preferring to paint a distorted, flattering picture. Several books & articles present facts which flatly contradict these church-published accounts (links to free online copies of these books & articles are provided below), showing conclusively that he was NOT the brilliant, accomplished figure revered by Scientologists. During his autopsy, the sedative Vistaril™ was present in his body, which several of his assistants would later attest was only one of many psychiatric & pain medications Hubbard ingested over the years. It had also been said by many who knew Hubbard personally that at the end of his life he was “a psychopathic insane person screaming about BT's [Body Thetans]…”

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/Bare%20F...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf...

http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/mo...

http://lisatrust.bogie.nl/scientology/es...

To be blunt, Scientology is a cult. It employs semi-legitimate psychotherapy & self-help methods to keep people loyal & convinced of its merit while it simultaneously sucks them dry financially & attempts to keep them far away from ANYONE, even friends & family, who would dissuade them from remaining in such a harmful situation. It bullies all known critics, opponents, “enemies”, etc, often through malicious litigation & character assassination. It’s a particularly greedy as well as manipulative & dangerous cult that takes its anti-psychiatry fanaticism to deadly limits.

http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/hara...

http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialContr...

http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecen...

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampab...

http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_sto...

Answer 13

It is stupid, that is what it is.