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Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques developed by American author L. Ron Hubbard over some thirty years beginning in 1952 as a self-help philosophy, an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. It claims to offer an exact methodology to help humans achieve awareness of their spiritual existence across many lifetimes and, simultaneously, to become more effective in the physical world. The name "Scientology" is also used to refer to the often controversial Church of Scientology, the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology, which is itself part of a network of affiliated corporations that claim ownership and sole authority to disseminate Dianetics and Scientology. A stated goal of Scientology is to "rehabilitate" the thetan (roughly equivalent to the soul) to regain its native state of "total freedom." Church spokesmen and practitioners attest that Hubbard's teachings (called "Technology" or "Tech" in Scientology terminology) have saved them from a plethora of problems and enabled them to better realize their highest potential in business and their personal lives. Beliefs and practices
Auditing
ARC triangle Another basic tenet of Scientology is the three related (and intrinsically spiritual) components that make up successful "livingness": affinity (emotional responses), reality (an agreement on what is real) and communication (the exchange of ideas). Hubbard called this the "ARC Triangle". Scientologists utilize A.R.C. as a central organizing principle in their own lives, primarily based upon the belief that improving one aspect of the triangle increases the level of the other two. Tone scale The tone scale is a characterization of human mood and behavior by various positions on a scale. The scale ranges from -40 ("Total Failure") to +40 ("Serenity of Being"). Positions on the tone scale are usually designated by an emotion, but Hubbard also described many other things that can be indicated by the tone scale levels, such as aspects of a human's health, mating behavior, survival potential, or ability to deal with truth. The tone scale is frequently used by Scientologists to evaluate humans. According to Scientology, the lower the human is on the tone scale, the more complex and convoluted its problems tend to be, and the more care and judgment should be exercised regarding communication and interchange with the human. Past lives In Dianetics, Hubbard proposed that the cause of "aberrations" in a human mind was an accumulation of pain and unconscious memories of traumatic incidents, some of which predated the life of the human. He extended this view further in Scientology, declaring that thetans have existed for tens of trillions of years (several orders of magnitude greater that the apparent age of the universe ). During that time, Hubbard explains, they have been exposed to a vast number of traumatic incidents, and have made a great many decisions that influence their present state. According to an early lecture of Hubbard's, it is, as a practical matter, both impossible and undesirable to recall each and every such event from such vast stretches of time. As a result, Hubbard's three decade development of Scientology focused on streamlining the process to address only key factors. Hubbard stated that Scientology materials as described in books, tapes, and research notes include a record of everything that was found in the course of his research. Not all things found are stated to have been experienced by all animals on Earth. According to Hubbard, some of the past traumas may have been deliberately inflicted in the form of "implants" used by extraterrestrial dictatorships such as Helatrobus to brainwash and control humans. Scientology doctrine includes a wide variety of beliefs in complex extraterrestrial civilizations and alien interventions in Earthly events, collectively described by Hubbard as "space opera". There is a huge Church of Spiritual Technology symbol carved into the ground at Scientology's Trementina Base that is visible from passing aircraft or from satellite photography. Washington Post reporter Richard Leiby wrote, "Former Scientologists familiar with Hubbard’s teachings on reincarnation say the symbol marks a “return point” so loyal staff members know where they can find the founder’s works when they travel here in the future from other places in the universe." The upper levels of Scientology Scientologists who are deemed to have achieved the State of Clear may continue onto what is termed the Upper or OT (Operating Thetan) Levels. These courses are available by Church invitation only and prospective candidates are vetted by the Church based on their contributions to the furtherance of Scientology and their behavior in accordance with Scientology principles. The contents of these advanced courses are held in strict confidence within the Church and individuals who have read these materials may neither discuss nor disclose what they contain without jeopardizing their standing in the Church. Presently, there are eight such levels, OT I through VIII, although Church management has promised to release a ninth OT level once certain expansion goals are met. * The highest level released to date, OT VIII, is only disclosed at sea, on the Scientology cruise ship Freewinds. Despite their confidentiality within the Church, excerpts and descriptions of these materials have been widely published in the mainstream press; this was made possible when the confidential teachings were submitted as evidence in court cases involving Scientology, thus becoming a matter of public record. In the confidential OT levels, Hubbard describes a variety of traumas commonly experienced in past lives, experiences that extend many millions of years into the past. He also explains how to reverse the effects of such traumas. Xenu and Body Thetans Among these advanced teachings, one episode revealed to those who reach OT level III has been much remarked upon: the story of Xenu and his Galactic Confederacy. Xenu (sometimes Xemu) is introduced as an alien ruler of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of people to Earth in spacecraft resembling Douglas DC-8 airliners, stacked them around volcanoes and blew them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls then clustered together and stuck to the bodies of the living. The alien souls continue to do this today, causing a variety of physical ill-effects in modern-day humans. Hubbard called these clustered spirits "Body Thetans," and the advanced levels place considerable emphasis on isolating them and neutralizing their ill effects.• Scientologists have argued that the published accounts of the Xenu story and other colorful teachings are distortions of their practice, presented out of context for the purpose of ridiculing their religion. Journalists and critics of Scientology counter that the Xenu episode is part of a much wider Scientology belief that past lives on other planets are a source of negative influences on the mind and spirit in the present. Some of this has been public knowledge for decades. For instance, Hubbard's 1958 book Have You Lived Before This Life documents past lives described by individual Scientologists during auditing sessions, including some that are reported to antedate what modern astronomy estimates as the age of the universe. Internal Scientology publications are often illustrated with pictures of spaceships and oblique references to catastrophic events that happened "75 million years ago" (e.g. the Xenu incident). While reliable information about Scientology membership is notoriously elusive, there is little reason to doubt that most practicing Scientologists have not attained a sufficiently high level on "The Bridge" to have learned the details about Xenu and Body Thetans. Therefore, while knowledge of Xenu and Body Thetans is said to be crucial to the highest level church teachings, it cannot be regarded as a core belief of rank and file Scientologists. Silent birth and infant care Hubbard stated that the delivery room should be as silent as possible during birth.• This stems from his belief that birth is a trauma that may induce engrams into the baby. Hubbard asserted that words in particular should be avoided because any words used during birth might be reassociated by an adult later on in life with their earlier traumatic birth experience. Hubbard also wrote that the mother should use "as little anesthetic as possible". According to Hubbard, babies should not be bathed after birth. Hubbard also wrote that breastfeeding should be avoided. Hubbard compared replacement formulas circa the mid-1950s, which he described as "mixed milk powder, glucose and water, total carbohydrate", with what he considered the "skim breast milk from ... overworked mothers" that "smoke and sometimes drink"; as an alternative to commercial products, Hubbard offered what he called the "Barley Formula", made from barley water, homogenized milk, and corn syrup or honey. Hubbard claims that "I picked it up in Roman days." He crafted the barley formula to, in his words, provide "a heavy percentage of protein". The formula is still popular with many Scientologists, although most commercial corn syrups are now the high fructose variety and contain other ingredients as well, and modern medicine has since learned that honey should never be given to infants. * Origins Scientology's doctrines were established by Hubbard over a period of about 34 years, beginning in 1952 and continuing until his death in January 1986. Most of the basic principles were set out during the 1950s and 1960s. Now described as an "applied religious philosophy," Scientology was at first secular; Hubbard began to characterize Scientology's beliefs and practices as a religion in 1953, and by 1960 he had redefined it as a "religion by its basic tenets". Hubbard appears to have drawn liberally from a wide variety of pre-existing ideas, though he provided little specific citation of, or commentary on, his sources. The Church of Scientology presents Hubbard's work as completely original, reflected in the fact that Scientologists refer to Hubbard himself as "Source." Scientology recapitulates and builds on ideas Hubbard introduced in Dianetics, an earlier system of self-improvement techniques laid out in his 1950 book, . Immediately prior to his first Dianetics publications, Hubbard was involved with occultist Jack Parsons in performing rites developed by Aleister Crowley. Some researchers have noted similarities in Hubbard's writings to the doctrines of Crowley. In a 1952 lecture, Hubbard praised Crowley's works and referred to him as "my very good friend", *, * though the Church of Scientology currently denies any such connection. An influence that Hubbard did acknowledge is the system of General Semantics developed by Alfred Korzybski in the 1930s, which was influential in the science-fiction subculture of the 1940s. * Scientology also reflects the influence of the Hindu concept of karma, as well as the psychological theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and William Sargant. Sociologist David G. Bromley of Virginia Commonwealth University characterizes Scientology as "a 'quasi-religious therapy' that resembles Freudian 'depth psychology' while also drawing upon Buddhism, Hinduism, and the ancient, heretical offshoot of Christianity known as gnosticism." Meaning of the word Scientology Although today associated almost exclusively with Hubbard's work, "Scientology" was originally coined by 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 ("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 to what extent Hubbard was aware of these earlier uses. The word itself is a pairing of the Latin word scientia ("knowledge", "skill"), which comes from the verb scire ("to know"), and the Greek λογος lógos ("reason" or "inward thought" or "logic" or "an account of"). "Scientology would be a study of knowledge," Hubbard stated in 1952. In the 1965 edition of Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought, he added, "Scientology is that branch of psychology which treats or (embraces) human ability. It is an extension of Dianetics which is in itself an extension of old-time faculty-psychology of 400 years ago." In 1960 L. Ron Hubbard redefined Scientology as: "a religion by its basic tenets, practice, historical background and by the definition of the word “religion” itself." In 1969 he wrote that "It is fundamentally an applied religious philosophy.". In a lecture given on July 19 1962 entitled "The E-meter", Hubbard said: The current Church of Scientology writes, "The word Scientology literally means 'the study of truth.' It comes from the Latin word 'scio' meaning 'knowing in the fullest sense of the word' and the Greek word 'logos' meaning 'study of.'" The Church of Scientology
Independent Scientology groups Although "Scientology" is most often used as shorthand for the Church of Scientology, a number of groups practice Scientology and Dianetics outside of the official Church. Such groups are invariably breakaways from the original Church, and usually argue that it has corrupted L. Ron Hubbard's principles or 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. Scientology and celebrities
Controversy and criticism Of the many new religious movements to appear during the 20th century, Scientology has, from its inception, been one of the most controversial. The Church has come into conflict with the governments and police forces of several countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany) numerous times over the years, though supporters note that many major world religions have found themselves in conflict with civil government in their early years. The many legal battles fought by the Church of Scientology since its inception have given it a reputation as an extremely litigious organization, characterized by forcing litigants to enter into a lengthy and costly legal process using a number of highly trained lawyers, expert at prolonging cases. The ongoing controversies involving the Church and its critics include: Scientology and other religions Scientology teaches that it is fully compatible with all existing major world religions and that it does not conflict with other religions or other religious practices; the Church has however has been questioned by other religious groups. The Church of England complained in March 2003 to the Advertising Standards Authority about the Church's advertising poster promoting Narconon--the drug rehabilitation program based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard. The poster claimed "250,000 people salvaged from drugs." The Church of England Diocese of Birmingham challenged the claim. Upholding the complaint, the ASA considered that, "without clarification, readers were likely to interpret the claim '250,000 people salvaged from drugs' to mean that 250,000 people had stopped being dependent on street or prescription drugs because of Scientology. The Authority "accepted that more than 250,000 people had undertaken the Church's Drug Purification and Drug Rundown programmes, which were designed to free people from the effects of taking drugs," but "the Authority understood that, within Scientology, the concept of 'drug use' referred to a variety of behaviours that ranged from heavy use of street drugs to occasional ingestion of alcohol or prescription medicines and exposure to chemical toxins." In May 2001, the Russian Orthodox Church criticized Scientologists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unificationists and Mormons as being dangerous "totalitarian sects". The Lutheran Church in Germany has at times criticized Scientology's activities and doctrines, along with those of several other religions. According to the U.S. State Department's 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, "The Lutheran Church also characterizes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Christ, Christian Scientists, the New Apostolic Church, and the Johannish Church as 'sects,' but in less negative terms than it does Scientology." The Roman Catholic Church has not made official doctrinal pronouncements specifically related to Scientology. Certain beliefs that are widely associated with Scientology, such as reincarnation, are specifically rejected by the Catholic Church as being incompatible with Catholic belief and practice. Scientology is also, according to a number of religious scholars, a form of gnosticism, which would make it hard to reconcile with Roman Catholicism and other denominations that regard gnosticism as a heresy.• Scientology's claim of religious compatibility to entry-level Scientologists is soon modified by the additional teaching that the various levels of spiritual prowess which can be reached through Scientology are more advanced than those attainable in other religions. Critics maintain that, within Scientology, "spiritual abilities" tends to be synonymous with "mystical powers" rather than with "inner peace". Hubbard himself cautioned against the unwise or improper use of powers in his book History of Man. In its application for tax-exempt status in the United States, the Church of Scientology International states: Based on an interpretation of Buddhist writings which described, among other things, a man from the west with hair like flames around his head who was said to be due to return some 2,500 years after the first Buddha, the red-haired Hubbard sometimes identified himself with Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. The revealed beliefs in Scientology at higher levels become increasingly contradictory with other religions. The concept of past lives in Scientology is at odds with Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Beliefs concerning the origins and age of the Earth, the root of evil, and the nature of man make it impossible to uphold the beliefs of most other religions while also being a Scientologist. Hubbard claimed that Islam was the result of an extraterrestrial memory implant, called the Emanator, of which the Kaaba is supposedly an artifact. Mainstream religions, in his view, had failed to realize their objectives: "It is all very well to idealize poverty and associate wisdom with begging bowls, or virtue with low estate. However, those who have done this (Buddhists, Christians, Communists and other fanatics) have dead ended or are dead ending." Critics claim that a select group of advanced practitioners eventually discovered that Hubbard had left little doubt in his writings and lectures about the dim view he took toward existing major religions. In some of the teachings Hubbard had intended only for this select group, he claimed that Jesus had never existed, but was implanted in humanity's collective memory by Xenu 75 million years ago, and that Christianity was an "entheta evil operation" mounted by beings called Targs (Hubbard, "Electropsychometric Scouting: Battle of the Universes", April 1952). Some critics have claimed that one of the highest levels, OT VIII, tells initiates that Jesus was a pederast (it is decidedly unclear whether the version of OT VIII in the Fishman Affidavit, where this claim originates, is genuine). Thus, critics claim, Hubbard makes clear his belief that advanced Scientologists are to identify Jesus and Christianity more as a force of evil than as a force for good. Scientology as a state-recognised religion The Church pursues an extensive public relations campaign supporting Scientology as a bona fide religion. The organization cites numerous scholarly sources supporting its position, many of which can be found on a website the Church has established for this purpose. Different countries have taken markedly different approaches to Scientology. Scientology is considered a legitimate religion in Thailand, Taiwan, Spain, and Australia, and thus enjoys and regularly cites the constitutional protections afforded in these nations to religious practice. Some countries, mostly in Europe, have regarded Scientology as a potentially dangerous cult, or at least have not considered local branches of the Church of Scientology to meet the legal criteria for being considered religion-supporting organizations. In Canada, the Church of Scientology is considered a religious non-profit organization; its application for charity status was rejected in 1999. In 1992, Scientology became the only religious organization convicted in criminal court on two counts of breach of the public trust (for an organized conspiracy to infiltrate government offices) following a trial by jury. The United Kingdom government does not recognize Scientology as a bona fide religion, and the Church's application for charity status in the United Kingdom was rejected in 1999.• In the United States, Scientologists claim that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax exemption granted to the Scientology related businesses under IRS Tax Code section 501(c)(3) after extended litigation gives their religion a U.S. government stamp of authenticity. The US Government makes no claim to Scientology's legitimacy through tax-exempt status as this is also granted to non-religious entities, such as the Red Cross. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution forbids the government from officially recognising religious groups as this would be "an establishment of religion." Scientology's tax-exempt status was lost in a 1967 IRS audit. As part of the effort to regain tax exemption during the late 1970s, Scientologists infiltrated the IRS and stole confidential documents in what was termed Operation Snow White. Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, served time in federal prison for acts surrounding this operation. In the early 1990s church leaders David Miscavige and Mark Rathbun visited with the IRS in Washington, DC to negotiate a settlement in an effort to gain tax-exempt status. On August 24 1992, Scientology's Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) traded to the federal government a vault built at Trementina Base. Though CST had paid over $250,000 for the property in 1986 and had invested millions in development of the property according to the Federal Register record, CST traded it to the government, vault included, for a similar parcel of land in the same New Mexico county valued at only $28,000. On October 1 1993 the IRS formally announced that the Church of Scientology and its corporate entities had been granted tax exemption again. The settlement document was sealed by the IRS, but it was leaked to the New York Times and they subsequently published it. The New York Times also asserted in a March 9 1997 article that, in its efforts to obtain tax-exempt status, Scientologists paid private investigators to obtain compromising material on the IRS commissioner. As Scientology courses are tax-deductible, some people have wondered why religious courses for other religions are not allowed the same deduction. In the case of MICHAEL SKLAR; MARLA SKLAR v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL No. 00-70753, the Sklars argued they should be allowed a tax-deduction for their payments for courses their son took at a Jewish school. On January 29 2002 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the IRS's opposition. Judge Silverman concurred, saying: In 1982, there was a similar ruling by the High Court of Australia, in Church of the New Faith v. Commissioner Of Pay-roll Tax. The court ruled that the government of Victoria could not deny the Church the right to operate in Victoria under the legal status of "religion", even though the state found that the Church practiced charlatanism. All three judges in the case found that the Church of the New Faith (Church of Scientology) was a religion. One judge said: A second judge said, In Germany Scientology is not considered a religion by the government, but a commercial business. The Church has been subjected to considerable pressure from the state in Russia. In Ireland, Scientology maintains a mission in Dublin. The Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin Ltd. is not listed with Ireland's Office of the Revenue Commissioners as an authorised charity for donation tax relief. In Belgium, the minister of justice refused Scientology as a candidate for the status of recognized religion.• Scientology as a cult In some instances, former members have claimed the Church used information obtained in auditing sessions against them.••• While such a claim would be actionable as extortion, blackmail or harassment within most legal jurisdictions, no such claim has to date been legally confirmed against Scientology based solely upon use or revelation of auditing records. The Anderson Report, an official inquiry conducted for the state of Victoria, Australia, found that the auditing process involved a form of "authoritative" or "command" hypnosis, in which the hypnotist assumes "positive authoritative control" over the patient. "It is the firm conclusion of this Board that most scientology and dianetic techniques are those of authoritative hypnosis and as such are dangerous. ... the scientific evidence which the Board heard from several expert witnesses of the highest repute ... which was virtually unchallenged - leads to the inescapable conclusion that it is only in name that there is any difference between authoritative hypnosis and most of the techniques of scientology. Many scientology techniques are in fact hypnotic techniques, and Hubbard has not changed their nature by changing their names." Hubbard was an accomplished hypnotist, and close acquaintances such as Forrest Ackerman (Hubbard's literary agent) and A. E. van Vogt (an important early supporter of Dianetics) witnessed repeated demonstrations of his hypnotic skills.• (See Scientology and hypnosis). Licensed psychotherapists have alleged that the Church's auditing sessions amount to mental health treatment without a license , but the Church disputes these allegations, and claims to have established in courts of law that its practice leads to spiritual relief. So, according to the Church, the psychotherapist treats mental health and the Church treats the spiritual being. In Belgium, a trial against Scientology is due to begin in 2006.• In France, the Church of Scientology was categorized as a sect (or cult) in the 2468 report of the Assemblée Nationale (the legislative body), in 1995. A more recent government report (1999) categorized the church as an "absolute sect" and recommended that all its activities be prohibited. Fifteen of the sixteen German states, positing that Scientology had potentially anti-democratic tendencies, have to a greater or lesser degree and for varying periods subjected Scientology and Scientologists to state surveillance since the early 1970s. No criminal or civil charges have been brought as a result of this surveillance. Two German states and the ruling political party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union), have passed rules or regulations limiting the participation of Scientologists in politics, business and public life. In several court cases Scientology lost filed complaints against continued surveillance because the courts held the opinion that Scientology still pursues anticonstitutional activities. In Berlin surveillance ceased because the court prohibited the use of paid undercover agents. In Saarland surveillance was stopped by the court because there was/is no current danger recognizable. Allegations of Scientology's cult status may be attributed to its unconventional creation by a single authoritative and charismatic leader.• The Church indoctrinates its members providing very little initial knowledge of the inner secrets of the organization. In order to reach this knowledge parishioners are required to advance forward in rank through study and payments to the Church, the incentive of which is the stepped acquisition of promised powerful secrets and gaining of supernatural abilities. Scientology as a commercial venture The Church of Scientology and its many related organizations have amassed considerable real estate holdings worldwide, likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as a large amount of other funds from the practice of auditing. Hubbard was accused in his lifetime of adopting a religious façade for Scientology to allow the organization to maintain tax-exempt status and to avoid prosecution for false medical claims. There have been numerous accounts from Hubbard's fellow science-fiction authors and researchers, notably Harlan Ellison, Neison Himmel, Sam Merwin, Sam Moskowitz, Theodore Sturgeon, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, and Lyle Stuart, of Hubbard stating on various occasions that the way to get rich was to start a religion.http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/scientology/start.a.religion.html this is referenced, among other places, in a May 1980 Reader's Digest article, which quotes Hubbard, "If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion."Reader's Digest, May, 1980 The Church claims that "One individual once claimed L. Ron Hubbard made such a comment during a lecture in 1948. The only two people who could be found who attended that very lecture in 1948 denied that Mr. Hubbard ever made this statement" and that therefore it is an "unfounded rumor." The Church's claim does not address any of the other individuals who have stated that they personally heard Hubbard make such a statement, some claiming that he said it on multiple occasions. The Church also suggests that the origin of the "rumor" was a quote by George Orwell which had been "misattributed" to Hubbard. However, Robert Vaughn Young, who left the Church in 1989 after twenty years, said that he had discovered the Orwell quote, and suggested that reports of Hubbard making such a statement could be explained as a misattribution of Orwell, despite having encountered three of Hubbard's associates from his science fiction days who remembered Hubbard making statements of that sort in person. Scientology pays members commissions on new recruits they bring in, encouraging Scientology members to "sell" Scientology to others.Behar, Richard SCIENTOLOGY: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power, Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal crimes. Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam -- and aiming for the mainstream Time Magazine, May 6 1991 courtesy link, (accessed 04/20/06) In addition, Scientology franchises, or missions, pay the church roughly 10% of their gross income. Charges for auditing and other Church-related courses run to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.Cooper, Paulette Scandal of Scientology, Chapter 19, Tower Publications, NYC, 1971 Scientology maintains strict control over the use of its symbols, icons, and names. It claims copyright and trademark over its "Scientology cross," and its lawyers have threatened lawsuits against individuals and organizations who have published the image in books and on Web sites. Because of this, it is very difficult for individual groups to attempt to publicly practice Scientology on their own, without any affiliation or connection to the Church of Scientology. Scientology has sued a number of individuals who attempted to set up their own "auditing" practices, using copyright and trademark law to shut these groups down. In conjunction with the Church of Scientology's request to be officially recognized as a religion in Germany, the German state Baden-Württemberg conducted a thorough investigation regarding the group's activities within Germany.Zur Frage der Beobachtung der Scientology-Organisation durch die Verfassungsschutzbehörden (in German) (PDF format) The results of this investigation indicated that, at the time of publication, Scientology's main sources of revenue ("Haupteinnahmequellen der SO") were from course offerings and sales of their various publications. Course offerings--e.g. "The Ups and Downs of Life," "Hubbard's Key to Life," "Intensive Auditing," etc.--ranged from (German Marks) DM 182.50 to about DM 30,000--the equivalent today of approximately $119 to $19,560 US dollars. Revenue from monthly, bi-monthly, and other membership offerings could not be estimated in the report, but was nevertheless placed in the millions. In June of 2006, it was announced that Scientology would be sponsoring a NASCAR race car. The Number 27 Ford Taurus driven by Kenton Gray displays a large Dianetics logo. Scientology and psychiatry The Church of Scientology is one of a small number of groups involved in the Anti-psychiatry movement, and one of the few organizations that publicly oppose the study and application of psychology. This theme appears in some of Hubbard's literary works. In Hubbard's Mission Earth series, various characters praise and criticize these methods, and the antagonists in his novel Battlefield Earth are called Psychlos, a similar allusion. From the Church of Scientology FAQ on Psychiatry: Hubbard was bitterly critical of psychiatry's citation of physical causes for mental disorders, such as chemical imbalances in the brain. Hubbard's statements deny that psychiatry, through the scientific method, has shown some psychiatric disorders are related to anatomical and chemical cerebral anomalies. He regarded psychiatrists as denying human spirituality and peddling fake cures. He was also convinced psychiatrists were themselves deeply unethical individuals, committing "extortion, mayhem and murder. Our files are full of evidence on them." Many of the areas in which his criticism is directed have since been discredited in mainstream psychiatry - electro-shock therapy, for example, is now only used under anesthesia and muscle relaxants, and lobotomy is a defunct procedure. The Church claims that psychiatry was responsible for World War I, the rise of Hitler and Stalin, the decline in education standards in the United States, the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, and the September 11 attacks. The Church has not publicly presented any evidence supporting this view of psychiatry. Scientology's opposition to psychiatry has also undoubtedly been influenced by the opposition of numerous psychiatrists to the Church. After the publication of Dianetics, the American Psychological Association advised its members against using Hubbard's psychotherapy techniques with their patients until their effectiveness could be proven. Because of this critique, Hubbard came to believe psychiatrists were behind a worldwide conspiracy to attack Scientology and create a "world government" run by psychiatrists on behalf of Soviet Russia: In 1966, Hubbard declared war on psychiatry, telling Scientologists "We want at least one bad mark on every psychiatrist in England, a murder, an assault, or a rape or more than one."• He committed the Church to eradicating psychiatry in 1969, announcing "Our war has been forced to become 'To take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.'" The Church founded the Citizens Commission on Human Rights that same year as its primary vehicle for attacking psychiatry. Around the same time, Hubbard claimed that psychiatrists were an ancient evil that had been a problem for billions of years. He cast them in the role of assisting Xenu's genocide of 75 million years ago. In a 1982 bulletin entitled "Pain and Sex", Hubbard declares that "pain and sex were the INVENTED TOOLS of degradation", having been devised eons ago by psychiatrists "who have been on the time track a long time and are the sole cause of decline in this universe." Celebrity Scientologists, notably Tom Cruise, have been extremely vocal in attacking the use of psychiatric medication. Their position has attracted considerable criticism from psychiatrists, physicians, and mental health patients and advocates who cite numerous scientific studies showing benefit from psychiatry. In addition, there is evidence Scientology adherents destroyed scientific data in a lengthy campaign to discredit research. Scientology versus the Internet Scientology leaders have undertaken extensive operations on the Internet to deal with growing allegations of fraud and exposure of unscrupulousness within Scientology. The organization states that it is taking actions to prevent distribution of copyrighted Scientology documents and publications online by people whom it has called "copyright terrorists".• Critics claim the organisation's true motive is an attempt to suppress free speech and criticism. In January 1995, Church lawyer Helena Kobrin attempted to shut down the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology by sending a control message instructing Usenet servers to delete the group on the grounds that: In practice, this rmgroup message had little effect, since most Usenet servers are configured to disregard such messages when applied to groups that receive substantial traffic, and newgroup messages were quickly issued to recreate the group on those servers that did not do so. However, the issuance of the message led to a great deal of public criticism by free-speech advocates. The Church also began filing lawsuits against those who posted copyrighted texts on the newsgroup and the World Wide Web, and pressed for tighter restrictions on copyrights in general. The Church supported the controversial Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The even more controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act was also strongly promoted by the Church and some of its provisions (notably the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act) were heavily influenced by Church litigation against US Internet service providers over copyrighted Scientology materials that had been posted or uploaded through their servers. Beginning in the middle of 1996 and for several years after, the newsgroup was attacked by anonymous parties using a tactic dubbed "sporgery" by some, in the form of hundreds of thousands of forged spam messages posted on the group. Although the Church neither confirmed nor denied its involvement with the spam, some investigators claimed that some spam had been traced to Church members. Former Scientologist Tory Christman, after she left the Church, confessed to having been part of the sporgery project, taking money supplied by the Office of Special Affairs to open up Internet accounts at various ISPs under false names, accounts from which she later saw forged and garbled communications going out. Scientific criticism of Scientologys beliefs
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