Do you think Scientology is a cult?

Question

I do. They charge money for their auditing courses. They harass former members and critics. And their beliefs were written by a science fiction writer who got busted by the police numerous times.

Answer 1

Yes I do, but I will go further. A cult is just a non-mainstream group, that is it. The Church of Scientology is a Destructive Cult because it has negative effects on people & their families.

It is not wrong to charge money for auditing however. It is wrong to tell you it can improve almost any condition or problem. It is wrong to tell you it has been scientifically researched. The stupidly high prices are wrong. It is wrong to not tell them about euphoric feelings which are generated from trance-like sessions; instead they use it as proof the technique worked, which is what hooks a lot of people into scientology.
http://www.clambake.org/archive/techniques/

This has to be the question with the most anti-scientology answers I have seen... :)

This is a very good resource for information critical of scientology
http://www.clambake.org

Or here go to some cult experts websites and see what they think:
http://www.freedomofmind.com
http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/
http://www.csj.org/
http://www.dci.dk/

I can disprove many of Theta's 'facts', here are just two. Notice that theta puts forwards 'facts' yet does not link to any evidence - this is called opinion, or unsubstiated claims. I'm afraid personal experience is not enough to be fact, as any police officer will tell you - witnesses never recount the same events, yet each individual believes his version to be accurate - without conversing with others (by speech theta, not mocking up and agreeing the universe exists so it does).

There are not 8 Million scientologists - FACT. There are actually only around 100,000. Here is the link.
http://www.clambake.org/archive/COS_members.html

They have made this claim of 8 million members since about 1991, and have also continued to say it was rapidly expanding since that date. These two statements can't both be true!!!

Scientology is not accepting of other religions.
It ventures into past lives - this is against most monotheistic religions.
It talks about a space opera - the story of Xenu.
Thetans are self-created and creating, no god is needed, it is a gnostic religion.
It thinks religions are just implants to confuse thetans.

This can be found throughout the OT levels which came out at a court trial referred to as the Fishman Affadavit.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/fishman/index2.html

Or hear it in Hubbard's own voice - "There is no christ, there was no man on the cross"
http://www.lermanet2.com/cos/nochrist.wav

See that is not opinion of what Hubbard said, it is actually what he said in clear no uncertain terms.

Also they do harass former members and critics and there are countless court trials and videotapes to prove it. You can find them amongst these links
http://www.clambake.org/archive/CourtFiles/
http://www.xenutv.com
http://www.suppressiveperson.org

Answer 2

Many Christian churches charge dues especially elevagelist ones. Elevangelist churches sometimes harrass former members. And the former professions of a founder don't turn a religion into a cult.
jjbear926: by your definition, Christianity is a cult.

Answer 3

More of a joke actually. Their founder, L. Ron Hubbard said this in the late 40s: "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion"

Interestingly enough, he went out and did just that. The guys a whack-job. He was allegedly a thief, wife beater, he was sentenced for fraud, he committed adultery AND bigamy... Just the type of religious leader the world needed.

Answer 4

even though it extremely is a money grabbing cult. in case you opt for an impartial clarification, you have lengthy previous to the two wikipedia or much extra desirable wikileaks, because they have actual have been given all of their secret OT archives published up there. no person that's no longer a Scientologist is going to tell you something different than it extremely is a cult, and Scientologists are all going to tell you it extremely is the only course to fact. as lengthy as you're able to have the money for it. edit "what makes this a faith" They filed numerous thousand proceedings against the IRS in the ninety's until they finally gave up and labeled them as a faith so as that they'd get tax exempt prestige and likewise be exempt from exertions regulations and cope with their brainwashed contributors as slave exertions and in basic terms pay them $50 a month. no longer joking.

Answer 5

The word cult means a religious group that follows the teachings of a person rather then writtings or direct word of God. So yes, they are a cult. They follow the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.

Answer 6

Scientology is far too popular to be simply a 'cult' now; it's a full-blown religion, however strange and absurd it's psuedo-scientific teachings are.

But you can still use the term in the derogatory sense.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

Yes

Answer 9

Thank you for sharing your opinion about Scientology and for asking others what they think.
While there is nothing wrong with having opinions about anything, it is important also to know that any "opinion" may or may not be based on facts. Ultimately it is only an opinion.
There is quite a bit of rumour and "opinion" circulating on this forum regarding Scientology, and many other religions actually.
I am not personally offended by this, but it is evident that ridiculing and invalidating other people's religious choices does cause quite a bit of upset for those targetted. This is hardly suprising since this would seem to be the intention of those who do it.
As someone who has studied and applied Scientology successfully for the past 35 years I welcome this opportunity to give you some accurate facts about Scientology, rather than my opinion which of course , being a Scientologist myself, is different from yours:

Scientology is an applied religious philosophy. When I say "applied" I mean you actually use it in your life to change or improve existing conditions. This is different from a religious practice. All religions if you learn about them have a basic philosphy, but they also have certain dogma, rituals and observances, and a certain faith or belief is required. There is nothing wrong with this, but Scientology is not that kind of religion. It does not intrude on anyones faiths of beliefs particularly in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual, which is why you can be a practicing Jew,for example and still use and apply the priniciples of Scientology in your life. It does not conflict. If anything it will enhance your understanding of your chosen religious practice.
You can have no specific religious beliefs and still benefit from using it.
And it is only true for you according to your own observation and experience with it.
It is a non denominational religion . The dictionary definition that applies:
Religion: The spiritual or emotional attitude of one who recognises the existence of superhuman power or powers.

The most basic principle of Scientology is that YOU are your own immortal soul, that this is not a "thing" you HAVE but what YOU actually are.
The whole purpose of Scientology is to increase an individual's understanding and awareness of himself. And thereby his native abilities .
When you do this the sphere and zone of his positive influence increases and moves outward into his life, his family ,his friends, his groups and mankind which he is part of.

How this result is achieved is the "technology" of Scientology, which was developed by L.Ron Hubbard after his extensive research and the discoveries he made, about the human spirit. The basic religious philosophy and knowledge of Scientology is very old, going back 10,000 years at least to the Veda or Vedic Hymns from the East. The developement of the technology is new.
He completed his research before his death in 1986 and left all of his results and copyrights
to the Church of Scientology along with most of his considerable estate., when he died.

He published a book in 1951 to communicate the basic principles he discovered called: " Scientology The Fundementals of Thought"
There are currently over 8 million Scientologists in more that 150 countries world wide. However we are a new religion, only 55 years old.
The true story of Scientology as a religion goes like this:
1. A philosopher developes a philosophy about life and death.
2. People find it interesting.
3. People find it works.
4. People pass it along to others.
5. It grows.

With regard to your upset about money being charged here are some more facts that you need to be aware of:

It is true that Scientology has various fixed donations for it's services. The amount depends only on the cost to deliver them and support the specific Church or Mission that is doing so.
The reason for this unusual financial set up for a Church is that Scientology is a new religion, only 53 years old. It does not have hundreds of years of accumulated wealth and property like other religions. It must operate and establish itself in the world according to the economics of today's society.
It selected the donation system it has as it's primary method of funding itself because it is the most equitable (fair) method.
Those who want the training and individual spiritual councelling should be the ones who contribute most to maintain the facilities that provide it.
Actually it is the individual spiritual councelling that is the more expensive to provide since it involves many highly trained professional staff, some of whom are trained at church expense for sometimes as long as 2 or 3 years, to be able to properly deliver it.
Doing the less expensive training courses includes spiritual councelling at no additional cost to the individual and is encouraged as the best route. But it is really up to the individual in terms of time and circumstances.

Clearing unwanted factors from your mind can be done at almost no cost through Dianetics. Infact if you read the book," Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health " it explains how to do it.
The Church provides very inexpensive Seminars and Basic Courses as well as free services, to train individuals in this technique, and other self improvement knowledge, which are simple to learn. This is something you can then also help another with and receive similar help in return.
Churches will also provide free Dianetic therapy and Scientology auditing to individuals in need of help.

As to Scientologists " harassing" anyone, including "Critics"
this is utter nonsense. Possibly former members or critics
do crave our attention in this way, and so complain about us
bugging them simply because they are ignored. Who cares why
this rumour circulates around. If anyone cared to actually investigate these bogus "claims" they would find out the truth for themselves.
The fact is that Scientology is expanding and growing at such a rate these days , we are all way to busy achieving our aims
to worry about or even hear the barking of a handful of yapping dogs.

Answer 10

absolutely 100 percent yes. Scientologists are freaky cult followers.