Whats Scientology?

Answer 1

The Church of Scientology was a cult created by L Ron Hubbard from the 1950's after he released a book called "Dianetics". This was a book which reported to overhaul mental health & the way medical practioners look at and heal the body. Needless to say the book didn't do this, and its methods don't work any more than a placebo would if at all. It is constantly referred to as a pseudo-science and sometimes just pure quackery!

Wikipedia has a good introduction to their beliefs
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/scientology
And doesn't just get caught up in Chuch propaganda but actually tells the truth based on the evidence available being a neutral site.

You have to understand that it is a cult and it uses mind/social control techniques to gain, keep & manipulate its members into doing whatever 'the group' wants them to. The also outright lie to new members to get them to join the group, before telling them the more wierd stuff of scientology.

Essentially though, if you didn't read wikipedia, they believe man has an immortal soul (a thetan), that reincarnates. They believe you get engrams when your unconscious (a sound or feeling lodged in your 'reactive' mind) that cloud your judgements and can even cause physical pain. Getting rid of your engrams by auditing will alleviate all your problems, and alongside learning all the Scientology Tech they tell you, you will become better at pratically everything in your life - but this has never been substantiated in 50+ years. The one study done said it did not benefit people.

Here is a small article on the methods used:
http://www.clambake.org/archive/techniques/

Here is the study done near the release of dianetics:
http://www.clambake.org/archive/fischer/

You do not learn about Xenu (the alien part) until you are fully indoctrinated into the Church, and by this point you will pretty much believe anything they tell you after repeated exposure to mind and social control techniques.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/xenu

Xenu was a intergalatic space lord who had an overpopulation problem, so took many aliens from various planets and blew them up in various volcanoes over the earth. However the souls were all travelling upward and would have escaped and returned. Therefore Xenu took them all to implant stations and brainwashed them till they forgot who they were and filled them with issues, problems and contradictions. At this point the R6 Implant was also introduced which hubbards explanation for all religions, esp. Jesus - that it is an implant by Xenu and not real at all (despite telling new members it is compatible with their faith!).

The alien thetans were so confused they could no longer leave earth and were trapped, and came and attached themselves to mankind. So according to scientology we are literally covered in these Body Thetans as they are called. So the higher levels of scientology concentrate on this knowledge and removing the Body Thetans by auditing them. (if you think about this, that means they audit themselves, and talk to themselves the whole time, while believing they are talking to a little alien soul inside their body - now does that sound a healthy practise to you!)

Or here watch it South Park style:
http://www.xenutv.com/cruise/sp-closet.htm

It takes many years and a lot of money to reach this level, so people have to believe its true or admit they have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars, admit they have been wrong for decades, and admit that all their friends are also duped in the same way. This is a massive realisation and is very hard to achieve for people who have been so thoroughly brainwashed. Lots still manage it, and this is why we know about the 'secrets' of scientology including Xenu...

You can see the secret library of scientology here or where it has been removed by scientology lawyers they normally post links where it can be obtained or at least summaries by courts or ex-members. http://www.clambake.org/archive/secret.html

They don't have a 'bible', but instead see hubbard or the Church as the only true source of information, only he found out these startling new discoveries of the human mind (yeah right!). The dictionary you refer to is very important, as it introduces a new definition of many words and even creates words so as to create a cult environment. Changing language can be instrumental in getting cult members to think how you want them to, hubbard saw this. They also employ a pretty good policy of always looking a word if they didn't understand it, hence why the dictionary is so prominent in scientology courses.

You can find much information out on the web, including even whole books written by ex-members:
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/apobs/
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/isd/isd.htm
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/xenu.html

Clambake.org is a great resource for critical information on the web, although there are many others as well... Here are just some.
http://www.lermanet.com/
http://www.suppressiveperson.org/
http://www.scientology-lies.com/
http://www.lisamcpherson.org

This is a website by a cult expert who is aware of the dangers of scientology:
http://www.freedomofmind.com/

For comparison, and in fairness, here is the link to the official Church of Scientology www.scientology.org

This is what one critic thinks of scientology:
" The Church of Scientology is a vicious and dangerous cult that masquerades as a religion. Its purpose is to make money. It practices a variety of mind-control techniques on people lured into its midst to gain control over their money and their lives. Its aim is to take from them every penny that they have and can ever borrow and to also enslave them to further its wicked ends.

It was started in the 1950s by a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard in fulfilment to his declared aim to start a religion to make money. It is an offshoot to a method of psychotherapy he concocted from various sources which he named "Dianetics". Dianetics is a form of regression therapy. It was then further expanded to appear more like a religion in order to enjoy tax benefits. He called it "Scientology".

Scientology is a confused concoction of crackpot, dangerously applied psychotherapy, oversimplified, idiotic and inapplicable rules and ideas and science-fiction drivel that is presented to its members (at the "advanced" levels) as profound spiritual truth. "
http://www.clambake.org/roland-intro.htm...

They also hound critics trying to discredit and ruin them in any way (even if illegally), pressuring with lawyers, etc in order to stop any criticism rather than tackling the points raised by the critic. The campaign against critics is a well documented one.
http://www.suppressiveperson.org/

But don't let me sway you follow the links, watch some videos, make up your mind...

Source(s):
http://www.clambake.org
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.xenutv.com

Answer 2

Scientology got popular from Tom Cruise recently. Several stars belong to this religion probably because of the personal attention they get when they start to give their money to it. They claim it is based on science and it helps people more than psychology...but it is really based on the writings/ideas of one man. It teaches some basic ideas that help you understand how to make better decisions...in the process, they do learn a lot of information about your past. I cant remember exactly how this works but you can order books to do the process yourself but they really try and get you to do sessions with someone trained to help you with your issues . Some people who have broken with the religion say that they use this information to "keep you in the cult". If you research them on the internet, as you progress in the religion, it appears that it becomes more involved. Initially, you do not hear the religion's beliefs about aliens (from outer space) but eventually they expose you to more far-fetched ideas. In addition, they have cruise ships that house some of the religion's administration. If you do an internet search you can find stories of people who broke from this religion after being born into it. When they left, they were followed by church members who tried to bring them back. As well, the family members still in the church were not allowed to have contact with them...very interesting reading.

Answer 3

It is a cult. What exacty is a cult, or what constitutes a group being labeled a cult? The Bible gives the answer. A cult is any group which teaches doctrines or beliefs that deviate from the biblical message of the Christian faith. It is very important that we recognize cults and avoid any involvement with them. Cults often teach some Christian truth mixed with error, which may be difficult to detect. There are some features common to most cults:
They do not adhere solely to the sixty-six books of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. They add their "special revelations" to the Bible as equally authoritative.

They do not accept that our relationship to Jesus Christ is a reality "by grace through faith" alone, but practice instead a salvation by works.

They do not give Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, full recognition as the second Person of the Trinity, composed of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Some of these groups are Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, the Unification Church, Unitarians, Spiritists, Scientologists, and others.

Answer 4

A religion made by a science fiction writer to prove a theory he had that anyone with any intelligence could make a religion and profit by it. It involves aliens using a primordial earth as a prison to dump a bunch of convicts on to die. After humans evolved the ghosts of these alien convicts cause all human suffering by invading human bodies.

Answer 5

Following L Ron Hubbard. He said that there was a dark lord that threw aliens into earth volcano's, trapping them till their spirits went into humans. Now you must pay them money so he can make you and your spirits happy. There actually was a Scientologist in this section a few weeks ago.
It is among the crazies religions of today.

Answer 6

Scientology is about the individual man or woman. Its goal is to bring an individual to a sufficient understanding of himself and his life and free him to improve conditions in the way that he sees fit.

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."

Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology religion comprises a body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these:

Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.

The Scientology religious philosophy contains a precise system of axioms, laws and techniques, exhaustively researched and documented as workable. As such, it provides the individual with the ability to dramatically improve conditions, not only in his own life but in the world around him.

In a word, Scientology works.

And this is why millions of people the world over use its principles in their daily lives, why a growing number of people find such relevance in Scientology for themselves, their families, their organizations, their nations and this entire civilization.

All Scientologists are drug-free, and spearhead effective actions in countries around the world to get others off drugs. Scientologists have helped millions of underprivileged children to dramatically improve their reading level, vocabulary and comprehension, and the record of Scientology’s fight for human rights is unparalleled. Scientology’s commitment to social betterment activities also includes rehabilitating criminals and teaching people right from wrong.

The aims of Scientology are a civilization without war, without insanity and without criminals, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights and man is free to rise to greater heights.

Scientology is not authoritarian. There is no enforced belief. Rather, a maxim in Scientology is that only those things which one finds true for himself are true. In Scientology one learns to think for himself – it is a voyage of self-discovery.

The true story of Scientology is simple, concise and direct. It is quickly told:
1. A philosopher develops 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.

Answer 7

It is scary! One time when my husband and I were dating we were in Hollywood. There were these people wanting us to come to their "museum". It was a hugh scientolist building.. I thought they were never going to let us out of there. We did little not to show are irritation and that we wanted to leave. The lady didn't care. I think they were trying to brain wash us. I kept looking around the corners and the door finally came after like 3 hours. I ran out!

Answer 8

A phony "religion" that a science fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard invented to avoid paying taxes. It's only philosophy is to extract money from gullible people.

Answer 9

Try asking Tom Cruise, Isacc Hayes, Priscilla Presley, Kirstie Alley

Seems an OK pseudo-religion to me though as, from the names above, it obviously allows you to sleep with anyone you want - regardless of your, or their, marital situation.

Answer 10

a myth like all religions. Yes, I said that. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hindu. They are all phony.