What is it in Scientology that makes it a cult ?

Answer 1

Scientology is a cult and not a religion because it centers around the opinion of its founder Hubbard and collects fund by indoctrination of its members. There is evidence to the effect that it can not tolerate any opposition to it, if need be its opponents can be harmed by application of violence.

Some one has suggested above in one of the answers that Zero Cool has already answered on this. This shows that Zero Cool has started planting Yahoo users to ventilate his personal opinion condemning Scientology. In the process, Zero Cool has started a cult of his own to condemn another cult.

It is a war of different cults on Yahoo Answers, LO Shame Shame! Hi Hi Zero Cool!

Answer 2

Nothing. Cos it's really a religion.
(but you should check out the actual definition of the word cult, since it now seems to have aquired a derogatory definition that isn't in the dictionary)
Scholastic criteria for a religion :
1. A belief in some Ultimate Reality, such as a supreme or eternal truth that transcends the here and now of the secular world;
2. Religious practices directed towards understanding, attaining or communing with this Ultimate Reality; and
3. A community of believers who join together in pursuing this Ultimate Religion.
Based on these criteria, every scholar who has examined Scientology has concluded that it has the required elements of a religion.

Here are some of the names of those who have done independant studies of Scientology and made these conclusions:
Dr Bryan Ronald Wilson Oxford University England
Regis Dricquebourg, Prof of Sociology of Religion Lille University France.
Prof Lonnie D. Kliever American expert on religion.
Dr J. Melton Founder/Director Institute for the Study of American Religion (Santa Barbara)
Dr Frank K. Flinn Prof in religious studies at Washington University.
Dr M Darroll Bryant Prof of Religion and Culture University of Waterloo Ontario Canada.
James A Beckford Prof Warick University England.
Michael A Sivertsev. Chrm for New Religions Russia
Mr Fumio Swanda One of Japans foremost authorities on religion and former director of Sophia University.
There are many more studies available. These are just a few.
With Scientology expanding to well over 10 million members in over 163 countries world wide the opinion of half a dozen posters on Yahoo Answers will not change the fact that Scientology is a bonafide and expanding new religion in the 21st century.

It is true that the theology and technology of Scientology was discovered and developed by L.Ron Hubbard. But he was just a man, and never said he was anything else.
He did not make any statements about God or the Supreme Being other than to acknowledge it's existence as the "Eighth Dynamic".
But he did not attempt to define it or describe it.
Scientology does not intrude in this area,it is left to the individual

He did say in a recorded public lecture called "Man's Relentless Search" (1956) .......
" I have written many adventurous things, but I'm here to tell you that I would never sit down and start writing on the subject of the Supreme Being. No, I just wouldn't go on and on and turn out page after page and chapter after chapter on the Supreme Being. I don't know anything about him. It's probably the only honest statement that's ever been made on the subject."

I tend to agree myself, having read many other "works" on the subject of God and various attempts to define or describe this devine concept .

Answer 3

Well first of all you have to pay money to get to any kind of special status in their "religion". No real religion requires its members to pay. (There's a difference between donating money and having to pay money). Plus, it's a cult when people totally change their views, actions, and basic outlook on life just because they discovered a new religion. Look at Tom Cruise before scientology and look at him now. He's like some creepy zombie.

Answer 4

It hasn't been around over 2,000 years like the other cults that now call themselves religions.

Answer 5

* It's not a religion - there's no gods, they only claim this status for tax purposes
* massive brainwashing
* extorting members who try to leave
* isolating inductees from non-believers
....

Please read "The Road to Xenu", a free online book about a girl who escaped from scientology - after twelve years.

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

While you're at it: http://www.xenu.net/

Answer 6

Let's see, unbridled greed, mind control techniques, intimidation tactics, murder, destruction of families, etc...
L. Ron Hubbard said himself that he was going to invent a religion to get rich, it worked!

Answer 7

This has been asked before. Answer from Zero COOL

It is a CULT. Despite what a few fanatical members may say, it IS a cult. The church harasses & bullies anyone who they deem an "enemy" (basically anyone who has anything negative to say about the "church"). They will RUIN YOUR LIFE if you speak out against them long enough.

The founder is L. Ron Hubbard, the science FICTION writer who once told a friend that the best way to make lots of money is to start your own religion. Though being a very outspoken critic of psychiatric drugs, it was discovered upon Hubbards death that the anti-anxiety drug hydroxyzine (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. (visit this link to read about the uses of hydoxyzine: http://www.drugs.com/mtm/v/vistaril.html... )

Scientologists believe the evil alien ruler Xenu killed a lot of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by bringing them to earth & blowing them up inside volcanoes. They believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") have attached themselves to us & cause many of our mental & physical ills. Members who know about Xenu will attempt to deny it or pretend like it doesn’t matter. They are required to sign a contract binding them to silence on the matter. Lower level members don’t know about Xenu & accordingly deny everything because they honestly don’t know.

To rid ourselves of "Body Thetans" & also “engrams” (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind) so that we can become “clear”, we have to go through "auditing" with a member of the “church” who uses an "e-meter" to measure our “reactive mind”...... & we have to pay lots & lots of money for “auditing” (purchased in 12.5-hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions) & to take courses on Scientology to advance to higher “levels” in the “church”. The “church” has also taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional in everyday life. They deny the reality of chemical imbalance & profound mental disturbance & accordingly do NOTHING to effectively stabilize the dangerously unstable. The “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from member (with deadly results).

Scientology is undeniably a cult. For more information on what a cult is & what their damaging effects are, please visit the link provided at the bottom of the sources. Just know that Scientology DOES qualify by meeting these 5 criteria:

(1) It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate & retain its members. (2) It forms an elitist totalitarian society. (3) Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable & has charisma. (4) It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds & recruit people. (5) Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.

Source(s):

Watch this very revealing video that will, in about 4-5 minutes, show you EXACTLY what Scientology is all about: http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/...
This video is a bit longer. It’s a CBS “48 Hours” special on the mentally disturbed son of Scientologist parents who refused to put him on the anti-psychotic drugs that would have stabilized him & prevented him from killing his mother:
http://www.scientomogy.com/jeremy_perkin...

L. Ron Hubbard HIMSELF writes about Xenu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/xenu#.22xen...
Hubbard SPEAKS about Xenu/Xemu (wav file): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/otiii/xemu0.w...

http://xenu.net/
http://www.watchman.org/sci/
http://www.scientology-kills.org/...
http://usminc.org/scientology.html...
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/otiii/...
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/secrets/...
http://www.holysmoke.org/pc/pc.htm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/scientology...
http://www.whyaretheydead.net/room174.ht...
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecen...
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/sto...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...
http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/rea...
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/80/story_...
Cult information - http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/faq.ht...
Official site - http://www.scientology.org

Answer 8

Baby all religions are cults.
Jesus Christ was persecuted, captured and killed because he was a cult leader. Christians were persecuted and killed for centuries because they were cult members.
Look at the definition of cult:
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cult
Any religion that you consider false is a cult! But Scientologist don't live outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
Now lets look at this other definition:
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
Under this definition all religions are cults!
We are all cult members, Christians, Muslims and Jews alike.
I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a member of the Church of Scientology and a cult member too.
All great Churches have started as cults. Deny that and you are denying your heritage. Christianity is still a cult in many places today. In China Christians worship in hiding and in some Muslim countries the punishment for spreading the cult Christianity is death.
But Scientology is an international organisation located in over a hundred a countries of countries. Scientology allready passed its cult phase and is becoming a main stream religion.

THIS IS SCIENTOLOGY

1. What is true for you is what you yourself observe to be true.

2. Man is his spirit not his mind or his body.

3. The spirit creates his own mind. Please, do not confuse the mind with the brain that is a physical thing. The mind is composed of mental image pictures as explained in Dianetics. These pictures serve the spirit to give him knowledge and experience. These pictures are composed of energy. The energy in the picture can affect the spirit. You can feel better by remembering something that you like or angry by remembering something else. These emotions are actually energy waves emanated by the picture. You can actually feel pain by remembering a pain memory. Sometimes these pictures are accompanied by ideas or considerations. Lets suppose that you father beat you mom up in front of you. Your father was the dominating figure so you might conclude that you have to act like your father in some situations. This is what we call on Scientology an aberration (a conclusion that is imposed to you by a mental picture). This picture is what we call a engram (a pain memory that affects your judgment and free will).

4. You can discharge the energy in these pictures through communication. This is Dianetics Auditing and is the oldest of hundreds of Scientology techniques used to improve the individual.

5. The Spirit creates his own emotions. Are you happy? Are you sad? Are you depress? Maybe you think that something external of you is creating your emotions. Maybe you believe that you are sad because you had a bad day or maybe you believe that you are happy because you had a great day. And this might be true. But who made the decision that you had a good or bad day? You did. You decided if life was good or bad, and adjusted your emotions to respond to your own consideration. You created your own emotion.
Some people are born with everything they want and are still unhappy. And others are born into humble means and are happy. What's the difference? The only real difference is each person's ideas and considerations.
Scientology uses hundreds of processes in order to help a person get a better understanding and a better outlook in life by using his own observations.

6. Scientology Ethics. Ethical people take full responsibility for their actions. Un-ethical people blame others for their actions. "Wrong doings" diminish and deteriorate the freedom of the spirit because the need to justify the "wrong doing". So the spirit is enslaved into repeating the "wrong doing" in order to justify the original "wrong doing". The road to freedom lies within taking full responsibility for your personal condition and actions, past, present and future. Scientology provides the tools to help the person able to be fully responsible over his life thus rehabilitating his ability to be good and self determined.
Also Scientologist base their conduct on a non-denominational code of conduct. http://twth.org/eb/?id=16664j

7. Scientology and God. Scientology acknowledges the supreme being and promotes the individual search for closeness to God trough religion.

8. Scientology vs Psychiatry. Psychiatry believes that self awareness, feelings, love and faith is merely cellular activity. Basically they think that you are your brain and you are not in charge of your behavior but your cells are.This is a totally materialistic point of view that denies the spirit and God. Psychiatrist is a pseudo science because it is based in principles that are false. Psychiatry have never proven that any "mental illnesses" (like they call it) has any connection with a physical illness. Any Neurologist will tell you there are no medical test to identify a "mental illness". All Psychiatrists base their diagnosis on opinion and opinion alone.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3895596783332855545&q=Psychiatry+is+fraude&hl=enhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8443414209115892468&q=scientology&hl=en
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?p=cchr&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&b=1&oid=12085d1e6c58d04e&rurl=video.yahoo.com&vdone=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fvideo%3Fp%3Dcchr%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3Dmss%26ei%3DUTF-8
Happiness, exhilaration, depression and psychosis are states of mind, not diseases. All what you have to do to stop being depress is change your state of mind. How you do that? By changing your ideas and considerations. Scientology provides the tools to achieve a better state of mind in accordance with your own point of view.
Also Psychiatrist excuse the most horrendous crimes as mental illnesses. This is actually creates a sense of irresponsibility in society because it tells people that they are not responsible for their actions. Second they promote that drugs are the answer for your problems. This message promotes the use of drugs to find release from life and creates the current drug addiction problem in society. Drugs will only give you temporary false release but will never solve the source of your problems.And actually drugs will keep you away from finding a true spiritual release.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4437051883726295326&q=psychiatry&hl=en
Note: Scientology doesn't have anything against Psychology or Neurology. Also the mere awareness that you are a spiritual being and not a body makes you better person.

9. Scientology is a force for good in society. Scientologist fights Psychiatry, http://www.cchr.org/ the drug companies, criminality, http://www.criminon.org and drug addiction. http://www.narconon.org Also Scientology fought and won against the FDA and the IRS. And Scientologist initiated the social reform group "Youth for Human Rights" http://www.youthforhumanrights.org and the movement "Say no to drugs and yes to life". http://www.notodrugs-yestolife.org
Scientologist are some of the more intelligent, able and successful people in this planet. Including Jenna Elfman, Kelly Preston, John Travolta, Priscilla Presley, Sofia Milos and Leah Remini. Even Danny Masterson from the that's That '70s Show is a Scientologist.

10. Scientology is the only church that doesn't ask for donations from their parishioners during their Sunday Services. All chapel services are 100% free (marriages, naming ceremonies, ect). Scientology earns it's money by delivering courses and auditing. Courses and auditing are optional. You do not need to take courses and auditing to be in Scientology. All you need to do to be a Scientologist is to read the books and apply Scientology to your life (like I do). But if you want auditing there are many alternative and economical ways to achieve this.
a. You can do volunteer work in your local church and get your services for free.
b. You can study to be an auditor and perform all your auditing with a fellow student. This way you can also provide free services to your friends and family. This is actually the preferred way to become clear because you learn how to helps other. Scientology isn't about you going clear but taking responsibility across all your dynamics (self, family, group, humanity, life, ect).

11. Scientology and aliens. The story of Xenu is just a fable like the story of "Jonah in the Whale" in the bible. Fables are not intended to be taken seriously. The story of Xenu doesn't have any significance on Scientology beliefs.
Anti-Scientology propaganda is just that, propaganda. If you wanna know about this propaganda see my blog: http://www.myspace.com/129727315

References
http://www.neuereligion.de/ENG/index.html
http://www.bonafidescientology.org/
http://www.chaplaincare.navy.mil/Scientology.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol.htm
http://www.scientology.org/
http://www.beliefnet.com/sem/scientology-religion.asp?source=YAHSCT&campaign=096&medium=PPC&nopop=1&WT.mc_id=YAHSCT&WT.srch=1