what is scientology and what do its believers believe?

Answer 1

It's a cult. Here's an overview (in my own words):

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).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics#Scientific_evaluation_and_criticisms
Dianetics review: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2005/06/28/dianetics/index.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,812852,00.html

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 $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions. 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_as_a_business#Costs
Here’s an explanation of what “auditing” is: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061224182319AA2nnd6

At level OT III (Operating Thetan 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://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/spaink-ot3.html
http://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/atack_ot3.html
http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/Xenu-Letter.pdf

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. They don’t recognize legitimate conditions like autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc, and the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). Suspiciously, it was discovered upon Hubbard’s 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.
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/07/01/sci_psy/index_np.html?pn=1
http://www.clambake.org/archive/ronthenut/16.gif
(visit this link to read about the uses of hydroxyzine: http://www.drugs.com/mtm/v/vistaril.html )

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’s a particularly greedy as well as manipulative & dangerous cult that takes its anti-psychiatry fanaticism to deadly limits. See these links for more information: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml
http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialControl/scs.html#toc http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/funkydonny.html

Answer 2

Here's a factual description for you:

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. It is a very practical religion.
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 in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual as pasrt of his life. It does not conflict.
It is also not a messianic religion. This means there is no worship of prophets or messiahs in Scientology. It is not faith based. A truth should be true according to ones own observation and experience.
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 life.And to rehabilitate his native goodness, abilities and potential.
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. L. Ron Hubbard researched and made new discoveries about the human spirit. He developed technology from these discoveries to apply to increase spiritual awareness and ability.
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 personal 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 10 million Scientologists in more than 163 countries world wide. However we are a new religion, only 53 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.

This is just an overview.
L. Ron Hubbard explained fully the theology and technologies of Scientology in more than 500,000 pages of writings, including dozens of books and over 2,000 tape-recorded public lectures. So it's not possible to fully answer your question on this forum, but hopefully this gives you some idea.

Answer 3

Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques created by American author L. Ron Hubbard. Created in 1952 as an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics, Hubbard later characterized Scientology as an "applied religious philosophy" and the basis for a new religion.

Scientology also refers to the Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 and by far the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology. Today, the Church itself operates under the auspices of the Religious Technology Center, the organization that holds the trademarks and copyrights of Dianetics and Scientology and monitors their use by the Church and its affiliates such as WISE or ABLE.".

Scientology holds that an individual is basically an immortal spiritual being that has a body and a mind. Each individual is adversely affected by forgotten decisions left over from past trauma and by stored mental energies. Scientology training and counseling aims to eliminate these adverse effects and to allow devotees to regain native spiritual abilities lost over the course of many lifetimes. Scientology claims to be applicable in all facets of life, including programs for organizational management, study skills, and drug-rehabilitation.

Scientology and the organizations that promote it have remained highly controversial since their inception. Journalists, courts, and governing bodies of several countries have alleged that the Church of Scientology is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and victimizes its members.

Answer 4

I'm now not a Scientologist. I learn a booklet approximately their ideals out of interest. From what I keep in mind perception isn't a need for the life nor reincarnation of the Thetan in its host. The improvement of Scientology to them is placing you in contact along with your internal being or Thetan and know-how your/its skills. To them the Thetan is a man or woman's soul or spirit, the frame only a shell. So in essence you're the Thetan in a human shell frame and feature been reincarnated many lifetimes in human kind right here without reference to whether or not you train Scientology, you without problems are ignorant of it as reminiscence does not translate to the following of beyond existence most of the time. Again now not my possess ideals and I might be remembering this incorrectly or the booklet might be now not one hundred% aaccurate, so on.

Answer 5

The Church of Scientology was founded upon the teachings and findings of one L. Ron Hubbard, the author of several science fiction novels and one non-fiction book entitled 'Dianetics'.
Good Ron had a few insights that the average human could benefit from.
I doubt that he ever envisioned that his writings would be used in a cult-based church, but then again, I cannot put the philosophy of the man Yeshua of Nazareth together with the Jesus cult of the modern Christian church, either.
Both originators had insights that went above the average ken of their contemporaries. Both names have been abused to use their teachings in an opposite mirror effect of what they intended. That is just my observation.
If you are interested in the underlying beliefs, read "Dianetics" - but please don't make a religion out of it. It is based on fairly decent understandings of the human psyche, but from a scientific view point, is a bit outdated. And, by all means, stay away from the 'Church of Scientology'.

Answer 6

something about an alien name Xenu... and metaclorians. No, wait metaclorians are from Star Wars. Same difference, isn't Star Wars a religion now? Does George Lucus pay taxes?

I give Scientology as much credit as I give Chrisitanity.... which is not very much.

That 3rd link is an example why Tom Cruise & now John Travolta (recently spoke out against modern drug therapies) are contributing to a movement which causes harm to people that need proper medication for biological conditions, which can manifest physically or psychologically.

Answer 7

Scientology is a path to find your own personal truth.
Scientology doctrine as a religion holds as its most important axiom “What is true for you is what you your self observe to be true.” This axiom promotes individual thinkingness and independence. In fact it is a high crime in Scientology for anyone to tell anyone what to think or what to believe in. In Scientology it is YOU that do the exploring, YOU that do the observations and YOU come up with your own conclusion.
This link has 28 different religious studies papers on Scientology made by religious scholars: http://www.neuereligion.de/ENG/index.html Also see this link: http://www.bonafidescientology.org/Append/09/index.htm
Scientology means “knowing how to know” and follows a tradition of 10,000 years in the study of life and the spirit. Scientology earliest ancestor is the Veda (the Veda means knowingness or sacred lore) continued with the Tao-The-king (also known as Taoism and it means “the way to solving the mystery which underlines all mysteries”) continued by the Dhyana (that means knowingness or lookingness), continued by the works of Gautama Sakyamuni also know as Gautama Buddha (a Buddha or Bodhi is one that has attained intellectual and ethical perfection by human means).

References
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/story/80/story_8057_1.html

Answer 8

It's even more nuts than Christianity, if you can believe it.

Okay, I'll run through the extreme basics. They believe that every human houses an alien soul from when an alien spaceship crash landed on Earth x years ago. They measure our bad vibes in units called thetans and try to make us happy. Or so they claim. In reality, they turn us into zombies that are more than willing to fork over our life savings in order to achieve enlightenment by their standards.

Screwing with the church will earn you dire consequences, too. Ask anyone who's tangled with the cult or an ex-Scientologist. It's insane.

Did I mention the creator of the "religion", L. Ron Hubbard, was a science fiction writer? His son left the church, realizing it was a scam, and was found dead some time later.

Answer 9

Basically it's another pyramid scheme like all other religions but specifically The Church of Scientology says that Scientology is concerned with "the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life." By contrast, Dianetics is more narrowly focused on getting rid of the reactive mind, the "bank" of traumatic memories known as engrams which are said to inhibit one's success and happiness. Scientology also covers topics such as ethics and morality (The Way to Happiness), drug and chemical residues as they relate to spiritual wellbeing (the Purification Rundown), communication, marriage, raising children, work-related problems, education (Study Technology), and the very nature of life (The Dynamics).

Scientology practices (called "Technology" or "Tech" in Scientology terminology) are structured in sequential series or levels, reflecting Hubbard's belief that rehabilitation takes place on a step-by-step "gradient"; for example, that the negative effects of drugs must be addressed before other issues can be addressed. Scientologists follow a sequence of courses that culminate in the esoteric advanced strata of Scientology's teachings. This is described as a passage along "the Bridge to Total Freedom", or simply "the Bridge," in which each step of the Bridge promises a little more personal freedom in some particular area of life.

Among these advanced teachings, one episode revealed to those who reach OT level III is 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. Scientologists believe 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

Answer 10

Their believers believe in Scientology. God is a scientist. And every one has to believe in science or they will go to Hell. If they are faithful to that great scientist in the sky then they will live happily ever after in a scientific sky lab.
Kisses Betty B.

Answer 11

Another 1960s Space Opera Religion that grew up to become a dangerous cult.

The Founder of the Cult died hiding out from the US law.
He was wanted for infiltrating government offices and stealing secret files.

http://www.bobminton.org/

ps. Dianetics is pure foolishness.