what is scientology?

Question

what do scientologists believe in? do they believe in God and what else?

Answer 1

A cult. This should answer your questions about Scientology in relation to belief in God: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070324130735AAGhdiD

Here's an overview of Scientology (in my own words), I hope it helps you better understand:

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. It doesn’t recognize legitimate conditions like autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ANY neurological disorder / chemical imbalance at all, and the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). The “Church” blames the psychiatry for the Holocaust, as well as school shootings and even September 11th. It’s been suggested that Hubbard’s vehement opposition was born of the psychiatric community’s rejection of his “tech” as a valid treatment method, but it’s also possible that Hubbard chose psychiatry as a scapegoat. Organizations like Scientology are notorious for villainizing a specific out-group as it fosters cohesion within the organization.
http://www.anti-scientologie.ch/usa-scientology.htm
http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3137&IssueNum=136
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/07/01/sci_psy/index_np.html?pn=1
http://perkinstragedy.org

L. Ron Hubbard, the man behind the creation of Scientology, was & still is a controversial figure. Biographies and lists of personal accomplishments differ greatly between Scientology and non-Scientology publications as the “church” tends to exaggerate and outright lie about his early life, his education, his travels, his achievements etc, preferring to paint a distorted, flattering picture. Several books and articles present facts which flatly contradict these church-published accounts (links to free online copies of these books are provided below), showing conclusively that he was NOT the brilliant, accomplished figure revered by Scientologists. During his autopsy, the sedative 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. It had also been said by many who knew Hubbard personally that at the end of his life he was “a psychopathic insane person screaming about BT's [Body Thetans]….”
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/Bare%20Faced%20Messiah.pdf
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/contents.htm
http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/mom/Messiah_or_Madman.txt
http://skull.piratehaven.org/~atman/factnet/lrhbare.txt

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

Hmmm. Scientology is a religion whose founder Mr. L. Ron Hubbard used to write science fiction. Need we say more?

Answer 3

They believe that an alien race created us. The founder of Scientology was a sci-fi writer who was arrested on numerous occassions for having sex with underaged boys.

Answer 4

They believe that they can heal themselves. Im not sure if they believe in the one God. I think they feel like they can manipulate things to go their way by the powers of their minds.

Answer 5

It's a colt that wants money.
They don't believe in god. It's a religion that was brought about by a science fiction writer.

that's all I really know.

Answer 6

a religious system based on the seeking of self-knowledge and spiritual fulfillment through graded courses of study and training. It was founded by American science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911–86) in 1955.

Answer 7

A crappy New Age religion that teaches us that space aliens are our creators, and that there is an all powerfull evil alien, that's basically the devil. Hope you got money to join. You better like vegetable oil too. You'll be drinking a lot of it.

Answer 8

To be honnest and having been around many religions (to finally discover that there is only one truth and only one true God) I can tell you that it is a load of BS just like the RAEL followers. But if you realy want to know, go to google and do a research for it and you'll find sites about that.

All I can tell you is that it is totally false, lies and gets you nowhere, but it will flatter your ego!

Here's how I know it is bs:
http://www.geocities.com/monfille/Testimony.htm

Answer 9

They're pretty much like christians. They believe in some book that has some crazy creation story. Just a bunch of BS if you ask me.

Answer 10

Umm, I'm not sure but i know the founder is
Ron L. Hubbard.

Answer 11

I agree with the first answer, it's a cult.