what is Scientology? why is it said to be a religion?

Question

i would like any and all information about it. including why so many movie stars are involved in it!

Answer 1

It's a cult. It's said to be a "religion" because it bullied the United States IRS into granting it tax free status. The governments of many other countries do NOT recognize it as a legitimate religion, but rather a business and a cult. So many movie stars are involved because Scientology caters specifically to them. There's even a Scientology Celebrity Center in Hollywood (as well as New York, Las Vegas, etc).
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/irs.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Centre

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. 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

Scientology is in fact, a detrimental cult. If some other workforce did what they did i'd count on it to be denounced via the media (like those Christian teen boot camps that kill, which pop up within the news each couple years when one other abused baby dies).

Answer 3

Scientology is a body of teachings and related techniques created by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard.Scientology also refers to the Church of Scientology, founded in 1953[2] and by far the largest organization promoting the practice of Scientology.Scientology holds that an individual is basically an immortal spiritual being that has a body and a mind, and that 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

Answer 4

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 anyone’s faiths of beliefs in the area of God , the Supreme Being, or the Infinite. This area is left totally up to the indivdual as part of his life.
It is also not a messianic religion. This means there is no worship of prophets or messiahs in Scientology. It is not belief or 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 I hope this gives you some idea.

As for why so many artists , musicians and actors (movie stars) are involved... this is best explained with a quote from one of L.Ron Hubbard's basic books which gives the underlying reason the religion's interest in the welfare and survival of artists. The religion of Scientology supports and helps artists to survive and succeed in their
aesthetic goals and purposes, in a field that is probably the toughest in today's society. They put themselves out there and are making themselves and their ideas known and are therefore easy targets for those bent on destruction.

Here's the quote:

" Ideas and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind.
Individuals, and not masses, form the culture of a race.
On a lesser scale, actors and other artists work continually to give tomorrow a new form."

L.Ron Hubbard - from the book "Science of Survival"

Answer 5

The first place in the world that Scientology registered as a Religion was Australia because they were about to be prosecuted for practising psychology without a licence, so they quickly made themselves into a religion so the authorities could not touch them. It also brought them tax free status.

It is popular with wealthy celebrities because they are used to buying anything they want and in Scientology you can buy your way to the top just by taking all their expensive courses and treatments. That suits busy celebrities just fine!

Answer 6

Scientology is a Religion which teaches techniques to improve your ability to help yourself and other.

http://www.scientologytoday.org/Common/question/pg04.htm

It is a Religion because we do all the things a religion does.

http://www.scientologytoday.org/Common/question/pg05.htm

So many movie stars are involved because it works. The founder of Scientology noted that celebrities, artist, musician were very important to a society. He also noted that often ill meaning people would badger and try to tear down creative people.

http://www.scientologytoday.org/Common/question/pg38.htm

Answer 7

For the fullest story you are going to get, read the book A PIECE OF BLUE SKY by Jon Atack, fully available on-line

http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/apobs/contents.htm

The central sites of actual information about the cult are:

http://www.clambake.org/
http://www.xenutv.com/ (videos)

Scientology is dangerous because every single goofy idea of L. Ron Hubbard is accepted as "scripture". He was a pulp science-fiction author who managed to get on the radar-screen of the genre, but had the soul of a carnival huckster, told tall tales about himself like claiming he saw Navy action in secret missions (actually during a training run he fired his ship's guns at an island that turned out to belong to Mexico), and created a goofy self-help doctrine which he later called a religion in order to evade paying taxes. He claimed "engrams" hold people's lives back: negative experiences which inhibit us, and an E-meter (which has electrodes you hold and acts as a primitive lie-detector) will detect these inhibitions and help "clear" them. So far, so good as a vague statement, but ultimately he told people these engrams were alien spirits which latched onto our past lives, if you paid enough money and went far up enough in the goony hierarchy. He has been tape-recorded as saying he "astrally travelled" to the planet Venus, where he nearly got run over by a freight-train.

Scientologists are NOT ecumenical; they say anyone who is not "cleared" by Scientology procedures is insane and fit to be caged.

Answer 8

To answer your question specifically "why is it said to be a religion?"

Go here:

http://www.bonafidescientology.org/

Which is a specific reference work from independent theologians which explicitly states why Scientology can be classified as a religion.

And why are so many celebrities involved? No specific reason, but if you have 8 million adherents some of them are bound to be famous.

Answer 9

shall i have the research report to you by friday? tons to learn on the web.

written by L ron hubbardm gained some followers and formed a religion. movie stars always love that la new age stuff, yoga, kabala, karma, groove, and so on.

try thier website
http://www.scientology.org/

Answer 10

it's a pyramid scheme gone horribly wrong. it's a religion for tax purposes. celebrities are the perfect front people for modern cults. scientology is the religion of the future!

Answer 11

scientology basically is a more spiritual religion and focuses on the individual rather than one being. they think that each person is immortal and is good. celebs are all cracked out and believed that they were immortal anyways, so i think it just clicked