scientology - religion or cult?

Question

i asked this question earlier and someone reported it, and it got deleted. but i'm still curious, how can something so invested in wealth be a religion?

zero - that video about elli and jeremy perkins is so insane! i can't believe people would ever get themselves into this. it's causing people to lose their minds! you guys need to watch it. it's the cbs 48 hours video.

Answer 1

Cult. Most definitely, without question, CULT. Here's a general overview (in my own words) that I hope will help you to better understand Scientology's origins, methods, intentions, etc:

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 $200-$750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions. Basically, Scientology claims to possess exclusive knowledge of the path to religious redemption & then charges obscene amounts of money for every little baby step towards this end. 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 said 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 & articles 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

The current Church of Scientology closely resembles the Catholic Church at the beginning of the Reformation. This however does not lead me to believe that the religion itself has gone bad. It's the organizational factor. Now obviously by definition any religion is a cult (this is not an insult- just a technicality).

However seeing as I know plenty of scientologists and actually know something [that I didn't read from a tabloid magazine] about the religion itself, I can say that Scientology is sort of like America. The people controlling it are out of their damn minds. The "citizens" (in this case, the followers) being affected by this are pretty damn pissed at the establishment. My own guess is that there's going to be a reformation of sorts in the not too distant future and maybe they'll be able to pull themselves out of the mess.

Answer 3

Many churches and religions are very invested in wealth. What sets Scientology apart from them as a cult is their veneration of their leader (L Ron Hubbard) as a superhuman (although they'll deny this), their dealings with apostates (they cut them off completely including family and friends) and the way they claim to be something they're not (ie once you've been in Scientology for a while, you'll find it's actually promoting the most loopy of ideas that were kept secret from you when you first joined.)

Any Scientologists answer this question, ignore them.

Answer 4

Depends on who you ask. I think they are a little out there with their beliefs-ok.. a lot out there, but people think the same about my religion, and it's called a cult also, so I'm hesitant about saying any other form of belief that calls itself a religion is a cult.

Answer 5

Cult - try getting out of it. They come after you till they can get all your money. Its Islam without the sword, but with subtle direct marketing.
They will take your money till they can get you to ultimate Thetan level and Ron Hubbard made sure there were many levels to master of the most loopy ideas he could think of, couched in sophistry and pseudo-psychiatry.

Answer 6

Cult.
Although the difference between a religion and a cult is just it's popularity...

Answer 7

cult cult cult cult and cult. Hopefully your question stays up before the cult shuts it down

Answer 8

Dangerously delusional cut.

Answer 9

pyramid scheme

Answer 10

cult!