is Scientology considered a religion or just some sort of a club?

Question

this question is not meant to offend anyone. I just never heard anyone say it is a religion, and Scientology doesn't actually promise life after death like other religions... or does it?

hmmm... it started as a bet?

oh by the way, who's the founder of it?

Answer 1

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). Their “treatment” of substance abuse includes little more than massive doses of vitamins and extended sessions in a sauna.
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
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/detox.htm
http://www.nypress.com/20/22/news&columns/feature.cfm

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 tiny incremental 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 Level 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://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/atack_ot3.html
http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/spaink-ot3.html
http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/Xenu-Letter.pdf
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII/

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, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ANY neurological disorder / chemical imbalance at all, & the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). The “Church” blames psychiatry for the Holocaust, as well as school shootings & 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 because their “stand against the enemy” fosters cohesion within said organization, & psychiatry was an effective rallying point considering many people already distrust & oppose the mental health profession.
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 & lists of personal accomplishments differ greatly between Scientology & non-Scientology publications as the “church” tends to exaggerate & outright lie about his early life, his education, his travels, his achievements etc, preferring to paint a distorted, flattering picture. Several books & 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://lisatrust.bogie.nl/scientology/essays/jeff-hubbard.htm

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 bullies all known critics, opponents, “enemies”, etc, often through malicious litigation & character assassination. It’s a particularly greedy as well as manipulative & dangerous cult that takes its anti-psychiatry fanaticism to deadly limits.
http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/harass.htm#start
http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialControl/scs.html#toc
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/s/scientology/pignotti/
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unperson.shtml
http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/funkydonny.html

Answer 2

I don't like bad-mouthing religions, but in this case, it is truly my opinion that it is not a real religion. L. Ron Hubbard declared it a religion because he felt that that would be the way he could make the most money out of his enterprise. If I understand correctly, they do have some rather strange teachings at the higher levels, that would probably best be classified as religious. These are ideas involving aliens and strange stuff like that. But seriously, did L. Ron Hubbard actually believe this stuff? I doubt it. He just added that so he could promote it as a religion, because that's how he could make the most money from people.

Answer 3

Does your definition of religion require life after death?
many dont.

I tried it for a bit and then quit. Didnt hear any of the stuff I see posted here by such well informed internetters :)

Mostly they believe that your problems are in you, and so are the answers. Not drugging it away, or praying it away. Like most SciFi writers, the guy that started it was a decent researcher and gathered alot of self-help techniques from all over the world and put them into a logical package (easy to take courses). Of course back in the early 50's you had to be either medical or religious to make the claims he did about how well the stuff worked.

Most people (62% according to an anti-scientology site) just take the first couple of cheap courses then quit like I did.

Answer 4

Those who are in it, I believe think of it as a religion, most religions see it as a cult. But that isnt unusual for newer religious groups. Most small religious groups are seen as cults until they can become big enough to be considered a religion. It doesnt mean it is a cult or has any cult-like charicteristics (what one would think of when hearing the word cult).

I dont know much about scientology, but I am sure wikipedia does. lol.

Answer 5

It is a cult. To many people think that a cult is only groups like David Koresh, Jim Jones, Charles Manson. Satan is in control of all the false religions. His main goal is to take any attention away from the truth about Jesus Christ, so just think of all the possibilities. He is very good at what he inspires, after all he's been doing it since the fall of man.

Ron L. Hubbard is the founder..

Answer 6

Apparently, it's a recognised religion, and it ostensibly promotes the cleansing of the human bodies from "thetans", the departed spirits of long dead, mass murdered aliens.
In theory it's far-fetched, but as I keep saying, if you accept one, you've got to accept them all.

It was founded the by the B-Sci-Fi author L. Ron Hubbard.

Answer 7

It's considered a religion by those that follow it (not me). The founder is L. Ron Hubbard. I don't know if it promises or teaches anything about the afterlife. I only know what it teaches about alien spirits.

Answer 8

It calls itself a religion. It's actually a profit-making commercial enterprise, and a pretty evil one at that.

It was started by bad sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Answer 9

A religion is a theological system: it has a god, or gods, and a system of belief concerning those gods, perhaps some rituals, and perhaps some sacred writings.
In that respect, scientology is not a religion. It is more like a self-actualization system, a self-help system.

Answer 10

What do expect from a religion that started as a bet?

Answer 11

Neither. It is an evil brainwashing cult founded by L. Ron Hubbard.