Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard initially presented his ideas in 1950 as a form of talk therapy called Dianetics. He later expanded and reframed those ideas as a religion, which he named Scientology. In 1953 he founded the Church of Scientology, which by one 2014 estimate had measured it at around 30,000 members.
A core Scientology belief is that traumatic events cause subconscious command-like recordings in the mind, which may have occurred in past lives, and which can only be relieved through an activity called "auditing". Auditing and training to audit are the two primary activities in a Scientology organization and are outlined in a structured progression chart called The Bridge to Total Freedom, with the two main achievement levels being the status of "Clear" and "Operating Thetan". Fees are charged for auditing and training.
The upper‑level teachings of the Operating Thetan levels are considered confidential, and only revealed to Scientologists when they reach each level. The texts, which involve a past life cosmology narrative, have been leaked and publicized, despite the Church of Scientology litigating to keep them confidential.
The Church has been involved in numerous controversies, legal disputes, and even criminal convictions. It has been variously described as a religion, a cult, a business, and a scam. Scientology is classified differently around the world, with some countries granting it religious status, while others treat it as a non-religious belief system, a commercial enterprise, or a suspicious activity subject to government monitoring. Its practices and leadership have been the subject of sustained investigative reporting, academic study, government inquires, and popular media portrayals.
Definition and classification
In his history of the Church of Scientology, the scholar Hugh Urban describes Scientology as a "huge, complex, and multifaceted movement." According to Urban, Scientology represents a "rich syncretistic blend" of sources, including elements from Hinduism and Buddhism, Thelema, new scientific ideas, science-fiction, and from psychology and popular self-help literature available by the mid-20th century. The sociologist Stephen A. Kent views the Church of Scientology as "a multifaceted transnational corporation, only one element of which is religious".Hubbard claimed that Scientology was "all-denominational", and members of the Scientology organization are not prohibited from active involvement in religions. Scholar of religion Donald Westbrook encountered members who also practiced Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and the Nation of Islam; one was a Baptist minister. In practice, however, Westbrook noted that most members consider Scientology to be their only commitment, and the deeper their involvement became, the less likely they were to continue practicing other traditions. The ceremonies, structure of the prayers, and minister attire suggested by Hubbard reflect his own Protestant traditions.
Scientology has experienced multiple schisms during its history. While the Church of Scientology was the original promoter of the movement, various factions have split off to form independent Scientology groups. Referring to the "different types of Scientology", the scholar of religion Aled Thomas suggests it was appropriate to talk about "Scientologies".
Debates over classification
Debate as to whether Scientology should be regarded as a religion, a cult, a business, or a scam has continued over many years.Many Scientologists consider it to be their religion. Its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, presented it as a religion, but the early history of the Scientology organization, and Hubbard's policy directives, letters, and instructions to subordinates, indicate that his motivation for doing so was as a legally pragmatic move to minimize his tax burden and escape the possibility of prosecution. In many countries, the Church of Scientology has engaged in extensive litigation to secure recognition as a tax-exempt religious organization, and it has managed to obtain such a status in a few jurisdictions, including the United States, Italy, and Australia. The organization has not received recognition as a religious institution in the majority of countries in which it operates.
Government inquiries, international parliamentary bodies, scholars, law lords, and numerous superior court judgments describe Scientology both as a dangerous cult and as a manipulative profit-making business. These institutions and scholars state that Scientology is not a religion. An article in Time magazine, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", describes Scientology as a ruthless global scam. The Church of Scientology's attempts to sue the publishers for libel and to prevent republication abroad were dismissed.
Psychologists and skeptics support this view of Scientology as a confidence trick to obtain money from its targets. The academic Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi observes that "the majority of activities conducted by Scientology and its many fronts and subsidiaries involve the marketing of secular products." Scholars and journalists note that profit is the primary motivating goal of Hubbard's Scientology groups. Those making this observation have often referred to a governing financial policy issued by Hubbard that is to be obeyed by all Scientology organization staff members, which includes the following :
Some scholars of religion have referred to Scientology as a religion. The sociologist Bryan R. Wilson compares Scientology with 20 criteria that he associated with religion and concludes that the movement could be characterized as such. Wilson's criteria include: a cosmology that describes a human reality beyond terrestrial existence; ethics and behavior teachings that are based on this cosmology; prescribed ways for followers to connect with spiritual beings; and a congregation that believes in and helps spread its teachings. Alan W. Black analyzed Scientology through the seven "dimensions of religion" set forward by the scholar Ninian Smart and also decided that Scientology met those criteria for being a religion. The sociologist David V. Barrett noted that there was a "strong body of evidence to suggest that it makes sense to regard Scientology as a religion", while scholar of religion James R. Lewis comments that "it is obvious that Scientology is a religion". The scholar Mikael Rothstein observes that the Scientology "is best understood as a devotional cult aimed at revering the mythologized founder of the organization". Opinion polling in 2012 shows that in its home market, the US, 70% of Americans do not think Scientology is a real religion; 13% think it is. A 2015 poll in the UK shows 61% of British people do not think Scientology is a real religion; 8% think it is.
The characterisation as a religion by such religious studies academics is disputed by the psychology professor Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi. He writes that: "Scientology cannot be classified as a religion. Because Scientology is a profit-oriented organization, sometimes, not always, masquerading as a religion, it has faced serious legitimation problems...The extreme measures Scientology has taken to defend itself reflect the truly precarious position of an organization with clearly illegitimate goals and a fraudulent operational style." Beit-Hallahmi notes that the degree of collaboration with Scientology in the new religious movement research network is in a class by itself. He observes that "Scholars collaborating with Scientology have tried to provide an umbrella of legitimacy. Moreover, they have knowingly collaborated in some of its deceptive schemes and front organizations."
Numerous religious studies scholars have described Scientology as a new religious movement. Various scholars have also considered it within the category of Western esotericism, while the scholar of religion Andreas Grünschloß noted that it was "closely linked" to UFO religions, as science-fiction themes are evident in its theology. Scholars have also varyingly described it as a "psychotherapeutically oriented religion", a "secularized religion", a "postmodern religion", a "privatized religion", and a "progressive-knowledge" religion. According to scholar of religion Mary Farrell Bednarowski, Scientology describes itself as drawing on science, religion, psychology and philosophy but "has been claimed by none of them and repudiated, for the most part, by all".
Some government bodies and other institutions maintain that the Scientology is a secular, profit-making organization, and many commentators claim that is a form of therapy masquerading as religion. The French government characterizes the movement as a dangerous cult, and the German government monitors it as an anti-democratic cult.
The notion of Scientology as a religion is strongly opposed by the anti-cult movement. Its claims to a religious identity have been particularly rejected in continental Europe. Grünschloß writes that labeling Scientology a religion does not mean that it is "automatically promoted as harmless, nice, good, and humane". The multi-faceted nature of the Church of Scientology that includes pedagogy, communication theories, management principles and methods for a healthy living discombobulated many observers when it first started. Dericquebourg comments that the same things can be found in established churches.
Etymology
The word Scientology, as coined by Hubbard, is a derivation from the Latin word scientia, which comes from the verb scīre, with the suffix -ology, from the Greek λόγος lógos. Hubbard claimed that the word "Scientology" meant "knowing about knowing or science of knowledge". The name "Scientology" deliberately makes use of the word "science", seeking to benefit from the "prestige and perceived legitimacy" of natural science in the public imagination. In doing so, Scientology has been compared to religious groups like Christian Science and the Science of Mind, which employed similar tactics.The term "Scientology" had been used in published works at least twice before Hubbard. In The New Word, poet and lawyer Allen Upward first used scientology to mean blind, unthinking acceptance of scientific doctrine. In 1934, philosopher Anastasius Nordenholz published Scientology: Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge, which used the term to mean the science of science. It is unknown whether Hubbard was aware of either prior usage of the word.