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'''Scientology''' is a system of beliefs and teachings, originally established as a secular ] in ] by author ], and subsequently reoriented from ] as an "applied ] philosophy." It is most prominently represented by the '']''. The Church of Scientology is also a commercial organization with a long history of defending its teachings by use of copyright and trade secret law, and zealously using high pressure sales techniques to extract money from its members. Its history of using its full commercial weight in litigation against private individuals has attracted widespread criticism as not quite in keeping with the image of a religion.
Who is Xenu?


Scientology is recognized as a ] in the ] and ] (], s 116). Some ]an countries officially view Scientology as a ] and have denied it the status of a religion. The nature of Scientology is hotly debated in all of these countries, regardless of the official position.
I'm going to tell you a story. Are you sitting comfortably? Right,
then I'll begin.


==Origins of Scientology==


Scientology was expanded and reworked from ] an earlier system of ]s originally set out in the ] book, '']''. By the mid-], Hubbard had relegated Dianetics to being a minor sub-study of Scientology, although it is still promoted and delivered by Scientology organizations. The chief difference between the two is that Dianetics is explicitly secular, focused on the individual's present life and dealing with physical problems, whereas Scientology adopts a more overtly religious approach focused on dealing with spiritual issues spanning multiple past lives as well as the present day
Once upon a time (75 million years ago to be more precise) there was
. Hubbard was repeatedly accused of adopting a religious facade for Scientology in order for the organization to maintain ]-exempt status and avoid prosecution for false medical claims; these accusations have dogged the Church of Scientology to the present day.
an alien galactic ruler named Xenu. Xenu was in charge of all the
planets in this part of the galaxy including our own planet Earth,
except in those days it was called Teegeeack.


The word ''scientology'' has a history of its own. Although nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hubbard's work, it was coined by the philologist Alan Upward in ] as a synonym for "]." In ], the Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz published a book using the word positively: ''Scientologie, Wissenschaft von der Beschaffenheit und der Tauglichkeit des Wissens,'' or ''Scientology, Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge''. Nordenholz's book is a study of consciousness, and its usage of the word is not greatly different from Hubbard's definition, "knowing how to know". However, it is not clear whether Hubbard was aware of these earlier usages. The word itself is a pairing of the ] word ''scio'' ("know" or "distinguish") and the ] λόγος ''lógos''
("reason itself" or "inward thought"). It seems plausible that Hubbard's meaning derived, like that of Nordenholz, from a simple translation of these root words.


==Beliefs and practices==
Now Xenu had a problem. All of the 76 planets he controlled were
overpopulated. Each planet had on average 178 billion people. He
wanted to get rid of all the overpopulation so he had a plan.


''Main article: ]''


Scientology's doctrines were established by Hubbard over some 33 years from ] through to his death in ] ], issued in the form of thousands of lectures, bulletins, policies, books and pamphlets. Most of the basic principles of Scientology were set out during the first 15 years of its existence, with Hubbard devoting much of his later life to the more esoteric upper levels (or "Advanced Technologies") of the Scientology belief system.


The central beliefs of Scientology are that a person is an immortal ] (referred to as a ''thetan'') who has a ] and a ], but is neither of these, that the person is basically good, and is seeking to survive.
Xenu took over complete control with the help of renegades to defeat
the good people and the Loyal Officers. Then with the help of
psychiatrists he called in billions of people for income tax
inspections where they were instead given injections of alcohol and
glycol mixed to paralyse them. Then they were put into space planes
that looked exactly like DC8s (except they had rocket motors instead
of propellers).


==The Church of Scientology==
These DC8 space planes then flew to planet Earth where the paralysed
people were stacked around the bases of volcanoes in their hundreds of
billions. When they had finished stacking them around then H-bombs
were lowered into the volcanoes. Xenu then detonated all the H-bombs
at the same time and everyone was killed.</em>


''Main article: ]''
The story doesn't end there though. Since everyone has a soul (called
a "thetan" in this story) then you have to trick souls into not coming
back again. So while the hundreds of billions of souls were being
blown around by the nuclear winds he had special electronic traps that
caught all the souls in electronic beams (the electronic beams were
sticky like fly-paper).


The ''']''' was first ] in the ] as a ] in ]. Today it forms the center of a complex worldwide network of corporations dedicated to the promotion of L. Ron Hubbard's philosophies in all areas of life.


The Church of Scientology has been, and remains, a highly controversial organization. Countries have taken markedly different approaches to Scientology. The United States government regards Scientology as protected under the ]; other countries, notably in ], have regarded Scientology as a potentially dangerous ] and have significantly restricted its activities at various times. In Germany for instance, they are not seen as a religion by the government but as a financial organization. Scientology has also been the focus of criticism by ]s and has aroused controversy for its high-profile campaigns against ] and psychiatric medication.
After he had captured all these souls he had them packed into boxes
and taken to a few huge cinemas. There all the souls had to spend days
watching special 3D motion pictures that told them what life should be
like and many confusing things. In this film they were shown false
pictures and told they were God, The Devil and Christ. In the story
this process is called "implanting".


The many legal battles fought by the Church of Scientology since its inception have given it a reputation as one of the most litigious religious organizations in existence. Details of Scientology's legal actions can be found in the Misplaced Pages article on '''].'''


For more detailed information on the ] and the ], see those articles.


===Independent Scientology groups===
When the films ended and the souls left the cinema these souls started
to stick together because since they had all seen the same film they
thought they were the same people. They clustered in groups of a few
thousand. Now because there were only a few living bodies left they
stayed as clusters and inhabited these bodies.


''Main article: ]''


Although "Scientology" is most often used as shorthand for the ], a number of groups practice Scientology and Dianetics outside of the fold of the official Church. Such groups are invariably breakaways from the official Church and usually argue that it has corrupted L. Ron Hubbard's principles or has otherwise become overly domineering. The Church takes an extremely hard line on breakaway groups, labeling them "]s" (or "squirrels" in Scientology jargon) and often subjecting them to considerable legal and social pressure. Breakaway groups avoid the name "Scientology" so as to keep from being ]d, instead referring to themselves collectively as the ''']'''.
As for Xenu, the Loyal Officers finally overthrew him and they locked
him away in a mountain on one of the planets. He is kept in by a
force-field powered by an eternal battery and Xenu is still alive
today.


Free Zone groups are extremely heterogeneous in terms of doctrine&mdash;very unlike the official Church. Some Free Zoners practice more or less pure Scientology, based on Hubbard's original (Church-published) texts and principles but without the supervision or fee system of the official Church. Others have developed Hubbard's ideas into radically new forms, some of which are barely recognizable as being related to Scientology.


==Controversy and criticism==
That is the end of the story. And so today everyone is full of these
clusters of souls called "body thetans". And if we are to be a free
soul then we have to remove all these "body thetans" and pay lots of
money to do so. And the only reason people believe in God and Christ
was because it was in the film their body thetans saw 75 million years
ago.


''Main article: ]''
Well what did you think of that story?


Of the many ]s to appear during the ], Scientology has been one of the most controversial almost since its inception. The Church of Scientology has come into conflict with the governments of several countries (including the ], the ] and ]) numerous times over the years. Critical arguments against Scientology, as well as accusations of ] behavior, can be found in the article on ''']'''. This section includes examinations of:
What? You thought it was a stupid story?


*Criminal activities by the Church of Scientology and its members
Well so do we. However, this story is the
*Claims of "brainwashing" and ]
core belief in the religion known as Scientology.* If people knew
*Scientology's ] policy
about this story then most people would never get involved in it. This
*Accusations of L. Ron Hubbard starting a religion to make money
story is told to you when you reach one of their secret levels called
*Deaths of Scientologists
OT III. After that you are supposed to telepathically communicate with
*Scientology's actions against its critics and enemies
these body thetans to make them go away. You have to pay a lot of
money to get to this level and do this (or you have to work very hard
for the organisation on extremely low pay for many years).


Another point of controversy is Scientology's infiltration of the United States ] in what Scientology termed "]". Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, served time in federal prison for their involvement in this infiltration.


==Scientology vs. the Internet==
We are telling you this story as a warning. If you become involved
with Scientology then we would like you to do so with your eyes open
and fully aware of the sort of material it contains.


''Main Article: ]''


Probably the most extensive undertaking of Scientology to address the growing exposure of what Scientology actually is and what it is about is Scientology's actions on the ]. The organization states that it is taking actions to prevent distribution of ]ed Scientology documents and publications online; however, its critics (and many Internet users) claim the organization is attempting to suppress free speech. In January 1995 Scientology attempted to silence the discussions taking place on the '']'' ] by issuing a control message intended to remove the newsgroup from all ] servers, and started to sue people for posting copies of its scriptures on the group, acts that resulted in thousands of Internet users around the world taking a closer look at Scientology. From mid-1996 and for several years after, the newsgroup was subject to another form of attempted suppression, in the form of hundreds of ] messages posted on the group. Although the church neither acknowledged nor denied that it was behind the spam, some investigators claimed that some of the spam had been traced to church members.
Most of the Scientologists who work in their Dianetics* centres and
so called "Churches" of Scientology do not know this story since they
are not allowed to hear it until they reach the secret "upper" levels
of Scientology. It may take them many years before they reach this
level if they ever do. The ones who do know it are forced to keep
it a secret and not tell it to those people who are joining Scientology.


Scientology's response to criticism was to issue a statement insisting that their assault against free speech is actually an assault against ], making numerous claims about hate and violence. The history of the ongoing Internet conflict is examined in the entry ''']'''.


==See also==
* Dianetics and Scientology are trademarks of the Religious Technology

Centre. This document is not connected with that organisation in any
*]
way.

==External links==

===Official Scientology sites===
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

===Other pro-Scientology sites===
*
*
*
*

===Current news and discussions===
*
* '']'' ()

===Critical links===
* ()
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]

]
]

Revision as of 10:08, 20 November 2004

Scientology is a system of beliefs and teachings, originally established as a secular philosophy in 1952 by author L. Ron Hubbard, and subsequently reoriented from 1953 as an "applied religious philosophy." It is most prominently represented by the Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology is also a commercial organization with a long history of defending its teachings by use of copyright and trade secret law, and zealously using high pressure sales techniques to extract money from its members. Its history of using its full commercial weight in litigation against private individuals has attracted widespread criticism as not quite in keeping with the image of a religion.

Scientology is recognized as a constitutionally protected religion in the United States and Australia (Australian Constitution, s 116). Some European countries officially view Scientology as a cult and have denied it the status of a religion. The nature of Scientology is hotly debated in all of these countries, regardless of the official position.

Origins of Scientology

Scientology was expanded and reworked from Dianetics an earlier system of self-improvement techniques originally set out in the 1950 book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. By the mid-1950s, Hubbard had relegated Dianetics to being a minor sub-study of Scientology, although it is still promoted and delivered by Scientology organizations. The chief difference between the two is that Dianetics is explicitly secular, focused on the individual's present life and dealing with physical problems, whereas Scientology adopts a more overtly religious approach focused on dealing with spiritual issues spanning multiple past lives as well as the present day . Hubbard was repeatedly accused of adopting a religious facade for Scientology in order for the organization to maintain tax-exempt status and avoid prosecution for false medical claims; these accusations have dogged the Church of Scientology to the present day.

The word scientology has a history of its own. Although nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hubbard's work, it was coined by the philologist Alan Upward in 1907 as a synonym for "pseudoscience." In 1934, the Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz published a book using the word positively: Scientologie, Wissenschaft von der Beschaffenheit und der Tauglichkeit des Wissens, or Scientology, Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge. Nordenholz's book is a study of consciousness, and its usage of the word is not greatly different from Hubbard's definition, "knowing how to know". However, it is not clear whether Hubbard was aware of these earlier usages. The word itself is a pairing of the Latin word scio ("know" or "distinguish") and the Greek λόγος lógos ("reason itself" or "inward thought"). It seems plausible that Hubbard's meaning derived, like that of Nordenholz, from a simple translation of these root words.

Beliefs and practices

Main article: Scientology beliefs and practices

Scientology's doctrines were established by Hubbard over some 33 years from 1952 through to his death in January 1986, issued in the form of thousands of lectures, bulletins, policies, books and pamphlets. Most of the basic principles of Scientology were set out during the first 15 years of its existence, with Hubbard devoting much of his later life to the more esoteric upper levels (or "Advanced Technologies") of the Scientology belief system.

The central beliefs of Scientology are that a person is an immortal spiritual being (referred to as a thetan) who has a mind and a body, but is neither of these, that the person is basically good, and is seeking to survive.

The Church of Scientology

Main article: Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology was first incorporated in the United States as a nonprofit organization in 1953. Today it forms the center of a complex worldwide network of corporations dedicated to the promotion of L. Ron Hubbard's philosophies in all areas of life.

The Church of Scientology has been, and remains, a highly controversial organization. Countries have taken markedly different approaches to Scientology. The United States government regards Scientology as protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; other countries, notably in Europe, have regarded Scientology as a potentially dangerous cult and have significantly restricted its activities at various times. In Germany for instance, they are not seen as a religion by the government but as a financial organization. Scientology has also been the focus of criticism by anti-cult campaigners and has aroused controversy for its high-profile campaigns against psychiatry and psychiatric medication.

The many legal battles fought by the Church of Scientology since its inception have given it a reputation as one of the most litigious religious organizations in existence. Details of Scientology's legal actions can be found in the Misplaced Pages article on Scientology and the legal system.

For more detailed information on the Church of Scientology and the controversy surrounding its activities, see those articles.

Independent Scientology groups

Main article: Free Zone

Although "Scientology" is most often used as shorthand for the Church of Scientology, a number of groups practice Scientology and Dianetics outside of the fold of the official Church. Such groups are invariably breakaways from the official Church and usually argue that it has corrupted L. Ron Hubbard's principles or has otherwise become overly domineering. The Church takes an extremely hard line on breakaway groups, labeling them "apostates" (or "squirrels" in Scientology jargon) and often subjecting them to considerable legal and social pressure. Breakaway groups avoid the name "Scientology" so as to keep from being sued, instead referring to themselves collectively as the Free Zone.

Free Zone groups are extremely heterogeneous in terms of doctrine—very unlike the official Church. Some Free Zoners practice more or less pure Scientology, based on Hubbard's original (Church-published) texts and principles but without the supervision or fee system of the official Church. Others have developed Hubbard's ideas into radically new forms, some of which are barely recognizable as being related to Scientology.

Controversy and criticism

Main article: Scientology controversy

Of the many new religious movements to appear during the 20th century, Scientology has been one of the most controversial almost since its inception. The Church of Scientology has come into conflict with the governments of several countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany) numerous times over the years. Critical arguments against Scientology, as well as accusations of cult behavior, can be found in the article on Scientology controversy. This section includes examinations of:

  • Criminal activities by the Church of Scientology and its members
  • Claims of "brainwashing" and mind control
  • Scientology's disconnection policy
  • Accusations of L. Ron Hubbard starting a religion to make money
  • Deaths of Scientologists
  • Scientology's actions against its critics and enemies

Another point of controversy is Scientology's infiltration of the United States Internal Revenue Service in what Scientology termed "Operation Snow White". Eleven high-ranking Scientologists, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue Hubbard, served time in federal prison for their involvement in this infiltration.

Scientology vs. the Internet

Main Article: Scientology vs. the Internet

Probably the most extensive undertaking of Scientology to address the growing exposure of what Scientology actually is and what it is about is Scientology's actions on the Internet. The organization states that it is taking actions to prevent distribution of copyrighted Scientology documents and publications online; however, its critics (and many Internet users) claim the organization is attempting to suppress free speech. In January 1995 Scientology attempted to silence the discussions taking place on the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup by issuing a control message intended to remove the newsgroup from all Usenet servers, and started to sue people for posting copies of its scriptures on the group, acts that resulted in thousands of Internet users around the world taking a closer look at Scientology. From mid-1996 and for several years after, the newsgroup was subject to another form of attempted suppression, in the form of hundreds of spam messages posted on the group. Although the church neither acknowledged nor denied that it was behind the spam, some investigators claimed that some of the spam had been traced to church members.

Scientology's response to criticism was to issue a statement insisting that their assault against free speech is actually an assault against hate speech, making numerous claims about hate and violence. The history of the ongoing Internet conflict is examined in the entry Scientology vs. the Internet.

See also

External links

Official Scientology sites

Other pro-Scientology sites

Current news and discussions

Critical links

Categories: