Scientology Essay examples

The Church of Scientology was founded in the 1950s by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. The self-described “religion” emerged from his then newly published book entitled Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Dianetics is "a methodology which can help alleviate such elements as unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses (illnesses caused or aggravated by mental stress)” (Church of Scientology International, 1992).

Scientology was created in 1954 by the science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. It is considered a body of religious beliefs and practices mainly focusing on the human mind and spirit.

There are many groups that hide behind religion in order to get these benefits. Scientology is one group that refers to themselves as a “New Religion.” They protect themselves with this right in order to get away with their actions. There have been many reports accusing Scientology of exploiting members physically and financially. They get away with these illegal activities by lying. Lying is something that the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, has presented as acceptable in the religion, which isn’t tolerated in many real religions. However, if the Charter was to address groups like Scientology with more severity, they would not be able to hide anymore. No longer would they get away with their crimes, but these groups, and so-called religions, will actually face the consequences. In addition, freedom of religion is misused when these groups go against their religion. This refers to religious movements that state they are preaching a religion. In reality, they are going against the basic principles of that religion to do what they feel is right. For instance, many cults like the KKK are based off Christianity, but they don’t follow Christian principles. They do this so that they can have the benefits of being a non-profit religious group, like tax exemptions, but then take advantage of this label to perform hate crimes and get away with them. For this reason, it is

I had watched the South Park episode and thought the idea of the religion was absurd. Through my research I have realized Scientology is even more ridiculous than I thought. Not only does the religion contradict itself multiple times on whether or not it is a religion or not, but it also makes speaking out against it nearly impossible. I had to leave out over half of my research because I did not even want to explain some of the crazy procedures Scientology has used. I focused on the shunning of legitimate science because it made the religion sound a little less weird, still really weird just not so much. While spending hours watching their indoctrination materials I was constantly harassed to take a “free personality test, to discover my real self.” This was very annoying. Not only am I afraid that the Church of Scientology website gave my computer a virus, but I am also mildly concerned that somehow this religion will be spying on me. In conclusion Scientology is even more bizarre than I originally

Given that, over the past fifty years the Church of Scientology has endured many government investigations, scandals, street protest and lawsuits pertaining to the controversial doctrine and practices of Scientology. There has also been allegations against the church for human trafficking, holding people against their will and blackmailing members once they have left the church. In many countries, Scientology has been accused of being a dangerous cult that brainwashes its followers and confiscates their assets. Furthermore, “Greece has banned the religion of Scientology in their country, and France and Germany are calling it a totalitarian organization and a money making scheme” (Reitman 2011). All things considered, the United States has endorsed Scientology as a religion and granted it a tax exempt status. Actually, since than the Church of Scientology has not released any public information about its membership or finances. That being the case no wonder people have their suspicion regarding this

The Church Of Scientology claims to offer a path of self-betterment and spiritual enlightenment through a precise protocol that heals the body and spirit. In reality, Scientology is an opportunistic organization that methodically targets, recruits, and exploits people, particularly highly vulnerable individuals. The Church of Scientology reaches out to these potential members through a robust collection of programs designed to help the general population. Though these programs have been defended as social programs that have little to no religious content, they are “front” programs for things such as drug abuse, self-help programs, psychiatry and mental health initiatives, and educational outreach. These front programs are touted as “salves for people’s emotional wounds,” but these same persons are recruited for the churches financial gain (Spohrer pg. 108). WikiLeaks has reported dozens of front companies attached to Scientology with topics ranging anywhere from office management to homeschool training programs. Three of the more well-known organizations are Narconon, Citizens Commission on Human Rights, and Practice Manage Consulting. Each one of these has its own way of preying on weakness and gaining both money and membership.

What cannot be debated is that there was something in Scientology that a serial killer criminal

The church of Scientology has been the subject of controversy since its inception. Its methods and beliefs have attracted the attention of scholars from around the world. The church has been under government investigation and has endured a countless amount of lawsuits (Reitman 14). It is also a hot topic by the media with several endorsements by some of the most recognized Hollywood celebrities. However, the main topic of debate regarding the Church of Scientology is its status as a religion. Some members claim that the church has helped them overcome their struggles and that they are happier people, while others condemn it as a dangerous cult (Sweeney). The church of Scientology is a religious group whose purpose is to retain their

The Church of Scientology began in the year 1953 and is one of the world's newest religions. In this essay I will address three questions: Who was L Ron Hubbard? What is the doctrine of Scientology? How does Scientology qualify as a religion?

It’s not unknown that The Church of Scientology has been a contentious subject of conversation for decades. The controversial religion was originally discovered by a gentleman named L. Ron Hubbard in 1954 through the establishment of ideas in which he believed would act as an antidote to mental health concerns called Dianetics. After an unsuccessful attempt resulting in bankruptcy, Hubbard branched his ideas into the basis of a new found religion called Scientology ("The Beliefs and Teachings of Scientology”). To Hubbard’s advantage, Scientology expeditiously accelerated in growth, becoming one of the fastest expanding religions in the 20th century. Scientology pledged a “light at the end of the tunnel” to those wandering through dark times, and created a pathway to a faultless understanding of one’s true spiritual fulfillment through a system of self-knowledge in relation to one’s own life, community, and mankind. Due to the Scientology’s controversial beliefs, abnormal practices, and aberrant church-member relationships, the religion poses as a superlative model of church rebelling against society’s social norms.

Scientology has a lot of kinds of beliefs. One of the basic beliefs that scientology has is that experience is saved in the brain as à series of memory traces named engrams. These engrams can cause negative behavior such as, self-dating. Engrams can keep happening if à person is going through hard times, for example: When à relative passes away, à person needs to stop thinking about the situation of someone’s death; otherwise, the engrams are going to reinforced and recur. One of the purpose of scientology is to make people clear when it comes to engrams,and also become more self-determining. Scientologists believe that engrams are not beneficial for people, so they try to prevent them by not thinking about hard situations that can recur. The

What is Scientology? How does one practice it? Where did it come from? Why is it such a big deal? Scientology is the pursuit of a person’s understanding of one’s spiritual nature and the human way of thinking (Official Church of Scientology). The name Scientology comes from the Latin word Scientia, meaning knowledge, and the Greek word Logos, meaning reason or understanding (Molloy 485). This religion did not originate by itself. It has ties to Indian spirituality, Gnosticism, and some schools of Hinduism (Molloy 485). Even though Hubbard does not use the words “nirvana, karma, or enlightenment”, his religion is trying to do this by reaching the state of liberation (Molloy 486). This religion is an applied “religious philosophy” and considers man to be more than just his physical self (The Church of Scientology 3).

The sacred manifests itself as a reality diverse from ordinary realities. Humans become mindful of the sacred when it appears itself as something distinctive from the norm. It is a matter that each person must examine for himself. In Scientologists man is more than just a mind and body and that he, himself, the soul, who is in control of his mind and body. Scientologists are to be Clear and achieve the status of being an Operating Thetan who has dominance over “life, thought, matter, vitality, space and time.” Scientology in specific is built on the numerous works of its originator, L. Ron Hubbard, starting with the first book portraying his disclosures around the human intellect called “ Dianetics: the Unique Thesis”, Scientology's "sacred

Unlike Christian Science, “in Scientology there is no belief in the Holy Bible, God, or Jesus Christ.” (“The Differences Between Scientology and Christian Science”). Christian Science and Scientology are not the same in anyway yet people still confuse the two.

Additionally, these figures shared their beliefs and opinions about Scientology. In this documentary, there are several effective persuasion techniques which all attempt to persuade the audience against Scientology. In my paper, I will be discussing these persuasion techniques and showing the different ways each former scientologist impacts the audience through their stories.