OVERVIEW
There are nearly 8,000 Churches of Scientology, Missions, and related organizations with over 20,000 full time staff in 164 countries. Each church is locally governed and licensed to teach Scientology using its standardized materials and methods.
Scientology has an estimated membership of between 8-15 million followers and about 500,000 regular members. Today there are over 20,000 full time staff.
The Church of Scientology has various headquarters, including the one in Clearwater, Florida, recognized as the spiritual headquarters, and the Religious Technology Center in Riverside County, California, which serves as an administrative center. Its Founder was L. Ron Hubbard.
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) was the only child of Harry Ross Hubbard, a United States Navy officer, and his wife Ledora. Hubbard spent three semesters at George Washington University and was reportedly placed on probation in September 1931. He then failed to return for the fall 1932 semester.
In April 1938, Hubbard reportedly reacted to a drug used in a dental procedure. According to his account, this triggered a revelatory near-death experience. This may have formed some of the basis of his later teachings.
In July 1941, Hubbard was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. On May 18, 1943, the sub-chaser left Portland. That night, Hubbard ordered his crew to fire 35 depth charges and a number of gun rounds at what he believed were Japanese submarines. His ship sustained minor damage and three crew were injured. Having run out of depth charges and with the presence of a submarine still unconfirmed by other ships, Hubbard's ship was ordered back to port. The navy report concludes that "there was no submarine in the area." A decade later, Hubbard claimed he had sunk a Japanese submarine in his Scientology lectures.
L. Ron Hubbard took up ritual magic, the occult and hypnosis, giving demonstrations of hypnosis in 1948. He published DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH in 1950.
Hubbard established a headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, awarded himself the degree of “D.Scn”, (Doctor of Scientology). In May 1952 incorporated the "Hubbard Association of Scientologists International" under the personal control of himself and his third wife, Mary Sue. His first two allegedly bigamous marriages had failed.
Hubbard established the Church of Scientology in 1954 when he dropped out of college with failing grades. He found success writing pulp/science fiction. In 1956 the church was granted US federal tax-exempt status.
Hubbard became interested in a type of lie detector called the "electropsychometer" that he believed would yield better results in auditing. He obtained a franchise for this device, which he renamed the Hubbard Electrometer, or E-meter. He began calling patients "pre-clears" and "within six weeks had created a new subject apparently out of thin air."
Hubbard called his new subject Scientology and in introducing it, he claimed to have discovered the human soul. Whereas Dianetics had addressed the body, Scientology involved freeing souls (which Hubbard called "thetans") from supposed entrapment in the physical or material world and restoring their alleged supernatural powers.
In 1957, passing himself off as a nuclear physicist, Hubbard gave a series of lectures in London on "nuclear radiation and health," promoting a vitamin compound which he claimed cured both "radiation sickness" and cancer. Also that year the CIA began a file on him.
In mid-1967 Hubbard bought three ships and put to sea with a small cadre of followers. Styling himself "the Commodore," he spent the next several years wandering the Atlantic, pursued by imaginary Reds and Nazis and attended by the "Commodore’s Messengers," teenaged girls dressed in white hot pants who waited on him hand and foot, bathing and dressing him and even catching the ash from his cigarettes.
He reportedly had frequent screaming tantrums and instituted brutal punishments such as incarceration in the ship’s filthy chain-locker for days or weeks at a time and "overboarding," in which errant crew members were blindfolded, bound and thrown overboard into the sea .These punishments applied to children as well as to adults.
In 1972, facing criminal charges in France, Hubbard returned to the United States and began living in an apartment in Queens, New York. When faced with possible indictment in the United States, Hubbard went into hiding in April 1979. He hid first in an apartment in Hemet, California, where his only contact with the outside world was via ten trusted Messengers. He cut contact with everyone else, even his wife, whom he saw for the last time in August 1979. In February 1980 he disappeared into deep cover in the company of two trusted Messengers.
In 1979, as a result of FBI raids during Operation Snow White, eleven senior people in the church's Guardian's Office were convicted of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property. In 1981, Scientology took the German government to court for the first time.
Hubbard made unsuccessful attempts to take over Morocco and Rhodesia and was banned from entry into Britain. He began the Sea Organization (SO), whose members wear pseudo-naval uniforms, adopt naval ranks, sign billion year contracts and are pressured to have abortions when they become pregnant because children are perceived as interfering with their SO obligations.
On January 24, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard died at his ranch in Creston, California.
David Miscavige emerged as the new head of the organization.
***********************************************************************************
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
The basic belief of Scientology is that experience, in this or in previous lives, is recorded in the brain as a series of "engrams." These engrams are revived and reinforced by recurring similar situations and always cause inappropriate and self-defeating behavior. One's goal of Scientology is to "process" or clear these engrams and become more self-determining. By erasing these accretions from one's present and past lives, one releases the essential, spiritual self or soul called the "thetan."
Scientology has ministers who perform some religious rites and sacraments, but their main function is individual counseling. Scientology is tightly organized from the top down, with a close-knit inner circle and many highly committed adherents, including such celebrities as John Travolta and Tom Cruise. The church has impressive property holdings as well as a history of conflict with the U.S. and British governments.
Scientology considers the belief in a God or gods as something personal and therefore offers no specific dogma. The nature of the Supreme Being is revealed personally through each individual as s/he becomes more conscious and spiritually aware. There exists a life energy or force (Theta) beyond and within all.
There are no particular human incarnations of God, as the universal life force (Theta) is inherent in all. All humans are immortal spiritual beings (thetans) capable of realizing a nearly godlike state through Scientology practices.
All is manifestation of the universal spirit, which is all that actually exists. Rebirths continue until one consciously confronts all pre-birth, current-life, and previous-life traumas. Thus realizing one's true nature as a "thetan," an immortal spirit--transcending matter, energy, space, and time. Achieving this state enables the spirit to escape the cycle of birth and death to operate independently of the physical universe and become one with God.
According to Scientology, Jesus is an mplant' forced upon a thetan about a million years ago. Hubbard allegedly believed that Christ was a fiction.
Painful experiences and harmful acts in one's prebirth, current, and past lives become imprinted in the reactive mind and lead to irrational behavior. Departures from rational thought and untrue ideas ("aberrations") can result in wrongdoing.
Salvation is achieved through the practices and techniques of Scientology, the ultimate goal of which is to realize one's true nature as an immortal spirit, a thetan. The path to salvation, or enlightenment, includes achieving states of increasingly greater mental awareness--Pre-Clear, Clear, and ultimately Operating Thetan. An Operating Thetan is a spirit who can control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life.
Practitioners ("Auditors") are regarded as ministers and counselors who assist others to achieve self-enlightenment. Auditors help others to identify their prebirth, current, and past-life disturbances, which are obstacles to happiness and spiritual enlightenment.
Suffering occurs as part of the spirit's entrapment here in the physical universe. Only when the individual is aware of his spiritual nature can he identify his barriers within the universe and overcome them, rising out of a lower state and into a higher state of happiness and freedom.
Based on the belief that you cannot free yourself spiritually without working to free others, Scientology has founded and supports many organizations for social betterment, particularly in the areas of drug abuse, crime, psychiatric abuse, government abuse of law, human rights, religious freedom, education, and morality. Scientology strongly favors the use of their methodology for spiritual/mental healing over the use of conventional treatment.
Scientologists believe that they may have lived thousands of times and will its members are still striving to unleash their potential.
Scientology does not require that their members must exclusively believe in Scientology, distinguishing it from biblical religions. Scientologists may profess belief in other religions, such as Protestantism and Catholicism, and may participate in their activities and sacred rites.
According to Scientology beliefs, Scientology itself is a blend of science and spirituality, with belief in an immortal spirit and in improving that spirit here on Earth using Scientology's methods. Scientologists do not typically dwell on Heaven or Hell or the afterlife, instead focusing on the spirit. Many Scientologists also belong to other churches.
The Church of Scientology states that it has no set dogma on God and allows individuals to come to their own understanding of God.
There are nearly 8,000 Churches of Scientology, Missions, and related organizations with over 20,000 full time staff in 164 countries. Each church is locally governed and licensed to teach Scientology using its standardized materials and methods.
Scientology has an estimated membership of between 8-15 million followers and about 500,000 regular members. Today there are over 20,000 full time staff.
The Church of Scientology has various headquarters, including the one in Clearwater, Florida, recognized as the spiritual headquarters, and the Religious Technology Center in Riverside County, California, which serves as an administrative center. Its Founder was L. Ron Hubbard.
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986) was the only child of Harry Ross Hubbard, a United States Navy officer, and his wife Ledora. Hubbard spent three semesters at George Washington University and was reportedly placed on probation in September 1931. He then failed to return for the fall 1932 semester.
In April 1938, Hubbard reportedly reacted to a drug used in a dental procedure. According to his account, this triggered a revelatory near-death experience. This may have formed some of the basis of his later teachings.
In July 1941, Hubbard was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve. On May 18, 1943, the sub-chaser left Portland. That night, Hubbard ordered his crew to fire 35 depth charges and a number of gun rounds at what he believed were Japanese submarines. His ship sustained minor damage and three crew were injured. Having run out of depth charges and with the presence of a submarine still unconfirmed by other ships, Hubbard's ship was ordered back to port. The navy report concludes that "there was no submarine in the area." A decade later, Hubbard claimed he had sunk a Japanese submarine in his Scientology lectures.
L. Ron Hubbard took up ritual magic, the occult and hypnosis, giving demonstrations of hypnosis in 1948. He published DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH in 1950.
Hubbard established a headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, awarded himself the degree of “D.Scn”, (Doctor of Scientology). In May 1952 incorporated the "Hubbard Association of Scientologists International" under the personal control of himself and his third wife, Mary Sue. His first two allegedly bigamous marriages had failed.
Hubbard established the Church of Scientology in 1954 when he dropped out of college with failing grades. He found success writing pulp/science fiction. In 1956 the church was granted US federal tax-exempt status.
Hubbard became interested in a type of lie detector called the "electropsychometer" that he believed would yield better results in auditing. He obtained a franchise for this device, which he renamed the Hubbard Electrometer, or E-meter. He began calling patients "pre-clears" and "within six weeks had created a new subject apparently out of thin air."
Hubbard called his new subject Scientology and in introducing it, he claimed to have discovered the human soul. Whereas Dianetics had addressed the body, Scientology involved freeing souls (which Hubbard called "thetans") from supposed entrapment in the physical or material world and restoring their alleged supernatural powers.
In 1957, passing himself off as a nuclear physicist, Hubbard gave a series of lectures in London on "nuclear radiation and health," promoting a vitamin compound which he claimed cured both "radiation sickness" and cancer. Also that year the CIA began a file on him.
In mid-1967 Hubbard bought three ships and put to sea with a small cadre of followers. Styling himself "the Commodore," he spent the next several years wandering the Atlantic, pursued by imaginary Reds and Nazis and attended by the "Commodore’s Messengers," teenaged girls dressed in white hot pants who waited on him hand and foot, bathing and dressing him and even catching the ash from his cigarettes.
He reportedly had frequent screaming tantrums and instituted brutal punishments such as incarceration in the ship’s filthy chain-locker for days or weeks at a time and "overboarding," in which errant crew members were blindfolded, bound and thrown overboard into the sea .These punishments applied to children as well as to adults.
In 1972, facing criminal charges in France, Hubbard returned to the United States and began living in an apartment in Queens, New York. When faced with possible indictment in the United States, Hubbard went into hiding in April 1979. He hid first in an apartment in Hemet, California, where his only contact with the outside world was via ten trusted Messengers. He cut contact with everyone else, even his wife, whom he saw for the last time in August 1979. In February 1980 he disappeared into deep cover in the company of two trusted Messengers.
In 1979, as a result of FBI raids during Operation Snow White, eleven senior people in the church's Guardian's Office were convicted of obstructing justice, burglary of government offices, and theft of documents and government property. In 1981, Scientology took the German government to court for the first time.
Hubbard made unsuccessful attempts to take over Morocco and Rhodesia and was banned from entry into Britain. He began the Sea Organization (SO), whose members wear pseudo-naval uniforms, adopt naval ranks, sign billion year contracts and are pressured to have abortions when they become pregnant because children are perceived as interfering with their SO obligations.
On January 24, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard died at his ranch in Creston, California.
David Miscavige emerged as the new head of the organization.
***********************************************************************************
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES
The basic belief of Scientology is that experience, in this or in previous lives, is recorded in the brain as a series of "engrams." These engrams are revived and reinforced by recurring similar situations and always cause inappropriate and self-defeating behavior. One's goal of Scientology is to "process" or clear these engrams and become more self-determining. By erasing these accretions from one's present and past lives, one releases the essential, spiritual self or soul called the "thetan."
Scientology has ministers who perform some religious rites and sacraments, but their main function is individual counseling. Scientology is tightly organized from the top down, with a close-knit inner circle and many highly committed adherents, including such celebrities as John Travolta and Tom Cruise. The church has impressive property holdings as well as a history of conflict with the U.S. and British governments.
Scientology considers the belief in a God or gods as something personal and therefore offers no specific dogma. The nature of the Supreme Being is revealed personally through each individual as s/he becomes more conscious and spiritually aware. There exists a life energy or force (Theta) beyond and within all.
There are no particular human incarnations of God, as the universal life force (Theta) is inherent in all. All humans are immortal spiritual beings (thetans) capable of realizing a nearly godlike state through Scientology practices.
All is manifestation of the universal spirit, which is all that actually exists. Rebirths continue until one consciously confronts all pre-birth, current-life, and previous-life traumas. Thus realizing one's true nature as a "thetan," an immortal spirit--transcending matter, energy, space, and time. Achieving this state enables the spirit to escape the cycle of birth and death to operate independently of the physical universe and become one with God.
According to Scientology, Jesus is an mplant' forced upon a thetan about a million years ago. Hubbard allegedly believed that Christ was a fiction.
Painful experiences and harmful acts in one's prebirth, current, and past lives become imprinted in the reactive mind and lead to irrational behavior. Departures from rational thought and untrue ideas ("aberrations") can result in wrongdoing.
Salvation is achieved through the practices and techniques of Scientology, the ultimate goal of which is to realize one's true nature as an immortal spirit, a thetan. The path to salvation, or enlightenment, includes achieving states of increasingly greater mental awareness--Pre-Clear, Clear, and ultimately Operating Thetan. An Operating Thetan is a spirit who can control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life.
Practitioners ("Auditors") are regarded as ministers and counselors who assist others to achieve self-enlightenment. Auditors help others to identify their prebirth, current, and past-life disturbances, which are obstacles to happiness and spiritual enlightenment.
Suffering occurs as part of the spirit's entrapment here in the physical universe. Only when the individual is aware of his spiritual nature can he identify his barriers within the universe and overcome them, rising out of a lower state and into a higher state of happiness and freedom.
Based on the belief that you cannot free yourself spiritually without working to free others, Scientology has founded and supports many organizations for social betterment, particularly in the areas of drug abuse, crime, psychiatric abuse, government abuse of law, human rights, religious freedom, education, and morality. Scientology strongly favors the use of their methodology for spiritual/mental healing over the use of conventional treatment.
Scientologists believe that they may have lived thousands of times and will its members are still striving to unleash their potential.
Scientology does not require that their members must exclusively believe in Scientology, distinguishing it from biblical religions. Scientologists may profess belief in other religions, such as Protestantism and Catholicism, and may participate in their activities and sacred rites.
According to Scientology beliefs, Scientology itself is a blend of science and spirituality, with belief in an immortal spirit and in improving that spirit here on Earth using Scientology's methods. Scientologists do not typically dwell on Heaven or Hell or the afterlife, instead focusing on the spirit. Many Scientologists also belong to other churches.
The Church of Scientology states that it has no set dogma on God and allows individuals to come to their own understanding of God.