Church of Scientology
It is a Hindu interplanetary fiction novel, with a kind of "Catholic Confession", called "auditing" ... a bad place to spend lots of money.
Founded in 1954 by Lafayette Ronald Hubbard in California after writing "Dianetics".
Claims of 7 million members, though the true figure is estimated to be 100,000...
Address: 1306 N. Berendo St., Los Angeles , CA 90027 , USA .
Contents
The Doctrine:
Mankind is descended from a race of interplanetary omnipotent gods called "thetans". Gradually they evolved by reincarnation to become humans who could not remember their deified state, but every human is a god!...
... The problem is the "engrams", the traumatic experiences in past lives, which impede spiritual progress, and they are the reason of all diseases...
The Auditing:
... The "solution" is "auditing", to "discover" and to "clear" these traumatic engrams, hidden in the subconscience. They explain it is like a "Catholic church confessional", starting off with 200 questions, with the appropriate comments by the "auditor", the confessor!.
Results of the "auditing":
The result of any confession of sins to another person are always great, it has been catalogued as one the best psychoanalytical methods... and "confessions of sins" are also the basis of the Alcoholic Anonymous and Drug Anonymous success, developing in days the 5 requirements to do a good "Catholic Confession".
... "Narcanon", of Scientology uses the same basis of "confessions of sins" to fight drugs.
Their claims and propaganda, are exaggerated and fictitious: "Dianetics" promises you will be aware that you are a thetan, a god, with unlimited powers... it will cure all ills, both physical and psychological; it will wipe out all mental illness and mean an end to all wars and conflicts... but it is false: You want to find some "equilibrium in life", and you will end up hooked into a relentless round of expensive courses!...
Very "expensive":
The first "auditing" is free... but once you have achieved the state of "clear", you have to progress up the "bridge of total freedom"... and for that you need more auditings, of $300 per hour, and courses, high level courses, of up to $10,000 or $50,000... if you are not rich, Dianetics is not for you.
It is not "scientific"... the "E-Meter":
Dianetics is not scientific, on the contrary, it is just a fiction novel, with the "auditings", copied from the Catholic Church as the only touch of reality.
Besides the regular "auditings", they have another methods, like the "E-Meters", that makes it look like scientific: These E-Meters are just "lie detectors"; the auditor asks series of questions while the student holds the two tin cans f the E-Meter in his hands. It is nothing new, just a "lie detector"... and if you pay $215 extra, you will be examined with a more modern lie detector... and that's all the science!... plus two huge dictionaries, to explain the many fantasy interplanetary words used in "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health"... anything but science!.
It is not "Christian":
Jesus is not the creator. He was in control of supernatural powers, "cleared" from mental defects, but he was not an "operating thetan"... in fact, the early teachings of Hubbard say that Jesus did not exist... and when he acknowledged his existence, he claimed Jesus was a gay. The Holy Spirit is not mentioned. Salvation comes after many "auditings"... the "confessions"!.
It is not a Church:
In 1993 it was made a "Church", just for tax purposes... Some meet on Sundays... but it is not a Church: There is no Community, no altar, no priests...
It did not work for Ron Hubbard!:
Born in Montana, divorced several times; his son Nibs called him "insane"; his son Quentin killed himself... plagued by venereal disease, he died in 1986 with a stroke, after 6 years of almost total isolation... scientologists claim he is now carrying his work on another galaxy!...