Scientology

Scientology is a movement based on a system of beliefs. These beliefs are based on written words by author L. Ron Hubbard. A few other people have added, but almost all of it is his. Hubbard started it in 1954 and contributed until his death in 1986.

Different people understand the words Hubbard wrote differently. In some countries, there are Churches of Scientology. Some people are suspicious of the Church. They feel that it is a cult, and a business to make money. Scientology has been controversial since its beginning.^[1]

Scientology teaches that people are immortal spirits who have forgotten their true nature.^[2] Scientologists say that, through a system called auditing, they help people remember their true nature by re-experiencing painful events in their past and understanding them better.

There are many organizations that are linked to Scientology. For example, some help people stop using harmful drugs or to get back into society after they served a prison term.

Scientology says that psychiatry is bad, and should not be allowed to exist.^[3][4]

The current leader of Scientology is David Miscavige.

1. ↑ Hugh B. Urban (2006): Fair Game: Secrecy, Security, and the Church of Scientology in Cold War America. In: Journal of the American Academy of Religion 74 (2): 356–389, S. 356f.
2. ↑ Neusner 2003, p. 227 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFNeusner2003 (help)
3. ↑ Kent, Stephen A "Scientology – Is this a Religion?" (1999) Archived 2006-08-19 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 24 November 2008
4. ↑ Cohen, David (23 October 2006). "Tom's aliens target City's 'planetary rulers'". Evening Standard.