Scientology

The Theological Dimension Scientology's basic constant belief is that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature. The Bridge to Total Freedom: The means by which Scientologists undergo spiritual development. The bridge has two sides training and processing. The bridge requires high ethical and moral standards. Through this they try to accomplish their goal of eliminating opponents of scientology and eliminate peoples interests in things other than scientology. Scientologists believe that when they die they move on a take the flesh of another body with their spirit.

The Ritual Dimension Terminology: Scientologists must have precise terminology that can not be confused with other words or definitions. Auditing: In Scientology a trained auditor(someone who evaluates people) listens and gives auditing commands to the person being audited. Auditing is said to free scientologists of unwanted barriers that inhibit their natural ability. Often the target of Auditors is for the patient to experience traumatic times in their lives a second time and have those experiences no longer refrain them. Scientologist celebrate holidays such as Ron L Hubbard's birthday(the founder of scientology), The Anniversary of Dianetics, and Auditors Day.

Sociological Dimension Scientologists as a whole are very private and don’t leave a lot of room for controversial manners. The opposition of Scientology says that scientology is basically a cult ran by a select few leaders with only their personal benefit of power being the goal. Scientology is viewed by many as an extension of the hippie generation. Besides those who practice the religion, the religion is perceived as a joke and they look down upon those who practice it as mentally unstable.

Leaders Ron L. Hubbard: This man is the founder of Scientology and widely decorated throughout the religion. Hubbard is responsible for many of the early Scientology churches being built. David Miscavige: The current leader of the Church of Scientology. Since become leader he has been involved in many criminal activities such as separation of family members, harassment of church members, and public humiliation of church members.

History -Scientology was based off of one of Hubbard's earlier projects called Dianetics. Dianetics is simply the auditing part of Scientology. In 1952 Hubbard developed the framework for Scientology and implemented 3 churches in Camden, New Jersey. In 1982 the Religious Technology Center was created to ensure the standard use of Scientology Technology. In 1986 Ron Hubbard passed away. The Church of Scientology has had a life long battle with the IRS and are still opposed to paying taxes.

Challenges Hubbard's credibility: Hubbard was somewhat widely recognized as a drug abuser, liar, dishonest in his marriage, and a criminal. Scientology is not scientific it is entirely man made. Scientology is deeply secretive which often times calls for suspicion. Some videos and documents have been leaked but have automatically resulted in lawsuits.

Stereotypes -The Church of Scientology is viewed by many as a brainwashing cult. -Some believe that the church was created just for the financial benefits of the leaders. Scientologists are described many times as crazy followers of a corrupt religion.

Popular Geographic Regions The Origin of Scientology is in Camden, New Jersey. The religion however has spread throughout the world but the majority of followers are in the United States and Europe.

Statistics Scientology has 500,000 followers and .01 percent of the world practices it. -Scientology is practiced in 129 different countries. -Scientology is growing rapidly and gets between at least 5 and 10 thousand new members per year. 97% of Scientologists agree that Scientology made a significant difference in their lives. The graph below shows peoples previous religion before converting to Scientology.

The Battle with the IRS The Church of Scientology had its tax free status stripped from them in 1967. The church's tax exempt status was reinstated in 1993. These actions resulted in over 500 lawsuits. The conflict arose when the two parties tried to determine if scientology should be classified as a religion. The IRS argued that it was a cult.

Notable Scientolgists Tom Cruise Katie Holmes John Travolta

Works Cited http://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology.html?link=side_wis http://www.scientology.org/ http://www.cesnur.org/testi/se_scientology.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology http://www.indiatalkies.com/2011/05/lilo-joining-scientology.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:L._Ron_Hubbard_in_1950.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miscavige http://debroffdebrief.clubmom.com/debroff_debrief/2006/06/the_church_of_s.html http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/03/14/bribery-blackmail-coercion-scientology-and-the-irs/ http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/18/leftist-group-posts-confidential-irs-information

http://www.lermanet.com/howmany.htm http://www.whatisscientology.org/html/Part11/index.html http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/new-investigation-into-scientology-offers-scathing/ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005017/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Cruise http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000237/