Before jumping into the contextual introduction of Scientology, let's watch some videos that you might have already watched regarding Scientology.






Next, let's look at one of the latest discussions about Scientology by actor Jason Beghe:




And... John Sweeney, a BBC reporter:
a clip from BBC: Scientology And Me, How John Sweeney Was Provoked into Aggression by Tommy Davis, the leader of Scientology...





And now...Some Un-Funny Truth about Scientology:
Be prepared! The following content (both the background music and the information presented) may cause discomfort to the audience.






Are you ready for the contextual introduction of Scientology?


Introduction to Scientology
The word Scientology literally means "the study of truth." It comes from the Latin word "scio" meaning "knowing in the fullest sense of the word" and the Greek word "logos" meaning "study of."



Scientology, What is it?
Scientology is about the individual man or woman. Its goal is to bring an individual to a sufficient understanding of himself and his life and free him to improve conditions in the way that he sees fit.

Scientology is the upper part of the Scientology Bridge. Its focus is the whole track (multiple lives) of the eternal spirit, with techniques purported to produce the state of Operating Thetan.
While the division isn't hard and fast, in general, Dianetics deals with the reactive mind, while Scientology deals with the soul (thetan) and eternity.
The Dianetics movement began in 1950. Scientology was founded in 1954.
The term Scientology often encompasses Dianetics.



Is Scientology a religion?
Scientology is an applied religious philosophy.

In Scientology no one is asked to accept anything as belief or on faith. That which is true for you is what you have observed to be true. An individual discovers for himself that Scientology works by personally applying its principles and observing or experiencing results. Through Scientology, people all over the world are achieving the long-sought goal of true spiritual release and freedom.

So....to many individual Scientologists, Scientology definitely holds the place of a religion in their lives; however, most of them would probably tell you that it has nothing to do with faith or belief, relying instead on things they believe they've seen demonstrated or proven.



Is Scientology a business?
Scientology conducts itself in ways that are more typical of businesses than churches. Due to Scientology's doctrine of exchange, services are not given away but must be paid for. In the Scientology policy entitled "Governing Policy," L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "MAKE MONEY. MAKE MONEY. MAKE MORE MONEY. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MONEY." [capitalization for emphasis is his]

Scientology has filed court cases to protect their trademarks and even trade secrets. Official Scientology publications typically state that "Scientologist is a collective membership mark designating members of the affiliated churches and missions of Scientology." A collective membership mark is a type of trademark - and hence is related to commerce - and this suggests that Scientology organizations wish to control whether an individual may call himself or herself a Scientologist. Scientologists practicing outside the official church are unlikely to recognize this arrogated authority. Scientology missions were originally called "franchises." When Scientology management drastically increased licensing fees owed by missions/franchises, at least one mission refused to pay but continued offering Scientology services. Scientology sued the mission for trademark infringement and obtained an injunction.





Critics of Scientology
After reading about what the Scientologists' belief/principles are, one may think that Scientology sounds like a perfect thing to practice in daily life. However, I found some evdiences that Scientology drives its followers into unpredictable occasional (for some, it's even frequent) emotional outbreaks.




Here are some of the evidences:



Evidence #1:
Boyd, Joe (Band manager):
"What are the secrets of Scientology? Is its central doctrine - that you should purge yourself of all emotional baggage - helpful? Joe Boyd was curious. The band he managed had enrolled with ambiguous results. He gave it a try himself and here he describes his life in the Church of L. Ron Hubbard - and the pervasive paranoia that made him leave. 'Back in 1971, I 'infiltrated' the Church of Scientology. Inspired by curiosity, my adventure took me through more than 60 hours of auditing", the central 'sacrament' of this so-called religion which is supposed to unburden you of your past and lead you to certain success in life. It culminated in a confrontation with aspects of the organization that I found sinister, flawed and even potentially dangerous." - A Mind-Bending Experience, The Guardian Weekend, January 4 1997, pp 18-22.


Evidence #2:


The BBC and the Church of Scientology are feuding over a scheduled TV special -- and their battle has spilled onto the web.

The latest assault comes from Scientology, famous for celebrity members like John Travolta and Tom Cruise. A video of BBC reporter John Sweeney losing his cool while talking with Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis hit the net over the weekend. Sweeney is speaking to Davis in a calm, normal tone when he suddenly starts SCREAMING at the top of his lungs! Quite random.

Sweeney, who has been working for months on a BBC special scheduled to air tonight, had been in a previous tiff with Davis. When Sweeney began a Davis interview with the line, "Some people say it's a sinister cult," Davis took umbrage

"If you are interested in becoming a TV journalist, it is a fine example of how not to do it," Sweeney said on the BBC website. "I look like an exploding tomato and shout like a jet engine and every time I see it, it makes me cringe." Well said, John.
-- and who can blame him? -- but at least he did so without screaming!









This page is made by: Mariana Remedios-Chan



References and Helpful Links:

"Scientology--Church of Scientology Official Site" Feb 2008 <http://www.scientology.org/religion/presentation/pg006.html> Accessed on Feb 01, 2008.

"BBC and Scientology Take Their Tiff Online" May 15, 2007 <http://www.tmz.com/2007/05/15/bbc-and-scientology-take-their-tiff-online/> Accessed on Feb 02, 2008.

"Scientology Lies" 2005 <http://www.scientology-lies.com/scientology/teachings/scientology.html> Accessed on Feb 08, 2008.