Scientology / Dianetics is a cult - -[ the Church of Scientology get 100% on marks of a Cult ]
Meaning of name: Claim: Dianetics : Greek through mind or soul) Modern science of mental health, Scientology: Greek Latin knowing and Greek logos "study of"
Date founded: 1953
Place founded: Los Angeles, California
Founder: L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) - Fi-Si writer.
Adherents: paying members about 55,000, other many7 just read the book Dianetics.
Main locations: Los Angeles, California, Florida, small groups around the USA
Major divisions: seven-division "Org Board" management, Church of Scientology, Religious Technology Center (RTC - protector group), and the Sea Org, training center.
Sacred texts: Dianetics
Original language: English
Spiritual leader: Hubbard (1953 to 1986), 1986 to today, David Miscavige, chairman of the Board.
Place of ritual: Church of Scientology, counseling center ($$ paid), Celebrity Centre for actors.
Theism: Varies: Polytheistic (many gods), main god Xenu
Ultimate reality: New Age, souls, and rebirth thru Reincarnation
Human nature: Man is fundamentally good, the soul called thetans.
Purpose of life: To become clear, thru paid counseling center with e-meters. gives one spiritual liberation, enlightenment.
Afterlife: Rebirth always comes back to earth in a new body, no end.
How to live: Be able to experience anything, ride bad stuff through the counseling center
Holidays: L. Ron Hubbard's birthday (March 13), Dianetics Day (May 9), and New Year's Eve.
Creation: Like a Sci-Fi story, the god Xenu brought the souls of people to earth on a spacecraft. The god made them over a trillion years.
Jesus: Fiction
Salvation: To become 'clear, one with all, by e-meter audits at a costly counseling center.
Church ot not: Scientology has faced decades of financial problems, largely centered on its tax-exempt status, its high-pressure fundraising, and running like a for-profit business, not a non-profit church. Key issues include massive lawsuits over tax evasion, alleged misuse of funds for private gain, and the operation of numerous trusts and for-profit entities, such as Bridge Publications.
Members are not free to depart the group. This is shown in detail in the TV Series: Scientology and the Aftermath, by Leah Remini and Mike Rinder. Wiki Ext link to Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath
In 1950, Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986) published the book"Dianetics": The Modern Science of Mental Health (The American Saint Hill Organization, Los Angeles. All page references here are to this edition.) The book is treated as if it were a holy scripture by Scientologists and they treat it as if it were the cornerstone of their church, their religion, and what they consider to be their science. Hubbard tells the reader that dianetics "...contains a therapeutic technique with which can be treated all inorganic mental ills and all organic psycho-somatic ills, with assurance of complete cure...." He claims that he has discovered the "single source of mental derangement" (Hubbard 6). However, in a disclaimer on the frontispiece of the book, we are told that "Scientology and its sub-study, Dianetics, as practiced by the Church...does not wish to accept individuals who desire treatment of physical illness or insanity but refers these to qualified specialists of other organizations who deal in these matters." The disclaimer seems clearly to have been a protective mechanism against lawsuits for practicing medicine without a license; the author repeatedly insists that dianetics can cure just about anything that ails you. Hubbard also repeatedly insists that dianetics is a science. Yet, just about anyone familiar with scientific texts will be able to tell from the first few pages of Dianetics that the text is not a scientific work and the author is not a scientist. Dianetics is a classic example of a pseudoscience and is a cult
On page 5 of Dianetics, Hubbard asserts that a science of mind must find "a single source of all insanities, psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, repressions and social derangements." Such a science, he claims, must provide "Invariant scientific evidence as to the basic nature and functional background of the human mind." And, this science, he says, must understand the "cause and cure of all psycho-somatic ills...." Yet, he also claims that it would be unreasonable to expect a science of mind to be able to find a single source of all insanities, since some are caused by "malformed, deleted or pathologically injured brains or nervous systems," and some are caused by doctors. Undaunted by this apparent contradiction, he goes on to say that this science of mind "would have to rank, in experimental precision, with physics and chemistry." He then tells us that dianetics is "...an organized science of thought built on definite axioms: statements of natural laws on the order of those of the physical sciences" (Hubbard, 6).
There are broad hints that this so-called science of the mind isn't a science at all in the claim that dianetics is built on "definite axioms" and in his a priori notion that a science of mind must find a single source of mental and psychosomatic ills. Sciences aren't built on axioms, and they don't claim a priori knowledge of the number of causal mechanisms that must exist for any phenomena. Of course, science presupposes a regular order to nature and assumes there are underlying principles according to which natural phenomena work. It assumes that these principles or laws are relatively constant. But it does not assume that it can know a priori either what these principles are or what the actual order of any set of empirical phenomena is. A real science is built on tentative proposals to account for observed phenomena. Scientific knowledge of causes, including how many kinds there are, is a matter of discovery not stipulation. Also, scientists generally respect logic and would have difficulty saying with a straight face that this new science must show that there is a single source of all insanities except for those insanities that are caused by other sources.
There is other evidence that dianetics is not a science. For example, his theory of mind shares little in common with modern neurophysiology and what is known about the brain and how it works. According to Hubbard, the mind has three parts. "The analytical mind is that portion of the mind which perceives and retains experience data to compose and resolve problems and direct the organism along the four dynamics. It thinks in differences and similarities. The reactive mind is that portion of the mind which files and retains physical pain and painful emotion and seeks to direct the organism solely on a stimulus-response basis. It thinks only in identities. The somatic mind is that mind, which, directed by the analytical or reactive mind, places solutions into effect on the physical level" (Hubbard, 39).
According to Hubbard, the single source of insanity and psychosomatic ills is the engram. Engrams are to be found in one's "engram bank," i.e., in the reactive mind." The "reactive mind," he says, "can give a man arthritis, bursitis, asthma, allergies, sinusitis, coronary trouble, high blood pressure, and so on down the whole catalogue of psycho-somatic ills, adding a few more which were never specifically classified as psycho-somatic, such as the common cold" (Hubbard, 51). One searches in vain for evidence of these claims. We are simply told: "These are scientific facts. They compare invariably with observed experience" (Hubbard, 52).
There is no possible way to empirically test such claims. A "science" that consists of nothing but such claims is not a science, but a pseudoscience.
Subdivisions Scientology front groups:
Sea Org (SO):, Watchdog Committee, Flag Bureaux, Continental Liaison Office (CLO), Celebrity Centre International (CC INT, Scientology Missions International (SMI), International Hubbard Ecclesiastical League of Pastors (IHELP), Church of Spiritual Technology (CST), World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE), Bridge Publications/Golden Era Productions. Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), Narconon, and Foundation for a Drug-Free World
To hide their name, Scientology uses front groups. See the link for a complete list these groups wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_front_groups