Verified answer

Neither.

As a former staff member Scientologist in the 90's for 4 years, I read Bare Faced Messiah ? and L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman in the local library and immediately left. Hubbard was a fraudulent liar who merely used the moniker of religion in the 50's to prevent him from being prosecuted and thrown in jail where he belonged. It sugar coats itself as a self help organization but in reality it is a pseudo militant using constant reinforcement that all Hubbard did and said was true. If you don't accept his ideology as true, you face a form of excommunication, intimidation, and outright criminal methods of harassment.

Do followers of Scientology really believe that a Science Fiction writer created a religion based on aliens from space?

Yes but you don't find out about the space alien BS until you have devoted years of service and likely a few hundred thousand dollars to the cult. By the way, the depiction of their beliefs in the southpark episode are exactly factual and true representations of Hubbards OT III.

Do celebrities join the church of Scientology because it's a trendy thing to do?

No not really. Many of the celebrities joined to fix their screwed up head after years of drug and sexual abuse by themselves and upon others. They state their wrongdoings to an ethics officer who writes them up and permanently places them in a folder which is locked away in a vault. Should they leave and tell the truth that it really is BS, the facts can be leaked to the newspapers thus effectively ruining their careers. Hence, you'll never see celebs like Tom Cruise or John Travolta or Kirstie Allie publicly denounce Scientology.

Some actors study to Scientology to practise the emotional tone scale to such an extent that they become capable of instantly exhibiting any emotion the acting role calls for. I drilled several small time actors on this while I was staff member.

Did L. Ron Hubbard create this "religion" to make money and get tax breaks?

ABSOLUTELY. He used to have a million dollars couriered to him occasionally at his hideout near San Luis Obispo where he was hiding until his death. But he never got any tax breaks as Scientology never got any tax exemptions until 1992. 6 years after he died. The only reason they got the tax breaks was because all the copyrights and trademarks were transferred to a corporation called the Church of Spiritual Technology in 1982 of which a former IRS commissioner, Emery Ruff, is named as it's director.

IMHO the only reason it wasn't shut down was due to the information it provided for mind control experiments conducted by former Scientologists Ingo Swann and Hal Puthoff regarding remote viewing that was paramount in assisting in the downfall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc in Europe. A close albeit deliberately bastardized depiction of this technology is represented (without the confidential information) in the movie "The men who stare at goats". I myself "Astral Travelled" a few times in my early days. You don't need to join as religion to do this, just read and follow some exercises in some books that I won't tell you about here as it may aid anarchists and terrorists of whom I place zero value upon.

Finally, as an atheist, and after studying the works of Terrence McKenna and Rupert Sheldrake, I recognize religions as merely morphic fields of agreement that can influence the thought patterns to such an extent that the illusion appears to be real. Reality is essentially a morphic field of agreement in which all other smaller morphic fields exist within, including religion.

The potential of the human mind goes way beyond the reality we accept as real.

Scientology is a religion because it teaches the supernatural, that you are you in a body, You are not your body and you are an immortal spiritual being whose experiences span many lifetimes.

It's an applied religious philosophy that is all-denominational. Scientology is something we do, not something we believe. Scientology is not a belief based religion. What is true for each individual is true because they applied it and observed it to work. That's all. There are no aliens in the Scientology doctrine.

Celebrities join for the same reason any one else does. It worked for each and every one of them.

L Ron Hubbard didn't create a religion. He discovered the principles through research that spanned over 40 years. The first Church was created by Scientologists in Phoenix in 1954, and it has expanded from there to over 9000 churches, missions and groups world-wide. The Churches of Scientology in the US have applied for and been accepted as not-for-profit and that we are socially beneficial. The IRS Tax Code is Section 501(c)(3) is very specific that no funds go to any individual. The IRS acknowledged in 1993 that we qualify for that.

This isn't a debate, but it is the facts. :)

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1. Then Atheism is false as well. Reason? Religion is when two or more people gather with the same or similar beliefs (spiritual and otherwise) to share and or celebrate that belief. That includes the belief there is no god.

2. As for Scientology is a business. It was based on a SELF HELP book, not about aliens. He published the book to help others gain confidence and money. It wasn't until the hollywood people started following his advise. That was when they started building compounds. I used to live 20 minutes away from one of those compounds. They have armed guards, barbed wire around the top of huge tall stone fences, the kids who live there wear uniforms and are not allowed to speak to anyone outside that compound.

When his son took over the business the rumors flew about satanism and aliens. Just because he wrote science fiction doesn't mean that Scientology is either about UFOs, aliens, religion, or Satan. Satan by the way is primarily a Christian belief though they think anyone not following their beliefs have to be following their Satan.

Possibly self help/business. They seem to promote a healthy out look and that I know have not hurt anyone. Religions false or not bring common ground and comfort to many people. That's why they remain so popular. Keep in mind we all need water to live yet people have died from drinking water and being in water too cold for too long etc. Should we all believe water is bad?

Scientology seems to be genuine enough, why throw stones at what other people find comforting?

What's the difference?

But, joking aside. Scientology does make a special effort to recruit celebrities. I think it's probably to raise "awareness" of their religion and make it seem "cool" for the kids. Thus, getting them more money in the long run. Gross.

faith simply by fact it bargains with the spirit and it particularly is relation with God and fellow guy as religious beings, no longer bodies. it relatively is a no longer for income consistent with IRS Code 501(c)(3) when you consider that all money amassed flow to social income courses and none to any individual. FTW, L Ron Hubbard authored many books at one time or yet another simply by fact the 30s. The Hab e book substitute into no longer one in each of them No, it does not kill people. Does any faith kill or do parishioners (in any faith) drop their bodies for some reason or different? it particularly is like asserting that vehicles kill whilst somebody has an accident yet this time somebody tries to spin that the philosophy did it to them. Your question is illogical.