What exactly is Scientology? What do they practice? why is it called scientology?

According to Scientology, the word itself means "the study of knowledge" and "knowing how to know". They practice something called "Dianetics", the cornerstone of which is "auditing". Here's a full explanation (I wrote this... it wasn't stolen from Wiki or some random blog):

Scientology, which questionably calls itself a new "religion", is the brainchild of 1950’s science fiction writer & occult enthusiast L. Ron Hubbard. The organization, by means of Hubbard’s self created psychotherapy technique called “Dianetics”, claims to be able to help rid members of any & all mental constraints including but not limited to emotional scarring (from this & "past" lives) due to "engrams" (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind), psychological disorders & chemical imbalances (the solution is to convince members that these things don't actually exist) & drug dependence (including legally prescribed psychopharmaceuticals which counteract the effects of psychological disorders Scientologists believe to be nonexistent). Their “treatment” of substance abuse includes little more than massive, often dangerous doses of vitamins and unhealthy extended sessions in a sauna.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics#Scientific_...

Dianetics review: http://dir.salon.com/story/books/review/2005/06/28...

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,8...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/detox.htm

http://www.nypress.com/20/22/news&columns/feature....

Scientology is most certainly NOT a religion. In fact, one of the only reasons they enjoy "tax exempt status" on religious ground in the United States is because they bullied the IRS into a "deal" through extremely aggressive barratry (which is the offense of persistently instigating groundless lawsuits) against said government agency & its officials, & arranged to drop all 2,500 frivolous lawsuits only when an "agreement" was reached. In addition, Scientology's lawyers hired private investigators to dig up any "dirt" on IRS agents which was then used to blackmail or publicly smear all "vulnerable" agents. It was an all-out WAR that Scientology had waged against the IRS, & was even described as such by Scientology's "CEO", David Miscavige, in his 1993 speech to the International Association of Scientologists.

http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/list/fedtax-l/msg...

http://www.lermanet.com/scientologynews/nytimes/ny...

http://www.factnet.org/headlines/give-away.htm

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/essays/irs.html

The official Scientology organization is composed of a number of “levels”. One begins as a “preclear” & works their way up. One must purchase virtually every service crucial to advancement directly from the "church" & at staggering prices. "Auditing", for example, is purchased in 12½ hour blocks, costing anywhere from $200-$750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions. Basically, Scientology claims to possess exclusive knowledge of the path to religious redemption & then charges obscene amounts of money for every tiny incremental step towards this end. Visit this link to see how $380,000 is a conservative estimate for the total cost of moving all the way up the Scientology hierarchal ladder:

http://www.xenu.net/archive/prices.html

These are the total costs for auditing alone:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_as_a_busi...

Here’s an explanation of what “auditing” is:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200612...

At level OT III (Operating Thetan Level 3), some very strange & fiercely guarded secrets are imparted upon worthy members who have paid enough money to advance to such a level (and no, this isn't a joke): The evil alien ruler Xenu killed millions of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by kidnapping them, bringing them to earth in golden DC-8 “space-planes”, stacking them around volcanoes & blowing them up by dropping “h-bombs” into the volcanoes. Scientologists believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") were captured, brainwashed & released; they then attached themselves to our ancestors (and according to Scientology’s belief in Thetan immortality, they also attached to us during “past lives”) & cause many of our mental & physical ills to this day. Auditing is said to “clear” us of these Body Thetans as well as the “mental implants” they supposedly impose on our minds.

http://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/atack_ot3.html

http://sf.irk.ru/www/ot3/spaink-ot3.html

http://xenu.net/archive/leaflet/Xenu-Letter.pdf

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII/

Scientology has taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional during everyday life. It doesn’t recognize legitimate conditions like autism, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or ANY neurological disorder / chemical imbalance at all, & the “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from members (often with harmful & deadly results). The “Church” blames psychiatry for the Holocaust, as well as school shootings & even September 11th. It’s been suggested that Hubbard’s vehement opposition was born of the psychiatric community’s rejection of his “tech” as a valid treatment method, but it’s also possible that Hubbard chose psychiatry as a scapegoat. Organizations like Scientology are notorious for villainizing a specific out-group because their “stand against the enemy” fosters cohesion within said organization, & psychiatry was an effective rallying point considering many people already distrust & oppose the mental health profession.

http://www.anti-scientologie.ch/usa-scientology.ht...

http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3137&Issu...

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/07/01...

http://perkinstragedy.org/

L. Ron Hubbard, the man behind the creation of Scientology, was & still is a controversial figure. Biographies & lists of personal accomplishments differ greatly between Scientology & non-Scientology publications as the “church” tends to exaggerate & outright lie about his early life, his education, his travels, his achievements etc, preferring to paint a distorted, flattering picture. Several books & articles present facts which flatly contradict these church-published accounts (links to free online copies of these books & articles are provided below), showing conclusively that he was NOT the brilliant, accomplished figure revered by Scientologists. During his autopsy, the sedative Vistaril™ was present in his body, which several of his assistants would later attest was only one of many psychiatric & pain medications Hubbard ingested over the years. It had also been said by many who knew Hubbard personally that at the end of his life he was “a psychopathic insane person screaming about BT's [Body Thetans]…”

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/Bare%20Faced%20Mes...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/atack/con...

http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/mom/Messiah_...

http://lisatrust.bogie.nl/scientology/essays/jeff-...

To be blunt, Scientology is a cult. It employs semi-legitimate psychotherapy & self-help methods to keep people loyal & convinced of its merit while it simultaneously sucks them dry financially & attempts to keep them far away from ANYONE, even friends & family, who would dissuade them from remaining in such a harmful situation. It bullies all known critics, opponents, “enemies”, etc, often through malicious litigation & character assassination. It’s a particularly greedy as well as manipulative & dangerous cult that takes its anti-psychiatry fanaticism to deadly limits.

http://www.solitarytrees.net/racism/harass.htm#sta...

http://www.factnet.org/Books/SocialControl/scs.htm...

http://www.garloff.de/kurt/sekten/mind1.html

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/06/24/Tampabay/The_unp...

http://www.xenu.net/archive/personal_story/funkydo...

I'm not a Scientoligist. But know more about the tech then I ever wanted to learn. Every thing I'm writting is true and what happened to me at one of there rehabs called NARCONON.

Scientology has nothing to do with Religion or Science. It is a Scam and a Cult!

It is a bunch of twisted facts and some bull crap tech on how man should live his life. Their idea of Ethics is nothing as you and I would want to follow.

They believe that any problem you have from a bad marriage to drug addiction can be cured by their tech. This includes getting a better job and coming out of a deep depression. They claim to fix it by using the same tech on everyone.

Here is a one of their dangerous beliefs:

They believe that "All illnesses to a greater or lesser degree and all fowl ups stem directly and only from what they call a PTS (Potential Trouble Source) condition." To be PTS means you are being supressed by an SP. An SP (Supressive Person). 1)So if you get sick they believe that it is caused by an SP, find out who the SP is and dissconect from that person and you will not be ill. You will not need a doctor or meds.2) Let say you work for them. You are driving one of their cars. You back up and hit something like a pole that was out of your veiwing range. This fowl up has been caused because you are PTS.Not because you just couldn't see it. Now you are put in one of their conditions. This would probably be The Condition of Treason. Treason definition: Betrayal after trust. They trusted you to drive the car and not hit a pole. You are now going to be put on an ethics cycle and relearn what you already paid for them to teach you. Manual labor and humilation. That's only part of the proccess to get back into their good graces.

Then the higher levels are right out of there founding fathers (LR Hubbard) Sci FI books. In order to learn that stuff you must pay lot of money to go through the classes to tell you this crazy secret.

Never take one of there personality test. That is how they tell you what is wrong in your life. A 200 question personality test that everyone takes. Same test for every problem. It is a money making scam that will turn you into a penniless cult member

Scientology was a religion created by L. Ron Hubbard who was a science fiction writer. The whole religion sounds like a story from one of his novels. Basically Scientologists believe that their was a race of alien beings billions of years ago who were tortured and killed by an evil alien named Lord Xenu. The souls of these dead aliens inhabited the bodies of humans and today all humans contain these souls. They are the cause of sadness and disease in modern human beings and the only way to get rid of them is to give money to the church of Scientology.

I kid you not, this is actually what these people believe.

Scientology is more self-help type stuff than religion. But they like to call it a religion, especially for tax exemption status. They practice spending loads of money getting "cleared" and reaching higher and higher OT (operating Thetan) levels. The "thetan" is sort of like their idea of a soul.

It is called Scientology in order to make it sound more legit.

An insidious cult religion... This is one of the most treacherous practices due to the fact they beguile you with deception. It may appear to be alluring, but in the end it's pernicious!

They basically teach ludicrous things such as aliens allegedly being trapped in the human body. The religion itself is very elusive... They use manipulative tactics to beguile you from reality, which basically leads you into a paradox!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology

It's a completely pointless religion created by a science fiction writer, hence the name Scientology. It has something to do with everyone is a thetan, they just have to realize this and become one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology

http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol.htm

These will explain it better than me.

However, they can believe in it all they want, it's their life and it's not hurting me at all. There not trying to pass laws based upon their religion.

Well nevermind, I guess it is hurting people, or at any rate themselves.

It seen that the majority of people, after striving to achieve an objective that they have set for themselves, quit when they discover barriers placed in their path.

These barriers will not discourage you as soon as you read this book https://tr.im/xeZl7 as you know that it is just a matter of time before you end up being successful in your endeavor. This is because you become aware of the destiny-tuning trick that permits you to alter your fate.

You are then able to change your life entirely with the help of this book called Manifestation Miracle. After reading this book and applying the methods explained in it, you will be able to attain the objectives you have set for yourself in life. Law of attraction of the universestarts to operate in your favor and you have the ability to attract your objectives without having to work extremely hard. You have the ability to see the opportunities in life that you otherwise miss since you have the tendency to focus upon what you do not have.

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.

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 is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology religion comprises a body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these:

Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.

The Scientology religious philosophy contains a precise system of axioms, laws and techniques, exhaustively researched and documented as workable. As such, it provides the individual with the ability to dramatically improve conditions, not only in his own life but in the world around him.

In a word, Scientology works.

And this is why millions of people the world over use its principles in their daily lives, why a growing number of people find such relevance in Scientology for themselves, their families, their organizations, their nations and this entire civilization.

All Scientologists are drug-free, and spearhead effective actions in countries around the world to get others off drugs. Scientologists have helped millions of underprivileged children to dramatically improve their reading level, vocabulary and comprehension, and the record of Scientology’s fight for human rights is unparalleled. Scientology’s commitment to social betterment activities also includes rehabilitating criminals and teaching people right from wrong.

The aims of Scientology are a civilization without war, without insanity and without criminals, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights and man is free to rise to greater heights.

Scientology is not authoritarian. There is no enforced belief. Rather, a maxim in Scientology is that only those things which one finds true for himself are true. In Scientology one learns to think for himself – it is a voyage of self-discovery.

The true story of Scientology is simple, concise and direct. It is quickly told:

1. A philosopher develops a philosophy about life and death.

2. People find it interesting.

3. People find it works.

4. People pass it along to others.

5. It grows.

A world-size scam created by a science fiction writer to extort as much money from a gullible public as possible. The worst part is that he succeeded...

STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE.

It's an evil cult designed to make money and nothing else . Its effects on believers are destructive - Check out a partial list of victims: http://whatstheharm.net/scientology.html

Please read about:

* Its blatantly illegal and immoral activities, as illustrated by Operation Snow White and Operation Freakout.

* Its "fair game" policy of harassing and destroying critics, as illustrated by the stories of Keith Henson, Frank Oliver and Paulette Cooper

* Its fatal abuse of its members, including Lisa McPherson, Heribert Pfaff, Josephus Havenith, and others

* Its brutal, illegal treatment of members who the Church considers in need of rehabilitation or punishment using private prisons

* Its tax-exempt status in the United States, which was gained by blackmailing the IRS

* Its practice of breaking up families.

Read "the road to xenu" for an account of a girl who escaped scientology after 12 years! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/xenu/

The cult's core belief is that we are all reincarnated aliens, and all of our problems are because of other alien souls haunting our bodies. That's the big secret - but it's only revealed to scientologists after many years and over $300,000 - so most of them have no knowledge of it. Read the alien story yourself - in Hubbard's own handwriting: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/OTIII/

Everything about scientology is dishonest, from recruiting gullible folk using fake "personality tests", through collecting dirt on individuals using "auditing" in case they ever want to leave, to claiming everybody who criticizes them is a criminal, probably a child molester. See it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es166Q3yNKo

Oh, and it's called scientology to make it sounds like it has something to do with science and logic.

accepted concepts of Scientology: the religion of scientology is in keeping with threat extra advantageous pronounced as a "religious prepare" than a faith. between the straight forward concepts of scientology are here: A. guy is in essence an immortal spirit. B. Human existence represents a composite of a mortal physique with the immortal spirit. C. somebody is in charge for his very own strategies & movements. D. somebody's strategies & judgements might have unintentional outcomes inclusive of those of which he won't notice. E. verbal replace resolves issues and helps somebody to regulate their strategies & judgements. F. Scientology makes a speciality of techniques of verbal replace and progression of somebody's self-information. Reincarnation is popular as a danger with the help of scientology in spite of if it is not a perception it quite is taught in scientology. human beings are unfastened to settle for or reject the possibility of reincarnation. in spite of the actuality that maximum scientologists ultimately come to a private popularity of a few component of reincarnation for this reason of a extra advantageous expertise of their very very own own history of decision-making. in short the concepts of scientology are very comparable in lots of the right thank you to those of Buddhism. ---- i'm a freezone scientologist. i'm not affiliated with the Church of Scientology. Freezone Scientology practices scientology autonomous of the church of scientology. many times, they consult with ourselves as "freezone" or "autonomous" scientologists.