Mystery and cover-up seem to revolve around the Church of Scientology. News reports have been written that elude to strange and bazaar behavior behind the closed doors of the Church of Scientology facilities. How much truth there is to these rumors is unknown unless inside information can be obtained from former devotees or family members of this organization. However we list some website links below that expose abusive and controversial practices within the church including the testimonies of former church members.
Scientology is a worldwide organization with a body of beliefs and related practices created by L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics.[4] Hubbard characterized Scientology as a religion, and in 1953 incorporated the Church of Scientologyin Camden, New Jersey.[5][6]
Scientology was developed by L. Ron Hubbard as a successor to his earlierself-help system, Dianetics. Dianetics uses a counseling technique known asauditing, developed by Hubbard to enable conscious recall of traumatic events in an individual’s past.[8] It was originally intended to be a new psychotherapyand was not expected to become the foundation for a new religion.[44][45]Hubbard variously defined Dianetics as a spiritual healing technology and an organized science of thought.[46] The stated intent of Dianetics is to free individuals of the influence of past traumas by systematic exposure and removal of the engrams these events have left behind, in a process calledclearing.[46]
Followers are “audited” using a device called an e-meter, which the church claims can measure a person’s state of mind.
Scientology teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature.[7] Its method of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counselling known as auditing, in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience painful or traumatic events in their past in order to free themselves of their limiting effects.[8] Study materials and auditing courses are made available to members in return for specified donations.[9] A large number of organizations overseeing the application of Scientology have been established,[24] the most notable of these being the Church of Scientology. Scientology sponsors a variety of social-service programs.[24][25] These include the Narconon anti-drug program, the Criminon prison rehabilitation program, the Study Techeducation methodology, the Volunteer Ministers, the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, and a set of moral guidelines expressed in a booklet called The Way to Happiness.[26]
The Church of Scientology is one of the most controversial new religious movements to have arisen in the 20th century. It has often been described as acult that financially defrauds and abuses its members, charging exorbitant fees for its spiritual services.[9][27][28] In response, Scientologists have argued that theirs is a genuine religious movement that has been misrepresented, maligned and persecuted.[29] The Church of Scientology has consistently usedlitigation against its critics, and its aggressiveness in pursuing its foes has been condemned as harassment.[30][31] Further controversy has focused on Scientology’s belief that souls (“thetans”) reincarnate and have lived on other planets before living on Earth,[32] and that some of the related teachings are not revealed to practitioners until they have paid thousands of dollars to the Church of Scientology.[33][34] Another controversial belief held by Scientologists is that the practice of psychiatry is destructive and abusive and must be abolished.[35] [1]
Numerous legal accusations have been leveled at the church of the years, and some have led to convictions, most notably in connection with Operation Snow White, which included theft of government documents. The most common accusations are fraud, extortion, and harassment, although other accusations such as kidnapping and negligent homicide have also been leveled.
This is a headline by Richard Behar :
THRIVING CULT OF GREED AND POWER
Ruined lives. Lost fortunes. Federal crimes. Scientology poses as a religion but really is a ruthless global scam — and aiming for the mainstream
Richard Behar exposes the cult:
The current head of the Church of Scientology, David Miscavige, a high school drop-out and second generation church member is considered a dictator by many who have had contact with him as reported on various Internet websites.His obsession is to obtain credibility for Scientology in the 1990s. Among other tactics, the group:
Retains public relation powerhouse Hill and Knowlton to help shed the church’s fringe-group image.
Joined such household names as Sony and Pepsi as a main sponsor of Ted Turner’s Goodwill Games.
Buys massive quantities of its own books from retail stores to propel the titles onto best-seller lists.
Runs full-page ads in such publications as Newsweek and Business Week that call Scientology a “philosophy,” along with a plethora of TV ads touting the group’s books.
Recruits wealthy and respectable professionals through a web of consulting groups that typically hide their ties to Scientology.
In Hollywood, Scientology has assembled a star-studded roster of followers by aggressively recruiting and regally pampering them at the church’s “Celebrity Centers,” a chain of clubhouses that offer expensive counseling and career guidance. Adherents include screen idols Tom Cruise and John Travolta, actresses Kirstie Alley, Mimi Rogers, and Anne Archer, Palm Springs mayor and performer Sonny Bono, jazzman Chick Corea and even Nancy Cartwright, the voice of cartoon star Bart Simpson. Rank-and-file members, however, are dealt a less glamorous Scientology.
According to the Cult Awareness Network, whose 23 chapters monitor more than 200 “mind control” cults, no group prompts more telephone pleas for help than does Scientology. Says Cynthia Kisser, the network’s Chicago-based executive director: “Scientology is quite likely the most ruthless, the most classically terrorist, the most litigious and the most lucrative cult the country has ever seen. No cult extracts more money from its members.” Agrees Vicki Aznaran, who was one of Scientology’s six key leaders until she bolted from the church in 1987:
“This is a criminal organization, day in and day out. It makes Jim and Tammy [Baker] look like kindergarten.” To explore Scientology’s reach, TIME (magazine) conducted more than 150 interviews and reviewed hundreds of court records and internal Scientology documents. Church officials refused to be interviewed. The investigation paints a picture of a depraved yet thriving enterprise. Most cults fail to outlast their founder, but Scientology has prospered since Hubbard’s death in 1986.
Since the publication of the article these quotes are taken from, the Cult Awareness Network has been taken over by Scientology.
You will find this warning now on the Internet:
About the Scientology-backed “Cult Awareness Network”:
Note: If you need information about cults, ex-cult support, or related issues, Apologetics Index recommends you contact these legitimate organizations instead of Scientology’s deceptively named “Cult Awareness Network.”
In a court filing, one of the cult’s many entities — the Church of Spiritual Technology — listed $503 million in income just for 1987. High-level defectors say the parent organization has squirreled away an estimated $400 million in bank accounts in Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Cyprus. Scientology probably has about 50,000 active members, far fewer than the 8 million the group claims. But in one sense, that inflated figure rings true: millions of people have been affected in one-way or another by Hubbard’s bizarre creation. [2]
To read more from Richard Behar’s article including the documentation of a former (young) member’s suicide, visit:http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html
Former members have testified against the church and a long-list of serious grievances can found at: http://www.scientology-cult.com/
Endnotes
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
[2] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html