Scientology info....? :D

[sirseansy 87]

I'm pretty much sick and tired of the ignorant and hateful rhetoric that comes up when people start talking about different religions.

 

SO, I am wondering if anypony happens to have any un-biased and objective online resources where I can get some good information about The Church of Scientology. I may be making a visit to a church in my state to get some info from the source.

 

I'll be exceedingly grateful if you can give me something. Thank you!

[Whiteshade 1,426]

The Bible’s again’ it! God’s again’ it! I’m again’ it! And if you got any sense, you’re again’ it!

 

As for objective resources though, try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology, because I doubt the Church of Scientology would be neutral about itself nor would a anti-scientology site be neutral on the matter.

[SrFrog 926]

Like stated before, probably Wikipedia would be the most unbiased source for information regarding Scientology. Though, I would try this webpage for a quick look at Scientology.

[OhMyGodPancakes 32]

Sorry if I offend somepony but any religion that REQUIRES money ak. Scientology is the wrong religion.

[Typhoid Libby 1,265]

Heh.

 

Wikipedia is openly editable.

Not the bias free source you are looking for.

 

It's a religion, everything relating to it biased on the net, one way or the other.

Read all the sources and establish the common facts.

That way you may get a "clear" image.

 

http://www.cracked.com/funny-144-scientology/

 

It's wonky, whatever it is.

[Swordfishtrombone 384]

Yeah, you might wanna look up Lisa McPherson, Sea Org, Operation Snow White and Fair Game too. Shit's important. Look up the offical site for Scientology and L. Ron too. Unbiased information isn't too readily available, you'll probably have to draw your own conclusions. So yeah, Wikipedia mostly, visit a church, whatever. I'm probably being a bit biased myself here, but you really should know all that stuff.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Swordfishtrombone

[Krystal 1,468]

I first learned of Scientology from South Park. I doubt I have anything worthwhile to contribute here

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

I'm pretty much sick and tired of the ignorant and hateful rhetoric that comes up when people start talking about different religions.

 

Well, when it comes to Scientology, the motives behind the 'religion' are all about scamming people out of money and abusing its members in many other ways.

 

It's literally about "pay me and I'll teach you how to return to your true nature". I'm inclined to categorize it with things such as palm reading and fortune tellers.

 

Some people believe in it but considering they require and demand money of their members, I think people should reconsider it's authenticity.

 

You're not really gonna find a completely unbiased source.

[Crispy 5,563]

Well, I was looking for the Xenu mythos link for you, but I couldn't find it. So have an abridged altreligion page.

 

http://altreligion.about.com/od/mythologicalfigures/a/xenu.htm

[Whiteshade 1,426]

I found another source, this one is pretty good

[Skullbuster 1,906]

wait, its a real religion? i thought it was a fake religion in some science fiction book

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

wait, its a real religion? i thought it was a fake religion in some science fiction book

 

It's more appropriately considered a cult rather than a mainstream religion. It claims to be a religion and even has tax exemptions because of it but that's more for legal reasons rather than it being a legitimate religion.

[Evilshy 5,089]

I did a project on the CoS in my senior year. Scientology beliefs in a nutshell:

 

A really really really long time ago (like millions of billions of years or something), some Thetans (what scientologists call souls, except that in their pure form, they have god powers) decided that they wanted to exist, and thus began to exist. They quickly got bored with this and decided to create realities to look at. Then they all agreed that all the other Thetans and their realities also existed, which caused all of the realities to combine into the universe. They made stars and planets and galaxies and stuff. 

A main concept in Scientology is that the universe exists simply because all the Thetans agree that it does. 

Anyway, the Thetans got bored again and wanted to "play games." This required them to not know things (since in their natural state, they are omniscient), so they purposefully restricted their own powers and lived in "meat bodies", basically as a form of entertainment. 

Unfortunately, after many lives of doing this, most Thetans started to forget that they were Thetans at all. They'd just automatically go inhabit a fetus somewhere when they died, thus reincarnating and continuing the cycle. 

That's the basic Scientology creation story. 

 

Earth (which was called Teegeack at the time) was populated a really long time ago (I don't remember how long ago). 

So there was this galactic federation thingy, led by an alien named Xenu. In an attempt to deal with the overpopulation problem on many planets, he killed many of his subjects by luring them to psychiatric clinics and injecting them with some form of freezing glycol, which can freeze Thetans. To this day, scientologists thing psychiatrists are evil. The frozen Thetans were put into capsules, loaded onto space planes that look exactly like DC-8s, and flew them to Earth. They threw them in and around major volcanos, and then dropped Hudrogen Bombs into the cores and triggered planet wide volcanic eruptions, which released all the Thetans. Xenu then used "electron ribbons" (which are apparently a form of standing wave) to capture the Thetans and take them to giant movie theaters, where they were brainwashed with all kinds of things, including all the major religions of the world. 

He then put some of the Thetans in bodies, and also implanted something in them attracted other Thetans to the body, effectively putting tons of Thetans in and around a single body, which reduced the population by a lot. These Thetans are called "Body Thetans". The majority of peoples problems are caused by all the body Thetans clogging up the actual Thetan controlling the body. 

 

Through a process called Dianetics (which was developed by L Ron Hubbard years before he started the CoS), one can remove body Thetans from yourself, and begin to not only enjoy a greatly enhanced life, but also begin to remember how to use your Thetan powers. This is called becoming and Operating Thetan (OT). There are multiple OT levels. 

The process of Dianetics consist mainly of hooking yourself up to some sort of electronic device available only through the CoS and either having another OT (of equal or higher level) asking you certain questions, or just asking yourself. This costs tons of money. 

After enough properly carried out Dianetics, one can become Clear (also called Cleared Theta Clear), which is basically a Thetan who has access to all its power and omniscience, but may or may not still be connected to their meat body. It should be noted that L Ron Hubbard didn't die, he became Clear and then abandoned his body. 

 

Another interesting belief they have is their reincarnation. When someone on earth dies, their Thetan is lured to Venus, where aliens capture them, erase their memories of the life they just lived, brainwash them, and then transport them back to earth and drop them off the coast of California. The Thetan the wanders around until they find a pregnant women, and then enter her and inhabit the fetus. 

 

 

All of this information is only available to OTs. A lot of this info is from leaked documents that are generally only accessible by OT3s. Other info is from accounts by former scientologists. 

[Chill Mists (Chilly) 801]

I found out about the CoS in a kid's book a couple of years ago, it's a load of balls.

[Skullbuster 1,906]

I did a project on the CoS in my senior year. Scientology beliefs in a nutshell:

 

A really really really long time ago (like millions of billions of years or something), some Thetans (what scientologists call souls, except that in their pure form, they have god powers) decided that they wanted to exist, and thus began to exist. They quickly got bored with this and decided to create realities to look at. Then they all agreed that all the other Thetans and their realities also existed, which caused all of the realities to combine into the universe. They made stars and planets and galaxies and stuff.

A main concept in Scientology is that the universe exists simply because all the Thetans agree that it does.

Anyway, the Thetans got bored again and wanted to "play games." This required them to not know things (since in their natural state, they are omniscient), so they purposefully restricted their own powers and lived in "meat bodies", basically as a form of entertainment.

Unfortunately, after many lives of doing this, most Thetans started to forget that they were Thetans at all. They'd just automatically go inhabit a fetus somewhere when they died, thus reincarnating and continuing the cycle.

That's the basic Scientology creation story.

 

Earth (which was called Teegeack at the time) was populated a really long time ago (I don't remember how long ago).

So there was this galactic federation thingy, led by an alien named Xenu. In an attempt to deal with the overpopulation problem on many planets, he killed many of his subjects by luring them to psychiatric clinics and injecting them with some form of freezing glycol, which can freeze Thetans. To this day, scientologists thing psychiatrists are evil. The frozen Thetans were put into capsules, loaded onto space planes that look exactly like DC-8s, and flew them to Earth. They threw them in and around major volcanos, and then dropped Hudrogen Bombs into the cores and triggered planet wide volcanic eruptions, which released all the Thetans. Xenu then used "electron ribbons" (which are apparently a form of standing wave) to capture the Thetans and take them to giant movie theaters, where they were brainwashed with all kinds of things, including all the major religions of the world.

He then put some of the Thetans in bodies, and also implanted something in them attracted other Thetans to the body, effectively putting tons of Thetans in and around a single body, which reduced the population by a lot. These Thetans are called "Body Thetans". The majority of peoples problems are caused by all the body Thetans clogging up the actual Thetan controlling the body.

 

Through a process called Dianetics (which was developed by L Ron Hubbard years before he started the CoS), one can remove body Thetans from yourself, and begin to not only enjoy a greatly enhanced life, but also begin to remember how to use your Thetan powers. This is called becoming and Operating Thetan (OT). There are multiple OT levels.

The process of Dianetics consist mainly of hooking yourself up to some sort of electronic device available only through the CoS and either having another OT (of equal or higher level) asking you certain questions, or just asking yourself. This costs tons of money.

After enough properly carried out Dianetics, one can become Clear (also called Cleared Theta Clear), which is basically a Thetan who has access to all its power and omniscience, but may or may not still be connected to their meat body. It should be noted that L Ron Hubbard didn't die, he became Clear and then abandoned his body.

 

Another interesting belief they have is their reincarnation. When someone on earth dies, their Thetan is lured to Venus, where aliens capture them, erase their memories of the life they just lived, brainwash them, and then transport them back to earth and drop them off the coast of California. The Thetan the wanders around until they find a pregnant women, and then enter her and inhabit the fetus.

 

 

All of this information is only available to OTs. A lot of this info is from leaked documents that are generally only accessible by OT3s. Other info is from accounts by former scientologists.

 

and people take all that seriously?

 

parts of that sounded rather silly

[Evilshy 5,089]

 

 

and people take all that seriously?

 

parts of that sounded rather silly

 

Yes, but pretty much all religions have some silly sounding aspects.

 

The thing is, L Ron Hubbard was a successful science fiction author for years before starting Scientology, his most famous works probably being Battlefield Earth and Missions Earth, and indeed, many beliefs of Scientology sound straight out of scifi.

Another thing is that the church is run like a company (it's incorporated in multiple countries, has regional boards of directors, etc.), a big argument that they are a legit religion is that the government considers them one, and they have some very controversial methods when dealing with critics.

For example, they sue tons of people for things ranging from copyright infringement to defamation. They have (or at least had) a policy called "fair game", in which direct, personal strikes against critics were advocated by the church. A well known example (at least on the Internet) was when a scientologists poisoned the cat food of one of the major members of Chanology and killed his cat, Mudkip.

Perhaps the most interesting thing they've done was Operation Snow White, in which over 5000 scientologists in multiple countries infiltrated government buildings to steal or destroy records that cast Scientology in a negative light.

 

So, IMO not the most legit religion, but who am I to judge?

[roomforapony 285]

There is a huge reason why you are going to get biased sources. For your own safety and sanity, please do not get tied up in that mess. I don't care what you believe in. You could believe that purple bunnies from Mars created everything and I would not care or be concerned. But getting involved with people who are famous for depriving people of proper medical care, stealing people from hospitals who were in life and death situations and letting them die, keeping people from ever seeing their families ever again, brainwashing people into giving them all of their money to their names, go after people who badmouth scientology and hurt them financially and physically, and other horrific things is NOT okay. Again, go ahead and research all you want, but don't set foot in their doors and let these people try to teach you their "religion" themselves. I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I'm honestly concerned for you.

[Moosefullaeggs 543]

It's more appropriately considered a cult rather than a mainstream religion. It claims to be a religion and even has tax exemptions because of it but that's more for legal reasons rather than it being a legitimate religion.

 

Hm, so what makes a belief system, or a cult, a legitimate religion?

[Jemboi 127]

I did a project on the CoS in my senior year. Scientology beliefs in a nutshell:

 

A really really really long time ago (like millions of billions of years or something), some Thetans (what scientologists call souls, except that in their pure form, they have god powers) decided that they wanted to exist, and thus began to exist. They quickly got bored with this and decided to create realities to look at. Then they all agreed that all the other Thetans and their realities also existed, which caused all of the realities to combine into the universe. They made stars and planets and galaxies and stuff.

A main concept in Scientology is that the universe exists simply because all the Thetans agree that it does.

Anyway, the Thetans got bored again and wanted to "play games." This required them to not know things (since in their natural state, they are omniscient), so they purposefully restricted their own powers and lived in "meat bodies", basically as a form of entertainment.

Unfortunately, after many lives of doing this, most Thetans started to forget that they were Thetans at all. They'd just automatically go inhabit a fetus somewhere when they died, thus reincarnating and continuing the cycle.

That's the basic Scientology creation story.

 

Earth (which was called Teegeack at the time) was populated a really long time ago (I don't remember how long ago).

So there was this galactic federation thingy, led by an alien named Xenu. In an attempt to deal with the overpopulation problem on many planets, he killed many of his subjects by luring them to psychiatric clinics and injecting them with some form of freezing glycol, which can freeze Thetans. To this day, scientologists thing psychiatrists are evil. The frozen Thetans were put into capsules, loaded onto space planes that look exactly like DC-8s, and flew them to Earth. They threw them in and around major volcanos, and then dropped Hudrogen Bombs into the cores and triggered planet wide volcanic eruptions, which released all the Thetans. Xenu then used "electron ribbons" (which are apparently a form of standing wave) to capture the Thetans and take them to giant movie theaters, where they were brainwashed with all kinds of things, including all the major religions of the world.

He then put some of the Thetans in bodies, and also implanted something in them attracted other Thetans to the body, effectively putting tons of Thetans in and around a single body, which reduced the population by a lot. These Thetans are called "Body Thetans". The majority of peoples problems are caused by all the body Thetans clogging up the actual Thetan controlling the body.

 

Through a process called Dianetics (which was developed by L Ron Hubbard years before he started the CoS), one can remove body Thetans from yourself, and begin to not only enjoy a greatly enhanced life, but also begin to remember how to use your Thetan powers. This is called becoming and Operating Thetan (OT). There are multiple OT levels.

The process of Dianetics consist mainly of hooking yourself up to some sort of electronic device available only through the CoS and either having another OT (of equal or higher level) asking you certain questions, or just asking yourself. This costs tons of money.

After enough properly carried out Dianetics, one can become Clear (also called Cleared Theta Clear), which is basically a Thetan who has access to all its power and omniscience, but may or may not still be connected to their meat body. It should be noted that L Ron Hubbard didn't die, he became Clear and then abandoned his body.

 

Another interesting belief they have is their reincarnation. When someone on earth dies, their Thetan is lured to Venus, where aliens capture them, erase their memories of the life they just lived, brainwash them, and then transport them back to earth and drop them off the coast of California. The Thetan the wanders around until they find a pregnant women, and then enter her and inhabit the fetus.

 

 

All of this information is only available to OTs. A lot of this info is from leaked documents that are generally only accessible by OT3s. Other info is from accounts by former scientologists.

 

Who the @#$% could believe this ish? Then again, the Bible is pretty fantastical too BUT it does have the benefit of being thousands of years old, which leaves it with an air of mystery, whereas we know this BS was created by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard and only decades years ago. How this developed in to a "religion" that has tons of celebrities throwing away their money at it, I'll never know. Something else of the CoS is that it really doesn't want just anyone. Average people like you or I are not welcome. You MUST be famous or have a deep pocket book, or BOTH preferably. I doubt you'd make it through the door otherwise.

 

And I agree with Roomforapony, stay the @#$% away from that place. It's dangerous territory. Then again, as I said before, they really wouldn't want you unless you have deep pockets. You can't find unbiased information for a reason. Think about it,

Edited June 18, 2012 by Jemboi

[Lady Rarity Pony 4,892]

Hm, so what makes a belief system, or a cult, a legitimate religion?

 

Well there's no firm or official line drawn between 'religious cults' and 'religions', mostly because of political reasons.

 

I separated the two for the sake of comparison.

 

Cults are generally defined as small religious groups with strange beliefs. They may or may not be part (or claim to be part) of a wider religious belief.

 

There is no line to cross to become a "legitimate religion". "Legitimate religion" also has no firm meaning. Would that be judged by how many adherents it has or whether you feel the religion's claims are credible? Either way that's more of an issue of opinion.

If it was judged by that most of us would only have one religion on our list, while atheists would not have any of them on their list. ;D

 

Poor wording on my behalf. I was trying to point out the fact that people can get together, make some list of beliefs, and then go to the government demanding tax exemptions and the government can't say anything in response without technically violating Freedom of Religion.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Lady Rarity Pony

[Literally Snails 2,307]

and people take all that seriously?

 

parts of that sounded rather silly

 

parts?

[Cosmic Charlie 129]

I will not tell you anything positive or negative about Scientology. As objectively as I can, I am recommending instead that you investigate Eastern philosophies in combination with Western science. It will lead you to a very comforting worldview and a secure, real knowledge of your physical and mental well-being. I recommend reading "Ideas and Opinions," a fantastic collection of essays and letters written by Albert Einstein. You will hear this phrase many times in your life, but believe it now: This is good for you.

 

EDIT: A great deal of "Ideas and Opinions" can be found for free at http://books.google.com/books?id=fjR0zUxu5rQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. I can guarantee you'll find something to like in his level-headed, insightful and practical observations about the world and our place in it.

Edited June 18, 2012 by Cosmic Charlie

[Abaddon 95]

I'm pretty much sick and tired of the ignorant and hateful rhetoric that comes up when people start talking about different religions.

 

SO, I am wondering if anypony happens to have any un-biased and objective online resources where I can get some good information about The Church of Scientology. I may be making a visit to a church in my state to get some info from the source.

 

I'll be exceedingly grateful if you can give me something. Thank you!

 

I know you asked for online resources, however, the most unbiased information can be found in academia. There are numerous books and journals out there that have detailed information about Scientology. If you live near a major university I would suggest going to their library and examine the religious studies section where you could find tons of books (I have a BA in Religious studies and I was working on an MA in Religion).

 

A great book to start with is The Future of Religion: Secularization, Revival and Cult Formation by Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge. They have a whole chapter devoted to Scientology, where the examine the church's history and impact on society. Further, it is an amazing resource on New Religious Movements. If you can't make it to a library, the book can be found on amazon.

 

Sorry if I offend somepony but any religion that REQUIRES money ak. Scientology is the wrong religion.

 

Not to create any controversy, but what about catholic tithing that requires a portion of your salary to go to the church, and in the Jewish faith (I was raised in a Jewish family) to belong to a temple you had to pay yearly dues based on the amount of people in your family, further you had to pay more if there were children and you had to pay for Hebrew school among other expenses. There were no exceptions, to belong to said temple you had to pay for your membership.

 

There has always been a monetary aspect of religious organizations. I understand that Scientology is run like a business, however, they are not the only religious movement that requires its followers to give money to a church or temple.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Abaddon

[Skullbuster 1,906]

parts?

 

ok, the whole thing was rather silly, though i thought the funniest part was the begining where basicly the beings were like

 

"hey, im bored, lets exist. 'ight, we exist now"

[OhMyGodPancakes 32]

Not to create any controversy, but what about catholic tithing that requires a portion of your salary to go to the church, and in the Jewish faith (I was raised in a Jewish family) to belong to a temple you had to pay yearly dues based on the amount of people in your family, further you had to pay more if there were children and you had to pay for Hebrew school among other expenses. There were no exceptions, to belong to said temple you had to pay for your membership.

 

There has always been a monetary aspect of religious organizations. I understand that Scientology is run like a business, however, they are not the only religious movement that requires its followers to give money to a church or temple.

 

As I understand the catholic are encouraged but not required to give money, I don't know about the Hebrews though