So, I'm not really sure what it is, (except that i think its a religion?) or why its frowned upon by some people, anyone able to explain it to me? thanks.
Alright, here we go.
Scientologists believe that an alien came to earth, landed in a volcano, pretty much exploded, resulting in the creation of people (People are parts of the aliens' soul or something along those lines) the more money they pay the stronger their connection to this origin alien. Plenty of Scientology's churches won't let you in unless you are a millionaire and pay a certain amount of money to their church.
Edit: I also feel it necessary to include the fact that it was based off of a science fiction book that some guy wrote, and when he was on his death bed, he admitted that it was all fake, but instead of just taking their religious leader for his word, they assumed that he was just trying to protect the truth. Funny stuff~
Scientology is not a religion, it's a dangerous cult that abuses its members and drains all their money.
Scientologists believe that psychiatrists have caused the 9/11 attacks, and that psychiatry is a pseudo-science. What's really going on is that cytologistsSTNTNTo replace psychiatry with their own unscientific quackery.
They believe that bad emotions and experiences accumulate in our bodies. They try to remove them by doing auditing courses, a form of hypnosis, during which they hook you up to a crude lie-detector and ask you personal questions. These courses cost a lot of money. When you pay over $300000, they tell you the Wall of Fire story. It claims that 75 millions of years ago a galactic ruler Xenu has killed millions of aliens, and their souls now posess our bodies and cause us all sorts of problems.
Scientologists are not allowed to question Hubbard's teachings, even the obvious lies and fiction.
Scientology has its areas of faith like any religion, but a lot of it is based upon demonstrable workability of its philosophy & tools. Scientology is built upon sciences such as Dianetics, which is not a belief but a technology that has been pr oven to work.
The reason some people frown upon Scientology is simple: some people like to attack new ideas that they don't understand. A thousand years ago people thought that the world was flat, the center of the universe and the sun revolved around it. If, a thousand years ago, you proposed any of those concepts as you and I scientifically understand them today, you would be attacked and considered crazy.
People also believe what they want to believe. Some people, who have a negative outlook on life, relish in the idea of taring down something constructive. These people cite a minority of disgruntled former members and other negativity that either only tell half of the story or are a fabrication of half-truths and lies. With any group as large as Scientology, you can find a minority of former members saying negative things about their former organization.
On top of that, Scientology, as a group, calls a spade a spade when it sees one. This doesn't make you any friends when you have business interests in competing fields who are more interested in a monopoly than an effective solution. This has made Scientology the target of an avalanche of false, negative propaganda.
Here is what Scientology is:
Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one?s true spiritual nature and one?s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being.
Scientology addresses the spirit?not the body or mind?and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes.
Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are:
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Man is an immortal spiritual being.
His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.
His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.
Scientology further holds Man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself, his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.
Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for oneself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results.
The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom.
$Scientology is a self help pseudo science opposed to psychiatry and drugs. On the face of it that may sound great, and it is - if someone can improve their own life, avoid the use of drugs - medical and otherwise, then great. Unfortunately $Scientology only opposes such things because it is in business competing against both industries. The reason why $Scientology attempts to pass itself off as religion is because a long while back Ron Hubbard the founder was being harassed by the authorities for practicing medicine without a license with its use of equipment called the e-meter, a simple lie detector used during their therapy (also great for gathering intelligence about cult members!). Hubbard quickly changed tack and issued bulletins stating that $Scientology is now a religion to avoid prosecution.
The reason it is viewed as a cult is not because of a "few disgruntled" members, but rather alto actually, all with very similar stories. And these people are not all lowly members either, many were top management with many years of experience. Even the niece of the current leader of $Scientology has left and told her story (Jenna Miscavige) the daughter of the Australian president of $cientology running the show over there has left with the very same story as Jenna of a childhood inside scientology. There is a website called ex-scientology kids - google it and read their stories.
It demonstrates many cult traits such as disconnection policies against family and friends who are critical, harassing critics and worse, they engage in what is essentially a slave labour program for those who have done something wrong - the Rehabilitation Project Force (google it). They have been known to use a myriad of measures to extract cash from members, including false loan applications, they use bait and switch tactics on the streets to draw people in to their buildings ("free" stress test boothes, where they will always say something is wrong whatever the real result).
What I suggest you do is go to the official website, read that. Then go to the sites where former members speak of their experiences. Here are names to google:
Marty Rathburn (former high ranking scilon)
David Miscavige (current leader)
Mike Rinder (former PR guy)
Tommy Davis (worlds worst liar and current PR guy)
Gerry Armstrong (hubbards biographer)
Jenna Miscavige
Stacy Moxon
Tory Christman
Xenu.net
Anonymous (who protest their buildings)
AnonSparrow ( a protester)
Angry Gay Pope (a protester)
It is an interesting subject to read on, but it will make you angry when you hear the things they have done and get away with.
Scientology - What is it?
