Portal:Scientology

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The Scientology Portal

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by American pulp fiction author L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 as an outgrowth of his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard later characterized Scientology as an "applied religious philosophy" and the basis for a new religion. The body of beliefs and related techniques of Scientology not only encompasses a spiritual rehabilitation philosophy and techniques but it also covers topics such as morals, ethics, detoxification, education and management. The first Church of Scientology was founded in 1953 in Washington, DC.

Today the total body of beliefs and practices of Dianetics and Scientology are the sole property of the Church of Spiritual Technology that forms part of a network of churches and organizations that promote the use of Dianetics, Scientology and related techniques. Other organizations that promote the use of Scientology’s related techniques are the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises and the Association for Better Living and Education. Scientology and the organizations that promote it have remained highly controversial since their inception.

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Scientology v. Time Warner, Supreme Court
"The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" is a TIME cover story highly critical of Scientology written by investigative journalist Richard Behar and first published on May 6, 1991. The article was also later published in the Reader's Digest, in October 1991. The article dealt with L. Ron Hubbard and the development of Scientology, its various controversies over the years and history of litigation, conflict with psychiatry and the IRS, the suicide of a Scientologist, its status as a religion, and its business dealings. The Church of Scientology mounted a public relations campaign to inform the public of what it felt were falsehoods in the piece, brought a libel suit against Time Warner and Behar, and sued Reader's Digest in multiple countries in Europe in an attempt to stop the article's publication there. The suit against Time Warner was dismissed in 1996, and the Church of Scientology's petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case was denied in 2001. Richard Behar received multiple awards recognizing his work, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the Worth Bingham Prize, and the Conscience-in-Media Award.
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Scientology recruiter using E-meter
Credit: Salimfadhley

An E-meter is an electronic device manufactured by the Church of Scientology at their Gold Base production facility. It is used as an aid by Dianetics and Scientology counselors and counselors-in-training in some forms of auditing, the application of the techniques of Dianetics and Scientology to another or to oneself for the express purpose of addressing spiritual issues. The device is formally known as the Hubbard Electrometer.

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Lisa McPherson
Lisa McPherson (February 10, 1959–December 5, 1995) was a Scientologist who died of a pulmonary embolism while under the care of the Flag Service Organization (FSO), a branch of the Church of Scientology. After a minor car accident, paramedics took McPherson to a hospital for evaluation after she appeared mentally unstable. With the assistance of fellow Scientologists, McPherson refused psychiatric observation or admission at the hospital and checked herself out after a short evaluation. After fifteen days under attendance by Scientologists at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, the Scientologists drove her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Following her death the Church of Scientology was indicted on two felony charges "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license." The heated controversy included regular pickets outside Scientology offices on or around the anniversary of her death. Charges against the Church of Scientology brought by the State of Florida were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident" on June 13, 2000. A civil suit brought by her family against the Church was settled on May 28, 2004.
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“ "Scientology means scio, knowing in the fullest sense of the word and logos, study. In itself the word means knowing how to know.Scientology is a 'route', a way, rather than a dissertation or assertive body of knowledge. Through its drills and studies one may find the truth for himself. The technology is therefore not expounded as something to believe, but something to do." ”

—L. Ron Hubbard


“ I took a couple of courses. One of them was in communication, and I learned some things about communication that really got my act going...They have a lot of very good technology. That’s what really appealed to me about it. It’s not faith-based. It’s all technology. And I’m obsessed with technology. ”

—Jerry Seinfeld


“ The trade secrets that they're trying to protect, all that science fiction space opera stuff at the end of the road, it's already on the hard load--hard drives of millions of people. In other words, the cat's out of the bag. So anybody that cares to investigate this organization are just a few keystrokes away from finding the truth-- and it's out there. ”

—Mark Ebner


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