What Scientology Means For Religion

 

What Is Scientology

A fusion of science and spirituality, Scientology prides itself as the worlds youngest major religion. It was founded by L Ron Hubbard (LRH) in the early 1950s. It posits that human beings are incarnations of a more powerful spiritual beings called Thetans whom through the sufferings of passing through to the material realm forgot who they really were. The point of scientology then becomes to purge individuals of engrams or traumatic experiences and memories so that they may become more Thetan-like here on earth. 

Although scientology does not revolve around a mono or polytheistic God figure, it would seem that its creator Mr. Hubbard, is revered by followers of scientology as a deity in as much as his word is gospel and uncontested as truth. Scientology's lack of a God figure and the melding of pseudoscience and new-age spiritual theories is where scientology as a religion gets sketchy. 

To learn more about scientology, you can check out the Scientology Network here. 

Where The Confusion Lies 

If you take LRH and his concept of Thetans out of the equation, you are left with a common personal development center. One which ironically takes place in what scientologists call churches. The irony is that a church is to Christianity what a Mosque is to Islam. It is a place where practitioners worship and study a God. In the case of a church it is a place where one learns the teachings of Jesus Christ. But scientology is not about reverence to Christ so why do they call it a church? One can only presume that LRH's ethnocentrism was peering through when he named his facilities the only thing that came naturally to his western mind. 

There is also the confusing issue of the Scientology symbol - which in another bout of irony is a cross-like relic. If LRH wanted to create a unique religion, he could have faired better by naming his facilities something other than a church and NOT incorporate a cross into the symbol of scientology.  Although scientology claims that the eight pointed cross predates Christianity, when combined with their use of churches it reeks of reinventing the wheel. You can read more on the scientology cross from their website: scientology cross.

A Holy Book?

If scientology had a holy book it would be Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health authored by LRH himself.  Dianetics is the bedrock of scientology. It is a system created by LRH in order to relieve man from mental and psychosomatic ailments. In scientology terms, Dianetics serves to clear the engrams which plagues modern humans. More simply put - Dianetics is used to heal traumatic experiences. LRH stakes claim that Dianetics is a technique intended to delete, without drugs, hypnotism, surgery, shock or other artificial means, the blocks from various dynamics. 

Having read Dianetics myself, and being a former student of hypnotherapy and clinical psychology, I must point out that a lot of what LRH preaches in Dianetics does in fact seem like early life regression hypnotherapy. Additionally, other tactics used in scientology such as auditing (click here for more auditing) resembles other psychodynamic trauma therapy (such as EMDR) but with a twist. 

click here for a 1950s doctors rebuttal to Dianetics claims. 

What It Means for Other Religions

The advent of Scientology speaks that anyone can claim stake on a religion. And we can; I mean why not? Is that really a bad thing? If the message is pure, causes no harm, and people find comfort in it, then the answer is no. It may very well be a good thing.

However, scientology is very much controversial with allegations of mental and physical abuse. Does this make it any less a religion? After all, even the Catholic church is cloaked in shame with its long history of allegations for child molestation. 

That many have turned to scientology for answers to life's problems is the true black eye for major religion. It sends the message that the major religions has not done its job in providing solace to its people. That religion is not doing what one supposes its function is: to heal the soul of the weary. If mainstream religion was doing its job there would not be thousands of people flocking for answers in a makeshift religion. But this is not particular to Scientology. There are many new-age religions that have popped up throughout the 20th century. 

Part of the allure of religion is its mystery. Scriptures thousands of years old written in caves by holy men. But every word and every period in Dianetics can be traced to its source some 70 years ago. There is no mystery; only a man perhaps on a boat (LRH was a an avid sailor) writing what he felt was his truth and imparting it onto the masses. 

Even more intriguing is that the criticism of LRH as merely a man with a vision brings to light that even Jesus was once met with the same skepticism. Is LRH the modern Jesus? Does he deserve a place with Christ, the Buddha, and Muhammad? It must be understood that all people who are revered as enlightened were also equally criticized as farce by the people of their times. This means that thousands of years in the future LRH could in fact be revered worldwide as a legitimate God figure. This in turn brings Christ, Muhammad, and other religious figures into question. Were they truly enlightened beings of the one true God? Or do they represent a deeply established farce likened to LRH today? After all, time has a way with erasing the details and only preserving the intended core message. 

Either way, scientology is very real to those who follow it. And in this way, we are bearing witness to the creation of a world religion which is unfolding in our own lifetime right before our eyes. And with the advent of scientology comes the inevitable questioning of the validity of all religious institutions.

Author: Michael Pelaez

What do you think? Does Scientology have a legitimate place in world religion? Leave your comments Below.