What is Scientology?

These days, no matter where you go on the Net, you're likely to see someone talking about the Church of Scientology. You've probably heard of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard: he started the movement in the 1950s and built it up to a multinational organization. The Church of Scientology has put copies of Dianetics into nearly every bookstore and library in America and other countries, and they have an unending public relations campaign for the book, which they claim will help you to lead a better life. Dianetics centers offer free "personality tests" to people, and Scientology is also active in the fight against drugs.

But if you ask about Scientology anywhere on the Internet, you are likely to be answered by statements of distrust, skepticism, and suspicion. All across the Net - and all over the world - people are viewing the Church of Scientology with a critical eye. The users of the Internet are not buying into Scientology's carefully sculpted image. To a growing number of Netizens, the term "Scientologist" is being equated with "bully," "liar," and "cult fanatic."

So why do so many people distrust the Church of Scientology?

Over the past several months, the denizens of the Internet have been eyewitnesses to an online battle, the likes of which have never been seen before -- and which has opened the eyes of a great many people. While many people still think the Church of Scientology is just a weird religion, the truth is being revealed online: there is another side to the Church of Scientology. A side they have been trying to keep hidden from the world for over forty years. A dark and sinister side, rife with greed, corruption, and a lust for power and control.

Is this statement overdramatic, perhaps? Read on, my friend...and learn for yourself the truth about the organization that calls itself the Church of Scientology.

  • The Total Freedom Trap by Jon Atack This link will give you an idea of why Scientology is so controversial (many people say dangerous). It's a history of L. Ron Hubbard's life, Dianetics, Scientology, and what his teachings have done over the years. Mr. Atack makes a lot of claims in this essay, and the facts backing them up can be found in his book, A Piece of Blue Sky. NOTE: This file is over 70K in size, and it may take a while to load it with some Web browsers.

  • Time Magazine article: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power by Richard Behar
    The cover story from the May 6, 1991 issue of Time, this story brought the truth about Scientology to a great many people...and drew the wrath of the Church. At this time, the lawsuits filed against Time by the Church are still being fought in the courts.

  • The Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper
    The Church of Scientology launched "Operation Freakout" against Ms. Cooper after her book was published. Among other "dead-agenting" tactics, they forged a threat against Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on letterhead stolen from her office, which led to her criminal indictment in 1973 (charges dismissed, 1975). Her reputation was not cleared, however, until an FBI raid in 1977 uncovered Scientology documents detailing the campaign against her.

  • The Road To Xenu by Margery Wakefield
    (mirrored in the UK.) A powerfully moving account of one woman's initiation into Scientology's practices and spiritual secrets. Wakefield finally escaped from the Church's grip when she learned the OT III story of Xenu and the body thetans and decided that Scientology was nonsense. Then she sued them.

  • Social Control in Scientology (1991) by FACTnet director Bob Penny
    (mirrored in the UK) Ever wonder how people are secuded into organizations like Scientology? A companion to Wakefield's "Road to Xenu", this book by an ex-Scientologist explains the mechanisms, explicit and subtle, by which Scientology subverts the independence of its members.

  • Tilman's Testimonies
    An anthology of stories by "ordinary" people. Notable among them is Kim Baker's detailed account of her induction into, involvement with, and escape from Scientology in South Africa.

  • Church of Scientology vs. Fishman and Geertz
    This case may have been the greatest blow to Scientology since the death of L. Ron Hubbard -- not because of any financial damages or arrests (none were made in this particular case), but rather because the innermost secrets of Scientology were revealed to the world at last. The Church sued one of its former members, Steven Fishman, while he was in prison for fraud. In his defense, Fishman introduced the secret Operating Thetan levels written by L. Ron Hubbard: these are the highest ranks of the "bridge" that every Scientologists strives to attain, and they can only be reached after a person has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to clear his spirit...or so Scientology teaches. Because of the risk of these records becoming known by the public at large, Scientology dropped their case against Fishman -- but the records still remained open and viewable by anyone. Even so, the Church of Scientology is fanatically pursuing every possible leak of these documents into the public domain, and they are frantically threatening lawsuits against anyone who even quotes a few lines of these documents on the Internet. But the information is out there...and now you can see with your own eyes what you get when you give your life savings to Scientology.