Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Scientology a cult or religion
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Scientology a cult or religion
Jenna Large
9/18/2014
Antrhopology 13
Lori Harrington
Scientology
Scientology does not regard itself as a religion, but more as technology that helps people to find freedom and release through spirituality. It falls on the lower end in terms of followers, with only. The Church of Scientology was founded by Scientologists in 1954 but the subject and ideology was founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1949. Scientology believes in the creation of the world through a galactic Lord named Xenu. Seventy-five million years ago, Xenu brought billions of people to Earth and put them around volcanoes, then proceeded to blow them up with hydrogen bombs. Their souls stuck together and onto living bodies around them. This is known as "Incident II" or "The Wall
…show more content…
Instead, Scientology is aware of having a Supreme Being in power but calls it the Eighth Dynamic, or the Infinity. Scientologists who reach the Eighth Dynamic through auditing form their own conclusion on the Supreme Being. According to the official Scientology website, auditing is a form of listening and responding to commands and questions in order to achieve truth and freedom. In addition, Scientologists believe in the good of humans as a whole. They believe that the person is made of three parts, the body, mind and thetan. Thetan is the true essence of human beings, also known as the soul. The official Scientology website states: “Man is a spiritual being endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally envisages. He is not only able to solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also to achieve new states of awareness he may never have dreamed possible.”(Scientology Beliefs & Practices: What is Scientology) Scientology does not include an official belief about the afterlife. After undergoing a lot of what scientologists refer to as auditing, a person could possibly recall memories of past lives. Scientology sometimes refers to the idea of being born again into another body but does not directly state
According to dictionaries a cult is 1) a system of religious worship or ritual. 2) A religion or sect considered extremist of false. 3) Obsessive devotion to a person or principle. It is believed that every cult ties into some kind of religion, and religions all have a common basis of “a leap of faith”. Whether this so-called leap of faith is going to heaven or being reincarnated, or moving on to some other planet, depends on the beliefs of the cult itself.
We can distinguish among other religions of such history – Scientology is a complete transformation on a human being. Scientology came about because of Man's increased knowledge of energy (Hubbard, 2007). This movement is a based on the self revelation of the human inner spirit to heal and take on new forms of living. Auditing plays an important role for all Scientologists who learn to believe that our lives need to be controlled in order to develop a higher spirituality. The idea is to confess all of our past endeavors and be cleared path to the "ideal being". The core belief of the religion is that humans are immortal alien beings who have forgotten their true nature. In order to rediscover their inner selves -- the thetans -- Scientologists undergo practices such as auditing (Yapp, 2006). Recognized as a form of technology, the human being is taught to free itself from the barriers and recognize it's true self because of such religious
When dystopias are mentioned, books like Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World come to mind, but no one ever thinks of modern, popular religions. The goal of these books are to warn the modern society of what could go wrong if it keeps behaving like it is by exaggerating the flaws of the modern society. Scientology is a fairly new religion that has gained many followers over the past decade because of its illusion of a utopia, but it is also exactly what Huxley and Orwell are warning about in their books. Like A Brave New World, The church of scientology started off with good intentions, but over time all the rules and beliefs have turned out to be corrupt and unfair. Utopias like in A Brave New World and Scientology often become dystopias because
It formed in 1960 C.E. and originated in the United States. Recent surveys of US adults indicate that many Americans hold at least some of the new spirituality beliefs. Eight percent of Americans believe in astrology as a method of foretelling the future. Seven percent of americans believe that crystals are a source of healing or energizing power. Nine percent of americans believe that Tarot Cards are a reliable base for life decisions. New Spirituality has many beliefs such as monism and also pantheism which is all that exists is God; This leads naturally to the concept of the divinity of the individual, that we are all gods. They don’t seek God as revealed in a sacred text; they seek god within the self and the entire universe. They also believe in reincarnation which is when you die you will come back reborn in a new form whether it’s another person or even an animal. They also believe in karma which is basically what comes around goes around so if you do something good or nice you will have good fortune but if you do something really mean or bad you will have really bad fortune come to you. They believe in aura which is an energy field radiated by the body. Some practices that new spirituality practices is channeling and meditation. Many celebrities are into new spirituality. The main one that is really out there about her worldview and doesn’t mind talking about it to anyone is Oprah. The six main characteristics of New Spirituality thinking are: first, all is unity. Second, all is divine. Third, is humanity is divine. Next is a change in consciousness. Fifth is all religions are one. Lastly Cosmic Evolutionary
World religions don’t always share features or traits, but a lot of the patterns are similar. All religions have a unique problem and solution, those religions being contested is often an issue, succession from a founder brings changes and eventually, religions typically have an offshoot which seeks to get back to that religions roots. If there’s one positive note to leave off on, which I truly see as hopeful, it’s that maybe, one day, Scientology will see an offshoot which seeks to get it back to its Dianetics roots and reclaim what the movement was, before it took on the shape of a
The history of Scientology shows its persistence to keep their members with the promise of spiritual enlightenment. Scientology was founded in the mid-twentieth century by renowned science-fiction author L Ron Hubbard. (Sweeney) The basic foundation of the church stems from the ideas of his best-selling book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. (Anderson) Dianetics was published on May 9, 1950, and the date would become recognized among Scientologists as a religious holiday. Hubbard claimed that the discovery of the science of dianetics is “a milestone for Man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his inventions of the wheel and the arch” (Reitman 58). The book’s ideas encourage humanity to rid the individual of any of their mental weaknesses (18). It went on to make its way up the bestseller list by the summer o...
process of explaining the entities of human life no matter if anyone believes him or not.
Cults have existed throughout history since the beginning of time. A cult is defined in Webster’s dictionary as a “system of religious worship with a devoted attachment to a person, principle, etc.” Over the past thirty years numerous religious cults have caused “ tens of thousands to abandon their families, friends, education’s, and careers to follow the teaching of a leader they will never meet”(Beck 78).
For the cultural immersion project I chose the culture of Scientology. Scientology is the belief that a person knows what is best for them and can discover their truth by using various exercises to unlock information that is stored in the unconscious. The reason why I was interested in learning about Scientology is because I have heard a lot about it in the media and was curious to find out more about the topic. I did not know what to expect going into the experience. I have learned a lot about Scientology as a result of the immersion. I also learned a lot about how I interact with new experiences by observing my reactions to new information. To learn more about Scientology I sat down with a man named Billy.
Every religion embodies a plethora of recognized rituals that are significant to its teachings. Customs exclusive to each religion can include acts such as: attending a weekly mass, praying five times a day at specified hours, celebrating the transition from childhood to manhood, along with endless others. The similarity shared amongst all religious rituals is that the follower of faith must believe whole-heartedly in what he/she is doing or saying. Dhikr, or the remembrance of God, is a ritual based in Islam that does not receive the attention it deserves from mainstream Muslims, and is highly under appreciated for its value (Robson 238). Its myriad versions allow it to be very personal, whereas other rituals are more structured, which is
I believe that a cult is considered a smaller scale social group that shares it religious believes or philosophical beliefs. In other words is a very unorthodox social group. One of the first cults to come to mind when I think of the word is the Charles Manson cult from the 1960s. Usually, when you think of cults the first thing that comes to mind is some form of inherently bad or evil cult. I believe this is mostly due to the way that the media has talked about cults in the past. Examples being the Manson Family or the Heaven's Gate group that was all over the news in 1997. The word cult seems to only focus on the bad or the absolute oddest groups of people. What about groups like Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses or even Scientology? These
Many books have been written that discredit the religion of Scientology including Paulette Cooper's book titled The Scandal of Scientology which outlines all of what she believes to be faults in the Scientology religion. Being a biased source I turned from that book to an article printed four years after the death of the founder of Scientology Lafayette Ronald Hubbard. Titled "The Scientology Story "it was a series in The Los Angeles Times that was written to walk through Scientology from the beginning and simply explain the facts. In this unbiased account of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, there are many discrediting facts and ideas about the religion that were found. It is these very facts that I will be listing that many of Scientology's greatest critics use to defend themselves (in the case of those in the medical professions ), or to explain why the religions ideas are simply not valid or untrue.
Although cults have become a very common practice in our society, not many people actually know what a cult is. A cult is a group that demonstrates an excessive dedication to an idea, person or thing. Cults will conduct manipulative and persuasive behavior to advance the goals of the leader (Langone). There are many different types of cults, but they usually fall into four categories: Religious, Commercial, Self Help and Counselling or Political. Many people mistake religions as cults, but that is not the case. Religious cults are cults that center around a belief system as many common religions do, but they are categorized as a cult because of their practices and mind control. Common religions do not practice these techniques. Commercial cults are those that are interested in gaining money. These cults use their scare tactics and mind control techniques to get members to give them money and even work for them. Self Help and Counselling cults are centered around a business that has programs designed to help people by counselling them. By taking their courses, members are told they will become better people. This of course is not the case and these cults are inte...
Since many of the main religions were formed thousands of years ago, some people find their teachings hard to believe. For some, a religion that is more modern and born out of this century is more believable, and important to them. Many of the new religions take a scientific focus on their beliefs that is absent in the older religions (Van Voorst 337). Having the ability to address modern concerns in new ways attracts a whole new audience that many not be interested in the traditional churches (Van Voorst 337). New religious movements are also often technological advanced. For instance the Church of Scientology is well known as having one of the nicest websites of any church out there (Van Voorst 336).
According to Hutchison (2015), “religion is symbolic patterns that consists of values, beliefs, behaviors and experiences” (p. 184). I personal conceptualize spirituality as a vital role in my life that helps me during a time of sickness, forgiveness, and needed guidance. Spirituality helps guide me throughout life during the difficult times I have encountered. Spirituality impacts my life in positive ways that influence and regulate my behavior and health. Health is very important to me; I believe the spirit can heal a person from their sickness. It seems that the spirit heals me every time I pray to be healed from sickness. The spirit gives me strength at a time of weakness. When I feel at my lowest point in life I call on the spirit to pick