Anonymous

What do Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Isaac Hayes and Stanley Clarke have in common? They are all Scientologists. Scientology is a belief system started by L.Ron Hubbard. He is the author of a book entitled Dianetics. This "church" has been very controversial to say the least, there have been charges of manipulation, mind control and just plain old flim-flamming. Ex-members have told stories about being taken advantage of financially. Several accusations have been made against this organization by the family members of Scientology followers. The basic complaint is the "church" bleeds the follower dry financially and discards them when the money is gone. The information below is from Wikipedia.

Origin

Hubbard established Scientology's doctrines during a period from 1952 until his death in January 1986, establishing the basic principles in the 1950s and 1960s. It was originally secular, Hubbard stating in 1952 that "Scientology would be a study of knowledge."[5] The following year he began to characterize Scientology's beliefs and practices as a religion, and by 1960 he was defining Scientology as "a religion by its basic tenets, practice, historical background and by the definition of the word 'religion' itself."[6] In 1969 he wrote that "It is fundamentally an applied religious philosophy."[7] Hubbard recorded his doctrine in archived writings, audio tapes and films.[8][9][10]

The Church of Scientology defines scientology as "the study of truth."[11] The word itself is a pairing of the Latin word scientia ("knowledge," "skill"), which comes from the verb scire ("to know"), and the Greek λογος lógos ("reason" or "inward thought" or "logic" or "an account of").
Although today associated almost exclusively with Hubbard, the word "scientology" predates his usage by several decades. An early use of the word was as a neologism in an 1871 book by the American anarchist Stephen Pearl Andrews presenting "the newly discovered Science of the Universe".[12] Philologist Allen Upward used the word "scientology" in his 1901 book The New Word as a synonym for "pseudoscience,"[13] and this is sometimes cited as the first coining of the word.[2]

In 1934, the Argentine-German writer Anastasius Nordenholz published a book using the word positively: Scientologie, Wissenschaft von der Beschaffenheit und der Tauglichkeit des Wissens ("Scientologie, Science of the Constitution and Usefulness of Knowledge").[14] Nordenholz's book is a study of consciousness, and its usage of the word is not greatly different from Hubbard's definition, "knowing how to know"[15] (from epistemology). Whether Hubbard was aware of these earlier uses is unknown.
The term "Scientology" and related terms are trademarks held by the Religious Technology Center which grants the mother church of the Scientology religion, the Church of Scientology International (CSI), the right to use the trademarks and to license their use to all other Scientology churches and entities. Other organizations that promote the use of related techniques, developed by or based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, are the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises and the Association for Better Living and Education.[16][17]

Beliefs

Scientology's beliefs and related techniques comprise 18 basic books,[32] and 3,000 recorded lectures.[33] There is no single Scientology book that is the equivalent of the Bible or the Qur'an, but the study of Scientology is achieved through the chronological study of its basic books and lectures.[34]
Scientology describes itself as "the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life,"[35] and "encompasses all aspects of life from the point of view of the spirit" — including "auditing"[36] and training in morals, ethics, detoxification, education and management.[37]
Prime among Scientology's beliefs is "that man is a spiritual being whose existence spans more than one life and who is endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally considers he possesses."[38] Scientology believes man to be basically good, that his experiences have led him into evil, that he errs because he seeks to solve his problems by considering only his own point of view, and that man can improve to the degree he preserves his spiritual integrity and remains honest and decent.[39]

According to the Church, the ultimate goal is: "a civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights."[40]
The Church of Scientology declares that the goal of Scientology is to achieve "certainty of one’s spiritual existence and [of] one’s relationship to the Supreme Being,"[41] and says that Scientology's tenets are not a matter of faith but of testable practice: "That which is true for you is what you have observed to be true."[42]
The exact nature of all of existence is said to be stated in Hubbard's Scientology and Dianetics Axioms.
Other beliefs of Scientology are:[43]
A person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body.
The thetan has lived through many past lives and will continue to live beyond the death of the body.
Through the Scientology process of "auditing," people can free themselves of traumatic incidents, ethical transgressions and bad decisions which are said to collectively restrict the person from reaching the state of "Clear" and "Operating Thetan." Each state is said to represent the recovery of native spiritual abilities and to confer mental and physical benefits.
A person is basically good, but becomes "aberrated" by moments of pain and unconsciousness.
Psychiatry and psychology are destructive and abusive practices.[44]
Members study Scientology and receive auditing sessions to advance from a status of preclear to Operating Thetan.[45][46

Controversies

Of the many new religious movements to appear during the 20th century, the Church of Scientology has, from its inception, been one of the most controversial, coming into conflict with the governments and police forces of several countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada[138] and Germany) numerous times over the years.[139][140][141][142][143][141][144][145][146][147][148][149]
Reports and allegations have been made, by journalists, courts, and governmental bodies of several countries, that the Church of Scientology is an unscrupulous commercial enterprise that harasses its critics and brutally exploits its members.[139][140] Some critics of Scientology have recanted under duress.[150] In some cases of US litigation against the Church, former Scientologists appearing as expert witnesses have since stated that they submitted false and inflammatory declarations intended to incite prejudice against Scientology, [151] and harassed key Scientology executives, by advancing unfounded opinions to get a case dropped or to obtain a settlement.[152]

The German government takes the view that Scientology is a commercial, rather than religious organization, and has even gone so far as to consider a ban on Scientology.[153] Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom have not recognized Scientology as a religion.[154] Scientology has also not been recognized as a religion in Israel or Mexico. The Belgian State Prosecution Service has recommended that various individuals and organizations associated with Scientology should be prosecuted.[155][156] An administrative court is to decide if charges will be pressed.[155][156]
Main article: Scientology and the legal system
The controversies involving the Church and its critics, some of them ongoing, include:
Scientology's disconnection policy, in which members are encouraged to cut off all contact with friends or family members considered "antagonistic."[157][158]

The death of a Scientologist Lisa McPherson while in the care of the Church.
Criminal activities committed on behalf of the Church or directed by Church officials (Operation Snow White, Operation Freakout)
Conflicting statements about L. Ron Hubbard's life, in particular accounts of Hubbard discussing his intent to start a religion for profit, and of his service in the military.[159]
Scientology's harassment and litigious actions against its critics encouraged by its Fair Game policy.[159]
Attempts to legally force search engines such as Google and Yahoo to omit any webpages critical of Scientology from their search engines (and in Google's case, AdSense), or at least the first few search pages.[160]
Due to these allegations, a considerable amount of investigation has been aimed at the Church, by groups ranging from the media to governmental agencies.[139][140]
Although Scientologists are usually free to practice their beliefs, the organized church has often encountered opposition due to their strong-arm tactics directed against critics and members wishing to leave the organization.

While a number of governments now view the Church as a religious organization entitled to protections and tax relief, others view it as a pseudoreligion or a cult.[161][162] The differences between these classifications has become a major problem when discussing religions in general and Scientology specifically.[106]
While acknowledging that a number of his colleagues accept Scientology as a religion, sociologist Stephen A. Kent wrote: "Rather than struggling over whether or not to label Scientology as a religion, I find it far more helpful to view it as a multifaceted transnational corporation, only one[sic] element of which is religious."[163][164]
Scientology social programs such as drug and criminal rehabilitation have likewise drawn both support and criticism.[165][166][167][168]

I became aware of a group formed to warn the public about Scientology. This organization is called Anonymous. They have a digital press release explaining their objectives. Initially, I thought this whole thing was a hoax. It had a sort of Matrix-type feel about it. Once I began dig a little deeper. It became very apparent to me the group is very commited and serious about their stated mission: To dismantle The Church of Scientology. One of most interesting aspects of this movement is they are faceless literally, they are nameless literally. They could be your neighbor, the mailman, your babysitter. It all seems like something from a psycho/drama/thriller. The Internet is being utilized in executing their strategy in the support of their stated mission. Check out the video.