What is Scientology

Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by American science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, who lived from 1911 until 1986.

In 1950, Hubbard published DIanetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, explaining the process of auditing, in which a counselor guides a subject to recall traumatic memories and resolve the associated negative emotions. In 1953, having lost the rights to Dianetics, Hubbard created an expansion called Scientology and incorporated the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey. Scientology teaches that people are immortal beings who have forgotten their true nature.

From its inception, Scientology has been one of the most controversial of the new religious movements. The church is often characterized as a business, a criminal enterprise, or a cult. In 1978, top-ranking members were convicted of espionage after infiltrating, wiretapping, and stealing documents from the offices of federal attorneys and the Internal Revenue Service.Members framed a journalist for making bomb threats. In France, Hubbard was tried for fraud and convicted in absentia, that is, in the absence of defendant Hubbard, who had gone into hiding.

In 1986, Hubbard died after years in hiding. David Miscavige emerged as leader of Church of Scientology, while many others practice Scientology independently.

Critics contend the church practices brainwashing and fraud against its members, and that it uses psychological abuse, character assassination, and vexatious litigation against its perceived enemies.The Church of Scientology has consistently used litigation against its critics, and its use of aggressive harassment has been condemned.Scientologists make the controversial claim that psychiatry is destructive and abusive and must be abolished. Further controversy has focused on the fact a typical Scientologist must spend several years and about $100,000 in auditing fees before reaching OT III:The Wall of Fire, which reveals the story of Galactic Dictator Xenu.

The group's legal classification is often a point of contention. Some jurisdictions, such as the United States, grant the group tax-exempt status, while other jurisdictions, such as Germany and France, classify it as a "anti-constitutional sect" or a cult (French secte).

Scientology is affiliated with the pseudo-scientific Narconon drug rehabilitation program, the prisoner rehabilitation program Criminon, the Applied Scholastics program to assist school students, the business-focused World Institute of Scientology Enterprises, the faith-healing group Volunteer Ministers, and the promotional booklet The Way to Happiness.