Why scientology is bullshit

Newswire Powered by. Close the menu. Rolling Stone. Log In. To help keep your account secure, please log-in again. You are no longer onsite at your organization. Please log in. This background made me well aware of the controversies surrounding Scientology.

Even so, immersing myself in what is basically the church's DVD starter kit was stranger than I imagined. I first stepped inside a Scientology church last year near the religion's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. I was in town to catch some spring training baseball. On my way out of town, I had a few hours to kill and found myself near the church's facility in Tampa.

A sign outside encouraged visitors to come in. I went for it. One of the first films I watched in Tampa was a biography of Hubbard. It included many claims of Hubbard's military exploits, international explorations, and almost miraculous achievements that have been questioned by Wright's reporting. Other videos dealt with the church's social programs.

After a few minutes of watching, I went to leave and a uniformed Scientologist who had shown me around the facility encouraged me to take a "personality test" in an adjacent room.

I politely declined, took copies of the DVDs, and signed a guest book. As a result of giving them my email address, I received at least five emails from the man who I spoke to over the course of the next year. Once again, I didn't write back. A message two weeks later simply asked, "Do you get my emails?

Perhaps this persistent Scientologist would be happy to know I finally watched the movies this week, although I definitely didn't have the reaction he was hoping for. The narrator outlined a series of claims about Hubbard's life. The film went on to describe Hubbard as a record-setting Boy Scout who developed an "enduring interest in unraveling the mysteries of the human mind" after meeting a naval officer "who had studied under Sigmund Freud.

According to the narrator, Hubbard returned to America in when he would have been about The movie said he then went on to college and went on several expeditions and adventures designed for him to "fathom life. This incredible revelation was not detailed in the movie, but it went on to make even more dramatic claims about Hubbard's research and the power of his ideas. It described his time in a naval hospital during World War II as the start of his "final road to discovery.

At this point, the movie began to allude to the sci-fi mysticism that's reportedly contained in the materials given to believers who reach Scientology's upper levels. After just 10 minutes of Scientology's introductory DVDs, it became clear to me that the church views Hubbard as a miraculous, almost messianic figure. However, I hadn't seen much concrete evidence to back up the incredible claims about the religion's leader. It also was apparent to me that diving deeper into Scientology doctrine would involve some rather unorthodox mystical concepts.

Between the Hubbard biography and the repeated emails I got from the Scientologist in Tampa, I was personally turned off after barely dipping my toe into the water.

Part two of the DVD was an overview of the religion's "beliefs and practices. The movie then went on to introduce a series of concepts and questions that seemed like they were designed to dazzle. Are you a body? Well, let me ask you this, if you have your appendix removed does your personality change? Your body is something you use.

So, if you're not your body, what are you? As stock footage of people that appeared to be from the s rolled across the screen, the narrator defined the mind as having "a memory bank containing pictures. That part of you that's aware of being aware, in Scientology we use the word Thetan.

A common refrain surrounding Scientology is that many Hollywood actors and actresses take part in it. If you really look at the numbers at the entertainment industry, in comparison to the small number of scientologists that are celebrities, the number wouldn't even register.

I think Scientology has done an amazing job convincing people that there is a great number of celebrities in the "Church. I was punished for doing Stuff magazine because it was too racy.

They would not want us to do anything that would be considered not "becoming of a Scientologist. However, she asserts that even though Scientology might not be strict when it comes to things like racy pictures, it still has a keen sense of its image and marketing. Scobee had joined Scientology at the age of 14, and alleges that she was sexually abused by a man, her boss in the organization, who was 35 at the time.

This was statutory rape, and I was too afraid to tell anyone about it. The most revealing questions Remini was asked on Reddit were about what she was thinking during her time as a Scientologist, whether she was aware of the general criticism and suspicion surrounding the organization, and, if she did know, why she continued to pursue it. She wrote:. The "church" told me I didn't need to believe it, just do it.

And they always pose this question: "Are you ready to leave everything you've ever known? Remini was also frank in explaining why, if so much about the religion sounds bonkers, people believe in it.

The key, she says, is that Scientology is built around accomplishment. They gain a purpose. They gain a group. They gain a sense of accomplishment awards, certificates. That you have all the answers in life. If you have a question about life, you are made to think that Scientology has the answer. Because very early on in the brainwashing process, L.