Scientology: Is Scientology A Cult?

365 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Scientology religious movements

Scientology has been a community surrounded by controversy since its beginning in 1955, and in my Religion seminar my partner and I choose to examine this pressing issue. After reviewing all of our gathered information I have concluded that Scientology is indeed a cult and not a Religion as they claim to be. One reason that I believe that Scientology is a cult is because they take peoples money, which is something a Religion should not do. There have been numerous cases of Scientology taking peoples money, with on incident where a person killed themselves with the rest of the money had left on them to show that Scientology had ruined his life. This is an example of how Scientology ruins peoples lives, which is something a Religion should not

Show More
Related

  • Amun-Re Cult

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reunification of upper and Lower Egypt catalysed the syncretism of prominent sun deities Amun and Re. Consequently, a powerful cult emerged that became the prevailing religious ideology, as well as an important political power base which secured dynastic legitimacy. The importance and impact of the Amun cult is diverse, as it developed social cohesion, shaped the ideology of kingship, facilitated economic and military prosperity, and formed a new power base; the Amun Priesthood.

    Read More

  • Poor Man's After-Tax Dinner

    5402 Words  | 11 Pages

    Southland Christian Church, one of several worship centers in the United States that has earned the moniker “Six Flags over Jesus,” is Lexington’s largest megachurch. With a weekly attendance of 8,000 people and an operating budget that supports a staff of over eighty members, Southland far exceeds most U.S. congregations in terms of financial resources and social clout. In recent years, popular and scholarly studies have attempted to situate the megachurch movement within a broad cultural context. Although the majority of these analyses dispute the precise definition of a megachurch, most distinguish these multiplex sanctuaries from smaller worship communities by using the same criteria—i.e. weekly attendance, campus acreage, annual budget, etc.—that megachurches themselves draw on to represent their own success. [2] However, the essence of a megachurch is not its large buildings, but rather the theology of consumption that informs its programming.[3] In this way, a megachurch ethos has infiltrated even the smallest congregations in the United States and has helped to solidify Christianity’s inextricable connection to consumer capitalism. To those who see megachurches as symptomatic of a flawed Christianity, market-minded church growth confounds one of the faith’s oldest dualities, the contradiction of living in the world without conforming to its ways, as Paul puts it in Romans 12. Megachurches at once reject “the world” and participate in it by seeking to win the lost and wow the consumer at the same time.

    Read More

  • Lsd And Mainstream 1960s Media

    1888 Words  | 4 Pages

    LSD has proved that the mind contains much higher powers and energies, beyond the average10% of the brain that a typical human uses. These powers and energies, under the right circumstances, can be taken advantage of to benefit human kind spiritually, creatively, therapeutically, and intellectually. LSD has given human kind the option to chemically trigger mental energies and powers. Arguments that LSD is potentially a dangerous discovery and mind control should be strictly prohibited by the government holds much validity, although there are benefits and arguments of personal freedom of neurology to consider. Whether LSD reflects negativity as a weapon and mind control drug, or radiates euphoria as a mind-expanding chemical and sacrament, the choice to engage in such an experience should be through personal reasoning. It is not the states and other bureaucracies’ duties to take control of the human brain and body.

    Read More

  • Westboro Baptist Church: A Deviant Hate Crime Group?

    2632 Words  | 6 Pages

    Deviant behavior is anything that a person does that is out of the norm. Robbing banks, stealing cars, and assaulting individuals are easily considered deviant behavior, but can people be deviant while still being within their legal rights and without breaking any laws? One congregation that does not break any laws, but is considered to be out-of-line, is the Westboro Baptist Church. The Westboro Baptist Church has been called offensive and their actions are frowned upon by many. Is the Westboro Baptist Church actually a deviant group in disguise?

    Read More

  • The Cult You’re In

    1918 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. The spell/ hypnosis is how companies get you to buy there things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there is 10 different types of water you can buy. You go pick one either because the picture is better or you seen the commercial the other day and you want it. During the length of this paper we will talk about two important writers, Kalle Lasn the writer of “The Cult You’re in” and Benoit Denizet-Lewis writer of “ The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch”. They both talk about similar topics that go hand and hand with each other, they talk about the consumers “Dream”, how companies recruit the consumers, who cult members really are, how people are forced to wear something they don’t want, and about slackers.

    Read More

  • The Heaven's Gate Cult

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Heaven’s Gate Cult was founded in the early 1970’s by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. Applewhite was recovering, under the care of his nurse Ms. Nettles, when he claimed to have has a near death experience. Applewhite claimed that he and Nettles were the two witnesses spoken of in the Book of Revelation. And they were to prepare the worlds inhabitants for recycling.

    Read More

  • Mystery Cults

    2592 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mystery cults greatly influenced the development of Pythagoreanism as Pythagoreans adopted many of their traditions, behaviors and beliefs. Pythagoras, the founder of the Pythagoreans, established a school in which he developed and taught these adopted cultural behaviors and beliefs. "The nature of daily living in the school, both its moral and its intellectual disciplines, can perhaps best be understood as an intellectualized development from earlier mystery cults such as the Eleusinian" (Wheelwright 201). The Pythagoreans and the mystery cults were not identical, but they shared many similar beliefs on subjects such as the soul, transmigration and reincarnation, and they practiced many of the traditions of initiation, ritual and secrecy. Pythagoreans combined the mystery cults' views on these subjects with philosophical thought as a foundation to develop their own unique beliefs.

    Read More

  • The Church of Scientology: Religion Or Cult?

    1787 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Cult Leaders: Changing Attitudes by Conditioning The Members of a Cult

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    People join cults as a way of feeling a sense of belonging within a community (Winner 2011:417). This need for belonging is eventually why members find themselves so involved that they cannot get out. This is especially true in the case of the cult created by Jim Jones. He established a cultic Church called the People’s Temple, most famously known for being the largest group suicide consisting of 909 people, including 276 children (Nelson 2006). Between five to seven million young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are involved in cult groups (“Cult statistics” 2010). Nearly 180 000 people are recruited into cults each year (“Cult Statistics” 2010). The sense of identity, purpose, and belonging are appealing aspects to why people join cults as the use of power and manipulation coerces them to stay.

    Read More

  • Cults and Their Leaders

    4160 Words  | 9 Pages

    For many years, cult leaders always had a psychological hold on their followers' minds. Whether it was to kill other people or to kill themselves, they did it without question. Some cult leaders used fear, violence and guilt as a means of a weapon to control the minds of their followers. Other cult leaders used persuasive and spiritual speeches that made their followers believe they were doing good and fulfilling God's plan. Because cult leaders are powerful through psychological offenses, the people that belong to their cults are brainwashed into doing things they wouldn't normally do in their right state of mind.

    Read More

  • Scientology: A Ron Hubbard Creation

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ― Albert Einstein. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, religion could be defined as, “an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group”. In other word a religion could mean a belief in a supernatural controlling power. In todays society there are many well renowned religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The main thing that all of these above mentioned religions have in common is that they serve as guides on how one should live their life. On the other hand many people started to question religions and their stories. Which in turn led to many individuals becoming atheist. According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, atheism is defined as, “a disbelief in the existence of deity”. Basically atheism is the belief that a supreme overlord does not exist. Let’s forget about atheism and concentrate on religions. There are many religions beside the big three that many people don’t know about. Many may not believe this but scientology is considered a religion. A science fiction author named L. Ron Hubbard created the religion, which is now known as scientology. Hubbard was born on March 13th, 1911 in Tilden, Nebraska. He later attended George Washington University, where he studies engineering and molecular physics. From 1934 to 1936 Hubbard started to write novels and gained much success in 1937. On 29th of March 1941, L. Ron Hubbard earned his Master of Sail Vessels license for Any Ocean. Three months later, he is commissioned as Lieutenant of the United States Navy Reserve. With United States involvement in the Second World War, Lieutenant Hubbard was dispatched to Australia. After a couple years in ...

    Read More

  • The Heaven's Gate Cult

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • History Of Scientology

    1376 Words  | 3 Pages

    Scientology is a religion that is becoming more and more popular and known. One of the reasons for this is the amount of press it gets. One of the biggest churches for scientology is located in LA this could result in the amount of celebrities involved in this religon. There is also a great amount of controversy concerning this religion. After taking this world religions class I have come to learn that this controversy is true with all religions.

    Read More

  • Scientology

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Why people join cults

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    What makes a person join a cult? What happens in a person's life to make them completely change they way they used to talk and act? Many are puzzled about the mysterious happenings in a cult member's life. They wonder how one could become involved in such a group. The forces that draw individuals into cults can be explained by psychological doctrine. Many in the psychology field have sought to provide answers to the various questions that society has.

    Read More

More about Scientology: Is Scientology A Cult?

Open Document