Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Sony Bonno and Lisa Marie Presley all have one similar lifestyle. Yes, they are all famous celebrities, however, this lifestyle has more effect on a person than any career possibly could. These celebrities, among many more, are part of what has been called “The Church of Hollywood.” They are all Scientologists. The Church of Scientology is one manufactured by a former science fiction writer who could not stop lying about himself and his religion up till his death on January 24th, 1986. L. Ron Hubbard lied about everything from his Boy Scout triumphs to his heroism as a decorated soldier. Hubbard is anything but a man of God and yet his followers see him as the ultimate being. Since December of 1953, Scientologists have blindly followed this con artist in a cult based around hunger for money and power. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines a cult as an “excessive devotion to some person, idea or thing…regarded as unorthodox or spurious.” Scientologists are obsessed with L. Ron Hubbard, a man they refuse to believe the truth about. Scientology is not a religion. It is not conventional. It is not genuinely based around a belief of a God or Supreme Being. Scientology is a cult whose practices can be considered a joke and whose leader can be considered a pathological liar.
The beliefs and methods of Scientologists may be easily laughed at by any sane mind. The “religion” has many cult-like activities and many unconventional needs and beliefs belonging solely to Scientology. An example of this is the very important one billion year contract. Members of Scientology who wish to be part of the “Sea Organization” must sign a contract for one billion years of service. The pe...
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... to build a future on these lies as well. Ron Hubbard was not an amazing man, but instead he was a man who tried to catch a break through creating a religion to serve his every need. Thus, he created Scientology.
In conclusion, the Church of Scientology is based on little or no historical facts and its teachings are so unorthodox that for it not to be considered a cult, is an outrage. The leader of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard can not be relied on to state any fact as proven throughout his past and thus all credibility of the Church of Scientology has been jeopardized. When examining the teachings of Scientology, it is as if one is reading something from a science fiction novel. They are then reminded that it was all created by a science fiction writer and yet Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Sony Bonno and Lisa Marie Presley all failed to question this.
Celebrity worship is a term given to those who obsess over one or more celebrity. Jake Halpern's "The Popular Crowd," discusses how loneliness increases the likelihood of someone worshiping celebrities. Worshiping of celebrities is not necessarily bad, it can be helpful for those who have a social need that they need satisfied. However, this worshiping can sometimes lead to stalking and violence towards celebrities. Once this happens celebrities are put in danger. Some celebrities receive phone calls, letters, emails, and more from stalkers. They might not feel like this is a sign of danger, but it is. In order for celebrities to remain safe, they need to be educated about dangers that come with having fans.
Cults are dangerous institutions that have existed for many years, corrupting and reforming the minds of innocent people into believing outrageous doctrines that eventually result in disaster. Horrifying cases involving men such as Charles Manson, Jim Jones and David Koresh have bewildered people and raise the question: how could individuals be easily susceptible to the teachings of these men, so influenced that masses go as far as to commit the unthinkable? Individuals who are in a vulnerable position in search for an identity are attracted to cults because they offer a sense of belonging. In addition, isolation from society contributes to the functioning of a cult for it creates an atmosphere where submissiveness and obedience runs high. These two factors seem to hold true for one of the most notorious cults currently established in the United States and Canada. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or, FLDS, is an international polygamist sect that incorporates belonging and isolation along with a dangerous mentality that have resulted in the abuse of women and children in the name of God.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, a documentary directed by Alex Gibney in 2015, is a remarkable film which succeeds in deconstructing the church's claim by presenting how it is excessively authoritarian, financially exploitative, and brainwashing their adherents.
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
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).
Is there life out there in the great beyond? It is a question that many of us have asked, but there is no real answer, no tangible evidence to validate the existence of other intelligent beings. All we have are so-called experiences that earthly people have had with these beings, like me. I remember, as a child, I stayed awake late one night. I was lying in bed admiring the stars outside my window when I saw a bright light in the distance. It moved in impossible ways I could not explain, even to this day. It was only for a moment, but the memory of this unexplainable phenomena has stayed with me ever since. If there are other intelligent beings like us living in distant worlds, how do we explain their standing in religious history? Are they gods or angels? Are they our creators? In decades past, people who claim to have had ufological experiences have banded together to create religious societies in their quest to become closer to extraterrestrial life. While all of these societies support different views on UFOs and religion, all have one common belief – there is life out there and they are real and powerful beings far more advanced than humans in technology and psychic abilities. Throughout this research paper, I will establish how some of these religious societies were formed, and describe in detail how their belief system works and why they are considered religious in nature.
Moreover, by obtaining a basic understanding of Scientology and its purpose we can now explore and uncover the answer to a question that sparks the curiosity of outsiders in western civilization; such a question is How did it Begin? The origins of this culture began in the year of 1923 when L. Ron Hubbard started his studies of the mind and spirit. Likewise, such studies resulted in the creation of a manuscript entitled Excalibur; this book was completed in 1938 but was never published. Furthermore, it was in this unpublished work that the word “Scientology” first appeared. The literal interpretation of the phrase means “the study of knowing how t...
...izable religious leaders can be wrong, as witnessed with the “Whale Rider.” A Religion is the basic practice that gives meaningful purpose to life filled with insecurity. However, what we can notice through the film is that some roles are often miscued by the gender of the assumed chosen one. At the heart of any religion is the ability for an individual
Throughout the last couple of decades more and more stories of illegal cult activity or murders by satanic cults appear on the news each night. This surge of reported cult activity has caused a spark in public interest. There has been a large increase in the fear that surrounds cults over the past couple of years. A cult is “a therapeutic or unconventional religious movement (McBride, 1985, 22),” and the more cults that fall beneath the public eye, the more serious the fear of cults becomes. Much of this fear has been sparked by major cult related incidents such as mass suicide by the People’s Temple or the murder of Sharon Tate. These incidents, and incidents like them, grab the nation’s attention and create widespread panic. But as the nation reads about these stories in the paper, the same questions seem to surface. Questions like “How does this happen?” or “What can we do to stop this from happening again?” are often asked.
... they created or helped start and that helps keep them happy with themselves and with other cult members. Cults are basicly the same thing as churches in my mind. The only difference is that people do not really agree with the cult’s beliefs or actions. The cults are often just ridiculed for the fact that they are different than most of the average people that do the ridiculing. Cults are often used to help drunks, addicts, and now recovering drunks and addicts. The strict rules of the cult keep the cult member out of drugs and out of all forms of alcohol. The cult provide a steady home for cult members that can not keep up a good home.I think cults are a good place for the poor people that need some support to maintain their life and the lives of their families. You get new friends that watch your back. Joining a cult is a lot like joining a new second family.
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.
Similar to Wicca, Scientology is a vastly solitary religion, focusing on each practitioner and their personal journey through life in order to obtain fulfillment and happiness. Each Scientologist believes in the ‘thetan’, which is their true identity, or ‘spirit’. Scientology is based on fundamental principles that act as a guide to each individual’s ultimate spiritual enlightenment ...
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.
The members in a cult most usually follow the leader and not the ideas of the leader. They are there to make the leader happy and to make them happy they become a follower and practice the same beliefs as the leader. “Cults often originate with a charismatic leader, an individual who inspires people because he or she seems to have extraordinary gifts, qualities, or abilities.” (Henslin 2013:405) The leader of the group is usually seen as something more than human to the followers, such as a God or that they are connected to God in some way. The leader possesses the ability to give them salvation and save them from damnation. “People feel drawn to both the person and the message because they find something highly appealing about the individual-in some instances, almost a magnetic charm.” (Henslin 2013:405) Without the leader the members feel like there is no way they can be saved. They use conflict theory ...
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...