Scientology analysis and criticism covers the wide range of academic and scholarly perspectives on Scientology, including debates over how the movement should be classified—as a religion, a new religious movement, a business enterprise, a therapy system, or a high control group. Scholars examine Scientology's ideas and practices, its organizational structure, and the role of L. Ron Hubbard in shaping its theology. Researchers also study how Scientology blends ideas from many sources, including Eastern religions, Western esoteric traditions, psychology, and mid-20th-century science fiction. These analyses form the basis for ongoing discussions about Scientology's nature, origins, and place within the study of religion and new religious movements.
Overview
Vast amounts have been written about Scientology, both in support and opposition to it. Much of this literature has been heavily polarized. Scientology has attracted negative publicity since its founding, with criticism of Scientology organizations coming from government agencies, the media, anti-cult groups, and ex-members.
Academic research into Scientology was for several decades comparatively limited compared to the media and public interest in it. This has been attributed to the organization's secrecy, its reputation for litigiousness, and a lack of academic access to documentary material about the organization. Research intensified in the early 21st century, and in 2014, the first academic conference on the topic was held in Belgium. Several academics who have studied the movement have described the organization paying close attention to their work by telephoning them and sending representatives to attend their talks on the subject. Some observers of Scientology have also been critical of scholars studying it because they allege that scholars frequently act as apologists for it.
Definition
L. Ron Hubbard stated that the term "Scientology" derived from "scios" and "ology", which he defined as "knowing about knowing" or "the science of knowledge". Scholars have noted that the name echoes the language of science and have argued that it was chosen in part to draw on the cultural authority associated with scientific terminology. The word "scientology" had appeared in print earlier, though it is unclear whether Hubbard was aware of these earlier usages. Allen Upward used it in The New Word (1901) to describe uncritical acceptance of scientific doctrine. In 1934, Anastasius Nordenholz used the term in a philosophical work to mean "the science of the constitution and usefulness of knowledge".
In his history of the Church of Scientology, the scholar Hugh Urban describes Scientology as a "huge, complex, and multifaceted movement." According to Urban, Scientology represents a "rich syncretistic blend" of sources, including elements from Hinduism and Buddhism, Thelema, new scientific ideas, science-fiction, and from psychology and popular self-help literature available by the mid-20th century. The sociologist Stephen A. Kent views the Church of Scientology as "a multifaceted transnational corporation, only one element of which is religious".
Hubbard claimed that Scientology was "all-denominational", and members of the Scientology organization are not prohibited from active involvement in religions. Scholar of religion Donald Westbrook encountered members who also practiced Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and the Nation of Islam; one was a Baptist minister. In practice, however, Westbrook noted that most members consider Scientology to be their only commitment, and the deeper their involvement became, the less likely they were to continue practicing other traditions. The ceremonies, structure of the prayers, and minister attire suggested by Hubbard reflect his own Protestant traditions.
Scientology has experienced multiple schisms during its history. While the Church of Scientology was the original promoter of the movement, various factions have split off to form independent Scientology groups. Referring to the "different types of Scientology", the scholar of religion Aled Thomas suggests it was appropriate to talk about "Scientologies".
Science and technology
Hubbard presented Scientology as a kind of "scientific technology", claiming that its methods were developed through observation and testing, rather than revelation, even though its methods do not follow standards of mainstream science. Scientology's connection to science is often discussed in relation to its origins in self-help movements as well as science fiction culture.
The Church considers itself scientific, although this belief has no basis in institutional science.Rothstein, Mikael. "Science and Religion in the New Religions." Oxford Handbooks Online. 2009-09-02. Oxford University Press. Date of access .Jan 29, 2014, http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195369649.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780195369649-e-5 According to religious scholar Mikael Rothstein Scientologists believe that "all religious claims can be verified through experimentation". Scientologists believe that their religion was derived through scientific methods, that Hubbard found knowledge through studying and thinking, not through revelation. The "science" of Dianetics, however, was never accepted by the scientific community. Rothstein also writes that there is a possibility that Scientology partly owes its existence to the conflict with the conventional scientific community, which hindered Hubbard's original intention. Religious scholar Dorthe Refslund Christensen notes that Scientology differs from the scientific method in that Scientology has become increasingly self-referential, while true science normally compares competing theories and observed facts.
Hubbard initially claimed and insisted that Dianetics was based on the scientific method. He taught that "the scientific sensibilities [carry] over into the spiritual realities one encounters via auditing on the e-meter." Scientologists commonly prefer to describe Hubbard's teachings with words such as knowledge, technology, and workability rather than belief or faith. Hubbard described Dianetics and Scientology as "technologies" based on his claim of their "scientific precision and workability." Hubbard attempted to "break down the barrier between scientific (objective, external) and religious (subjective, internal) forms of knowledge." Hubbard describes Scientology's epistemology as "radically subjective: Nothing in Scientology is true for you unless you have observed it and it is true according to your observation." This is a type of self-legitimation through science which is also found in other religions such as Christian Science, Religious Science, and Moorish Science Temple of America.
Sociologist William Sims Bainbridge cites Scientology's origins in the subcultures of science fiction and "harmony" with scientific cosmology. Science fiction, viewed to work for and against the purposes of science, has contributed to the birth of new religions, including Scientology. While it promotes science, it distorts it as well. Science fiction writer A.E. van Vogt based the early development of Dianetics and Scientology on a novel based on General Semantics, a self-improvement and therapy program created by Alfred Korzybski to cure personal and social issues.Bainbridge, William Sims. "Science and Religion: The Case of Scientology." In David G. Bromley and Phillip E. Hammond, eds. The Future of New Religious Movements. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1987, 59-79.
Scientologists believe that Hubbard "discovered the existential truths that form their doctrine through research," thus leading to the idea that Scientology is science. Hubbard created what the Church would call a "spiritual technology" to advance the goals of Scientology. According to the Church, "Scientology works 100 percent of the time when it is properly applied to a person who sincerely desires to improve his life." The underlying claims are that Scientology is "exact" and "certain". Michael Shermer, writing for Scientific American in 2011, said that Scientology's methods lacked enough study to qualify as a science, but that the story of Xenu and Scientology's other creation myths were no less tenable than other religions.
B. Hubbard, J. Hatfield, and J. Santucci compare Scientology's view of humanity to the Yogachara school of Buddhism, saying that both have been described as "the most scientific" among new and traditional religions, respectively. They cite technical language and claims that teachings were developed through observation and experimentation. They also emphasize that many investigators and researchers consider Scientology to be a pseudoscience because of its absolute and meta-empirical goals.
Scholar Kocku von Stuckrad stated that Scientology is an example of the phenomenon of both the "scientification of religion" and the "sacralization" of science. Donald A. Westbrook argues that there is an "ongoing and dialectical relationship" between religion and science in Hubbard's teachings.
Classification
Debate as to whether Scientology should be regarded as a religion, a cult, a business, or a scam has continued over many years.
Many Scientologists consider it to be their religion. Its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, presented it as a religion, but the early history of the Scientology organization, and Hubbard's policy directives, letters, and instructions to subordinates, indicate that his motivation for doing so was as a legally pragmatic move to minimize his tax burden and escape the possibility of prosecution. In many countries, the Church of Scientology has engaged in extensive litigation to secure recognition as a tax-exempt religious organization, and it has managed to obtain such a status in a few jurisdictions, including the United States, Italy, and Australia. The organization has not received recognition as a religious institution in the majority of countries in which it operates.
Government inquiries, international parliamentary bodies, scholars, law lords, and numerous superior court judgments describe Scientology both as a dangerous cult and as a manipulative profit-making business. These institutions and scholars state that Scientology is not a religion. An article in Time magazine, "The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power", describes Scientology as a ruthless global scam. The Church of Scientology's attempts to sue the publishers for libel and to prevent republication abroad were dismissed.
Psychologists and skeptics support this view of Scientology as a confidence trick to obtain money from its targets. The academic Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi observes that "the majority of activities conducted by Scientology and its many fronts and subsidiaries involve the marketing of secular products." Scholars and journalists note that profit is the primary motivating goal of Hubbard's Scientology groups. Those making this observation have often referred to a governing financial policy issued by Hubbard that is to be obeyed by all Scientology organization staff members, which includes the following [uppercase in original]: