Scientology within America Scientology is a new religious movement that was founded between the years 1951 to 1952, however despite its relative newness to the religious scene it “remains one of the most controversial and poorly understood new religious movements to emerge in the last century” (Urban 91). Developed by the writer and philosopher Lafayette Hubbard, the religion itself is based upon findings over Hubbard’s personal study and development of Dianetics; or the study of metaphysical relationships found between body, mind, and soul. Scientology has garnered a dedicated following of notable Americans such as famed actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta. This research paper will analysis and explain the basic beliefs, practices, and rituals
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This pursuit lead to the creation of the early concepts of Dianetics, of which he detailed in his book The Original Thesis. The popularity of the book lead towards a more summarily text, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health would be published in May of 1950. The book did extremely well and quickly moved to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for the rest of the year. Riding the success of his recent publications, Ron “founded the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where held classes to train people as auditors” (Melton 9). Auditing described by Dianetics is “To Listen and also To Compute” (Hubbard 543), to partake in an audit a trained auditor needs to be present to administer the Dianetic therapy. To Insure that a credible audit can be performed the church offers professional courses for one to become a licensed auditor. To complete a successful audit session an E-Meter also needs to be present, a E-Meter is a device that was created by Volney Matheson and its purpose is to measure an individual’s emotional reaction to a tiny electrical current. However, for the purpose of Scientology the E-Meter is used to “tell what the pre-Clear’s mind is doing when the pre-Clear is induced to think of something” (Melton 10), however indications must be interpreted by a trained …show more content…
Gordon. The Church of Scientology. Salt Lake City]: Salt Lake City : Signature in Cooperation with CESNUR, 2000. Print.
Lewis, James R.. Scientology. New York, US: Oxford University Press, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13 October 2016.
Miller, Russell. Bare-faced Messiah : The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. London: London : M. Joseph, 1987. Print.
Hubbard, L. Ron (La Fayette Ron), 1911-1986. Dianetics : The Modern Science of Mental Health. Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles, Calif. : Bridge Publications, 1992. Print
Hugh B. Urban. “The Occult Roots of Scientology?: L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, vol. 15, no. 3, 2012, pp. 91–116. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.91.
Kent, Stephen A., and Terra A. Manca. “A War over Mental Health Professionalism: Scientology versus Psychiatry.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 17.1 (2014): 1–23. PMC. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Winter, J. A. Dianetics: A Doctor's Report. New York: Julian, 1987.
This pursuit lead to the creation of the early concepts of Dianetics, of which he detailed in his book The Original Thesis. The popularity of the book lead towards a more summarily text, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health would be published in May of 1950. The book did extremely well and quickly moved to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for the rest of the year. Riding the success of his recent publications, Ron “founded the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where held classes to train people as auditors” (Melton 9). Auditing described by Dianetics is “To Listen and also To Compute” (Hubbard 543), to partake in an audit a trained auditor needs to be present to administer the Dianetic therapy. To Insure that a credible audit can be performed the church offers professional courses for one to become a licensed auditor. To complete a successful audit session an E-Meter also needs to be present, a E-Meter is a device that was created by Volney Matheson and its purpose is to measure an individual’s emotional reaction to a tiny electrical current. However, for the purpose of Scientology the E-Meter is used to “tell what the pre-Clear’s mind is doing when the pre-Clear is induced to think of something” (Melton 10), however indications must be interpreted by a trained …show more content…
Gordon. The Church of Scientology. Salt Lake City]: Salt Lake City : Signature in Cooperation with CESNUR, 2000. Print.
Lewis, James R.. Scientology. New York, US: Oxford University Press, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13 October 2016.
Miller, Russell. Bare-faced Messiah : The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. London: London : M. Joseph, 1987. Print.
Hubbard, L. Ron (La Fayette Ron), 1911-1986. Dianetics : The Modern Science of Mental Health. Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles, Calif. : Bridge Publications, 1992. Print
Hugh B. Urban. “The Occult Roots of Scientology?: L. Ron Hubbard, Aleister Crowley, and the Origins of a Controversial New Religion.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, vol. 15, no. 3, 2012, pp. 91–116. www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.91.
Kent, Stephen A., and Terra A. Manca. “A War over Mental Health Professionalism: Scientology versus Psychiatry.” Mental Health, Religion & Culture 17.1 (2014): 1–23. PMC. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Winter, J. A. Dianetics: A Doctor's Report. New York: Julian, 1987.