Scientology Read the following excerpts from the Scientology site: http://www.scientology.org/ and answer the questions on page 3. You may wish to use other text from the website, but at a minimum, you may just use the reading below about Scientology. Please cite all sources in your answers and list references at the end. WHAT IS SCIENTOLOGY? Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship to self, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being. Scientology addresses the spirit—not the body or mind—and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes. Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are: Man is an immortal spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized. Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for oneself that the principles of Scientology are true by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results. The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all. SCIENTOLOGY: ITS BACKGROUND AND ORIGINS Scientology follows a long tradition of religious practice. Its roots lie in the deepest beliefs and aspirations of all great religions, thus encompassing a religious heritage as old and as varied as Man himself. Though it draws on the wisdom of some 50,000 years, Scientology is a new religion, one that has isolated fundamental laws of life and, for the first time, developed a workable technology that can be applied to help people achieve a happier and more spiritual existence in the here and now. That Scientology’s development and rapid promulgation was made possible, in part, by advances in the physical sciences through the first half of the twentieth century is significant. For it bridges Eastern philosophy with Western thought. In that way, Scientology constitutes Man’s first real application of scientific methodology to spiritual questions. Scientology is something one does, not something one believes in. SCIENTOLOGY: THE SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION Thanks to scientific and technical advances over the last hundred years, most people today are materially wealthier than their forefathers. Yet, by their own accounts, the improvement in the quality of their lives has not matched their material gains. In fact, it may be argued that people once were happier and more fulfilled. For some, material affluence breeds anxiety, a gnawing fear that if someone doesn’t take away their hard-earned acquisitions, the end of their days will prematurely arrive to finish the job. Others find death easier to face than a lifetime of assembly-line slavery, while most, in a less dramatic fashion, simply buckle down to lives of quiet desperation. Revised: 3/7/2019 by SYF In this new millennium, most individuals have no real grasp of the factors that govern their existence. And yet, simply stated, if they had a greater understanding of themselves and their fellows, they would be able to improve conditions and help themselves and others to live happier lives. This, then, is the purpose of Scientology: to enable Man to improve his lot through understanding. SCIENTOLOGY IS A RELIGION Scientology holds in common many of the beliefs of other religions and philosophies. It considers Man to be a spiritual being with more to him than flesh and blood. This, of course, is a very different view to that espoused by prevailing scientific thought which views Man as only a material object, a complex combination of chemical compounds and stimulus-response mechanisms. Scientology believes Man to be basically good, not evil. It is Man’s experiences that have led him to commit evil deeds, not his nature. Often, he mistakenly seeks to solve his problems by considering only his own interests, which then causes trouble for both himself and others. Scientology believes that Man advances to the degree that he preserves his spiritual integrity and values and remains honest and decent. Indeed, he deteriorates to the degree that he abandons these qualities. But because Man is basically good, he is capable of spiritual betterment. And it is the goal of Scientology to bring him to a point where he is capable of sorting out the factors in his own life and solving his own problems. Other efforts to help Man have tried to solve his problems for him and, in this respect, Scientology is different. Scientology believes that an individual placed in a position where he can increase his abilities, where he can confront life better, where he can identify the factors in his life more easily, is also in a position to solve his own problems and so, better his own life. DOES SCIENTOLOGY HAVE A CONCEPT OF GOD? Most definitely. In Scientology, the concept of God is expressed as the Eighth Dynamic—the urge toward existence as infinity. This is also identified as the Supreme Being. As the Eighth Dynamic, the Scientology concept of God rests at the very apex of universal survival. As L. Ron Hubbard wrote in Science of Survival: “No culture in the history of the world, save the thoroughly depraved and expiring ones, has failed to affirm the existence of a Supreme Being. It is an empirical observation that men without a strong and lasting faith in a Supreme Being are less capable, less ethical and less valuable to themselves and society....A man without an abiding faith is, by observation alone, more of a thing than a man.” Unlike religions with Judeo-Christian origins, the Church of Scientology has no set dogma concerning God that it imposes on its members. As with all its tenets, Scientology does not ask individuals to accept anything on faith alone. Rather, as one’s level of spiritual awareness increases through participation in Scientology auditing and training, one attains his own certainty of every dynamic. Accordingly, only when the Seventh Dynamic (spiritual) is reached in its entirety will one discover and come to a full understanding of the Eighth Dynamic (infinity) and one’s relationship to the Supreme Being. Revised: 3/7/2019 by SYF Scientology The website states that “Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone….Scientology constitutes Man’s first real application of scientific methodology to spiritual questions.” 1. How do the scientologists apply the scientific method in Scientology as discussed in the reading? Because the scientific method is applied in Scientology, does it make Scientology a science like biology, chemistry, astronomy? Give support for your answer. You should define what science is in your answer. 2. Scientology is clearly defined as a religion. Given your answer to question 1, do you consider it to be both a religion and a science or just a religion? Give support for your answer. You should include the definition of a religion in your answer. Revised: 3/7/2019 by SYF 
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