What is Scientology?

Answer:
Scientology is a religion founded in the 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard.

The religion focuses on realizing a person’s full potential for happiness, success and self-awareness. The eventual hope of Scientology is to help society achieve a utopia-like state where there is no wrong-doing.

Much of what Scientology practitioners advocate on one level is similar to a self-help mindset, helping provide individuals with psychological frameworks and emotional/intellectual tools for dealing with things that get in the way of one’s self realization. They also advocate the use of certain technologies and tools to help achieve self-realization.

Some of the foundational beliefs of Scientology are that humans have become invaded by thetans, which are described in much the same way a human soul is described. These thetans, which originated not on this planet and who arrived on Earth through a violent series of events, go through a process of being born into new bodies generation after generation. It is the Scientologist’s goal to neutralize the negative effects these thetans have over humans. To do this, a practice of auditing is followed where a practitioner’s engrams, or inhibitions toward self realization, are worked out with a more advanced scientology practitioner.

Scientology is legally recognized in the United States as a religion, but is also a recipient of much criticism and legal activity. Some accuse the church of being a fraudulent organization, duping people out of their financial resources, and others accuse the belief system of scientology to be nothing more than science fiction influenced by Hinduism and Gnosticism.