Tom Cruise's previous relationships failed, because his partners refused to become scientologists. Knowing a potential trouble source is hard enough on your bank account, imagine being married to one. Forget negative case gain, Tom's very sanity was threatened.

There is speculation that Hubbard actually believed his own lies, and that the prime beneficiary of the therapeutic effects of his treatments was himself. When achieving the state of clear (not that he ever attested to it), failed to solve his problems, as had extensive auditing beforehand, he needed to come up with further treatments in an effort to handle his problems.

Originally, clears were to have amazing powers of recall, and capable of other above average feats of mental prowess. This was back when scientology was a new science, not a religion. The first attempt to solve the problem of clears still being mediochre people was solved by introducing the e-meter (a device that measures the skin's galvanic response). All it really does is measure how hard the subject is gripping the cans; however, it was imbued with such diagnostic abilities, that the US Food and Drug Administration went after the scientologists for quack medical practices. Hubbard's response was to create the scientology religion.

It is important to emphasise that up to this point, all advertising for Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health had the following in bold letters across the bottom:

THIS IS NOT A RELIGION [size=7]

When even the e-meter could not help him, he created the OT levels. Clears are capable of prodigious, but normal feats of mental prowess, the higher OT levels are "at cause" over their surroundings and capable of doing whatever they please. Evidently, these "at cause" individuals cannot be bothered to further the ends of the CoS, or end world terrorism, or anything else for that matter. More likely, Hubbard was lying about the OT rundowns.

I myself do not believe that Hubbard was sincere in his belief in his advanced scientology programs. He needed to do two things. The first was to have more things for scientologists to do to keep the money flowing in, and the second was to give the scientologists a reason for clears not to have amazing mental abilities.

I commend your research and knowledge on the subject, and completely agree with you.

My sister was a highschool science teacher, and she once said that if you hook up the electrodes that connect to an e-meter to a pickle, it will make the pickle glow.

She was at a fair and there was a scientologist booth suckering in a bunch of people w/ demonstrations and getting ready to make the sales pitch and take money. She raised her hand and asked to try. They pulled her to the front where she promptly touched the "can" to her tongue, causing the e-meter to shoot WAAAAAAAY higher than the demonstration guys reading, making her like, an OT 8 or 9 or something like that. She then told the pickle story to the dumb founded audience. She saved them all about 200 bucks, and earned an extreme dislike from the scientologist operating the booth.

I love my family :ok:

Woooooow!
People that actually know this much about such a stupid subject sure have lots of time on their hands!

Then again, I am the master of all things 007, so who am I to say?

Haha thats a great story.
Should have taped that :D

Of course it does.

Of course it does. [/b][/quote]
The formatting went funny. I wanted the statement "This is not a religion" to be in bold, and in a larger font. I should have previewed it, as that size tag got added.

Knowing about Scientology is not stupid. It is a method of preserving freedoms. While there is little danger of the CoS actually forming a world government, becoming the final authority on everything is among their stated goals. Most of the gains made by Scientology in any locale is because people have no idea what they are really like. In most regards, the CoS is not just wierder than you think. it is wierder than you can imagine.

New recruits are required to sign a waiver. In the wiaver, the new recruit agrees to not sue the CoS for any number of possible side effects INCLUDING DEATH. I wish that I was making this up, but this waiver was whipped up to deal with the flap from the woman who was neglected to death during an "Introspection Rundown" (they shut her up is a room until she stopped screaming[oversimplification, but essentially true]). She was directed to take the rundown, because she was experiencing the insane feelings of wanting to leave the cult.

Scientology tries to sneak into places. They have been actively recruiting people through fake addiction treatments and seminars on how to run a business.

While not extremely violent in the traditional sense, they have great pots of money and they use the lawsuit in much the same way that Islamic extremists use carbombs. It does not always work, as they finally had to pay a settlement owed to Lawrence Wollersheim (they spent $160 million to prevent an $8 million judgement). Not that winning a lawsuit is usually important to them, normally they unleash such a torrent of lawsuits that it is easier to give them what they want than to fight it out (why the CoS is considered a tax exempt religious group in the US-- twenty thousand lawsuits filed against the IRS). Fortunately, as knowledge of the methods of the CoS expands, their stealth becomes harder and harder to maintain.

Scientology is a secrecy cult. The more that is known about it, the less it can succeed.

Exactly. Good summarization. Look at the case of Danny Elrich.

http://www.whyaretheydead.net/ also, additional info.

So basically they use the greatest evil of them all... Lawyers...