Scientology is a religion that holds in common many of the beliefs of other religions and philosophies. It is defined as the study and handling of the spirit, in relationship to itself, universes, and other life.
Scientology considers man to be a spiritual being with more to him than flesh and blood, unlike the view given by prevailing scientific thought which views man as only a material object.
Scientology believes people to be basically good, and that it is people’s experiences that have led them to commit evil deeds, and not their nature.
Scientology’s goal is to bring people to a point in their lives in which they can solve their own problems and achieve betterment by raising their awareness of their own abilities. Through this heightened awareness, they will eventually be able to overcome the negative factors in their lives.
The founder of Scientology was L. Ron Hubbard, who devoted his life to finding answers to questions that have troubled mankind for millennia. The first widely released results of Mr. Hubbard’s research did not lie in Scientology, however, but in another field of endeavor, “Dianetics.” The word Dianetics comes from the Greek words dia, meaning “through” and nous, meaning “soul,” and is defined as “what the soul is doing to the body.”
Scientology differs from other religions in that it is something that a person does, not merely something they believe in. A person must actively use what they learn through the study of Scientology in order to achieve a better life. Scientology also seeks to apply scientific methodology to spiritual questions.
In essence, Scientology attempts to scientifically provide solutions to the problems of living, and provide spiritual freedom and rehabilitation of basic decency and goodness to the practitioner.
Scientology has members in 129 countries on every continent in the world and is practiced in more than 30 languages. Since its founding in the early 1950s, the number of countries where Scientology services are held has grown by more than 25 times.
At the current rate of expansion, it is estimated that Scientology churches will be found in every country within the next 10 years.