Inside Scientology

"Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion" by Janet Reitman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) Since 1993, Scientology, which many people have long considered to be a “cult,” has been a religion in the eyes of the United States government, with the tax exemption that goes along with that. But whether it is actually a “religion” in the way that most of us think about religion is a wholly different matter.

To address the basics: there is no God in Scientology. There is also no prayer, no concept of Heaven or Hell, no turn-the-other-cheek forgiveness or love, nor any of the other things we typically associate with religion, at least in the Judeo-Christian context. There is also no “faith” – no concept of belief. Instead, there is knowledge, a certainty beyond a shadow of a doubt that Scientology’s doctrine, all of which was authored by the church’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard, is the absolute truth.

When I was reporting on Scientology, I was amazed by the number of ordinary people I met who truly knew – not just believed, but claimed to know – that they had lived before and would live again. That meant death was no longer scary! It also meant that we might even remember our prior lives so saying goodbye to friends and family would not really be a “goodbye.” Even to me, a person who is agnostic about most religion, it was attractive.

That is what draws people deeply “in” to Scientology. And once in, Scientology becomes different things to different people. One woman I know compares Scientology to an onion.