Thursday 20 February 2014

Scientology

I have chosen the website for Scientology. http://www.scientology.org/ 
The religion of Scientology was formed in 1953 with the first church being built in New Jersey december of that year. It is a new religion created in America but is now global. Their main goal in the religion is to find true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all. Their 'mission': "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." - Found on their about page. 

It is suggested on their website that their religion is about answering questions of life "who are we? why are we? what are we?". It also says that man is good not evil; "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." However some of their beliefs are similar to those of other religions such as man being a spiritual being. 


It's presence in American Society is becoming more apparent with celebrities being scientologists. These include; Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Priscilla Presley. They have also been the center of controversies with the death of one of their members and the Anonymous attack, resulting in a lot of media coverage. 

John Travolta thanks church of scientology
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/feb/04/news 

Although they have the back up of celebrities and controversies in the media, the number of members is not as many as they boast about. "There have been a number of these around the world, but the most accurate are in the United States. A 1990 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) concluded there were 45,000 Scientologists in the US. A 2001 survey estimated 55,000. In 2008 ARIS concluded the number had shrunk to 25,000." -http://www.mikerindersblog.org/10-million-scientologists-where-are-they/  
So there is no real way of really knowing how manny there are unless an official census is released by them. 

The website itself shows little to do with specifically America as it does show the location of churches in North America but it has a more global focus, however it is interesting how it offers a location of the churches in Latin America. The website offers a free online course feature for anyone to use which includes courses on Marriage, Children, drugs, communication, etc. I think this is effective as it offers things for members who cannot attend a church or meet up with other Scientologists. 

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