The Controversial Story of Scientology: Paying for Religion?

Scientology is one of the most secret and infamous organizations on the planet. Known as the Church of Scientology, the organization has depicted itself as a religious movement determined to save the future of mankind. In reality, Scientology is a powerful cult whose primary goal is to garner wealth and power.

Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was born in Tilden, Nebraska in 1911. As a child, he was known to get lost in his own imaginative world and he struggled with academics throughout his youth, flunking out of George Washington University after just two years. Later, Hubbard was rejected from the Navy and re-enlisted during World War II, only to be discharged from his post for disobeying commands.

Despite these early struggles, Hubbard eventually became a prolific writer, well-known for his ability to produce a high volume of material in a short period of time. He wrote in a variety of genres but is most acknowledged for his works of science fiction. However, Hubbard’s true desire was not to write, but to be rich and powerful.

“Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.” L. Ron Hubbard as quoted by Margery Wakefield

In May 1950, Hubbard published an article in Astounding Science Fiction about a new science he had developed called “Dianetics.” Shortly after, Hubbard published his book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. The book became a bestseller and laid the framework for Scientology.

Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health

Hubbard marketed Dianetics as a new branch of psychological science. He claimed it was a form of therapy that would cure people of physical ailments caused by mental factors such as stress or internal conflict. Hubbard pressed upon his readers that Dianetics was an incredible development for human civilization, opening his book with the following statement:

“The creation of Dianetics is a milestone for Man comparable to his discovery of fire and superior to his inventions of the wheel and the arch. The hidden source of all psychosomatic ills and human aberration has been discovered and skills have been developed for their invariable cure.” (Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health)

According to Dianetics, the optimum person is “clear.” Becoming “clear” is the ultimate goal of Dianetic therapy and is achieved through a process referred to as “auditing.” Hubbard claimed that traumatic moments in our lives reside as memories in our subconscious and that these memories cause us to become “unclear.” By working with an experienced “auditor” one could relive and refile these memories in the brain, curing oneself permanently of all psychosomatic mental illness.

Hubbard charged $25 per hour for auditing sessions and guaranteed that the state of “clear” was attainable to anyone who completed enough sessions. The Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation also offered a one-month program that trained individuals on how to become a Dianetics auditor. The cost of the course was $500 per person. Within a year, Hubbard’s Foundation had taken in nearly $100,000 and established new outposts in New York, Chicago, Honolulu, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.

Despite his success, Hubbard’s extravagant spending habits, coupled with serious doubts from academics and medical professionals about the efficacy of his therapy, led to the demise of the Dianetics movement in 1952. But this was only the beginning for Hubbard. From the ashes of Dianetics arose one of the most successful and controversial organizations the world has ever seen.

In 1952, Hubbard founded the The Hubbard Association of Scientology in Phoenix, Arizona. That same year he also published The History of Man. This publication laid the philosophical and cosmological foundation from which Scientology would develop.

In his work, Hubbard uses the word “thetan” as interchangeable with the word “being,” and says that ancient thetans created the universe. According to Hubbard, the existence of the universe caused these thetans to devolve into a degraded state. Man is the modern debilitated thetan and is unaware of his actual identity as a cosmic entity. Only through the practice of Scientology and auditing can he return to his native state.

While Hubbard had portrayed Dianetics as a path to pain-free living, he promised Scientology as the gateway to immortality. The rewards for committing oneself to Hubbard’s science had grown immensely, and so too had the costs. Depending on the skill of the auditor, those hoping to become “clear” were charged up to $1000 an hour. Also, within this new association was a policy requiring each Scientology organization to pay ten percent of its weekly gross income directly to Hubbard.

In 1953, Hubbard transformed Scientology into the Church of Scientology for legal protection and tax purposes. Tax exempt status was denied to the church in 1958 on the grounds that Hubbard was making a substantial personal profit from Scientology. By then, Scientology had evolved into an international movement with more than 100 organizations in the United States alone. Despite this temporary setback, Scientology was flourishing across the globe and making Hubbard exorbitantly rich and powerful.

In 1959, L. Ron Hubbard moved to England where he intended to make his new home, called St. Hill, a control center for Scientology worldwide. He and his family lived lavishly at St. Hill, employing a butler, a nurse, and tutors for his children. St. Hill is also where Hubbard implemented the practice of “security checking,” during which Scientologists were probed for incriminating information should they ever decide to defect. This technique is still a crucial tool used by the church to keep its members loyal.

Following efforts by various countries to push back against Scientology, including in Hubbard’s new home, the UK, Hubbard devised a plan to escape troublesome bureaucracy and investigations. The “Sea Organization,” or “Sea Org,” was a small fleet of three ships on which Hubbard expanded his indoctrination of high-level Scientologists. However, warnings were being issued across the globe and the Sea Org found themselves constantly expelled from ports as soon as local officials found out who was on board the vessels.

While at sea, Hubbard adopted several severe forms of punishment he called “ethics.” These “ethics” consisted of throwing crew members overboard, imprisonment, and assignment to the Rehabilitation Project Force, essentially a slave labor program.

Hubbard eventually realized his Sea Org was unsustainable and the organization purchased a large hotel in Clearwater, FL. The Sea Org lives on as Scientology’s highest-level management group and has monopolized downtown Clearwater. The residents of Clearwater now live in a town invaded by a secretive cult who have knowingly operated to infiltrate the local South Florida bureaucracy.

During Hubbard’s time at St. Hill, he founded the Guardian’s Office (G.O.). This was a private intelligence bureau that was used against the internal and external enemies of Scientology. A famous instance of the G.O. at work was against Paulette Cooper, author of The Scandal of Scientology. The G.O. used Cooper’s fingerprints to make it appear as though she had typed bomb threats to the Church of Scientology. Cooper was indicted and faced 15 years in prison, exonerated only when FBI raids of G.O. offices uncovered the church’s plans to frame her. Also uncovered in FBI raids were other instances of intimidation by the church, as well as written policies regarding breaking and entering, bugging telephones, and infiltrating government organizations.

In 1973, Hubbard devised “Operation Snow White.” The plan was to have different Scientology members employed by numerous US government organizations in order to remove any evidence they had that was damaging to Scientology. The most spectacular instance of Operation Snow White was the 1975 infiltration of the IRS by G.O. officer Michael Wolfe. Wolfe was hired as an IRS clerk and proceeded to steal 30,000 government documents pertaining to Scientology. He was eventually discovered and arrested by the FBI. This led to Michael Meisner, the Scientologist overseeing the operation, being held prisoner by the G.O.

Meisner was able to escape and defect to the FBI, resulting in the federal conviction of eleven G.O. officials. In the 1980s, the Guardian’s Office was renamed the Office of Special Affairs in an effort to transform the agency’s image in the eyes of the public, but the goal of voraciously attacking the enemies of Scientology remained the same.

Scientology is, and always has been, about money. In a 1981 issue of Reader’s Digest, it was reported that Scientology grossed over $100 million a year. This was later substantiated by courtroom testimony from a Scientology defector, who also claimed at least $100 million had been illegally smuggled out of the U.S.

In an article titled. What Your Donations Buy, Hubbard claimed donations made for services do not go directly to him. However, according to Forbes magazine and testimony from various defectors, it is estimated Hubbard was making $52 million a year from Scientology.

Hubbard also wrote a policy called How to Sell Scientology, where he instructed Field Staff Members (FSMs) to aggressively discuss the brutalities of psychiatry in comparison to Scientology. Field Staff Members were trained to recruit people for Scientology services, likening them to missionaries. Yet unlike missionaries, FSMs earned commission on the services they convinced people to buy.

Another policy, known informally as the “freeloader’s bill,” allowed members to sign a multi-year work contract with the Church of Scientology, allowing them access to free auditing and training. If a member decided to leave the church, they would receive a bill for all Scientology services rendered to them at full cost. These policies and the actions of the Church of Scientology clearly show that L. Ron Hubbard never intended Scientology to serve as a new religious movement. It was always about making himself exceptionally wealthy.

Scientology Today

“For heaven’s sake, tell them I’m not God.”

— L. Ron Hubbard, quoted by Eric Barnes, Public Relations Chief of New York Church of Scientology. Sourced from Paulette Cooper.

In the late 1970s, L. Ron Hubbard had grown to be so paranoid and untrusting that he retreated into the desert with only a few of his most trusted followers. The followers were a part of what was known as the Commodore’s Messengers Association (CMO).

During the days of the Sea Org, the CMO was a group of mostly young women who were trained to be messengers, servants, and clones of Hubbard. It was also Hubbard’s intention that the children of the CMO would one day inherit the church. Plagued by poor health and betrayed by defecting Sea Org members, Hubbard lived in secrecy and was forced to relocate multiple times with his CMO companions.

In the 1980s, a massive reorganization of the church took place. With the quiet support of Hubbard, the grown children of the CMO purged Scientology of old-guard executives. This new ruling class of Scientologists forced all independent missions to become nationalized as part of Scientology Missions International. The missions, already in operation, were required to purchase a $35,000 mission starter pack and pay $15,000 per day for Scientology’s International Finance Police to review their finances.

On January 24, 1986, L. Ron Hubbard died. His followers were told, and believe, that he had simply moved on to his next level of research, which could not be attained in his human body.

After Hubbard’s death, David Miscavige seized power, claiming the title of “Captain of the Sea Organization” and becoming head of the Church of Scientology. Since this time, multiple defectors have assisted journalists and filmmakers in documenting the horrors and abuses of Scientology.

Miscavige and his church have also has been the center of numerous FBI investigations related to child abuse, human trafficking, and slavery. Lawsuits filed as recently as 2022 accuse the church leader of rape and child sexual abuse.