The Church of Scientology is a religious sect with many followers, including some superstars. Read some lesser-known facts about Scientology.

Lately, Scientology has been talked about mainly in connection with superstars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and the late singer Isaac Hayes. Celebrity Scientologists like to tell the public how they financially support their ‘church’ and try to convince others.

Scientology is a pseudoscience with all the elements of religion (belief in a higher power, high level of indoctrination, institutionality, prominent personality, and code). Still, it is perceived as science fiction due to some scientific elements and fantastical elements (in the absence of empirical evidence). The founder, also the writer of sci-fi fiction Ron L. Hubbard (1911–1986), convinced millions worldwide that man is an immortal being and lived on other planets before his incarnation. According to him, human souls have originated from ancient intergalactic people who were brought to the planet Teegeeack (Earth) by the galactic dictator Xenu 75 million years ago and ‘wiped out’ innocent people with hydrogen bombs.

Today, Scientologists are convinced of human immortality, of a pure cosmic force that defines all people and calls it thetan. Their discursive sessions turn on all of a person’s hidden abilities and erase his bad experiences from the past. Scientology doctrine rejects psychiatry (although the influence of Sigmund Freud is to be found in Hubbard’s works) and, with special techniques called dianetics, attempts to erase human traumatic experiences, even those of prehistory.
At the end of the 20th century, religion was recognized in various countries, first in the United States.

Let’s Look at Some Lesser Known Facts About Scientology

• Scientology is probably one of the most codified religions ever; There are over 1000 books and brochures, all written by Hubbard and dubbed ‘technology.’ Most of the works are intended for the self-help of believers; some pieces also help with visual descriptions and recorded sessions, in which they also use plastic figurines and even teddy bears for the models.
• L. Ron Hubbard is known as one of the biggest (and also the best) TV salespeople and motivational speakers who could be compared to Oprah today. He started as a science fiction writer and continued as a motivator and promoter of self-help. Later, in the development of self-help techniques, he developed the entire philosophy and religion of Scientology, ‘selling’ it as a science and a complete replacement for modern psychiatry.
• At the time of the greatest popularity of Scientology in the 1960s and early 1970s, Hubbard and his team cruised the Mediterranean and the Caribbean on the ship Apollo. They called him the ‘commander of the fleet’; he had a group gathered around him, which was called the ‘naval organization.’ His closest team consisted of teenagers in hot panties and shoes with thick soles. They even had a Scientology music group called ‘Apollo All-Stars.’
• Long before Bush’s patriotic legislation, Scientologists conducted one of the largest covert wiretapping operations in American history. In six years, they have infiltrated most of the most important U.S. public agencies, such as the IRS (U.S. Internal Revenue Service), the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), the U.S. Department of Justice, and others. The operation was called ‘Snow White.’
• Although they operate in a very mainstream and transparent way, their core is quite radical. The ‘Maritime Organization is also made up of children who have given up everyday life at a very young age and signed billion-dollar contracts to serve the Organization. Their parents, primarily members of the sect, no longer influence the child after signing the contract. Children are raised on a ship and are entirely cut off from the outside world; parents can only see them on land once or twice a year. If the parents decide to remove the child from the Organization, they are forced to leave the religion.
• Their current leader, David Miscavige, lives in a strictly guarded complex called Scientology international base, where he and his close associates make decisions completely separate from the outside world. Every now and then, in the shadow of public criticism of his religion, he appears in the media and sharply (and sometimes aggressively) defends their views. However, the World Headquarters of Scientologists is their religious center on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.
• Despite the church’s arrogance that it has many famous members, the latter is not supposed to be so many. However, some former believers believe the stars are an excellent PR apparatus that the Scientology Organization has under constant supervision. Celebrities have access to all the ‘services of the Organization and all the centers around the world; they are also supposed to have’ religious assistants.’ The latter is supposed to have an insight into the entire life and also the intimacy of stellar individuals (such as Tom Cruise or Dustin Hoffman). Assistants are expected to report regularly on the activities of dignitaries to headquarters.
• The Church of Scientology has been tax-exempt as a religious organization in most American states since the early 1990s. The decision saved Scientologists tens of millions of tax money. At the turn of the millennium, the US State Department criticized the German government for not releasing tax restrictions for Scientologists in Germany as well. Namely, the German state understands the Church of Scientology as a business, a for-profit organization, and an anti-democratic and uncivilized society.

Today, Scientologists are received with reservations in most of the world, and attacks on them are also occurring. Some time ago, the global hacker organization Anonymus carried out the ‘Chanology’ project, which, through DDoS attacks on the Organization’s servers and other hacking and communication activities, took a hostile stance against Scientology and declared religion inhuman. The Church of Scientology has launched legal and media persecution against them, which is still ongoing.