Religion professor at UCLA Wrote:Scientology is not a religion, it is a business.
Why is Scientology a business? In short, mandatory dues, inability to move forward without huge payments, legal threats for leaving, "disconnection" (any relative inside of Scientology must refuse contact with the leaver), defined emphasis on profitability (you'll find that in the Church's official docs - I got a few), etc,.
At the least, it is a cult.
For it to be a religion, it requires a degree of openness (Scientology has none of that - they sue to prevent discourse), some form of ability to leave (Even Islam in the major practices allows that - why not Scientology?), and the ability to learn about upper levels without paying a Kingly sum. No major religion does that, not even Latter Day Saints.
Here are a few good quotes from the big L himself:
Quote:"Scientology...is not a religion."
- L. Ron Hubbard, CREATION OF HUMAN ABILITY, 1954, p. 251
Quote:I’d like to start a religion. That’s where the money is."
- L. Ron Hubbard to Lloyd Eshbach, in 1949; quoted by Eshbach in OVER MY SHOULDER: REFLECTIONS ON A SCIENCE FICTION ERA, Donald M. Grant Publisher. 1983
Quote:"I’m drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys."
- L. Ron Hubbard in a 1967 letter to his wife, written during the period when he was creating Scientology’s secret "upper levels." (Bent Corydon and L. Ron Hubbard, Jr. a.k.a. Ronald DeWolf, L. RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN? Random House 1989)
