RST 18.2 (1999): 97–117 Religious Studies and Theology (print) ISSN 0829-2922 https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.v18i2.97 Religious Studies and Theology (online) ISSN 1747-5414 THE CREAtION OF “RELIGIOUS” ScIENtOLOGY STEPHEN A. KENT University of Alberta
[email protected] ABSTRaCT This article traces the evolution of L. Ron Hubbard’s presentation of Dianetics as a mental health science to Scientology as a religion in the 1950s. It shows how Hubbard came to realize that a religious label likely would protect his alleged healing practices from governmental and medical interference, as well as provide him with tax breaks during a period of heightened financial difficulties. Part of the cosmology that Hubbard developed involved descriptions of priests and psychiatrists impeding the ability of soul-like entities (that he called thetans) from realizing their true nature. In tracing how Hubbard developed religious claims out of a reputed psychotherapy, the article clarifies why critics see this development as mere expediency on Hubbard’s part. Nevertheless, Scientologists are unlikely to know, or much care, about these issues from the early days of its movement. Keywords L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics, Scientology, thetan, anti-psychiatry, Xenu, Xemu Among the most complex and mysterious ideologies of the so-called new religions today is Scientology. A multinational conglomerate dedicated to the propagation and implementation of L. Ron Hubbard’s beliefs and ideas, Scientology operated missions in approximately twenty-five coun- tries and had an active membership of at least 75,000 in the early 1990s (Kent 1999a, 147 and n2). (More precise and recent figures are exceeding difficult to acquire.) Aspects of its elaborate ideological system relate to business practices (Hall 1998; Passas 1994; Passas and Castillo 1992), educational techniques, mental health (Wallis 1977), drug rehabilitation, moral values, environmentalism, and religion.