Scientology's®
Claims
From: publicrelations@scientology.org
The word church comes from the Greek word kyrios meaning "lord"
and the Indo-European base kewe, "to be strong." Current
meanings for the word include "a congregation,"
"ecclesiastical power as distinguished from the secular" and
"the clerical profession; clergy."
The word church is not only used by Christian organizations. There
were churches ten thousand years before there were Christians, and
Christianity itself was a revolt against the established church. In
modern usage, people speak of the Buddhist or Moslem church, refering
in general to the whole body of believers in a particular religious
teaching.
A church is simply a congregation of people who participate in common
religious activities. Church is also used to refer to the building where
members of a religious group gather to practice their religion and
attain greater spiritual awareness and well-being.
In the 1950s, Scientologists recognized that L. Ron Hubbard's
technology and its results dealt directly with the freeing of the human
spirit, and that greater spiritual wareness was routinely being
achieved. There was no question in their minds that what they were
dealing with was a religious practice; thus, in the early 1950s, they
voted that a church be formed to better serve the spiritual needs of
themselves and others who shared their belief. the fist Churh of
Scientology was then incorporated in 1954.
Thus, Scientology is a religion and the use of the word church
when referring to Scientology is correct.
Robert
www.REMOVEscientology.org
And now for the truth
Scientology is neither a church nor a religion. It's organized crime.
But even taking the organization's comments above, we find that the
criminal enterprise doesn't meet its own requirements for being a church
simply because there's nothing religious about Scientology any more than
there's anything religious about the Italian Mafia.
In Lies Debunked: Why is Scientology called a
religion? we took a look at why the organization started pretending
it was a religion: For tax evasion purposes.
Since the Scientology organization likes to quote dictionaries as if
that some how proves their claims, perhaps they won't mind if we do
the same -- only we'll actually quote the dictionary rather than tell
people what it supposedly says.
Let's take a look at each element:
The criminal enterprise likes to claim that it's a religion because the
United States' Internal Revenue Service granted them tax exemption. In
fact Scientology is lying: tax exemption status doesn't dictate what it
a religion and what is not. Indeed, the United States government and
its commercial businesses like the IRS are not allowed to make such an
Unconstitutional distinction.
Scientology is recognized as a criminal business more along the
lines of the traditional organized crime.
Subject: Why is Scientology a church?
Date: 2000/03/06
1. A building for public, especially Christian worship. 2. Often
Church.a. The company of all Christians regarded as a mystic spiritual
body. b. A specified Christian denomination. c. A congregation. 3.
Public divine worship in a church; a religious service. 4. The clerical
profession; clergy. 5. Ecclesiastical power as distinguished from the
secular. 6. Christian Science. "The structure of Truth and Love"
(Mary Baker Eddy).
The name "Scientology"® is trademarked to the "Church" of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the Scientology organization's "Volunteer Minister" program are members of or representatives of the Scientology organization. Quotes used within this web page and within this web site are used according to the Fair Use laws of the United States.
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