ELI5:Scientology

Scientology is a cult created by Science Fiction author L. Ron Hubbard. It is popular with some Hollywood celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta as well as other.

Scientologists believe that a human is an immortal, spiritual being (termed thetan from the Greek word 'theta' meaning life force), that is resident in a physical body. The thetan has had innumerable past lives and it is observed in advanced Scientology texts that lives preceding the thetan's arrival on Earth were lived in extraterrestrial cultures.

There's a lot more to it which is difficult to explain, and as a Scientologist you are expected to attain different levels within the organization (sort of like clergy, though anyone can do it). Interestingly, each level costs you more and more money to attain.

The church considers itself scientific, although this belief has no basis in true science. Scientologists believe that "all religious claims can be verified through experimentation", according to religious scholar Mikael Rothstein. Scientologists believe that their religion was derived through scientific methods, that Hubbard found knowledge through studying and thinking, not through revelation. The "science" of Dianetics, however, was never accepted by the scientific community, which caused Hubbard to change its form into a religion. Religious scholar Dorthe Refslund Christensen notes that Scientology differs from the scientific method in that Scientology has become increasingly self-referential, while true science normally compares competing theories and observed facts. Scientology eschews external facts—its frame of reference is its own internal sayings and beliefs.

Overall, it's a scam to take your money and only became a religion for tax breaks.

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