Hi cathyed!!
I found the following information to you:
At the "Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
(ReligiousTolerance.org)" website I found the following:
Scientologists Beliefs:
"-...a person is neither mind nor body, but a spiritual being - a
soul. However, the word "soul" is an ambiguous term, which had been
given many meanings by many religions. In order to avoid confusion,
Mr. Hubbard selected the word "thetan" from the Greek letter "theta"
which has traditionally meant "thought" or "life". A Thetan is the
essence of a person, One does not have a Thetan, one is a Thetan. The
brain, and the rest of the body, is looked upon as a mechanism, a
communication center for the Thetan. The mind is perceived as a
collection of pictures.
-Scientology recognizes "Eight Dynamics." A "dynamic" is an urge,
drive or impulse. Understanding these dynamics help a person gain
insight and harmonize all their life activities...:
·The First Dynamic is the urge to survive as oneself.
·The second the urge to survive through family and sex.
·The third is to survive in various groups such as a company or with
a group of friends.
·The fourth is to survive as mankind.
·The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth are the urge to survive through
other life forms such as animals, the physical universe, the spiritual
universe and Infinity or God respectively.
-The human mind is divided into two components: the analytical mind
and the reactive mind. The former resembles Freud's concept of the
conscious mind; it senses, remembers, reasons and recalls. The
reactive mind is somewhat similar to Freud's unconscious. It records
physically and psychologically disturbing events in this life and
prior lives. These include perceived assaults in the womb, the birth
process, assaults, injuries etc. They are recorded as engrams which
are a form of psychic scar. These engrams are considered "the single
source of all man's insanities, psychosomatic illnesses and
neuroses.". They are not sensed by the analytical mind directly.
However, they will degrade a person's life and keep an individual from
reaching their full potential. By removing the engrams, one can
progress from being "preclear" (PC) to "clear;" i.e. totally free of
engrams.
-A person can progress beyond "clear" to becoming a "OT" or "Operating
Thetan." An OT is able to leave their body and mind. They can see,
hear and feel without access to their normal senses.
-Great religious leaders like Buddha and Jesus Christ are regarded as
being slightly above "clear".
-Scientologists reject the concept of eternal life in hell and heaven.
They believe in reincarnation in which a person passes through a
number of lifetimes. "....personal salvation in one lifetime [is]
freedom from the cycle of birth and death".
-They believe that God exists, but do not have a specific belief about
the nature of that deity.
-Their goal is to help sufficient numbers of people to become "clear"
so that a significant impact can be felt in areas of crime, mental
illness, warfare, drug addiction, physical illnesses etc."
From the "SCIENTOLOGY" page at ReligiousTolerance.org:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/scientol.htm
At this page you will find more interesting and complete information
related to this topic that, due copyright reasons, I cannot reproduce
here.
Here I list the index of the topics that this document describes:
-Symbol
-History
-Beliefs
-Scientology practices
-Scientology books and magazines
-Scientology programs
-Important dates
-Attacks from anti-cult groups
-Attacks from Internet free-speech advocates
-Church Legal Problems
-Internet references
-Other material
The answer to your second question can be found at this page also:
"In 1993-OCT, the Internal Revenue Service of the United States
granted full religious recognition and tax exemption to all
Scientology Churches, missions and social betterment groups in that
country. The Church is also officially recognized in every province in
Canada where it has an organization."
Related to this point see also the following page:
"Religious Recognition by the Courts" at Freedom magazine website,
published by the Church of Scientology International:
http://www.freedommag.org/english/vol27I5/page16.htm
Another good source is Wikipedia, I found the following entries
related to Scientology:
"Scientology":
Table of contents
1 Origins of Scientology
2 Beliefs and Practices
3 The Church of Scientology
3.1 Independent Scientology Groups
4 Controversy and Criticism
5 Related topics
6 External links
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology
"Church of Scientology":
Table of contents
· Churches and Missions
· Volunteer Ministers
· Sea Org
· Scientology Centers
· Religious Technology Center (RTC)
· Church or business?
· Finances
· Membership statistics
- Scientology splinter groups
· Affiliated organizations
· Related topics
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
"Scientology beliefs and practices":
Table of contents
1 Basic principles
2 Auditing
3 Scientology and God
4 The Tech
4.1 Scientology language and terms (Scientologese)
4.2 Verbal Tech
4.3 Ethics
4.4 Squirrels
5 The Bridge
6 Secret writings
7 Similarity to Gnosticism
8 Scientology and Psychiatry
9 Related topics
I strongly suggest you to read the following paragraphs of this page
(but all the document has useful information):
The Bridge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_beliefs_and_practices#The_Bridge
and Secret writings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_beliefs_and_practices#Secret_writings
"Xenu": a figure associated with the doctrines of Scientology. He (or
it) is included in the "secret" teachings of Scientology.
(Note: The external links of this page lead you to anti-scientology
pages that tells you the history of Xenu, with the intention of
derideing it, no one "oficial" or "pro" page of scientology tells you
the history of Xenu because it is one of its secret writings)
http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu
Here are some scientologist pages:
"SYSTEM OF BELIEFS" from Scientology The Marks of Religion by Frank k. Flinn,
Ph.D. Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies Washington University
Saint Louis, Missouri, U.S.A:
http://www.acceptedscientology.org/page04.htm
"Beliefs of the Church of Scientology" from the Official Church of
Scientology Site:
http://www.scientology.org/en_US/religion/catechism/index.html
Search strategy:
beliefs Scientologists
scientology church
xenu
scientology religion
I hope this helps you, if you need further assistance on this topic or
feel that this answer is unclear, please let me know via the
clarification feature. I will gladly respond your requests.
Best regards.
livioflores-ga |
