The Church of Scientology

by J. Gordon Melton

Book Overview

L. Ron Hubbard--best-selling science fiction writer, former naval officer, and people's philosopher--did not initially intend to found a new religion. But neither did he object when followers organized a church based on his teachings. The resulting movement has attracted millions of adherents from around the globe.

Much of Scientology applies common sense solutions to life's perplexities. If a church should be judged according to its good works,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560851392
• ISBN13: 9781560851394
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: Signature Books
• Length: 804 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.7" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Finally someone with some credentials looking at Scientology

This review board has some reviews from people who are just filled with hate which is unfortunate. This book is something I gave to my Professor Father to read, as he was not a Scientologist & had heard some of the bad press out there so he had some concerns. After this he didn't and he understood what I was doing and what I was interested in. It is written by someone with credentials & hasn't had any personal experience with the church's technology. He can see the church for the facts not the hateful twisted distortions one gets from former disgruntled members, (most of whom have public criminal records). Some people on these reviews make comments regarding Scientology & money. It has nothing to do with this book, however, I think that anyone who has been in a Christian Church will remember that at the end of a service, the collection plate is passed around. Plus Pastors very often solicit parishioners for further donations. Just watch the TV any Sunday morning! So don't try & deride Scientology because people donate money to it & somehow infer that that is some sort of crime. Also if you go to Asia, Buddhist monks are required to go ask for alms, i.e. they sit and beg in the streets. In eastern cultures, the members of that society understand that the monks are mediating to obtain a spiritual enlightenment & thusly help all of mankind. People freely donate there as well. It is the material world and all religions still need money to survive. There is absolutely a rightness in that as they help people. Meantime Medical Doctors take money from Pharma reps to prescribe drugs that have often powerful side effects. The news is filled every year with the damage done by people on these medications. All of the school shootings & the people left dead are because the Pharma companies & the doctors who prescribe them favor profits over real help. This is the greatest tragedy of our time. Obviously some people have done enough bad things with money that when others do something good with it, it drives them mad.

Nice unbiased review

I've always respected J. Gordon Melton as a scholarly balanced religious scholar. This quick treatment of The Church of Scientology was excellent. I was able to read the entire book in a couple of hours and it gave me an excellent overview. I'm now going to check out the other books in this great little series.

Know The Group By Its Fruits - Know Its Enems By Thr Sources

Well anyone who writes a book that favors Scientology is going to cause Scientology's nay-sayers to go off the deep end. But one need only look at the current fruits of Scientology's labors to see that its enemies need to hang their heads: Narconon is recognized as the very TOP drug rehabilitation program which gets people off drugs WITHOUT using more and other drugs to do so -and with an extremely low recidivism even though p$ychiatry and the Pharma$eutical companies have said this just CAN'T be done! Citizens Commission On Human Rights has crusaded for 15 years exposing p$ychiatry and pharma$eutical companies as allowing drugs to go on the market which actually cause suicidality (in CHILDREN no less!) and homicidality. They exposed and decried this 15 years ago and it is just NOW proving to be such a recognized FACT that the FDA has enforced a "black box warning" of potential suicidality in anti depressants - the very ones so touted as "safe and effective" by p$ychiatry and the pharma$eutical companies! SHAME on the nay sayers! Scientology is proving it has been telling the truth about the harms of drugs - both street and pharma$y-buyable - and that truth is gaining recognition. Currently Scientology has had over 400 Volunteer Ministers bringing relief to the traumatized and injured tsunami victims. It has taught over 4,500 non Scientologists in the tsunami areas - including doctors, psycholgists, lay people and Buddhist monks to deliver their on the spot Dianetic Assists. SHAME on the nay-sayers - this stuff is proving to WORK and it is getting recognized that it is everything it says it is. But where do the nay sayers get their sources of slander? Scientology never published anything about Xenu - so what enemy has decided to illegally obtain and distort information - a criminal act in itself! Know the nay sayers by their fruits: Drug companies who allow children to die and drug cartels who destroy the society with crime and degradation. Pretty black and white if you ask me! - Oh, one more thing: You aren't your brain chemistry or your biology - you're YOU and it's non-physical - FACT! - don't drug it and don't support those who do!

Fair and Balanced

This book presents the topic without a slant. The book discusses (1) an outline of the life of L. Ron Hubbard anchored by the generally agreed upon facts; (2) an introduction to the church's beliefs, practices, and organization; and (3) a synopsis of the major points of controversy. Unfortunately, this book will not have much of an audience. Some critics will find the book too supportive of Scientology; while Scientologists themselves may support their group's official view, not that of a religious studies researcher. Having read over a dozen books about Scientology, both critical and non-critical, I was impressed that I managed to learn a few new things from this short book. The book is only 80 pages, but there is a lot of information packed into it.

An Unbiased Approach

Scientology books are about scientology itself, as one would expect. Anti-scientology books are too often written from an agenda of just attacking. This book, however, takes a neutral approach and simply examines and presents information from an unbiased viewpoint. It's very brief but informative.