Jay Kassam
Student Number: 14038924

ASSESSMENT # 2: OBJECTIVE WRITING

MEMORANDUM

TO:

Mr. Andrew Kopkin

FROM:

Jay Kassam

RE:

Scientology Being Viewed As Religion

DATE:

November 6th, 2014

QUESTION PRESENTED
Is Scientology properly viewed as a religion?

SHORT ANSWER
Scientology as a religion when based solely on truth and the belief in reincarnation, it can be defined more as a multinational business secular organization with the religious aspect being just one of its many branches.

STATEMENT OF FACTS
Scientology was founded by fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) who characterized this as a religion and insisted that it was a regular religion like Christianity.
He established the first Church of Scientology in 1953 in Camden, New Jersey
(Bainbridge and Stark 1980).
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Jay Kassam
Student Number: 14038924

ASSESSMENT # 2: OBJECTIVE WRITING
Scientology is regarded as the most notorious religious movement of the 20 th century.
The church of Scientology is considered to be more of a cult than religion, and it has come under frequent attack for its so called religious practices which include brainwashing its followers and cheating them of money as well as other possessions. It has also been accused of very aggressive behaviour such as character denouncement, psychologically abusing and expensive court cases against those who criticize them and anyone else that they identify as an enemy. Scientology as a religion when based solely on truth and the belief in reincarnation, it can be defined more as a multinational business secular organization with the religious aspect being just one of its many branches. DISCUSSION

Is Scientology a Religion?

Although adherents of Scientology and social scientists are adamant that it is a religion, a more appropriate explanation is that this is a multi-national organization, and religion is only one of its several mechanisms. The other components of scientology include political ambitions, business enterprises and projects, cultural production, simulated medical perpetrations and simulated psychiatric practices and an interchangeable family structure for some of its elite members known as the Sea Organization. Elite Sea

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Jay Kassam
Student Number: 14038924

ASSESSMENT # 2: OBJECTIVE WRITING
Organizations members have very little time for family obligations because of the demands of their jobs. The most disturbing aspect about life with the Sea Organization is that members might have to undergo very strict and invasive penalties, and forcing them into working in their Rehabilitation Project Force. These penalties violate most of the basic doctrines of human rights1 (Melton 2000).

Scientology has received critical judgements from British courts, calling it "pernicious nonsense and "dangerous material and immoral and socially obnoxious"2. It has been described in Parliament as a socially harmful enterprise which indoctrinates children and other vulnerable people by "ignorantly practising quasi-psychological techniques"3.
The UK Government's 1971 official report into Scientology was highly critical, as was another report prepared secretly several years later4.

Scientology cannot be said to be a religion in the conventional sense that constitutes most of the major religions in the world. The organization can be called “religious in nature” and is regarded as good as any religion by its adherents. This is because
Scientology envisages twenty so called principles or commandments that form the base of Scientology are usually found in what is generally regarded as religion. Social

1

Melton, J Gordon. 2000. The Church of Scientology: Studies of Contemporary Religion. 1. Salt Lake City:
Signature Books
2
Hudson, Alastair (2005). Equity & trusts (4th ed.). Routledge Cavendish
3
Marshall, Gordon (1990). In praise of sociology. Routledge
4
"UK officials feared church 'evil'". BBC News (BBC). June 1, 2007. Retrieved 2014-11-04.

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Jay Kassam
Student