Have you ever heard of Scientology? What is the charm of this "modern religion" with a history of less than 100 years , which can attract Hollywood stars to become believers? Why is it considered a cult by many people? Let us talk about the mysterious "Scientology" today! hiho~ Hello everyone, I am Zhiqi! After "Defenders 2" swept the box office last year, I believe that more people have been fans of Tom Cruise . However, if you have searched for Tom Cruise, you may find that as long as you talk about this Hollywood superstar, almost It will be mentioned that he is a loyal "Scientologist". You may want to say, hey , everyone has their own beliefs, and that's okay, right? However, if you search for "What is Scientology?", you will find that the word "cult" keeps appearing in the materials and reports that pop up ! There are also some rumors on the Internet that Cruise divorced Nicole Kidman , Katie Holmes, and his daughter Shuli because of the obstruction of Scientology. So , Ah Is Tang Ge a "cultist"? What the hell is Scientology doing? Today, let us talk about how did this mysterious Scientology appear? Why are so many people accusing it of being a cult? But before we get into today's discussion , let's do business for a while! Have you heard of "Fiber to Home"? If you like to play video games, watch dramas , or often work from home and have requirements for network quality, please refer to the "Dada Flagship Solution" launched by "Dada Broadband" . This plan will send the fiber optic network directly from the computer room to you. Home No need to go through other equipment in the middle , allowing you to enjoy a faster, more stable, and more secure network than Cable or ADSL. Moreover , now you don’t need to go to the physical store to apply. Through the digital store with large bandwidth, you can apply for 24 hours. If you choose the flagship plan, You can find a thousand things a month . You can also enjoy digital TV, Wifi 6 machines, free rental of HBO movie packages, and a big gift package discount . Just click the link below to go to the official website to see more plans and apply online! 【What is Scientology? ] The name "Scientology" is actually a literal translation of the English "Scientology" , so some people may have heard names like "Scientology" or "Scientology", which actually refer to Scientology Scientology , unlike many religions derived from Judaism or Christianity, they do not have a specific god of belief, but instead ask believers to pay attention to their "soul power" . They even claim that Scientology is the first time that humans have used "scientific methods" To solve the "soul problem" and believe that through Scientology, people can achieve long-term happiness. So , is this a religion founded by scientists? Eh, not really! The founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, is actually a writer and a writer who specializes in "science fiction" , but how can someone write science fiction and become a religious leader? This story is interesting! [The Rise of Scientology] This L. Ron Hubbard is not an ordinary writer. He has written more than a thousand books in his career, and has won three Guinness World Records : "Most Published" and "Most Translated " "And "the most audiobooks" can be said that he is a science fiction writer with a strong background. However , the best-selling book he has written is not a science fiction novel , but a book called "Dianetics: Modern Science of Mental Health" The spiritual growth book has been translated into at least 50 languages from 1950 to the present, and has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide! So what exactly is this "Dianetic"? To put it simply, it is a set of "psychotherapy" developed by L. Ron Hubbard , which claims to be able to solve many physical and mental diseases. Although this method was not recognized by the medical and psychological circles , it was widely accepted by the American public at that time. Because of this, he became a popular lecturer and shared this method everywhere . In order to let more people get help, under the advice of others, L. Ron Hubbard integrated Dianetics with some ideas in his other past works in 1952 In 1999, "Scientology" was officially founded and he himself is the leader! Today, the Church of Scientology has spread all over the world , with millions of believers! In Taiwan, Scientology also has a history of more than 30 years and is a legally registered official religion. In addition , Scientology has also attracted some celebrities to join , including the aforementioned Tom Cruise, and John Travolta in his early years . No Few well-known Hollywood actors are members of the Scientology sect, but what magical charm does this Scientology have that attracts so many people to join? [The Birth of a Scientologist] As mentioned earlier, the difference between Scientology and other religions is that the church claims that they use "scientific methods" to solve "soul problems." They created an original method called "OCA Oxford Ability Analysis" "Psychological test According to Scientology, this test can accurately analyze each person's personality traits, work ability, interpersonal relationship, etc. After the subjects have completed the test, Scientology will send a professional analysis The teacher interprets the test results one-on-one , so that the subjects can understand themselves better and improve the situation in their lives . Many believers said that they took this free test at the beginning and found it very helpful to them , so they started to participate in the mountain Scientology Attend follow-up courses and receive professional "auditing analysis". This "auditing analysis" is an original concept created by Scientology. It is somewhat similar to psychological counseling . It is also the most critical practice method among the aforementioned "Dianetics". The professional auditors trained by the Church of Scientology will guide you to review past traumatic experiences and help you examine your own lifestyle to make your mind more peaceful and stable . This is also the attraction of Scientology! Many believers believe that they have grown physically, mentally and spiritually in the Church of Scientology , and have received a lot of help in life! Some also reported that their eyesight and hearing improved after several hearings , and even their color blindness improved! Some people even claim that their IQ has become higher after the audition! Hey, although it sounds a bit exaggerated, it is generally positive . So why does Scientology have such a bad reputation outside? The point is that the cost of these courses is really a bit high! [Religion also has a fee system? 】 Although there are some free learning channels in Scientology courses, for believers, if they want to accelerate their "spiritual level" improvement , they may need to accept higher-level audition, and this part is charged of! In other words, it is not impossible to be a free boy , but your self-improvement speed will not keep up with other people who are willing to spend money on advanced courses and accept advanced auditing. Moreover , Scientology will tell believers that only if the spiritual level is high enough Only when you can become a "refresher", you will not have irrational behavior in your life, and you will no longer be afraid, depressed, or insecure. Therefore , many believers are willing to pay for courses to improve their spirits Level, looking forward to the liberation of body and soul! But the point is that these courses are not cheap. Many people spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on tuition fees, and some people go to borrow money from people around them just to achieve what they think is "self-improvement". , and firmly believe that what they get is something more valuable than money! The strange phenomenon of "paying fees to attend classes" despite joining a church has also attracted criticism from the outside world. Scientology is basically using the name of religion to "collect money"! In addition to the issue of cost, Scientology still has a lot of weird controversies [Other controversies of Scientology] Here, let's take stock of a few, the more common doubts from the outside world First , as mentioned earlier, L. Ron Hubbard claimed that he founded Scientology to benefit more human beings . However, according to some people who were with him at the time, he decided to start the religion only because the income of religious organizations in the United States does not need to be recognized. Taxation To put it simply , the outside world has criticized that Scientology is an organization that “doesn’t want to pay taxes.” It doesn’t have any lofty ideals . In addition, many people say that Scientology will interfere with the “interpersonal relationships” of believers. "Relationship" requires them to alienate and attack those who do not agree with the church. This is why many people will drift away from their family and friends after joining Scientology. There are rumors that Tom Cruise and Nicole After Kiman got married It seems that there are signs of slowly fading out of Scientology, and the top management of Scientology, because they are worried about losing Tom Cruise’s influence , try their best to intervene in the marriage of the two, which eventually leads to the divorce of the two . Scientology believes that human suffering is caused by the "soul" . Psychology or psychiatry has no way to solve these problems. He strongly opposes the use of psychiatric drugs by believers , which has caused many believers to appear in themselves or their children. Mental problems, but unwilling to seek medical treatment, eventually delayed treatment, and some believers even died of hunger strike because of mental breakdown. What is even more exaggerated is that former members of the church jumped out to accuse that the senior management of Scientology would conduct all kinds of physical and psychological abuse on church officials who intend to resist. In the "Little Black House", they were required to use toothbrushes to clean the toilets, lick the floor with their tongues, etc. Some people even said that female cadres were often "forced to abort" because the higher-ups were worried that after female believers had children, they would reduce their contributions to the church , etc. , These sounds too exaggerated, right? Are such serious accusations true? [In the face of controversy, what does Scientology say? ] In 2015, HBO once produced a documentary "Deciphering Scientology", which interviewed many members who had joined Scientology and exposed the inside story of many churches . The aforementioned controversies were also heard from their mouths Confirmation However , in response to these allegations, the Church of Scientology stated: "The content of the video did not interview the Church and did not seek factual evidence. The entire film is only a one-sided oral statement." The Church of Scientology also stated that those interviewed , are all members who were expelled from Scientology 30 years ago because of "misconduct" and trying to cheat the church's money. Now these members will be dissatisfied and retaliate. The "crimes" committed by every interviewee in the past are not just HBO, and other people who criticized and questioned Scientology in the past have also suffered counterattacks from the church . In 2007, a reporter from the BBC said that during his investigation of Scientology In the process of base, he was constantly followed and harassed! In addition, the Church of Scientology has also confronted the IRS. The reason is that the IRS questioned the religious nature of Scientology and tried to investigate them. At that time , Scientology called on a large number of believers to report The Bureau launched a full-scale legal battle and also filed a large number of lawsuits against the staff of the Internal Revenue Service! In the end, Scientology won this battle, and it also allowed the IRS to officially recognize their religious qualifications . All in all, Scientology will try its best to deny and clarify the doubts from the outside world. On their website, they also address all kinds of common doubts. Interested viewers can click on the extended reading and go to their website to have a look! [Our point of view] So , back to the original question, is Scientology a "cult"? To be honest, it is a bit difficult to answer, mainly because the definition of a cult is actually quite subjective! Although there are some "methods to identify cults" in the market , for example, it depends on whether the religion "brainwashes the believers", "whether there is a behavior of collecting money", etc. , but its boundaries are actually very blurred . Take "brainwashing" as an example. It is said that in many cases , whether it is brainwashing or not depends on whether people "like" this religion. If most people like this religion, then everyone will tend to think that this religion is just "promoting beliefs" , but if people don't like this religion, they will feel that The church is brainwashing believers , and the standard for everyone to judge whether they like it or not will involve the image of this religion in the past, whether the rituals of belief are special, etc. But these "perceptions" also vary from person to person, so we feel that if we discuss Direction If you only focus on "is it a cult" , it may still become a situation of "you think it is, I don't think it is" and there is no standard answer. Therefore , we still suggest that when you look at controversial religions Maybe we can focus on what kind of harm or impact the practice of this church has actually caused to believers or people around them? For example, has the church guided believers to give up their freedom, relatives, friends, and wealth, seriously affecting their normal life? In other words, if believers wish to quit the church, will they be intimidated or even threatened with violence? Aiming at these parts, you can make confirmation first , which may help you judge what kind of attitude you should have towards this religion! Prevent yourself or those around you from going astray and getting more serious injuries! Okay, that's it for this episode Finally , if you like today's video, please share it to let more people know about the controversy of Scientology! In addition, you can also click here to see "Korean Providence Cult" and "Why People Join Cults"; then, today's Zhiqi Qiqi will come to an end here, and we will see you tomorrow night!
