Peter Sullivan, Sophomore
For those of you who don’t know, The Church of Scientology is a religious organization that preaches the religion “Scientology”. Over the years, they’ve amassed a cult following, with even some A-list celebrities being members of the church, such as John Travolta and even Tom Cruise. They also happen to be one of the most controversial, cult-like, and downright insane groups in the history of America.
The Church itself was founded in 1952 by a man named L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard had previously published many books and works promoting his own form of psychotherapy known as “Dianetics”. However, Hubbard and his company promoting Dianetics soon were sued for teaching medicine without a license, and filed for bankruptcy. In need of money, Hubbard converted his Dianetics promotion into a religious group, naming it the “Church of Scientology.
So what does the Church actually believe? Well, hold on, because their beliefs on the history of the world and how everything came to be are probably the most insane part about this entire group:
Scientologists believe that 75 million years ago an alien tyrant named Xenu brought billions of people to Earth in spaceships that resemble modern day airliners. They say that he stacked them around volcanoes and then detonated hydrogen bombs within the volcanoes. This caused the Thetans, which are the immortal beings that live inside every human, to cluster together inside of the humans. These Thetans that live inside of people and still do to this day are what cause negative feelings such as sadness and anger.
This is a REAL religion. People actually BELIEVE this.
It goes without saying that this is complete nonsense, and the Church of Scientology is completely insane. What’s even more shocking than little immortal creatures living inside of you and making you feel bad is that Scientology has almost a million followers in the United States alone. For something that is so obviously a quick cash grab made by an unstable weirdo, It is surprisingly popular. It just goes to show that people are willing to believe anything.