Note: This is a rebuttal article to J. Grant Swank's 'Tom Cruise Markets The Cult Of Scientology'
The name of Scientology seems to be everywhere in the media today, but not everyone know what it is really about. Still, it is not difficult to find out, and people are doing so in droves. There are still a few people in the media or elsewhere who insist on remaining uninformed, but it requires dedicated laziness.
It is too easy just to come by a Church of Scientology. The Church of Scientology of New York is open 9 am til 10 pm, seven days a week, with displays on what we believe, how we practice our religion, and how we are actually doing something about the problems facing the world from the marital problems which have become epidemic, to the drug problems which seem to be everywhere.
Because the story of Scientology is simple. American explorer, writer, and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard developed a new method he named Dianetics, which helps people eliminate the negative energy stored in the mind, and to be simply themselves, with greater happiness and respect for themselves and others. Mr. Hubbard wrote a book about Dianetics, which immediately became and stayed a bestseller. People applied Mr. Hubbards methods, and found out they worked. The told their friends, who in turn tried Dianetics and also found it worked.
The research and application connected with Dianetics showed Mr. Hubbard something else: that Man is not an animal, not a collection of chemicals, but an immortal spiritual being. This moved him into the spiritual realm, and over a period of years, the religion of Scientology emerged, with answers to the ultimate questions, including the nature of the individual, where he comes from, and where he will go when he dies.
These are principles that anyone can know for certain, and know for themselves. According to Scientologists, you are a spiritual being, separate and distinct from your body. You have lived lifetime after lifetime and will live again.
You are seeking to survive, for yourself, your family, group, mankind, the physical universe, and to survive as a spirit. And only when you have fully achieved that level of enlightenment, can you truly understand the Creator.
Such views may sound familiar to those with a background in the Eastern religions, but it may seem foreign to some Christians. But then Scientology does not claim to be just like any other religion.
However, respect for other religions is not just a part of Scientology, but an integral part of its creed. No Scientologist will try to persuade you that your faith Christian, Muslim, or Hindu is wrong, and no one will ask you to take anything in Scientology on blind faith. Instead, the Church works for freedom of thought and freedom of religion in the US and abroad.
The workability of the answers L. Ron Hubbard discovered is shown by the testimony of the millions who have used his methods. From one book, Dianetics, published in 1950, Scientology has grown into a worldwide religious movement with over 6000 churches, missions, and groups, in 156 countries. It is the only major world religion to emerge in the Twentieth Century.
Of course, Scientology works with other religions a Protestant minister and a Muslim Imam spoke at the New York Church in December, and earlier this January I worked with a Lutheran congregation in a celebration giving toys to under-privileged Hispanic children.
We have international programs to deal with what we consider the lynchpin issues affecting the planet: drugs, immorality, criminality, and illiteracy.
The Narconon drug rehab program, for instance, delivers a program unrivalled in effectiveness in 151 centers in 37 countries, including 47 residential facilities. Applied Scholastics and the World Literacy Crusade apply a remarkable study technology to remedy slow learning and empower whole groups and populations by helping them gain the ability to learn and apply what they have learned.
In fighting drugs, in championing a revitalization of morals, in insisting that man is spiritual and immortal, Scientology has crossed the path of those who actively push drugs on the population, who live off corruption and low moral standards, and who want man to think he is nothing but chemicals. Such people are the source of misinformation about Scientology, which in the past has been believed by some who are simply lacking information.
But information about Scientology is now easy to come by. No one has to rely on second-hand claims by people who have an axe to grind, for one side or another. The true nature of Scientology is simple, and easy to find out. Read a book by L. Ron Hubbard: Dianetics, for instance, has sold more than 20 million copies in 54 different languages, and can be found in any bookstore or library.
Or go to a Church of Scientology and look for yourself.
Its that easy.
(Rev. Carmichael graduated from Cornell University in 1969, and was ordained as a Scientology minister in San Francisco in 1973. He has worked internationally in interfaith, human rights, and media affairs.)
Note: This is a rebuttal article to J. Grant Swank's 'Tom Cruise Markets The Cult Of Scientology'
FEATURES 
