Here Are Some Facts About Scientology That Didn’t Make It Into The Atlantic Advertorial

By admin on January 15, 2013

The Atlantic just published an article about the Church of Scientology that was written by the Church of Scientology (“sponsor content.”)

The article, not surprisingly, is quite flattering.

And the Atlantic’s readership, not surprisingly, is aghast.

In the interest of contrast, we thought we would bring to your attention another article about the Church of Scientology.

This other article was written by Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker.

It might be described as a “devastating expose.”

Wright’s article centers around the story of one of Scientology’s most famous defectors, a Hollywood screenwriter named Paul Haggis. It also draws a profile of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, the beaming fellow in the Atlantic advertorial above.

The article describes how Scientology targets and uses celebrities like Tom Cruise to raise money, recruit adherents, and spread its “technology” (teachings). It also notes that David Miscavige’s wife disappeared six years ago.

The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954, by “several devoted followers” of a science-fiction writer named L. Ron Hubbard.

In 1950, Hubbard had published a self-help book called “Dianetics,” which immediately became a best-seller.

What exactly IS Dianetics?

Lawrence Wright explains:

“Written in a bluff, quirky style and overrun with footnotes that do little to substantiate its findings, “Dianetics” purports to identify the source of self-destructive behavior—the “reactive mind,” a kind of data bank that is filled with traumatic memories called “engrams,” and that is the source of nightmares, insecurities, irrational fears, and psychosomatic illnesses. The object of Dianetics is to drain the engrams of their painful, damaging qualities and eliminate the reactive mind, leaving a person “Clear.””

Hubbard described Dianetics as a “precision science.”

“He offered his findings to the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association but was spurned; he subsequently portrayed psychiatry and psychology as demonic competitors.”

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Please follow Business Insider on Twitter and Facebook.