I found the group project to be a lot of fun. I was grouped with Ellie Haas and Eden Shenal, and we did our project on the Church of Scientology. Scientology is a religion that was founded by L. Ron Hubbard and has been involved in several shady dealings and scandals. We focused on the religion as a whole, including its foundation, its current standing and new leader, and its effects on religious and secular society.
Cults and religion are truly fascinating things. Without the context of what an established church is, the idea of any religion would likely seem quite insane to modern day society. Normalized religion is fascinating enough, so when we decided to research into Scientology, a religion that receives so much derision today, I was enthusiastic.
Scientology is basically a mash of psychoanalysis and the religious idea of rebirth. It suggests that what happens when someone is unconscious affects them to a ridiculous degree later in life. While on their official website, I perused several videos showing people’s unconscious minds suddenly and exaggeratedly taking over their conscious minds, as if everyone had a severe case of PTSD. It was rather hilarious, actually. The videos that I found seemed like they should have been a spoof—an exaggeration of what the Church actually believes. However, they were the real thing, which only served to reinforce my idea that Scientology deserves its reputation as a faux religion.
As with many things that we have researched in this class, a
deeper dive revealed that there is quite a bit of darkness, corruption, and tragedy
involved with the Church of Scientology. The church has been accused of forcing
its women to undergo abortions (despite a pro-life exterior) and in one case, an
injured woman died of dehydration under their care. Overall, Scientology has
retained its infamous reputation upon further research. It is cultish, corrupt,
and almost humorously ridiculous.