Email me at Mike Emery. All financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep it private, use my PGP Key. Home Page
It is an outfit to be very wary of. It is also very pushy.
Scientology - Defectors Let The Cat Out Of The Bag - from http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2009/reports/project/
Scientology According To
The Wikipedia
QUOTE
Scientology is a
body of beliefs and related practices created by
L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986), starting in 1952, as a successor to his
earlier
self-help system,
Dianetics.
Hubbard characterized Scientology as a
religion,
and in 1953 incorporated the
Church of Scientology in New Jersey. Scientology teaches that people are
immortal spiritual beings who have forgotten their true nature. Its method
of spiritual rehabilitation is a type of counseling known as
auditing, in which practitioners aim to consciously re-experience
painful or traumatic events in their past, in order to free themselves of
their limiting effects...........
Scientology
has been surrounded by controversies since its inception. It has often been
described as a cult
that financially defrauds and abuses its members, charging exorbitant fees
for its spiritual services. The Church of Scientology has consistently used
litigation against such critics, and its aggressiveness in pursuing its
foes has been condemned as harassment. Further controversy has focused on
Scientology's belief [ allegation/claim/fairy story/lie ] that souls
("thetans")
reincarnate and have lived on other planets before living on Earth.
UNQUOTE
The Wiki sounds fairly
sympathetic.
David Miscavige
QUOTE
David Miscavige (born
April 30, 1960 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is the
chairman
of the
board of
Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the
trademarked names and symbols of
Dianetics
and
Scientology, and "holds the ultimate
ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of
L. Ron Hubbard’s religious technologies." RTC is a separate corporation
from the
Church of Scientology and Miscavige is officially described as
"worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion."
UNQUOTE
The Wiki is not telling all or even very much about the man.
Scientology's Money Trail
QUOTE
South Park has ridiculed it,
protesters have attacked it, and Germany has tried to outlaw it. Yet
the Church of Scientology still operates in 160 countries, with an
extremely complex economic model that makes it hard for opponents to
go after its finances. Ever since the 1980s, when it faced a
potentially lethal class-action lawsuit and intense scrutiny from
the U.S. government, the group has reportedly spread its
revenues—and its liability—among a vast array of independent trusts,
corporations, and nonprofits. All are reportedly tightly controlled
by David Miscavige, a second-generation Scientologist who has run
the church since the 1986 death of its founder, science-fiction
author L. Ron Hubbard. Tax filings from the early 1990s show that
the church was earning about $300 million a year back then, but the
paper trail disappears after that. The church won tax-exempt status
in 1993 and is not required to file annual returns with the I.R.S.,
so it’s extremely difficult to tell just how much Scientology takes
in during a given year...............
Membership Fees
Scientology boasts hundreds of organizations, centers, and missions
around the world, which charge fees to members.
Estimated revenue: $400 million
Bottom Line
As long as Scientology can keep generating huge donations while
fending off lawsuits, its doors will likely stay open.
Total estimated annual revenue: $500 million to $550
million
UNQUOTE
The tax free status makes a lot of businessmen envious or
join in.
Errors & omissions, broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis, malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever; if you find any I am open to comment.
Email
me at Mike Emery. All
financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep
it private, use my PGP Key. Home
Page
Updated on 26/02/2010 13:21