Yes, Scientology is a cult that is primarily intended to extract large sums of money from their celebrity cult members.

Although they are a cult, I still think they should be free to worship as they choose and as they'd like to, I don't think the government should try to shut them down or anything.

Scientology is a personality cult, a mind control cult, a pyramid scheme (with all the money funneled up to it's current leader), a organized crime syndicate, a real estate investment scheme, and many more unsavory things. One thing that it isnt, is a legitimate religion. Scientology was conceived to be a religion so that L. Ron Hubbard could evade paying taxes on the profits he was making from Dianetics. It is simply a cult and a scam.

Scientology does involve a set of beliefs, but it's not what we typically think of as a religion. For one, it's been established by one man, L Ron Hubbard, whereas religions through the ages have taken doctrines and myths from their predecessors. Look at how the Judeo-Christian religions are rooted in the same events; look at how Roman and Greek mythologies are related. Scientology, on the other hand, is based on an entirely original creation myth, with none of the historical credibility that religions need. It proclaims as truth things that the rest of the world see as fiction, and that in itself is a good enough reason to call it a cult rather than a religion.

But the main argument against it is this: religions shouldn't be secret. Anyone and everyone has the right to buy a bible, anyone can go to mass. Scientology, on the other hand, is copyrighted by Hubbard, and the 'church' snatches their videos off the internet with threats. It's a secretive cult.

Scientology is the result of a social experiment by a scifi author. Think about it. Real hard. If JK Rollins wrote a book on the religion of Hogwarts, wouldn't you consider that a cult?

The religious aspect of Scientology is nothing more than a facade put up to keep it tax-exempt. It destroys families and lives. This organization needs to be stopped.

www.xenu.net

Next!

Two words - Tom Cruise!

Do I have to type an argument..cannot I simply choose a side? There is no question that even in Ron L was alive he would laugh at the ridiculousness of this 'system'

Most religions are cults on a grander scale. Having everyone do the same thing, following the same rules or face punishment. Scientology isn't as much a religion as it is a money pit. Other groups don't require your life savings to be saved.

All religions are cults...some are worse than others. Scientology is nothing more than a science fiction tale by L. Ron Hubbard taken way too seriously and too literally.

"An idea does not gain truth as it gains followers."

Any cult can try to be recognized as a church and religion, but how do you determine what a cult is. Not every cult is secretive some openly try to convince you to join. My definition of a cult is a religion created by someone for other reasons than getting to an afterlife.

I do believe Scientology is a cult and some of its ex-members have come out and expressed that it is a cult.

Certainly. Scientology has rituals, which makes it a cult. Scientology is the Beautiful People's religion, and like almost all other things that pertain to that crowd, it's a joke.