L. Ron Hubbard began his studies of the mind and spirit in 1923, resulting in a manuscript entitled "Excalibur" in 1938. It was in this unpublished work that the word Scientology first appeared to describe what Mr. Hubbard termed "the study of knowing how to know." He decided against publishing the book for the fact, "'Excalibur' did not contain any therapy of any kind but was simply a discussion of the composition of life." Consequently, "I decided to go further."

That "going further" resulted in Dianetics, a subject which was introduced into the much broader field of Scientology to provide an actual "therapy" easily applied by the man in the street. Thus, in 1947, he wrote a manuscript detailing the core discoveries of Dianetics. Although not published at the time, the manuscript was circulated among friends and colleagues, who copied it and passed it on to others. (This work was eventually published in 1951 as Dianetics: The Original Thesis.)

As copies of the manuscript continued circulating, Mr. Hubbard began receiving a flood of letters requesting further information. Indeed, he soon found himself spending all his time answering letters and decided to write a comprehensive text on the subject-Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health.

Published on May 9th, 1950, it sparked a storm of popular enthusiasm, and immediately hit the New York Timesbestseller list where it remained for 28 consecutive weeks. As such, it was the biggest selling book on the mind ever written, and remains so today. Contained within was the discovery of the reactive mind-the hidden source of nightmares, unreasonable fears, upsets and insecurity.

Yet L. Ron Hubbard never considered Dianetics an end to his research but, rather, a steppingstone to the discovery and isolation of a long-illusive life source. And indeed, the techniques of Dianetics provided the means by which practitioners soon began discoveringpast lives. Pressing application and research even further came the accomplishment of what is known as exteriorization-demonstrating the spirit was indeed separable from the body and mind: The Scientology religion was born.

Thereafter, L. Ron Hubbard delved ever deeper into the spiritual nature of Man, documenting his discoveries in thousands of recorded lectures, films, articles and books.

While to present those discoveries, he literally circumnavigated the globe and so Churches of Scientology opened on four continents-headquartered at his long-term residence in southern England.

Through ensuing years, L. Ron Hubbard continued advancing the subject until his passing in 1986.

His legacy comprises tens of millions of published words, recorded lectures and films, while with over 250 million copies of his books and lectures in circulation, he has inspired a movement spanning all continents and all cultures.

Scientology was established as a secular philosophy in 1952 by science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, then recharacterised by him in 1953 as an "applied religious philosophy."

Scientology beliefs are structured in a series of levels, with new initiates working their way up by steps to the more advanced strata of esoteric knowledge (ALL levels must be purchased). This is described as the passage up "the bridge to total freedom," or simply "the bridge." The more advanced teachings are kept strictly confidential.

The central beliefs of Scientology are that:

• a person is an immortal spiritual being (termed a thetan) who possesses a mind and a body, accompanied by a lesser "genetic entity";
• the thetan has lived through many past lives, stored memories of which can cause problems in the present day;
• a person is basically good, but is "aberrated" by the memories of past traumas.

Alternate Answer:

The major beliefs of Scientology are stated in 'The Creed of The Church of Scientology'.

We of the Church believe:

That all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal rights;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives;

That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity;

That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense;

That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments;

That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others;

That all men have inalienable rights to the creation of their own kind;

That the souls of men have the rights of men;

That the study of the mind and the healing of mentally caused ills should not be alienated from religion or condoned in nonreligious fields;

And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.

And we of the Church believe:

That man is basically good;

That he is seeking to survive;

That his survival depends upon himself and upon his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

And we of the Church believe that the laws of God forbid man:

To destroy his own kind;

To destroy the sanity of another;

To destroy or enslave another's soul;

To destroy or reduce the survival of one's companions or one's group.

And we of the Church believe that the spirit can be saved and that the spirit alone may save or heal the body.

The Creed of the Church of Scientology was written by L. Ron Hubbard shortly after the Church was formed in Los Angeles on February 18, 1954. After he issued this creed from his office in Phoenix, Arizona, the Church of Scientology adopted it as official because it succinctly states what Scientologists believe.

The best way to understand what the beliefs are, is to personally read the basic books of the subject. These books, called 'The Basics', are available to anyone in nearly any public library for free. Most Scientologists have or plan to acquire the complete set of these books for themselves or their family to have as their own, so they can understand the basic beliefs as well as possible.

Scientologists believe the best way to read these books is read them chronologically, in the exact order the author wrote them so one can see the development of the ideas and beliefs for themselves one at a time at one's own speed. There are lectures available for each of the basic books that provide a further and much greater understanding of the principles in each book. You get to hear the author in person, one on one.

These books describe the nature of an individual person from the viewpoint of the author. They include his personal researches and conclusions, and they recognize the contributions of others to the subject, and what was not contributed, as well. Descriptions are provided in great detail for anyone to read or listen to.

These books and lectures have been accepted by Scientologists as a statement of their beliefs and that they are available for all to read and have, only if they wish.

This is a matter of opinion. Like any religious belief system the parents are the ones that decide for the children what they are going to believe and brainwash them so to speak into their ideals. Now when the child grows up and see's for themselves that that is not what they wanted to have in their lives they can change their minds, then. To each their own.

You can walk away from Scientology at anytime. As with any religion, counseling, movie, video game, or any other influence on your child only you as the parent can make the right choices. I can not speak to weather or not graphic images of psychiatry are shown to children by the church. I have as a child experienced first hand the graphic images shown concerning hell, crucifixion, and the "evils of rock and roll" by the Southern Baptist Church. Though I don't think those images were damaging to me. As to the ability of the church to disconnect the child from the parent that is simply not a legal possibility in the US.

Implicit in the Scientology worldview is a mandate to employ the truths of Scientology to uplift Mankind. Consequently, as Scientology grows, so too the humanitarian programs Scientologists support. Those programs now include:

• The world's largest nongovernmental anti-drug campaign, reaching tens of millions of at-risk youth each year;
• The establishment of drug rehabilitation centers in more than 40 nations;
• The world's largest nongovernmental human rights public information campaign, broadly promoting the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• Global education programs bringing the gift of literacy to tens of millions of students in America, Europe, Asia and Africa;
• A Way to Happiness movement spanning 135 nations, uplifting populations and restoring the brotherhood of Man.
• The Scientology Volunteer Minister program bringing emergency relief to more than 10 million people at every major disaster site through the last twenty years.

Additionally, through the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Scientologists have further spotlighted and worked to outlaw the enforced drugging of schoolchildren, the psychiatric brutalities of electric shock and lobotomy, and biological warfare experiments.

Finally, the Church was among the original champions of the Freedom of Information Act and other access laws to protect the public interest and end government human rights abuses.

In conclusion, then, the Church of Scientology and Scientologists work in alignment with the Aims of Scientology and the dream of a "civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights."

The Scientology religion provides answers to many questions about life and death. It encompasses an exact, precisely mapped-out path. In developing Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard discovered a technology to free the human spirit and thereby allow Man to really know himself. He thoroughly tested all procedures and recorded those that proved most workable in bringing about uniformly predictable results. These comprise standard Scientology technology.

Through application of Scientology principles and technology in an auditing session, a person is able to remove barriers and unwanted conditions and so become more himself. As a person progresses, he reaches out to help others in the ways he has been helped.

That which is real to the person is all one is asked to accept of Scientology. No beliefs are forced upon him. By training and processing, he finds out for himself the answers he is searching for in life.

This is a good question. I am an ordained minister who has been a Scientologist for over 20 years. When I came into Scientology I was looking to know about myself. I was not "looking for a religion". I wanted to improve myself. I read Scientology books and they worked. I seemed to get better. My business got better and I applied what I learned about life from Scientology. And as my life improved, I learned to improve the life of others. It made me really feel good. I worked a lot in down trodden areas of Asia. I helped people learn and study better, get them off drugs, and raise their IQ. I especially worked hard in helping those in disaster areas. Then I heard a senior Scientologist one day say that he most definitely believed in God. He was so emphatic. The concept of God was written about by Mr. Hubbard in several books but I never gave it much thought. You see, Mr. Hubbard (who founded Scientology) was a man, not a messenger from God. So he did not speak of God for God. He spoke or wrote of God as only a man might. He did write that man would demise once he gave up the belief in God. (Science of Survival, 1951) Obviously to me then Mr. Hubbard was a very Godly person. But he did not bring the subject of God heavily into his own teachings, other than to mention that God most definitely was apparent. So I thought about this. He said that God existed. He did not teach about it as a Christian might. In the Ministers Course - which I undertook - I read holy texts. I read what others had written about God; the entire Holy Bible, the Holy Koran, the four Vedas, books on Hinduism, and Buddhism, Shinto and more. Then the penny dropped. I got it. We were not speaking of the same thing between religions. Words have meanings, but the word religion is different for different people. I use the religion definitions from the Chambers dictionary 1949. There is a Natural Religion, as is Scientology, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and there are Revealed Religions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. So, to answer the question, yes, Scientology does have a God. but for some like me, it takes a while to recognize what God might be. However, in saying that, Scientology does not worship God or Gods as Revealed Religions may. Alternatively, it enables an individual to come to his own understanding as to what God is and his own companion with God. The Scientology term for God I like best, is the Allness Of All.

They have a thing for Mr. Hubbard

They believe in Xenu, the dictator of the galactic confederacy 75 million years ago. Seriously, check out xenu.net.

The vast majority of the world's population believes in reincarnation and only in the last few hundred years, with the rise of the physical sciences, did a strictly materialistic view begin to eclipse the spiritual.

More recently, the traditional definition of reincarnation has been altered from its original meaning. The word has come to mean "to be born again in different life forms" (such as an animal, an insect, etc.) whereas its actual definition is "to be born again into the flesh or into another body." So what is commonly thought of as reincarnation is a definite system and is not part of Scientology. Rather, the Church ascribes to the latter, original definition.

Today in Scientology, many people have certainty that they have lived lives prior to their current one. These are referred to as past lives, not as reincarnation. Past lives is not a dogma in Scientology, but generally Scientologists, during their auditing, experience a past life and then know for themselves that they have lived before. To believe one had a physical or other existence prior to the identity of the current body is not a new concept-but it is an exciting one.

It is a fact that unless one begins to handle aberration built up in past lives, he doesn't progress. In Scientology, one is given the tools to handle upsets and aberrations from past lives that adversely affect the individual in the present, thus freeing one to live a much happier life.

Implicit in the Scientology worldview is a mandate to employ the truths of Scientology to uplift Mankind. Consequently, as Scientology grows, so too the humanitarian programs Scientologists support. Those programs now include:

• The world's largest nongovernmental anti-drug campaign, reaching tens of millions of at-risk youth each year;
• The establishment of drug rehabilitation centers in more than 40 nations;
• The world's largest nongovernmental human rights public information campaign, broadly promoting the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
• Global education programs bringing the gift of literacy to tens of millions of students in America, Europe, Asia and Africa;
• A Way to Happiness movement spanning 135 nations, uplifting populations and restoring the brotherhood of Man.
• The ScientologyVolunteer Ministerprogram bringing emergency relief to more than 10 million people at every major disaster site through the last twenty years.

Additionally, through the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Scientologists have further spotlighted and worked to outlaw the enforced drugging of schoolchildren, the psychiatric brutalities of electric shock and lobotomy, and biological warfare experiments.

Finally, the Church was among the original champions of the Freedom of Information Act and other access laws to protect the public interest and end government human rights abuses.

In conclusion, then, the Church of Scientology and Scientologists work in alignment with the Aims of Scientology and the dream of a "civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights."