Guest Thinkers — February 13, 2011

Speaking Out Against Scientology

Hollywood writer and director Paul Haggis resigned from the Church of Scientology saying that, for the first time, he had explored outside perspectives on the church.

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The Church of Scientology says that its purpose is to transform individual lives and the world. “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, are the aims of Scientology,” Hubbard wrote. Scientology postulates that every person is a Thetan—an immortal spiritual being that lives through countless lifetimes. Scientologists believe that Hubbard discovered the fundamental truths of existence, and they revere him as “the source” of the religion.

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