Scientology Report...

As promised... keep in mind, the assignment was not necessarily to research a world religion, but to visit a religion that has no ties to Jesus or Jehovah God and ask the important questions of life and write an observation of the visit.

I called the Buddhist Temple in Dallas in hopes of setting up a meeting with them. The phone was answered by someone who spoke very poor English. I simply stated my reason for calling. He asked me to hold on a minute and laid the phone down. I was still able to hear everything going on in the background. There was indistinguishable talking for no less than 3 minutes, after which the phone was picked up and placed back on the base without further words spoken to me.

I looked at the other religious institution written on my paper and cringed as I dialed the number to the Church of Scientology. To my absolute surprise, a delightful voice answered, “Thank you for calling the Church of Scientology. This is Ann, how may I help you?”

I rather nervously stated my simple request to schedule an appointment to come in and ask questions. Ann was delighted. She asked when would be good for me and I had the feeling if I would have suggested 2am she would have obliged. She explained she would be the one I speak to first when I arrive and she hoped to answer all of my questions. After hanging up the phone, I felt so at ease about the situation. Instead of attempting to recruit a classmate, I thought I’d be ok to go alone.

The morning of the appointment, I made a mental list of the big things I was looking forward to asking Ann. I tried to imagine what I would want her to ask me if the roles were reversed. When I arrived at the Church of Scientology, I immediately wanted to turn around and go home! I was later told the building is a 1930’s era estate that the church has occupied for some time. The parking lot was unkempt and there was a canopy-covered sidewalk that led to the entrance. It felt a little like a cross between a nightmare and the opening scenes of a horror movie.

I walked into the entrance and was greeted by a man sitting at a table piled high with pamphlets and literature he was assembling into some form of mailing. I was then directed to a small desk area right off the entrance where Ann greeted me. Every available inch of wall space was displaying Scientology literature, L.Ron Hubbard books, seminars, or the like. I particularly noticed one poster that equated psychology with foolishness or something to that effect and quickly made a mental note to avoid discussions of my undergrad degree in psychology!

Ann allowed me to ask a few questions first. I basically wanted her “testimony.” She became a Scientologist in 1992 through the encouragement of her son. He had taken part in a course, had enjoyed it and wanted her to pay for a second course. She agreed and really noticed a difference in him, so she decided she “had to get some of that for herself,” too. She said she loved it from the beginning and as her face lit up, she said, “It works. It really works.” So I asked, “What works?”

Ann informed me that Scientology’s purpose is to remove the impurities from inside each one of us to “be a better you.” With what I would learn in Scientology, I would gain the tools to search inside myself and others and remove those things which emit negativity. When we’re filled with positive thoughts, positive things happen to us.

I asked her if she believes in God. She emphasized that personally, yes she believes that God exists, but God is not needed to be a Scientologist. In her understanding, we are created in the image of God and what that means is that as God has the power to create, so too do we have the power to create. She also wanted me to know that “Mr. Jim of Mr. Jim’s Pizza is both a Baptist and a Scientologist, he’s a good Scientologist,” she told me.

I asked her about heaven. She’d asked me earlier if I believed in God. I did not deny the Lord, but simply stated that I’d been raised in a Christian home and still attend a Christian church. The truth, just not all of it. When I asked her about heaven, before she answered, she asked what I believe. I told her that I believe that at the moment I die, my soul with be in the presence of the Lord. She said Scientologists don’t believe in a heaven or a hell. They believe they will be reborn into a new being. I asked if she was conscious of her past lives? She explained that she personally was not, but could one day work toward knowing that, depending on how far she advanced in Scientology.

Then, she told me a story about her grandson, Dale (the oldest son of her Scientologist son) who at 8 years old told her he used to be a grandpa in another life. She went on to say that he assuredly stated he had been a black man living in Mexico and he knew he was a grandpa because there were kids around him and he was reading a paper. She asked if he could tell her what the paper said (thinking she could get a time frame) and he laughed and told her he doesn’t read Spanish in this life! She said, “So it’s real. A child doesn’t just come up with stuff like that on his own.”

We then took a tour of the main floor of the area we were in. There was a literature rack full of program workbooks ranging in topics of Marriage, Personalities, New to Scientology, etc. There were children’s books as well as a number of DVDs that could be purchased.

We then walked to a seminar room. Ann explained to me that this was the room where many of their workshops took place. There were some charts on the walls and a handful of books on a book shelf There was even a lectern with a uniquely shaped cross on the front. It was a cross like in Christianity, but each quadrant had an extra “L” shaped piece adjacent to it. It caught my eye, so I asked about it. Where a cross has everything to do with why I am who I am and why I believe in Who I believe in, the cross in Scientology represents the eight levels of mastery. Ann couldn’t remember them all, but some were mastery over creation, over self, and others.

Next, we walked to a chart on a wall that expressed the different stages of Scientology. There were about 30 grades in all. Ann informed me that I would start at the Purification Ritual. She told me I would take some vitamins and sit in a hot sauna and be removed of impurities inside. Impurities get inside from illnesses and surgeries. She weirded me out a little when she mentioned that she’d noticed a scar on my chest and asked if I’d had heart surgery. I told her I had and she explained all the negative energy that very likely came inside of me during that operation could be removed with the Purification Ritual. And, she stated, “It’s not good to leave it in there, it’s better to get it out.”

The lowest level was a Grade Zero. That’s as far as Ann had achieved in her 16 years in Scientology. Her status as Grade Zero meant (as indicated on the chart) that she could speak to anyone about anything at any time. Higher levels indicated being free from the effects of suffering, being free from different levels of brokenness. Midway up the chart was a level called “Clarity.” If one achieves the Clarity level, he is no longer impacted by negativity or evil. He has been completely released from all negative energies from within.

Our next stop was at a display where there was an “e-meter.” An E-meter is a way of measuring one’s emotions. It is a blue electronic device with gauges and needle measurement boxes on it and it is attached to two metal cylinders. The Auditor has been trained to interpret the subject’s emotions to indicate what level of emotions a person is in. Ann didn’t really go into why it’s necessary, other than to know what needs to be improved. And she really wanted me to try it. But, I didn’t think it was a good idea.

Finally, we saw a roped off office space dedicated to “LRH.” LRH is the familiar way they refer to Scientology’s founder, L. Ron Hubbard. His office looked like any nice office space. It was his personal office space for use when he was in the Dallas area when he was still alive. At this point, I asked Ann if LRH had discovered or invented Scientology. She thought for a minute and decided he had discovered it, in conjunction with other great thinkers and researchers and was able to put several pieces of the puzzle together until they realized they had something and needed to make it a religion.

Ann invited me back to watch an information video, to attend a seminar, be audited or to attend a church service on Sunday morning. She was so pleasant to talk to, her demeanor so filled with joy over the idea of “being a better” her. Over and over she kept trying to sell me on the fact that “it works, it really works.”

I left after visiting for a total of 30 or 45 minutes and my heart was so burdened. I’ve often heard that the Enemy is the Counterfeit Christ…and feel like everything they’re working and searching for fits that bill. From the symbol of a cross meaning nothing of a Savior to working toward a far away goal of being free from inner negativity.

Ironically, later that night, I attended the DTS Women’s Retreat and during a sweet time of small group prayer, a woman was exuberantly sharing how prayer sustains her. Her face lit up as she said, “It works, it really works!” Perhaps my ears were more attentive, since hearing it so often earlier that day. The stark contrast of the source of that joy broke my heart.

Since our meeting, I often think how things might have been different for Ann. What if her son had received Christ with such joy and shared that good news and example of a changed life with his mother? How different their lives and eternities would be.