BONA FIDES OF THE SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION
– AN OVERVIEW

Even with the growing preponderance of an ethically neutral and informed approach to religiosity by academia and governments, the Church of Scientology sometimes is asked why it should be treated as a religion if all of its beliefs and practices do not fit within the Judeo-Christian tradition. As explained later in this site, Scientologists believe in the existence of a Supreme Being, which is placed at the apex of Scientology’s cosmology. Scientology religious practices “differ” from practices of the traditional Western religions in that they seek to better one’s understanding of and relationship with the Supreme Being, as well as the entire cosmos. In this respect Scientology is more like many Eastern religions, which seek to better one’s understanding of and relation to some other supernatural being, principle or power.

To assist others to understand how Scientology compares with other religions, the Church of Scientology asked a number of internationally recognized religious scholars and experts from diverse disciplines to examine Scientology beliefs, practices and organizations and give their opinion as to its religiosity. These experts, all of whom examined Scientology from an “ethically neutral” standpoint, agree that it is a religion.

The opinions of several of these experts are found at the Appendices of this site. They are: