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by Scientology_net on September 25th, 2003

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Does Scientology engage in brainwashing or mind control?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

  • by Anon y mouse on November 19th, 2008

    Anon y mouse

    By any objective measure, yes. In fact, Hubbard himself actually wrote a manual on brainwashing. The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion has researched this very issue, producing a report entitled, "BRAINWASHING IN SCIENTOLOGY'S REHABILITATION PROJECT FORCE, available here:

    http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/brainwas.htm

    This and other ethical and legal concerns about the cult is why European authorities in particular list the group as dangerous. France indeed has been at the forefront of countries seeking to ban the cult. This quote from Time Magazine puts things in perspective:

    "Since 1986 authorities in France, Spain and Italy have raided more than 50 Scientology centers. Pending charges against more than 100 of its overseas church members include fraud, extortion, capital flight, coercion, illegally practicing medicine and taking advantage of mentally incapacitated people."

    - Time Magazine, May 6, 1991

    See also the work of Psychiatrist Dr. John Clark of Harvard University and:

    http://www.ami.com.au/~bradw/cos/Wakefield/us-14.html

    http://www.scientology-lies.com/crimesindex.html

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  • by Steve_S on November 19th, 2008

    Steve_S

    If you define brainwashing as marketing or promoting something you could say yes. Of course, a few billion other people are all out there marketing their own products and services too.

    If you define it in the traditional sense where you forcibly deprive a person of liberty, food and sleep sometimes under the influence of drugs while bombarding them with the data you want them to accept, the answer would have to be no.

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  • by Annon on February 28th, 2008

    Annon

    I think every religion does.

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  • by Scientology_net on September 25th, 2003

    Scientology_net

    No. In fact, what we do is exactly the opposite. We free people and enable them to think for themselves.

    Millions of Church members from literally all walks of life have attested to the positive benefits received from Scientology. A common theme to their personal success stories is that they are now more in control of their lives than they ever have been.

    Factually, Mr. Hubbard was one of the first to discover and expose actual mind control and brainwashing experimentation conducted by United States military and intelligence agencies during and after World War II. Not only did he uncover blatantly destructive experimentation, he also discovered that the technology he developed, Dianetics, could undo the effects of an insidious form of hypnotism called pain-drug-hypnosis and free a person from its grip.

    Years after Mr. Hubbard learned about these government-sponsored psychiatric mind control experiments, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act detailed the extent to which these techniques were being used. Over the years, the Church of Scientology has exposed numerous instances of brainwashing or mind control practices, such as those involved in so-called “deprogramming”. Such practices are diametrically opposed to the aims of Scientology, which are to free man and return to him his ability to control his own life.

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  • by randomness - is now a Maestro on November 19th, 2008

    randomness - is now a Maestro

    Brainwashing, yes. Like other religions, only worse, in my opinion.

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  • by Sgt. Widget will die from finals on February 28th, 2008

    Sgt. Widget will die from finals

    Quite possibly. Scientologists use high pressure sales techniques to persuade members, both new and old, to donate to the church, either as a purely charitable donation or for training. In additions, techniques used in auditing are designed to provoke a specific answer from the person being audited and eventually lead to a receptive mental state.

    The best known example of possible brainwashing is Scientology's Rehabilitation Project Force. The Rehabilitation Project Force, or RPF, is a program set up by Scientology's Sea Organization, intended to "rehabilitate" members who have not lived up to the Church expectations or have violated certain policies. Scientologists are also expected to sever ties with any family members or friends who oppose Scientology.

    More information is available from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_controversies#Brainwashing

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  • by Ball of Fluff on January 31st, 2009

    Ball of Fluff

    It's not true that they don't engage in brainwashing or mind control, although I don't think those are the best terms to use. I would use "indoctrination".

    CofS members are constantly indoctrinated. If they speak out of turn, if they are critical of any high profile Scientologist or of anything the church is doing or of anything Hubbard did, they are sent to ethics. If they do it enough, they are threatened with explusion and disconnection from their families.

    It happened to me. I was told I could not post to the internet about Scientology and that I could not even read the particular forum in question (alt.religion.scientology). Then they implied they'd mess with my marriage since my getting expelled would have made it impossible, they thought (they don't know my husband at all) for my husband to stay married to me. In the end I said no dice, and they expelled both of us.

    Of course that's control. It's indoctrination. It's coercion.

    I don't believe auditing or doing training drills in Scn is indoctrination- I really do think those things are designed to help a person learn more about himself. But members get constant pressure every day from staff to do things they don't want to do and they often are threatened. And if one is a staff member, it gets worse.

    CofS is a coercive organization.

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