Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology has established over seven hundred centers in sixty-five countries (Urban). The church functions as a guide, offering a variety of courses designed to inform the individual about Scientology, personal counseling called auditing, designed to get rid of unwanted emotions, habits, and psychosomatic illnesses, and purification rundown, a procedure to free one's self from the harmful effects of drugs and toxins ("Scientology: Inside a Church of Scientology").
Controversy over the Church of Scientology
While the church is well-known for its high-profile celebrity patrons such as Tom Cruise, Kirstie Alley, and John Travolta, it has also been attacked by government agencies, anti-cult groups, and the media as a swindling business and a brainwashing cult. L. Ron Hubbard has been described as the man who solved the riddle of the human mind by the Church of Scientology, a mental case by the FBI and hopelessly insane by his former wife. Since the 1950s the church has come into a series of conflicts with the U.S. Government, including the FDA, and the IRS as well as the previously mentioned FBI, regarding its status as a religious organization and an assortment of alleged crimes (Urban).
In response Scientologists argue the religion is a legitimate movement that has been misrepresented, maligned, and persecuted by media witch-hunters in a McCarthy style fashion. The Church claims this constant pounding by media, government and anti-cult groups has created a hostile environment for the church and undermines the very idea of religious freedom...
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