Scientology

So Tom Cruise has made a little noise lately...
This morning, he was involved in a somewhat tense interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show. Basically, he was espousing his viewpoint that psychiatry is not a real science and that antidepressants should never be used. This is of course based on his religious belief in Scientology.

So many at this point in time may be wondering, what exactly is Scientology? We know that many stars 'follow' it, but what is it all about? Well, let's see if I can fill us in a bit.
The basis of Scientology is this:

Earthlings were invaded millions of years ago by alien souls sent here from outer space.

Wow, that sounds a little out there! So the idea is that only through Scientology can you rid your soul of its alien invader.

Scientology was invented in 1951 by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction author. He had just written Dianetics:The Modern Science of Mental Health, a book used as a basis for Scientology. Since then, the religion has grown to a claimed size of ~8 million people. The belief system is much more complex than can be completely analyzed here, but there are several places that have done it for us:

• This site offers a thorough scholarly review of what Scientology is all about, including comparing it to and analyzing whether it could coexist with other religions.
• This site claims that much of what Scientology teaches is a lie.

Suffice to say that if you practice a religion, it is likely incompatible with Scientology. For instance, Hubbard called Jesus' crucifixion a false memory and considered Christianity to be false. Of course from Christianity's perspective, Scientology would be considered a cult.

Personally, I find it difficult to believe that a serious seeker of truth would find it in Scientology.