When examining Scientology, I observed that it has characteristics in common with a number of other religions, some of which include: Christian Science (founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879)2; the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers (founded by George Fox in 1665)3; the New Church of Jerusalem (based on E. Swedenborg’s, 1688–1772, philosophy), (founded in the 1780s)4; Antoinism (founded by Père Antoine in 1910)5; and, regarding philosophy itself, some aspects of Buddhism.
This is not syncretism but merely fate. Scientology has come from a mind—L. Ron Hubbard’s—developed in a time when people are searching for new forms of worship within their own religion, denomination, cult or sect. (Etymologically, the term sect can be related to the Latin sequi, to follow.) The message of Scientology is neither Christian nor Jewish nor Islamic but does have ancient roots. It starts with the Vedas in which Hubbard finds more wisdom than in the theology/philosophy of the West which attempted to segregate and make divisions in wisdom.6
While it has characteristics in common with other religions, Scientology itself is unique, with an extensive doctrine of its own, based on the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, and its own unique religious praxis.
Because Scientology was founded in the “barbaric” West7 where “Golem” has become the “master,”8 it provides an open door for those looking for a spiritual message in the modern age.
