Why Christians Oppose Scientology

By Jody Veenker, Christianity Today

Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise Divorce

The recent high-profile divorce of Hollywood celebrity couple, Katie Holmes & Tom Cruise has cast a spotlight on the Church of Scientology of which actor Tom Cruise is a prominent member.

Craig Branch, director of the Apologetics Resource Center in Birmingham, Alabama, US, explains why evangelical Christian scholars criticize the “Church of Scientology”:

Scientology's moral code-- the end justifies the means

"Scientology subscribes to the idea that the end justifies the means," says Craig Branch. "And their end is to dominate the world with Scientology." Branch believes this ...warped view ...in which anything that advances the goals of Scientology is permissible.

Scientology attacks opponents & former members

One Scientology policy, “Fair Game,” says a person who is an enemy of the Church of Scientology "may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. [He/she “may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed" (Scientology’s High Command Office Policy Letter, Oct. 18, 1967]. Scientologists deny that they still openly follow ...punitive policies, such as Fair Game, but many court cases have found that Scientologists still operate under such principles of aggression, Craig Branch says.

...The California Supreme Court found Scientology guilty of intentional and negligent infliction of severe emotional harm in the case of Larry Wollersheim (1989). The court wrote that Scientology's "policy of Fair Game by its nature was intended to punish the person who dared to leave the Church of Scientology." 

Scientology controls

"Scientologists use techniques that can produce altered states in susceptible people," Craig Branch says. "Often people dealing with forms of hypnosis and suggestion find that the line between reality [and fiction] blurs. In Scientology’s “auditing process” your whole life is laid open to Scientology’s “auditors”: your relationships, your bank account, your insurance information. Your life is an open book. The process is full of potential for exploitation."

Scientology is financially extremist

Branch also warns that the price for being cleared of painful memories, is extraordinarily steep. Scientologists charge money for each auditing and training component that people must take to become "Clear" of this life's memories, Scientology auditors determine how many sessions people need to free themselves from past painful memories.

Scientology’s Successive Programs

"At first you’re urged to put all your energy and money to reach the freeing state of 'Clear,'" Branch says, "but once you become a 'Clear' you’re told ....that you’re now extremely vulnerable. Now you need to protect yourself through “Operating Thetan” [high-level Scientology] instruction." Former Scientologists complain of the church's controlling nature, especially the tight rein it keeps on information, doling out small doses of its theology on a need-to-know basis. 

You can’t be a Christian and a Scientologist

L. Ron Hubbard

"Christians especially must be cautious about Scientology because most Scientologists say Scientology is compatible with Christianity at first. But as you progress in Scientology, it becomes clear that you can’t remain both a Christian and a Scientologist," Branch says. Scientology’s founder "Ron Hubbard wrote that Christ was 'a shade above Clear,' which in Scientology terms means that Jesus wasn't even an Operating Thetan," Branch adds. "Hubbard wrote that the crucifixion was a legend ...implanted in our psyches so that we were easily controlled by alien overlords."