English: The Norwegian students I did a two hour lecture on Scientology for has compiled their studies into a series of blog posts. The blog is publicly available (in Norwegian).
Norsk: Den 16. mars hold jeg et to timers foredrag om Scientologi ved Menighetsfakultetet, Universitetet i Oslo. Studentene har nå samlet informasjon fra et bredt spekter av kilder og skrevet en rekke bloggposter om ulike aspekter ved Scientologi. Resultatet kan du se her: http://buildingthebridge.blogg.no/
Geir Isene - uncut 
Dette var en god øvelse. De elevene skrive godt.
let me try this:
Hva er Scientologi?
07.04.2016 kl.11:11 i Blogg Ingen kommentarer
Scientologikirken er et kirkesamfunn basert på verkene til forfatteren Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, mer kjent som L. Ron Hubbard eller bare LRH. Han stiftet kirken i 1954, og doktrinene var i hovedsak basert på hans bok fra 1950 kalt Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental health, som beskriver en metode for å bli kvitt negativ inflytelse fra tidligere traumer på ens daglige liv.
Den første Scientologikirken åpnet i Los Angeles, og hovedkvarteret deres er fortsatt i denne byen. I det hele tatt er USA det landet der Scientologikirken har flest medlemmer. Nøyaktige tall er vanskelig å oppdrive, siden Scientologikirken ikke publiserer medlemsstatistikker, men talspersoner for kirken har anslått mellom 8 og 15 millioner medlemmer. Mange mener dette er høyst overdrevet, og folketellinger anslår at tallet sannsynligvis ligger i underkant av 100.000 og at dette tallet stadig synker. Enkelte utbrytere mener tallene er enda lavere, og kaller 40.000 medlemmer på verdensbasis “rause anslag”.
Etter Hubbards død i 1987, overtok David Miscavige posisjonen som kaptein i Scientologikirken, og han er fortsatt fungerende leder for organisasjonen til tross for mye spekulasjoner rundt hvordan han gikk frem for å bli leder og rykter om ganske harde ledelsesmetoder. Dette avvises av Scientologikirken selv.
Kirkens “non-profit”-profil er også ganske omstridt. På den ene siden driver kirken et bredt spekter av humanitært arbeid som inkluderer bekjempelse av analfabetisme, promotering av menneskerettigheter, forebyggende arbeid mot rus og kriminalitet og rehabilitering av rusmisbrukere og kriminelle.
På den andre side har de i flere land blitt nektet status som religions-/livssynssamfunn, da nasjonale myndigheter mener de ikke er en religion, men en bedrift. Dette er fordi Scientologikirken sitter på store eiendommer og årlig har store inntekter mens ansatte, i det minste på noen nivåer, kun får et ubetydelig beløp lommepenger i betaling.
Hva som er de faktiske tallene i regnskapene til Scientologikirken som helhet, er det nok ikke mange som vet, og spekulasjoner i dette kan fort bli usaklige. Likevel menes det at inntekter fra non-profit og diverse firmaer ligger på rundt 500 millioner dollar.
Motivasjonen for denne bloggen er derfor å undersøke de mange fasetter ved Scientologikirken, og forsøke å kaste lys over hva som faktisk skjer bak Scientologiens hemmelighetsfulle dører. Vi har vært på ekskursjon til Scientologikirken i Oslo, vi har hatt forelesning med scientologi-avhopper Geir Isene og vi har drevet litteraturstudier. Artiklene i denne bloggen representerer resultatene av dette arbeidet, og vi håper at de vil være spennende og relevante for de som søker å vite mer om Scientologikirken.
translated to this thru google:
What is Scientology?
04/07/2016 11am: 11 in Blog No comments
The Church of Scientology is a denomination based on the works of author Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, more commonly known as L. Ron Hubbard or simply LRH. He founded the church in 1954, and doctrines were mainly based on his book from 1950 called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental health, which describes a method to get rid of negative influence from past trauma in one’s daily life.
The first Church of Scientology opened in Los Angeles, and their headquarters are still in this city. On the whole United States is the country where the Church of Scientology has the most members. Exact figures are difficult to obtain, since the Church of Scientology does not publish membership statistics, but spokesmen for the church has estimated between 8 and 15 million members. Many believe this is highly exaggerated, and census estimates that figure probably lies just under 100,000 and that this figure steadily declines. Some dissidents believe the numbers are even lower, and call 40,000 members worldwide “generous estimate.”
After Hubbard’s death in 1987, took David Miscavige position as captain in the Church of Scientology, and he is still acting chairman of the organization despite much speculation about how he stepped forward to become the leader and rumors rather harsh management methods. This is rejected by the Church of Scientology itself.
Church “non-profit” profile is also quite controversial. On the one hand drives the church a wide range of humanitarian work which includes combating illiteracy, promotion of human rights, prevention against drugs and crime and rehabilitation of drug addicts and criminals.
On the other side they have in other countries been denied status as religious / philosophical communities, then national authorities believe they are not a religion, but a business. This is because the Church of Scientology sitting on large estates and annually have substantial revenues while the staff, at least on some levels, only receives a negligible amount of spending money in payment.
What are the actual numbers in the financial statements of the Church of Scientology as a whole, it’s probably not many people know, and speculation in this could quickly become unfair. Yet it is believed that revenue from non-profit and various companies is around $ 500 million.
The motivation for this blog is to examine the many facets of the Church of Scientology, and attempt to shed light on what actually happens behind Scientologist secretive doors. We have been on an excursion to the Church of Scientology in Oslo, we have had lectures with Scientology defector Geir Isene and we have driven literature. The articles in this blog represents the results of this work, and we hope that they will be interesting and relevant to those seeking to know more about the Church of Scientology.
Why not simply say the purpose of scientology is to produce a “clear” and then a “OT”, and let the discussion occur?
ask the students those questions as I have posted above.
oh, here are the questions:
is there a “clear”?
is there a “OT”?
and let the students discuss, no?
That would of course be good questions to spark off discussions. But this student project was simpler than that. They were to do some study on a part of Scientology in pairs or small groups, write a blog post and cite the references they used. I think they did a very good job with the ssignment they had.
As for my own opinion on Scientology as a religion or science, I believe I have covered that a few times here earlier – but here goes: Scientology is not a science. It is a religion. And the most dogmatic of religions I know of.
thanks. I definitely agree it is dogmatic. But I hesitate to use the word religion as that forwards the concept it is a religion and gives it protections under religion, at least here in the USA.
I’m still stuck on Hubbard telling Sarge he failed, and wasn’t coming back (provided one believes he went off to circle a star or believes he was just delusional).
scientology is supposed to be a, in Ron’s words, a applied religious philosophy
That is a mouthful of concepts.
Where did everybody go, no responses?
Yes, this would be a pertinent thread to discuss this
Well, LRH himself twisted it all when he mixed it with the the science of knowing how to know. I mean, is it science, religion, philosophy, art or a mix of A=A=A=A in the same pot.
I’ve always wondered about that statement “knowing how to know”.
What are we knowing, and how do we know? This sounds like a logic system. So does auditing and training in scientology make us more logical?
The evidence would manifest in the primary Scientologist, LRH himself. Did he end up more logical toward the end of his life?
I like that answer. And I’d say no.
To die alone, cloistered within a motorized house is not logical. Even the family and friends of an atheist would provide spiritual/psychological comfort for the loved one in such hard last time.
http://home.earthlink.net/~snefru/deathoflrh/
one has to wonder, according to the LRH death video put on by the DM and his crew at the time, that LRH found his body to be an impediment, and he Ron had to caustively leave his body to do more research into the upper OT levels,
one has to wonder, how on earth would Ron be able to communicate his researches and OT procedures, to us on earth to follow him?
How do we know?
Are we left to believe what DM says?
LOL
How We know?, my dear singanddanceall, it is pretty easy. Just see by yourself, not via DM viewpoint. LRH did not discarded his body at cause due to the fact that his body was unkempt according to the coroner report and full of vistaril by the way. And one more thing, LRH NEVER EVER WHATSOEVER SHOWED HER SO HARD SOLD OT POWERS. 😀 peace.
Interesting, by the way:
http://www.mikerindersblog.org/more-ot-ix-x-nonsense/
I am slow to understand the leader’s tyrannical methods, or how his penchant for isolating the members of his cult from their respective families works towards making an individual a better person, or moves him closer to immortality in any way.
Isolation,
that is a big word, but in fact no other word fits for a single-source belief system.
In fact, all the claims this pseudo-church makes amounts to nothing more than imagination. And the cult is profit-oriented, without question. Just look at their price-list, for “services”. Don’t actually pay them. When they have your money they will sooner or later tell you that the benefits are temporary and need to be paid for again.
Scientology is the science of supplanting an individuals’ identity with… scientology.
well said
Yes, you can even find your son’s name!
Just tell them to read your book and they will be strongly enlightened 🙂