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- Convenor:
-
Massimo Introvigne
(Center for Studies on New Religions)
Send message to Convenor
- Chair:
-
Massimo Introvigne
(Center for Studies on New Religions)
- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Lambda 2 room
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 5 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Vilnius
Short Abstract:
Scientology asks to be recognized as a religion, yet at the same time does not propose a “doctrine” but a “technology.”The panel examines how Scientology functions as a technology that claims to be at the same time a religion, and how critics have developed in turn a “technology” to attack it.
Long Abstract:
The Church of Scientology asks to be recognized as a religion, yet at the same time claims that it does not propose a doctrine but a technology. Its advertisements promote the Church as offering the ultimate “spiritual technology.” Critics object that, whatever else it may be, Scientology’s self-improvement “technology” cannot be a religion. Indeed, in the early phase of Dianetics, Scientology’s founder L.Ron Hubbard insisted what is was proposing was “science” rather than religion. Later, however, he came to the conclusion that although based on a crucial “standard operating procedure” Scientology included religious beliefs and features and was undoubtedly a religion. The panel examines the evolution of Hubbard’s ideas on technology and religion, how Scientology functions both as religion and technology, or rather as a technology that claims to be at the same time a religion, and how critics, particularly in Russia and most recently within the context of the conflict with Ukraine, have developed in turn a “technology” to attack and contain Scientology.
Note: The convener, Massimo Introvigne, will also be the discussant.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 5 September, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
While the early Dianetics claimed to be science rather than religion, with the turn to Scientology L. Ron Hubbard claimed his was now a religion, although one that was at the same time a technology.
Paper long abstract:
Scientology’s self-association with technology is visible not only to scholars of religious but to the general public too. The late Frank K. Flinn had already referred to Scientology as “technological Buddhism” in 1983. The paper focuses on the evolution of the “technological” paradigm in Scientology, from the early non-religious methodology of Dianetics to the religious turn into Scientology. In the early Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard was dealing with the human mind and mental health only. He had already developed the methodological approach and technological attitude that would later inspire Scientology. However, he deliberately intended to remain within the field of “science” or “scientific approach,” and even uttered some critical remarks regarding religion. Few years later, he came up with a new project, Scientology, and started to refer to it as religion. At the same time, he defined its religious practices as a “technology,” used engineering terms such as “SOP” (Standard Operating Procedure), and later introduced the “Standard Technology” concept, which became a key objective to achieve for Scientology practitioners.
The paper is an attempt to trace this evolution and the “religious” turn in Scientology, placing it within the context of the historical, cultural, and philosophical environment of the era in which the founder, L. Ron Hubbard, developed his technology-religion.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation explores the relationship between Scientology and science by examining L. Ron Hubbard’s writings, views from Scientologists, and the ways in which the Church of Scientology has marketed itself in terms of “spiritual technology," human potential, and techno-spiritual progress.
Paper long abstract:
The Church of Scientology is one of the most recognizable American-born new religious movements (NRMs) but perhaps the least understood. What do practicing Scientologists themselves have to say about Scientology and in particular about its relationship to religion, science, and technology? What is the E-Meter, for example--how does it operate, and how does it function within the religious culture of the Church of Scientology? In what ways is Scientology both religious and scientific? Or is it simply the case that Scientology amounts to pseudoscience in a secular age? This presentation explores these questions by examining some of Hubbard’s own writings, views from everyday Scientologists, and especially the ways in which the Church of Scientology has marketed itself (for example, in Super Bowl commercials in the United States) in terms of “spiritual technology," human potential, and techno-spiritual progress. See here for one example: https://youtu.be/QavEOfgeOi4
Paper short abstract:
Russian anti-cultists claim they have developed a specific technology to expose Scientology and restrict its activities. With the Ukrainian war, they have insisted on the claim that Scientology was behind the 2014 Maidan and works for the American intelligence.
Paper long abstract:
Russian opponents of “cults” claim they have developed a unique technology to contrast them, connected with a new science called “destructology.” Its founder, Russian geographer and anti-cultist Roman Silantyev, persuaded Moscow State Linguistic University to create for him a “Laboratory of Destructology.” In 2009, Silantyev was appointed as the deputy of Alexander Dvorkin, the father of Russia’s anti-cult movement, as head of the Expert Council on religion at the Russian Ministry of Justice. Silantyev and Dvorkin claim they have elaborated a sect of scientific criteria to identify a “destructive cult,” and have applied them to different groups, primarily the Church of Scientology. From 2014 on, and with a particular emphasis since the war in Ukraine started in 2022, the anti-Scientology technology of Russian anti-cultists, which has also been exported to other post-Soviet countries, uses tolls that should “prove” that Scientologists operate in Russia and Ukraine on behalf of the American intelligence and were key organizers of the 2014 Maidan Revolution.