Time : 11.17pm
Con't 2 Church of Scientology detail.
Missionary activities
Members of the public entering a Scientology center or mission are offered a "free personality test" called the Oxford Capacity Analysis by Scientology literature. The test, despite its name and the claims of Scientology literature, has no connection to Oxford University or any other research body. Scientific research into three test results came to the conclusion that "we are forced to a position of skepticism about the test's status as a reliable psychometric device" and called its scientific value, "negligible".[52]
Further proselytization practices - commonly called "dissemination" of Scientology[53] - include information booths, flyers and advertisement for free seminars, Sunday Services in regular newspapers and magazines, personal contacts[54][55] and sales of books.[56]
I do not believe is or subscribe to psychiatric labels for individuals. It is my strongly held religious belief that all mental problems are spiritual in nature and that there is no such thing as a mentally incompetent person only those suffering from spiritual upset of one kind or other dramatized by an individual. I reject all psychiatric labels and intend for this contract to clearly memorialize my dsire to be heled exclusively through religious, spiritual mean and not through any form of psychiatric treatment, specifically including involuntary commitment based on so-called lask of competence. Under no circumstances, at any time, do I wish to be denied my right to care from member of my religion to the exclusion of psychiatric are or psychiatric directed care, regardless of what any psychiatrist, medical person, designated member of the state or family member may assert supposedly on my behalf.
In addition, the Church has been implicated in kidnapping members who have recently left the church. In 2007, Martine Boublil was kidnapped and held for several weeks against her will in Sardinia by four Scientologists. She was found on 22 January 2008, clothed only in a shirt. The room she was imprisoned in contained refuse and an insect infested mattress.[58][59]
On Friday 28 March 2008, Kaja Bordevich Ballo, daughter of Olav Gunnar Ballo, Norwegian parliament member and vice president of the Norwegian Odelsting, took a Church of Scientology personality test while studying in Nice. Her friends and co-inhabitants claim she was in good spirits and showed no signs of a mental breakdown, but the report from the Church of Scientology said she was "depressed, irresponsible, hyper-critical and lacking in harmony". A few hours later she committed suicide by jumping from her balcony at her dorm room leaving a note telling her family she was sorry for not "being good for anything". The incident has brought forward heavy criticism against the Church of Scientology from friends, family and prominent Norwegian politicians.[60] Inga Marte Thorkildsen, parliament member, went as far as to say "Everything points to the scientology cult having played a direct role in making Kaja choose to take her own life".[60]
Membership statistics
It is difficult to obtain reliable membership statistics. The International Association of Scientologists (IAS), the official Church membership system since 1984, has never released figures. Church spokespersons either give numbers for their countries or a worldwide figure.[61] Some national censuses have recently included questions about religious affiliations, though the United States Census Bureau states that it is not the source for information on religion.[62]
In 2007, the German national magazine Der Spiegel reported about 8 million members worldwide, about 6000 of them in Germany, with only 150-200 members in Berlin.[63] In 1993, a spokesperson of Scientology Frankfurt had mentioned slightly more than 30,000 members nationwide.[64]
The organization has said that it has anywhere from eight million to fifteen million members worldwide.[65][66][67][68][69] Derek Davis stated in 2004 that the Church organization has around 15 million members worldwide.[70] Religious scholar J. Gordon Melton has said that the church's estimates of its membership numbers are exaggerated.[71]
The "Scientologists Online" website presents "over 16,000 Scientologists On-Line".[72]
Statistics from other sources:
- In 2001, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reported that there were 55,000 adults in the United States who consider themselves Scientologists.[73] In 2008, the same survey team estimated there to be 25,000 Americans identifying as Scientologists.[74]
- The 2001 United Kingdom census contained a voluntary question on religion, to which approximately 48,000,000 chose to respond. Of those living in England and Wales who responded, a total of 1,781 said they were Scientologists.[75]
- In 2001, Statistics Canada, the national census agency, reported a total of 1,525 Scientologists nationwide,[75] up from 1,220 in 1991.[76]
- In 2005, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution estimated a total of 5,000 – 6,000 Scientologists in that country, and mentioned a count of 12,000 according to Scientology Germany.[77]
- In the 2006 New Zealand census, 357 people identified themselves as Scientologists, although a Church spokesperson estimated there were between 5,000 and 6,000 Scientologists in the country.[78] Earlier census figures were 207 in the 1991 census, 219 in 1996, and 282 in 2001.[75]
- In 2006, Australia's national census recorded 2,507 Scientologists nationwide, up from 1,488 in 1996, and 2,032 in 2001.[75][79]
Legal waivers
Recent legal actions involving Scientology's relationship with its members (see Scientology controversy) have caused the organization to publish extensive legal documents that cover the rights granted to followers. It has become standard practice within the organization for members to sign lengthy legal contracts and waivers before engaging in Scientology services, a practice that contrasts greatly with almost every mainstream religious organization. In 2003, a series of media reports examined the legal contracts required by Scientology, which state, among other things, that followers deny any psychiatric care their doctors may prescribe to them.[57]
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