Paying for Spirituality

Scientologists are made to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for spiritual fulfillment in order to go up various levels of spiritual enlightenment within the Church of Scientology.

The church acts more like a business than a religion, offering therapy sessions through the pseudo-science Dianetics and requires hundreds of books, tapes, cds, and merchandise to be bought by members in order for them learn anything more about their own religion.

The Church of Scientology has tax-exempt status in the U.S., a status that was revoked and reinstated some thirty years ago. Their idea is that Scientologists "donate" an amount of money to the Church and in return get a "free" service.

However, these educational services come with a price list.

The judge who originally revoked tax-exempt status for the Church stated that for such a status to be valid, people who donate cannot reasonably expect to receive anything in return, while the process perpetuated here by the Church is exactly opposite of this criteria.

It is the only religion that has tax-exempt status for educational services, which is a major means of gaining profit for the Church. Unfortunately, they siphon off enough money that when a Scientologist is finally able to break free, they are often left with nothing to their name.