Scientology and Mormonism share a pattern of secrecy regarding their more unconventional practices. Following are some highlights of comparisons and potential concerns:
Financial Pressure: Scientology’s pay-to-progress system financially burdens members seeking deeper truths. While Mormonism doesn’t require similar payments, tithing can create significant financial pressure.
Dissident Voices: The abundance of warnings from ex-members in both religions raises concerns about potential manipulation or hidden practices. It’s important to consider these perspectives when evaluating either group.
Here are some additional comparisons:
Social Pressures: Both may have strong social pressures to conform and remain within the group. This can make it difficult for members to leave.
It will be noted that comparisons can only go so far. Scientology and Mormonism have distinct histories and practices. However, their shared secrecy and concerns raised by ex-members are valid reasons for further investigation before joining either group.
There are significant numbers of critics and researchers who have questioned the practices of Scientology and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to a much greater extent than mainstream Christianity. Here’s a breakdown:
Scientology and LDS Church:
Scale of Criticism: The volume of criticism towards Scientology and the LDS Church is substantial. There are numerous books, documentaries, websites, and ex-member testimonies raising concerns.
Orthodox Christianity:
Scale of Criticism: While significant, criticism of Christianity is spread across a wider range of topics compared to Scientology and LDS Church. There may not be the same level of concentrated criticism focused on specific practices.
Here’s why the difference exists:
Exclusivity Claims: Both Scientology and the LDS Church claim a form of exclusive knowledge or path to salvation, which some find controversial. Christianity has a wider range of denominations with varying views on exclusivity.
It’s important to note that both the LDS Church and Scientology have their defenses against these criticisms, and many of the claims are contested. However, the sheer volume of critics and researchers focusing on their practices is undeniable compared to mainstream Christianity.
The following Scientology/Mormonism comparison is excerpted from MormonThink.com…
The Purpose of MormonThink
The purpose of MormonThink is to explore historical and doctrinal facts of the LDS Church that are known to the Church hierarchy, yet, surprisingly, not by the majority of the general membership.There are dozens of creators and contributors to the MormonThink website, many of us live in Utah. All of us have been active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have held positions ranging from Gospel Doctrine teacher, YW President, Bishop, CES instructor, Stake President, YM President, Bishopric Counselor, etc. Some of us have written faith-promoting articles published in the Ensign and other Church publications. Most of us have served missions and almost all of us have been married in the temple. We’re just ordinary people with a deep interest in learning accurate Church history and doctrine.
So what does Scientology have to do with Mormonism?
After the documentary “Going Clear” aired, it became apparent that many former and questioning Latter-day Saints saw similarities with Mormonism to the things being exposed in the Church of Scientology. Another interesting thing I noticed is when I told current, devout Mormons about the documentary on Scientology and how interesting it was, the majority of them had no interest in wanting to watch it. Perhaps they might feel uncomfortable watching another religion’s secrets exposed when they know that Mormonism has its share of uncomfortable truths that it prefer not to be exposed on national TV.
10 Things common to both Scientology and Mormonism
Continuing from MormonThink.com:
1 Keeping secrets about the religion from its members.
Scientology does not reveal the most secret and unusual beliefs of its religion to people investigating Scientology or even to members who have been in it for several years. Members in Scientology progress in knowledge about the deeper beliefs as they continue to pay money to advance to higher and higher levels.
Similarly, in Mormonism, investigators of the LDS Church and even life-long members are not told about the unusual ceremonies that occur in the LDS temples. The signs and tokens are never explained, the Masonic roots of the endowment ceremony are not disclosed (such as the Five Points of Fellowship that was finally removed in 1990).
2 You’ll be lost without the Church.
The documentary clearly shows that those who left the control of Scientology are much happier now. Regarding Mormonism, members need only visit post- and ex-Mormon discussion boards to see that the majority of former Mormons are happier being out of the LDS Church as well.
3 Excessive financial conditions for Church membership.
In Scientology, members progress through thirty-some levels and pay thousands of dollars for auditing sessions that allow people to advance to these higher levels.
By contrast, Mormons are required to pay tithing to the LDS Church which is defined as 10% of your income (before taxes) every year of your life as members. Many apologists disagree that tithing is “required”—it is true that one can be a member of the LDS Church without paying tithing, but those who do not pay tithing are not allowed to go to the temple, which must be done to achieve the highest degree of glory in heaven and to be allowed to attend the wedding of children, or other loved ones.
4 Believers often defend the religion with the comment that “it’s a good organization”, whether or not it is literally true.
…many Latter-day Saints often refuse to discuss unpopular things in Mormonism … Instead they will talk about how much they personally have benefited from being a Mormon and how good it makes them feel.
5 Read only faith-promoting materials produced by us.
Both organizations have a history of telling their members to avoid reading anything negative about their religion, to read only faith-promoting material produced from their church and to be wary of using the Internet to further their knowledge about their church.
6 Churches use Internet filters to block some websites that frankly discuss some of the problems of their organization.
Scientology blocks sites critical of Scientology from their Internet wifi.
The LDS Church blocks this site (MormonThink.com) from all of their chapels. Try to access it in your local ward building using their wifi and you will see this is the case.
Also, the iPads the missionaries use have filters on them to block all websites not approved by the Church.
7 Detractors of the faith are labeled as liars and “anti.”
The Church of Scientology responded vehemently to the film “Going Clear,” complaining to film critics about their reviews and denouncing the film-makers and their interviewees.
The LDS Church and its members promptly label anything critical of the LDS Church as “anti-Mormon”. This label inherently implies that the information is false, not to be trusted and comes from Satan so members will avoid even reading it.
8 The founders and top leaders are hero-worshiped.
Scientologists revere their founder L. Ron Hubbard in a fanatical way as some sort of great leader who needs to be acknowledged with great adoration.
Members of both groups are expected to do what their leaders say without question. If members of the LDS faith publicly disagree with what the Mormon Prophet has said, they face disciplinary action and can be excommunicated from the church. Brigham Young taught that no one can even enter heaven without the consent of Joseph Smith.
9 Tear families apart.
In Scientology, if a family member wants to leave the religion or are critical of Scientology they are labeled a Suppressive Person. If the church cannot educate them into changing their views, they are then subject to disconnection where there is a severance of all ties between a Scientologist and a friend, colleague, or family member deemed to be antagonistic towards Scientology.
When members leave the LDS Church after careful studying of its history, especially if they are open about their reasons for disbelief, it tragically can lead to parents and children effectively shunning the ex-member by refusing to associate with them ever again. This has unfortunately been the case with several significant contributors to the MormonThink website. Also, it is quite common for members to end friendships with former members for fear that they will inspire doubt in either themselves or other believing members of their family.
10 Have been labeled as a cult and the members as brainwashed.
The term “cult” has been used by outsiders for decades to describe both Scientology and Mormonism. The former members of Scientology in the “Going Clear” documentary referred to the Church of Scientology as a cult and said that they were in fact “brainwashed.” Indeed, this may be the prevailing view of much of the world concerning Scientology. Even L. Ron Hubbard’s grandson describes Scientology as a “dangerous cult.”
Mormonism is not quite so easy to label as a cult. Although mainstream Christian preachers have often referred to Mormonism as a cult, some knowledgeable former members say it has cult-like behavior but fall short of using the term cult as it conjures up images of Hare Krishnas and Moonies. Other former members of the LDS Church unequivocally believe Mormonism is a cult and considered themselves “brainwashed.” This is not the case with mainstream Christian churches, like the Lutherans, for example.
Conclusion:
It only takes a quick Google search to see the excessive number of websites, discussion boards, videos and social media from former members of both Scientology and Mormonism warning people not to join these religions because something is wrong with them. There are not hundreds of websites dedicated to warning people about churches like the Methodist Church, Episcopalian Church or Baptist Church. There are no “Recovery From Lutheranism” websites (that I know of).
L. Ron Hubbard is to Joseph Smith as David Miscavige is to Brigham Young: in other words, 21st century Scientology is perhaps more comparable to Brigham Young’s reign of Mormonism than it is to the modern LDS church. To compare the modern LDS Church to Scientology, you would likely need to wait another 100 or so years to see what Scientology becomes after more maturity.
There is a saying often told by faithful Mormons to ‘dismiss’ people that leave the faith. It goes, “People can leave the Church but they can’t leave the Church alone.” This is said to somehow imply that when people leave the church and speak about it that they are saying false things and should be ignored. In reality, most former members usually are much more informed about the historical problems of the LDS Church than current members. Their views should be listened to at least as much as active, believing members and probably be given more weight than the views of naive, 18-year-old missionaries who usually are not even aware of the significant problems of Mormon history.
In 2012, Damian Thompson, a columnist for the Daily Telegraph shared his thoughts on the similarities between Scientology and Mormonism.
We can take it for granted that Tom Cruise – whose divorce proceedings are already such a catastrophe for Scientology – will never talk in public about Xenu. The existence of this intergalactic emperor, who flourished c 75,000,000 BC, was top secret until the Church’s enemies took to the internet. Advice to journalists: if you ask Cruise about Xenu, the doors of Hollywood (where the Church wields immense influence) will slam in your face.
On the other hand, it’s safe to ask any Scientologist about Kolob. This is the star, or possibly planet, that is closest to the throne of God. Astronomers haven’t found it – yet – but it served as the inspiration for the planet Kobol in Battlestar Galactica.
Why is it safe to ask Cruise about Kolob? Because it’s Mormon, not Scientologist: it appears in The Book of Abraham, “translated” from Egyptian papyri by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. I use inverted commas because Smith couldn’t read Egyptian. The papyri were funerary texts.
The person you mustn’t ask about Kolob is Mitt Romney. The teaching isn’t a secret, but Latter-day Saints aren’t keen to discuss it. These days they stress their similarity with Christianity, and there’s no Kolob in the Gospels.
…
Yet there are striking similarities between the sects founded by Joseph Smith and L Ron Hubbard. These brilliant mavericks used popular culture to produce cosmologies that they marketed aggressively, though reserving some esoteric details for senior initiates.
Smith invented a journey by ancient Hebrews to America – a typical fantasy of that era – and dabbled in the occult. Hubbard mined the seam of mid-20th-century American science fiction, and also devised a brain-cleansing technique called Dianetics that was supposed to produce perfect recall. It failed hilariously.
Critics accused Smith and Hubbard of telling porkies. The former’s interpretation of the Egyptian papyri, which he encountered in a travelling mummy exhibition, is plain embarrassing. As for Hubbard, his war service was a work of the imagination to rival the science fiction he wrote before he discovered religion and its tax-exempt status. Both organisations are extremely interested in money, and very good at acquiring it.
The two prophets were heartily interested in the opposite sex: Smith acquired as many as 40 wives, while Hubbard encouraged teenage girl “officers” to wear hot pants.
In a 2014 article at NPR, Sam Sanders wrote that the Mormon Church had admitted that their founder Joseph Smith had up to 40 wives:
In an essay posted without fanfare to its website in late October, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said for the first time that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, had as many as 40 wives. Some of those women were also married to friends of his. And one was only 14 when she became Smith’s wife.
The essay points out several details about Smith’s marriages. It says that an angel appeared to Smith “three times between 1834 and 1842 and commanded him to proceed with plural marriage.” The third time that angel appeared, the essay says, it threatened to destroy Joseph unless he obeyed. Smith’s wives were believed to be between the ages of 20 and 40 at the time they were “sealed” or married to him. But the youngest wife sealed to Smith was only 14 years old when she married him. This young bride was also the daughter of two of Smith’s close friends.
Jana Reiss, who blogs for Religious News Service and co-authored the book Mormonism for Dummies, told NPR that the church’s new statements on polygamy took up to two years to complete and are the “culmination of a very long bureaucratic process to get this researched, written and approved.”
Reiss says that approach can be harmful to some Mormons. “If you don’t find out about those controversial things at church … instead you find out about it in a late-night Google search when you’re at home alone, scratching your head, thinking why in the world did no one ever tell me this, then everything else is called into question as well.”
The Scientology Story (Los Angeles Times series, 1990):
L. Ron Hubbard enjoyed being pampered.
He surrounded himself with teen-age followers, whom he indoctrinated, treated like servants and cherished as though they were his own children.
He called them the “Commodore’s messengers.”
” ‘Messenger!’ ” he would boom in the morning. “And we’d pull him out of bed,” one recalled.
The youngsters, whose parents belonged to Hubbard’s Church of Scientology, would lay out his clothes, run his shower and help him dress. He taught them how to sprinkle powder in his socks and gently slip them on so as not to pull the hairs on his legs.
They made sure the temperature in his room never varied from 72 degrees. They boiled water at night to keep the humidity just right. They would hand him a cigarette and follow in his footsteps with an ashtray.
After being singled out by the IRS for evading taxes about 1970, Hubbard decided to escape on the open waters aboard a vessel known as the Apollo. During this time, he adopted the titles of “Commodore” and had children of Sea Org members, organized as the Commodore’s Messenger Organization (CMO) referred to as “Messengers,” attend to his needs, such as lighting his cigarettes, fetching his beverages, documenting his words, preparing his baths, and catering to his every desire. According to various reports, a significant number of these messengers were young women who were described as attractive and dressed in revealing attire, including hot pants and halter tops. This created a disturbing dynamic where underage individuals were objectified and exploited in a sexualized manner while serving Hubbard’s needs. These girls were not just messengers though, they were Hubbard’s enforcers and essentially his snitches. They were fiercely loyal to him and did whatever he said.
How did Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard’s Messengers begin? Janis Gillham Grady gives first-hand stories about the early days of the Messengers (she was one of the original 4 girls) starting at age 12 and working directly with Hubbard 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, for many years. This Part 1 of a series includes never-before-seen photos from the early days of the Sea Organization, L. Ron Hubbard and his messengers- beginning in 1968 through the early 70s.
The Latter-day Saints cleaned up their act. But they were the Scientologists of their day – and they’re still evasive enough for the public to make the subliminal connection.