CHAPTER 2

THE RELIGIOUS HERITAGE OF SCIENTOLOGY

he dream of making the world a better place has been embraced by every religious movement in history. Indeed, throughout the ages religion has served as the primary civilizing influence on the planet.

The knowledge that man is a spirit is as old as man himself. Only recently, with the advent of Western psychology, have notions cropped up that man is nothing more than an animal, a stimulus-response mechanism. These pronouncements are at odds with every religious tradition, which speak of the “soul,” the “spirit” or the “life force” – to encompass a belief held by all civilized men.

The Scientology religion follows just this tradition of man’s search for his spiritual identity. In Scientology, the individual himself is considered to be the spiritual being – a thetan (pronounced “thay´-tn”). The term is taken from the Greek symbol or letter theta which has long served as a symbol for thought or spirit. Thus, although it is a new religious movement, Scientology is heir to the understanding of thinking men since the beginning of human history that man is a spiritual being who aspires to understand and improve life. The search has been long, but answers now exist in Scientology for anyone who wishes to reach for them.