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SCIENTOLOGY: ITS BACKGROUND AND ORIGINS
Long concerned with accelerating social decay, in 1980 Mr. Hubbard wrote a nonreligious moral code based on common sense. Published in booklet form, it is entitled The Way to Happiness. In explanation of this work, L. Ron Hubbard said, “Reading the papers and wandering around in the society, it was pretty obvious that honesty and truth were not being held up to the standards they once had. People and even little kids in schools have gotten the idea that high moral standards are a thing of the past. Man has in his hands today a lot of violent weapons. He doesn’t have the moral standards to go with them.”
Loudly applauded by community and civic groups around the world, The Way to Happiness soon spread across the planet. An entire grass-roots movement formed to disseminate and use the booklet to uplift the decency and integrity of man. To date, more than 65 million copies have been distributed, with millions more being demanded each year.
In 1980, Mr. Hubbard also found time to resume his fiction career. Celebrating his 50th anniversary as a professional writer, he turned his prodigious energy to the authoring of Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000. This epic science fiction novel was followed by the ten-volume Mission Earth opus, a satirical romp through the foibles of our civilization. All eleven books went on to become New York Times and international bestsellers, a consecutive bestseller record unmatched by any writer in history.
Returning to his more serious work with continued research into man’s spiritual potentials, Mr. Hubbard traveled extensively through California in the early 1980s. In 1983, he took up residence in the town of Creston, near San Luis Obispo. Here he completed his research and finalized the Scientology technical materials he had spent most of his life developing.
 
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