Scientology and sex

The beliefs and practices of Scientology include material related to sex and the rearing of children, which collectively form the Second Dynamic (urge toward survival) in Scientology. These beliefs and practices are based on the written works of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The Second Dynamic

In Hubbard's original Dynamics, "Sex" was the Second Dynamic, representing both the sexual act and the family unit.[1][2] According to Reuters: "The second dynamic includes all creative activity, including sex, procreating and the raising of children."[1]

In the Life Orientation Course (written in 1979 before Hubbard's death but published after in 1990), the definition replaced "Sex" with "Creativity". This new definition was later used in compiled materials such as the 1998 Introduction to Scientology Ethics. According to a statement made by the Church of Scientology to MSNBC, pre-marital sex is prohibited for Scientologists who are members of the organization's elite order, the Sea Org.[3]

Pain and Sex

In 1982 Hubbard authored Pain and Sex, in which he ascribes misbehavior to psychiatrists (abbreviated "psychs"), [4] in that under the "false data of the psychs ... both pain and sex are gaining ground in this society and, coupled with robbery (which is a hooded companion of both), may very well soon make the land a true jungle of crime". Beyond this, in this same bulletin, Hubbard states that pain and sex are both "invented tools of degradation" by "destructive creatures" with the intention "to shrink people and cut their alertness, knowingness, power and reach". [4]

Tone Scale and "Know to Sex" scale

The tone scale is a gradient chart that describes rational or pro-survival behavior on an individual. The higher a person is in tone scale the higher is his ability to survive. The tone scale is described in detail in the book “The Science of Survival”. Chapter 18 of this book describes the tone scale as it applies to second dynamic: “At the highest MEST point of the Tone Scale, 4.0, one finds monogamy, constancy, a high enjoyment level and very moral reaction towards sex.”[5]

Selected citations from the Chart of Human Evaluation:[5]

Number Value Sexual Behavior Attitude Toward Children
4.0 Sexual interest high but often sublimated to creative thought Intense interest in children
3.0 Interest in procreation Interest in children
2.0 Disgust at Sex; revulsion Nagging of and nervousness about children
1.1 Promiscuity, perversion, sadism, irregular practices Use of children for sadistic purposes

In The Creation of Human Ability, Hubbard hailed "compelled admiration" as an important step of progress in "Knowingness", as measured on his "Know to Sex" scale. Hubbard stated:

“ It can be observed that the eating of living flesh or live cells delivers a kind of admiration to the taste, and it can be observed that under torture, duress of all kinds, the tortured one will suddenly, if degradedly, admire his torturer. ”

Hubbard then went on to say that sex was an even better "communication system" for the same purposes of forced "admiration", and defined the sex act, consensual or otherwise, as "an interchange of condensed admiration particles".[6]

According to Hubbard's Know to Mystery Scale (an expansion of the Know to Sex Scale) the tone level parallel with the level of "sex" on the Know to Mystery Scale is -6.0, which is the level of "sacrifice" on the Tone Scale. This is considered to be a level of emotion beneath the death of the body.

Homosexuality

In 1950 Hubbard published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, wherein he classified homosexuality as an illness or sexual perversion. According to Jeffrey S. Siker in Homosexuality and Religion, this was within the mainstream of opinion at the time.[7]

Hubbard's "tone scale", classifying individuals and human behaviour on a chart running from +40 (the most beneficial) to -40 (the least beneficial), gave sexual perversions a score of 1.1, "the level of the pervert, the hypocrite, the turncoat, ... the subversive". Such people, he argued, were "skulking coward[s] who yet contain[] enough perfidious energy to strike back, but not enough courage ever to give warning".[7][8][9]

Sex during pregnancy

Hubbard warned against sexual activity (including masturbation) during pregnancy, on premise that sexual activity during pregnancy could damage fetal development, [10] as by producing engrams detrimental to future activity. This view is disputed by some doctors, as Paulette Cooper commented in her book The Scandal of Scientology:

“ Hubbard's theory never makes it really clear, at least in a manner that would be accepted by most medical doctors, exactly how engrams can be planted before a foetus had developed a nervous system or the sense organs with which to register an impression, or even how a person could retain or 'remember' verbal statements before he had command of a language."[11] ”

These same beliefs form the basis for Hubbard's "Silent birth" doctrine, which dictates that no words are spoken during the childbirth process.[12] According to a Scientology manual on raising children, a couple should be silent before and after coition.[13]

Promiscuity

In the 1967 book The Dynamics of Life (originally written circa 1948), Hubbard states that "promiscuity inevitably and invariably indicates a sexual engram of great magnitude. Once that engram is removed, promiscuity can be expected to cease". A footnote then defines promiscuity as "having sexual relations with many people".[14] Hubbard writes in his book The Way to Happiness that if sex is "misused or abused, carries with it heavy penalties and punishments: nature seems to have intended it that way also".[15]

In later years, Hubbard sought to distance himself from efforts to regulate the sexual affairs of Scientologists. In a 1967 policy letter, he declared: "It has never been any part of my plans to regulate or to attempt to regulate the private lives of individuals. Whenever this has occurred, it has not resulted in any improved condition ... Therefore all former rules, regulations and polices relating to the sexual activities of Scientologists are cancelled."[7][16]

Scientology auditing (counseling)

According to a reporter who went undercover to investigate Scientology in London in 2007, the reporter witnessed "a number of highly unorthodox tactics and practices", including: "Pressuring new members of staff to divulge and document the minutiae of their sex lives, including the names of all those they had slept with."[17] Luc Willems, an attorney who conducted investigations into Scientology while also a member of the Belgian Parliament, asserted that questions about sex during the Auditing process are later potentially used against these individuals: "They ask if you have sex with animals, if you're homosexual, so they make a dossier. They blackmail people. To get out of Scientology is very difficult."[18] During Scientology "Security Checks", an "Ethics Officer" performs the Auditing process, and many of the possible questions asked during this session involve the subject's sex life, including: "Have you ever had sex with any other student or staff member?", "Have you ever used Dianetics or Scientology to force sex on someone?", "Have you ever raped anyone?", "Have you ever been raped?", "Have you ever been involved in an abortion?", "Do you have any bastards?", "Have you ever been sexually unfaithful?", "Have you ever practiced homosexuality?", "Have you ever practiced sodomy?", "Have you ever had intercourse with a member of your family?", "Have you practiced sex with children?", "Have you ever used hypnotism to practice sex with children?", "Have you ever slept with a member of a race of another color?", "Have you ever practiced sex with animals?", "Have you ever had anything to do with pornography?", and "Have you ever masturbated?".[19][20]

L. Ron Hubbard wrote that "sex crime" on an individual investigating Scientology should be reported to the press, in order to "Make it rough, rough on attackers all the way."[21] In an interview with Playboy magazine, Hubbard's estranged son Ronald DeWolf asserted that Auditing focused on sex and the individual's sex life, and could later be used as a form of control: "Auditing would address a guy's entire sex life. It was an incredible preoccupation. ... You have complete control over someone if you have every detail of his sex life and fantasy life on record. In Scientology the focus is on sex. Sex, sex, sex. The first thing we wanted to know about someone we were auditing was his sexual deviations. All you've got to do is find a person's kinks, whatever they might be. Their dreams and fantasies. Then you can fit a ring through their noses and take them anywhere. You promise to fulfill their fantasies or you threaten to expose them ... very simple."[22]

Scientology's views on the body

Hubbard called the physical world MEST (an acronym of "Matter, Energy, Space and Time"), which thetans (souls) temporarily operating "meat bodies" are meant to transcend and conquer.[23][24] New recruits to the church are often classified as "raw meat" or "raw public".[25][26]Scientologists refer to their bodies as "meat bodies".[27][28][29]

Scientology emphasizes attaining "cause over MEST", and attaining the ability to abandon one's body via "exteriorization" and ultimately by becoming an Operating Thetan Clear and a Cleared Theta Clear.[30]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Reuters (November 18, 2006). "What is a Scientology wedding?: TomKat nuptials bring renewed focus to controversial religious sect". MSNBC (NBC). Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  2. ↑ Times Staff Writer (July 18, 2004). "Scientology's town: About Scientology". St. Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.com). Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  3. ↑ Church of Scientology (January 15, 2008). "Church of Scientology statement: Response to Andrew Morton's unauthorized Tom Cruise biography". MSNBC (NBC). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  4. 1 2 Kent, Stephen A. (April 1999). "The Globalization of Scientology: Influence, Control and Opposition in Transnational Markets". Religion (Academic Press) 29 (2): 147–169. doi:10.1006/reli.1998.0154.
    Quoting: Hubbard, Pain and Sex, HCOB, August 26, 1982.
  5. 1 2 Hubbard, Science of Survival
  6. ↑ Hubbard, The Creation of Human Ability.
  7. 1 2 3 Siker, Jeffrey S. (2006). Homosexuality and Religion: An Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 90–91. ISBN 0-313-33088-3.
  8. ↑ Hubbard, Science of Survival, pp. 88-90. Church of Scientology of California, 1975 edition. ISBN 0-88404-001-1
  9. ↑ Hubbard, Handbook for Preclears, p. 64. Scientific Press, Wichita, 1951
  10. ↑ Cox, Jennifer (January 29, 2006). "Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes Sex Life on Hold?". National Ledger (The National Ledger, LLC). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  11. ↑ Cooper, Paulette (1971). The Scandal of Scientology. Tower Publications. Chapter 3, "Life and sex in the Womb".
  12. ↑ "Tom Cruise Confronts Rumors About Silent Birth". ABC News (The Walt Disney Company). April 13, 2006. Retrieved 2008-12-01.
  13. ↑ Staff (March 23, 2001). "A church for celebrities, but what about me?". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group Limited).
  14. ↑ Hubbard, The Dynamics of Life, 1988 edition, pg.74
  15. ↑ Vega, Cecilia M. (October 13, 2007). "Group censured for using Newsom's image in pro-Scientology booklet". San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfgate.com). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  16. ↑ L. Ron Hubbard (1967-08-11). ""Second Dynamic Rules", HCOPL of 11 August 1967". Hubbard Communications Office.
  17. ↑ Staff (January 7, 2007). "Revealed: how Scientologists infiltrated Britain's schools - Insight: Drugs charity is front for ‘dangerous’ organisation". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers Ltd). Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  18. ↑ Martin, Susan Taylor (November 4, 2007). "Belgium builds case against Scientology: Prosecutors call the church a "criminal organization." The church says it's a "witch hunt."". St. Petersburg Times (www.sptimes.com). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  19. ↑ Kick, Russell (2003). Abuse Your Illusions: The Disinformation Guide to Media Mirages and Establishment Lies. The Disinformation Company. pp. 334–335. ISBN 0-9713942-4-5.
  20. ↑ Krassner, Paul; Harry Shearer; Lewis Black (2005). One Hand Jerking: Reports from an Investigative Satirist. Seven Stories Press. pp. 241–242. ISBN 1-58322-696-6.
  21. ↑ Los Angeles Times staff (July 3, 2008). "On the Offensive Against an Array of Suspected Foes". Hartford Courant (www.courant.com). Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  22. ↑ Morton, Andrew (2008). Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography. Macmillan. pp. 128–129. ISBN 0-312-35986-1.
  23. ↑ Broderick, Damien (2007). Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come in from the Cold. Thunder's Mouth Press. p. 56. ISBN 1-56025-986-8.
  24. ↑ Herrick, James A. (2004). The Making of the New Spirituality: The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition. InterVarsity Press. p. 199. ISBN 0-8308-3279-3.
  25. ↑ Kaufman, Robert (1972). Inside Scientology: How I Joined Scientology and Became Superhuman. Olympia Press. ISBN 0-7004-0110-5. Part 1.
  26. ↑ Andrew Morton (15 January 2008). Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography. Macmillan. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-4299-3390-2. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  27. ↑ Gerald Wheeler (1 January 2010). Beyond Death's Door: The Hope of Reunion. Review and Herald Pub Assoc. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-8280-2474-7. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  28. ↑ Janet Reitman (5 July 2011). Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-547-54923-1. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  29. ↑ Robyn E. Lebron (9 January 2012). Searching for Spiritual Unity...Can There Be Common Ground?. CrossBooks. p. 550. ISBN 978-1-4627-1262-5. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  30. ↑ Vosper, Cyril (1971). The Mind Benders. Spearman. ISBN 0-85435-061-6. Chapter 8: Clear.
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