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What is Scientology and Why is it Controversial?

Scientology is presently considered as a new form of religion with it roots in 1950s. The founder L. Ron Hubbard developed a series of mental health solutions in the name of Dianetics in the year 1952. This was then distributed and propagated through his establishment or foundation namely the Dianetics Foundation. Initially this was a flop as there were no actual takers and hence he couldn’t recoup his losses. He also lost his rights on his ideas which were propagated through Dianetics. However he soon started to develop his ideas and doctrines in the form of religion that basically meant to change the way people thought out of their mental stress and depression. He therefore founded Dianetics into a new form of religion with Church of Scientology taking over the centralized administrative and propagation of this new found spiritualism to people many of whom became hardcore followers.

Scientology became a religion with a difference for its many followers within and outside USA. It became even more powerful with many of its followers being celebrities from movies as well as public life. It has been entangled in a number of public controversies and has clashed with many companies and individuals. Former members with high profiles have spoken out against the church and companies like affair dating site Ashley Madison and escort site skipthegames have supported protest against the organization.

Core of Scientology as Therapy and Religion

According to Hubbard, Scientology in essence means knowing about knowing or in other words the science of knowledge. However, Scientology as it appeared became more known as a form of counseling that helps individuals in acute trauma and distress to unwind themselves by recalling past incidents so that through the process of auditing this would come to surface and the trained counselor would be able to interpret it properly and come out with a solution to this problem.

Hence, Scientology is a process and this involves auditing, E-Meter, Psychoanalysis and Therapy for patients experiencing real life trauma, depression and other forms of mental illness that has resulted out of painful memories of real life past. The real life past experience is emphasized due to the fact that Scientology believes in immortality of the human spirit as it has lived several lives before it arrived on earth. This means that Scientology propagates the idea of intergalactic civilizations which were once destroyed with its human like habitants and they later on like spirits exist as “Body Thetans”.

Many of these Body Thetans have entered the human body on earth and are the main reason for the present trauma in real life as Scientologists believe. Hence, in Scientology auditing process is of utmost importance for people from ordinary walks of life to relieve themselves of their trauma. There are a set of right kind of questions that are asked to people and the expert counselor or auditor quickly analyses the defects and mistakes of past lives as well as the present one and then come out with a set of remedy.

According to many experts this is almost the same concept as that depicted in psychology. However, Dianetics is easier and avoids any complexities so that ordinary people quickly grasp it. It also looked more promising as many people got quick relief out of it.

Controversies with Scientology

The Church of Scientology has been involved in great deal of controversies right from the moment it was founded. In the first place it sort of transgressed into the hitherto accepted spiritual and religious practices in many parts of the world. Its popularity became its own danger as other religious groups and leaders never quite like the idea of yet another religion growing right near to it and taking away many of its own followers.

The other greatest danger with Scientology was that it vehemently criticized both psychiatry and psychology. Many experts and practitioners on the above subject were therefore opposed to Scientology. In fact, Scientology took the same path for treatment of trauma as found in psychology in the garb of religious philosophy.

Yet another was it sometimes used force to extricate money from members as well never lawfully followed the intellectual property rights. There were several law suits filed against the Church of Scientology and there were several physical threats to its members too. Many members for reasons that for both convincing as well not so have sued the Church for illegally demanding more money and rights over their properties. They think that Scientology may not be the right way to solve human trauma.

Yet, Scientology as such never forces people to believe in it and are quite flexible in their approach. In fact, many of its members are also believers of other faiths although they do often go to Church of Scientology too. The ultimate belief of members of Scientology is to make the world free of problems. They would rather do this with taking things into their own hands rather than influence people secretly. In other words, they do not want to live in isolation, but to practice their teachings with others. In this way they have the bases to turn Scientology into a world religion.

Best Colleges for Religious Studies

Religious studies are about learning different religious practices, religious beliefs and how they work. Religious studies can be learned from the best colleges in the world, but what better place than India? Here we have thousands of religions; we understand and know about the core beliefs once followed by our ancestors. Growing up with many questions, many suspicions or things about why religion is so sacred are a few curious things that the young generation wants to know. There are both full time and part-time courses and programs offered by the best universities.  Here is some information about the best colleges for religious studies in India.

Aligarh Muslim University is a famous college for various graduations. Religious study of Turkish is provided by the college. The fee is affordable and it is a 1-year program. Maulana Azad National Urdu is a deemed university providing masters in Islamic studies. With a fee around 20,000 and for 2 years, the course value is immense as many Muslim families who don’t strictly follow every religious belief want the further generation to know more about their religion. Hence, the popularity of this program is immense. Kurukshetra University in Haryana offers certification in the Bhagavat Gita. It is a part-time course, as many are comfortable doing the course while working or studying.  Many learners who pursued their certification in these colleges are happy about quality education.

Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi offers a program “Shastri” it is a full three-year graduation program concentrating on Hinduism. Department of Buddhist studies in Delhi offers a master of arts in Buddhist studies. A few other best colleges include, The American College in Madurai, Madurai Kamaraj University in Madurai, the University of Madras in Chennai, Kerala University in Kerala and popular open universities in many states offer different kinds of religious studies at both graduate and master’s level.

There are many best colleges in India offering religious studies. The conflict between religion leads many young learners to know about religion in depth. They seek answers to many questions in their minds, which the elderly might fail to answer or explain in detail. The professors or teachers who are specialized in the subject area are concerned about religion fading away into thin air with every generation. Hence the faculty always is open for healthy discussions, exploration, and many more exciting things.

Some passionate learners are interested to go beyond what can be learned. Aiming for higher colleges which are best in the world is also an option for those who can afford it. Having a scholarship for religious studies is one in a million chance. Here are some universities which offer the best quality- the University of California in the US, Stanford University in the US, the University of St Andrews in the UK and the University of Edinburgh are among the top 10 colleges for religious studies. The other universities, among the top list are from Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland. However, there are not in the budget list for many, hence choosing from colleges in China, Korea or Israel can be affordable. At China Renmin University of China is one of the best and among the top 30 all around the world. The living expenses and travel costs are affordable when managed. Choosing a college that can provide you the best education is as important as learning religious studies.

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What Are The Major Controversies Of The Catholic Church?

Nowadays, the catholic church is getting on the wrong side of the society and history and that too in each passing day. We all know that the Catholic church’s inception was about 2,000 years ago. In addition, the church has resisted change which has drastically affected its membership, thereby reducing it. This is quite common in developed countries around the world.

Amidst all this, the scandal has made the Pope in a tough spot, where each and every move of his is getting scrutinized. Here one important thing to note is that the church has eschewed all kinds of pleas which are related to being more tolerant in issues that are directly as well as indirectly related to sexuality.

Now the question might arise in your mind is that can the church’s intransigent attitude on sexuality be one of the major reasons for the declining reputation and issues? Well, the answer could be positive. Following are some of the major issues and scandals that is affecting the status of the church in today’s society.

Scandals Catholic Church Is Facing

• Sexual Scandal

For many years, decades and even the centuries, the catholic church was swept with sexual misconduct regarding its priests under the table. Now the irresponsible actions of the priests has somehow reached to a crescendo in the coming months. And this has been aggressive reported by the media.

Various people are now believing that homosexuality and pedophilia are becoming a major issue within the walls of the churches. It has even affected rectories globally. Keep in mind that pedophilia is unacceptable and illegal in the society. But the church forbids heterosexual and homosexual activities of priests.

Now the situation has reached to epic proportions since more and more charges are being levied against the bishops, priests, cardinals, etc. Frankly, the most disgraceful aspect of this sordid side of the church is the cover-up. Now the cover-ups is in three forms.

The first one is church is protects the so-called priest who have acted improperly. Second is the church pays the victim to be silent. Lastly, the pedophiles are transferred to another diocese where they end up destroying more lives. Frankly, the longstanding policy of the church won’t encourage adjudication of criminal offenses from the priest which really must end.

  • Celibacy

Some years back an article was written in New York Times regarding about celibacy. It suggested that it might be too much to ask a man from abstaining his entire life. So, the rules related to celibacy among the catholic priests also need to be considered.

Through the procedure of celibacy, here the church is in certain ways encouraging aberrant behaviors. This is why physical contact of priests with men and pedophilia is getting common.

  • Birth Control

Under any circumstances, Catholics are n0t allowed to use birth control. Surely, this is one of the most harmful and backward restrictions among the religious canon.

It can be confusing to most people to know why the church is against the safe and effective way of controlling the family size (I.e. the population). Now it can be really surprising to know why the church is objecting the birth control when it can easily prevent diseases like STDs and AIDS.

  • Homosexuality

Now the church thinks of the homosexual relationships among women and men to be sinful and anti-social. They feel that such perspective is very much unacceptable in today’s civilized world. Nowadays, the developed nations are increasing their tolerance towards alternative lifestyle, still the Catholic church are very much adamant and against same sex marriages.

  • Female Priests

It is surprising to see that there aren’t any conceivable reasons on the resistance that church is doing over the ordination of female priests. Most of the other religions around the world have started to accept women priest. It is really sad and shameful to see that women aren’t treated in an equal manner with their male counterparts.

  • Premarital Sex

For many years, the Catholic church has traditionally frowned over the sexual relationship among men and women. Here the threat of eternal damnation for the act that is considered to be beautiful as well as natural is shocking as well as destructive.

Here those individuals who want to wait till marriage to have sex are commended. But it is important that one who enjoys having sexual relationship with their loved ones before marriage must not be condemned. This kind of restriction is the most prominent example of how much backward the church is really now.

Closing Thoughts

The scandals of Catholic church is something that has been glaring the media attention for quite a long time. Well, the time has come to bring some changes in the management and rules of the Catholic church, so that they can be less attention to the ancient rules of this prestigious religion.

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