Kate: As a child, I did what my parents told me to do like going to school, doing my chores, and attending mass. During this time in my life everything was very clear cut and laid out for me, I really did not have to do much thinking for myself. However, as I got older I began thinking more about life's complexities and many unsolved mysteries. This year has allowed me to develop my connection to God and understanding of my religion. Through this program, I have been able to experience many different religions and gain insight that has allowed me to understand my own religion. Through Christianity and the study of the monks at Mount Athos, I have been able to compare and gain insight into other religions that have allowed me to reflect on my own. 

Gabby: Could you please elaborate on the lessons and experiences from this year that have impacted your beliefs?

Kate: First my interfaith project included a trip to a Muslim prayer service that allowed me to gain insight into the Muslim religion. I experienced where, when, and how they pray.  For the interfaith project, I attended one of the five Muslim prayer sessions held at the Westchester Muslim Center. I was able to experience the respect and devotion that Muslims have for Allah which is shown through their style of prayer. They were very humble compared to the Catholic Church as the Muslims put their heads on the ground while they prayed. This allowed me to reflect on my own devotion to the Catholic Church. 

Also, learning about the monks at Mount Athos reshaped my beliefs as well. We watched a video where Bob Simon steps back in time when he gets rare access to monks in ancient monasteries on a remote Greek peninsula who have lived a Spartan life of prayer in a tradition virtually unchanged for a thousand years. Through isolation and quiet in the monasteries, they stay focused on their goal of getting closer to God. The monks are very dedicated to God where ordinary Christians are not as dedicated. The monks make religion their main concern and it is very central to their everyday life whereas most ordinary Christians only go to church once a week. Although ordinary Christians pray every day they are nowhere as dedicated to religion as these monks. I sometimes feel like I compartmentalize religion from my life. However, they have one goal, which is to get closer to God. This is so different for the practice of the Catholic church and allows me to reflect on my religion and dedication. 

Overall my beliefs has changed because I have been able to reflect on my religion by comparing and empathizing with different religions. I have realized that I should be more devoted to my religion and make it part of my everyday life. 

Gabby: Wow it sounds like this year has really opened your eyes up to many different religions which helped you refine your own beliefs. This is a great example of how learning about different religions can help you better understand your own. 

Kate: Gabby can you please tell us about the impact of this class on your religious beliefs and how they have shifted from the beginning of the year. 

Gabby: Prior to taking this course, I was never truly focused on religion. I was born into a Roman Catholic family, but as I grew older I began to solidify my own personal beliefs. I was quite stubborn with my beliefs as I considered myself Atheist and I believed there was no God. I never understood why good people suffer or why infants suffer. I always thought ya know if God was real, why isn’t He protecting them. I also thought that if God was all-knowing and all-powerful, why do bad people, like murderers and rapists, not suffer sometimes. I thought that because of all this negativity in life, that there couldn’t possibly be a God. However, when we started learning about Buddhism, I was really attracted to the idea of being spiritual rather than religious. I still do not really believe in God, but I am not against the idea of there being a God. God could be present, but omniscient, meaning I will never know if he is real or not. But, I did find satisfaction in spirituality and meditation. Being a high strung person, I found that meditating and calming the mind really brought me inner peace, and I don’t think I could have found that without this course. During this course, I was able to really look into the seven dimensions of all the religions we studied. I really found that part of the course quite intriguing as it allowed me to see how similar religions are as well as debunking common stereotypes. I like how the course created an unbiased view of each religion allowing us to be fully immersed in each topic. 

Kate: It is very interesting how this class allowed you to better immerse and understand your religion. 

Gabby: Overall, this year allowed us to develop our own personal beliefs as well as become more well rounded with immersing ourselves in the knowledge of different religions, arts,  cultures, and traditions. 

Kate: Thanks for listening!

Kailah: One of the dimensions that is the most highlighted in Scientology is the experiential. The experiential dimension within a religion relates to an individual’s spiritual and internal journey while devoting themselves to a specific belief. Experiential practices have the power to transform a person’s outlook on life and give them the tools to lead a healthier and more compassionate lifestyle. Scientology offers an enlightening experience for its members. They are all enrolled on an equal plainfield, no matter their position in society, financial status, race, or ethnicity. Each person that finds the church is lost in some way shape or form and firmly believes that with the various classes, and series of audits, Scientology can save their lives. For example, early in his career, John Trevolta wasn’t booking any jobs and the ones he was hired for were rather small parts, but once he discovered the church of Scientology and unlocked his past trauma, his acting career began to take off. He quickly became an infamous character and an invaluable person to the church. The audits he underwent allowed him to acknowledge all of the forces holding him back in life, whether that be childhood trauma, a doomed relationship, or his own personal challenges, and then take the power from them. He believed they no longer held control over his actions or his state of being. The audits were extremely long and expensive, but many believed that they were the source of their own personal success. Another activity the church provides would be the OTTR0. In this exercise participants and mainly new members of the church sit 3 feet away from each other and read into each other's' internal problems. Scientologists call this “going exterior” because participants are able to essentially leave their body in a transcendent experience. 

Brooke: Another dimension that seems to be regarded as odd about Scientology is the mythic. The mythic dimension of religion explores the fact that myths contain important truths to certain bodies of faith. Myths are sacred and give meaning to life within the religion. Within scientology, the myth that its system of beliefs are based on aren’t revealed to its believers until they achieve higher status within the Church. The creation myth of Scientology tells of a world that existed 75 million years ago, but a world that is similar to the 1950s. In this time period, similar problems of the 1950s existed. One of the most pressing problems was overpopulation. In order to resolve the overpopulation issue, Xenu, “a tyrannical overlord of the galactic confederacy”, froze members of the growing population via injections of glycol to their hearts and sent them to what he referred to as the prison planet called Teegeeack, which we call planet earth. These bodies frozen by Xenu were dropped into volcanoes on planet earth and upon the dropping of the bodies, spirits, called thetans, were released. These thetans, according to Hubbard, are commanded to sit in front of movie screens in a trance-like state and are shown a series of images until a child is born. Upon the birth of a child, thetans aim to leap inside the child’s body, thus becoming the child’s soul. Because of the creation story, many within the religion had breakdowns because they were unable to imagine other spirits being attached to their bodies. 

Kailah: Coincidentally, many doctrines in a religion are derived from myths. The belief aspect of religion is categorized as the doctrinal dimension. Many doctrines, creeds, and other teachings originate in lived religious experience. For Scientology, their main doctrine was called Dianetics. Dianetics orchestrated exactly how each member of the church should behave and what was considered acceptable to the community. For example, people that were not welcome in the church and seen as a threat to their ideology were known as Suppressive People, and anyone belonging to the church had to cut ties with them immediately, regardless of their relation to you. In her marriage to Tom Cruz, Nicole Kidman was labeled as a suppressive person and the church was inevitably responsible for their divorce, and the fact that her children were no longer allowed to associate with their mother. I wonder if Scientology has any rituals associated with these beliefs.

Brooke: The ritual dimension of religion pertains to the worship or reenactment of a myth or a sacred story. Prior to establishing Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard engaged in many ritual experiences involving other cults, but Scientology itself does not hold any rituals that are regarded as important to their religion. This is most likely because many members in the Church of Scientology are unable to know the myth that lies at the center of the religion because it is only accessible to those who are higher in status in the Church of Scientology. Kailah, is there anything that pertains to ethics in Scientology?

Kailah: In a religion, ethics deal with how we are supposed to act while living in the world. There are many teachings devoted to ethics in order to answer questions that respond to how we conduct ourselves in the world. The church of Scientology did not have many ethics that we would deem morally acceptable, but they did believe in fair game. Dianetics stated that anytime the media started targeting the church or painting them in a bad light, it was completely ethical to harass and bombard the reporters. The church allowed members to stalk and follow potential threats to the point where their discomfort level outweighed their desire to research the church of Scientology. One reporter alleged that members had killed his dog, and the wife of a former Scientology member even sued them because they moved into the house across the street from her family, and video taped her every move. In the eyes of the Scientologists, they had a right and a duty to preserve their slowly growing empire by any means necessary, and neutralize exterior threats. They also had a series of penalties and punishments for members of the church, and the higher a person was in the different levels of the church, the more severe their penalty was. One example was an auditor that had made a mistake during his session. Unfortunately, they tossed him overboard the ship they were working from. Furthermore, when people wanted to leave the church or not be as involved, the church slandered them on the internet, creating fake websites with made up stories in order to discredit their profession or their character. Are there any social aspects to Scientology Brooke?

Brooke: The social dimension of religion refers to the isolation from the rest of the world that exists in relation to Scientology but also the sense of community that exists within the religion. Many scientologists only associate with people within Scientology and maintain an isolated position from the rest of the world. Some explain they find it comforting to be amongst people who are looking to improve their lives through the lens of Scientology. Social events such as the International Association of Scientologists Gala are organized each year for scientologists around the world to gather together. In addition to the Scientologist Gala, the Sea Organization is established within Scientology that has a more social and fraternal value. The Sea Organization is the most fraternal order of Scientology and is made for people who really believe in the mission and goals of Scientology. Many believe within the Sea Organization they are doing something that benefits all of mankind. Those within the Sea Org, sign a contract that bonds them to the  org signs for the next billion years. Finally, social class distinctions exist within Scientology as well. Those who achieve OT or the highest level in Scientology are regarded as the most important within the community. People who achieve OT status were believed to have the ability to read minds and move objects at will. 

Kailah: The Material dimension of a religion pertains to its physical ornaments. Structures like cathedrals and temples  often add to the welcoming effect of their religions and are recognizable points for the different communities to gather. The church of Scientology built themselves various temples with a star on top, by the hands of their lower ranked members. There were also different classes that members could attend in order to further their spiritual experience. Each class was fairly expensive, not to mention the required audits that also cost a great deal of money. The Church of Scientology built temples in several places in the United States, including Clear Water Florida and Los Angeles California, but also took their spiritual empire global. They have temples in both Barcelona Spain, ShangHai China. Yet again, the book of Dianetics, written by the founder of Scientology, L. R. Hubbard, is regarded as a material part of scientology as well as doctrinal, because it was a physical embodiment of everything the religion should be. Also, The E-meter instrument used in the audit sessions would fall under the material dimension, because it was an essential part of each person’s journey to liberation. It was able to detect the mass of your thoughts, and as your mental mass increases, the resistance to the circuit does as well. The auditor proposes questions that would ignite something to increase your mental mass.