Adapted from the book Religion of the Stars, available from Bethany House Publishers.

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, John Travolta, Lisa Marie Presley, Leah Remini. All of these celebrities embrace one of the most controversial, mysterious, and complicated religions of our era—Scientology.

Founded in the mid-1950s by science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), Scientology is not only known as one of Hollywood's most popular belief systems, but it is also seen as a "religion" (some observers have called it a "cult") infamous for:

1) charging its members outrageous fees to learn the church's deeper teachings;
2) abusing the legal system to harass critics;
3) using intimidation tactics against ex-members in an attempt to keep them silent about the church's inner workings/teachings; and
4) engaging in illegal activities to protect its image as a faith intended to help, rather than hurt, humanity.

The claims made by Scientologists are extraordinary. "[I]t's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist," Tom Cruise has said. "He or she has the ability to create new and better realities and improve conditions."

But the end-goal of Scientology lies far beyond merely "improving conditions." The church's long-range hope is to convert the entire planet to Hubbard's views about who we are, how we got here, where we're going, and what is holding us back from becoming/being the best we can be. Only Scientology, say its adherants, can solve the world's problems. As Cruise explained, "We are the authorities on getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind. We are the authorities on improving conditions. . . . We can bring peace and unite cultures."

But what does Scientology actually teach?

Engram Exorcisms

According to L. Ron Hubbard (LRH), all of us are hindered primarily by "engrams"—i.e., mental recordings of past negative/traumatic events that we've forgotten. But through Scientology's "auditing" (a counseling session with a Q&A format designed to provoke emotional responses that are monitored by an "auditor"). These engrams have essentially hypnotized us into a state of confusion. Auditing un-hypnotizes us. A near-infinite number of engrams exist—some going back as far as in the womb! But in the simple words of actress Kirstie Alley, "If you can erase engrams, then you can get better."

Once all engrams are erased, a person is "Clear" and should be "able to perceive, recall, imagine, create and compute at a level high above norm." Being Clear also improves one's "intelligent quotient . . . ability or desire to communicate . . . social attitudes . . . fertility . . . artistic creativity . . . reaction time and his health." Moreover, a Clear can expect immunity from psychosomatic illnesses, which LRH "believed to include at least 70 percent of all known illnesses." In addition to these benefits, a Clear can supposedly "confront anything and everything in the past, present, and future," operate at "a permanent level of spiritual awareness," and have restored to them in wholeness their "personality . . . artistry, personal force and individual character . . . inherent goodness and decency."

The Great Space Opera

But engrams tell only part of the story. Scientologists also believe in "implants," which they define as false memories inserted into our minds to even further confuse us. These can be traced back millions of years to our original identities as space aliens. (Yes, I said space aliens.) Here we arrive at one of the more unique teachings of Scientology¬—i.e., we're all space aliens, known
as Thetans, who came into this universe countless aeons ago.

Along with this "truth," advanced Scientologists also learn the story of Xenu, allegedly an evil galactic overlord who used his cunning millions of years ago to imprison all of us beneath volcanoes on Earth, where we were tortured with movies/images. This horrifying experience so confused us that we forgot we were Thetans. Xenu then blew us up with H-bombs, which not only destroyed the lush Earth (then known as Teegeeack), but also obliterated our bodies and sent us searching for new bodies to inhabit. Since that time, we have been repeatedly reincarnating, becoming more disoriented about our identities and continually suffering psychologically from the unresolved trauma of our torment at Xenu's hands.

Fortunately, Xenu was ultimately captured by space officers, who imprisoned him in a mountain (perhaps on Earth, near the Pyrenees). There he remains, held captive to this day in a "wired cage" that remains charged up by "an eternal battery."

A Word to Christians

Obviously, the worldviews/beliefs of Christians and Scientologists are at odds in many dramatic ways. So how can we even begin relating to a Scientologist?

First, it must be noted that there has been a lot of conflict between Scientologists and non-Scientologists—and that is something Christians must avoid. Paul said, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all everyone" (Rom. 12:18).

Second, when it comes to witnessing to Scientologists, one of the best things you can do is just love them. Show them Jesus in you. Be a true light to them. Let them see in you the light of Christ (Matt. 5:14).

Richard Abanes is a bestselling and award-winning author of twenty books, specialzing in the area of world religions, cults, the occult, and pop culture.