Church of Scientology Cultural Experience Originally Submitted to Dr. Ferris for COMM 207 Fall Semester 2009 Solely Authored by Dan Heyen 1
There is so much controversy about Scientology in the news and on the internet that I decided to make a visit to the Church of Scientology on 68 th and Morgan, in Milwaukee be my cultural experience for class, and for this paper. It was my first visit to the church, and I have been anticipating this visit for some time. There is so much controversy about Scientology in the news and on the internet; yet little substantive information that falls under the realm of public knowledge. I went into the service with an open mind, though I did try to look at everything with a critical eye, through the lens of information we have learned in class. However, what I experienced meshed so neatly with bits of knowledge I have gained in class that I cannot help but wonder if my experience was tainted, or if it created a more concrete truth. In this paper, I will explain how several main ideas from class (and our textbook) fit into the overall narrative of my visit. When you walk in to the Church of Scientology, you feel as if you are walking into an old doctor s office. There is a receptionist area, which is connected to their bookstore. There, literally hundreds of books by the Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard are available for purchase. For sale, along with the books, are a vast assortment of DVDs about Scientology. Next to the receptionist area are two rooms, which are used as offices. The last room in the establishment is the worship room. It is about half of the size of our classroom, with pictures and quotes from L. Ron Hubbard flooding the walls. It was then I began to realize that a religion like scientology could only have happened with the recent explosion in communication technology that has created a global village. As Martin and Nakayama explain on page 21 of Intercultural Communication in Contexts, this global village can link us to events from the most remote parts of the world and connect us to persons we may never meet face to face from around the world. 2
How do Scientology DVDs help create a global village? Through contact hypothesis. Martin and Nakayama state that better communication between groups of people is facilitated simply by bringing them together and allowing them to interact (149). While this might pertain more to the service itself, technology such as DVDs (along with their website) certain help in the process of bringing groups together, spreading a message, and allowing them to communicate. My scientology experience was much more rich and diverse than I thought it would be. Though I did not have many presumptions about the religion, I did have some concerning those who practiced it. Most of these preconceived notions were the result of television exposure. To be blunt, I thought only rich, white people were involved with Scientology. This was not the case. There were about 30 people there for the service, all different ages and races; it was a very diverse crowd. This could be, in part, because of changing US demographics. The US is projected to change greatly in the next couple of years and even more so during the course of the next 50 years (Martin & Nakayama 6). It was also a very casually dressed crowd, they were more focused on people coming, rather than dressing up, which made it very relaxing. Interestingly, I found myself dwelling on this. Why was no one dressed up? When I was younger and went to church, everyone dressed up. In a way, I found myself practicing a form of ethnocentrism a tendency to think that our own culture is superior to other cultures (Martin & Nakayama 5). This means that we assume, subconsciously, that the way we do things is the only way to do things, or at the very least, it is the best way to do things such as dressing up for church on Sundays. 3
The minister opened with the Scientology Creed. It was very confusing to me. She said that every man was entitled to speak freely and write freely, without persecution. That only raised questions for me. If this is true then why does Scientology always attempt to sue people who are against, or speak out on the Church of Scientology? Or are these simply stereotypes on my behalf? I remained silent on these questions. The minister continued on and lectured about truths for man, and that we must make conclusions on what we observe. Quite appropriately, it reminded me of elementary science classes, when our teacher would tell us the method of proving or disproving a hypothesis. When she finished with the Creed of Scientology, she then proceeded with two readings from the L. Ron Hubbard books. Within about a minute of her speaking, I lost her. The only thing that I could understand, or get from her, was that every man does not have a soul, that man is its own soul in the physical form. When the minister was finished with the readings of Hubbard, we participated in a group activity. It was similar to a game of Simon Says. Touch your head, touch your lap, point at the ceiling, touch your chair, and so on. This went on for about fifteen minutes. The minister wanted us to be aware of our surroundings, and the people in the room. The purpose she said was to feel something powerful during this exercise. It was difficult for me not to start laughing, but I did not want to disrespect them, so I held it in. When the service concluded I thanked the members and the minister for allowing me to visit their church. The minister said that she could feel something special in me and that she really wanted me to attend again. It was a good experience, but I don t think I want to go back. They gave me a DVD on my way out and said goodbye. It was a good experience to finally see Scientologists in action. I have heard so much about them over the years, yet knew very little. I do believe they are actively and consciously 4
using diversity to expand our conceptions of what is possible (Martin & Nakayama 9) as each culture s ideals become part of a melting pot. That would certainly help to explain why this experience was so different than any other religious experience I have ever had before. It would also be a very business tactic for them (or any other company) to use. Think about it for a minute. Create as much diversity as possible that is interested in your product in this case the church of scientology and suddenly that feeling of anything is possible can be translated into money for a very, very large group of consumers. 5