Scientology, what is it? Scientology was founded in December 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard. The belief of Scientology is that “it addresses the spirit, not the body or mind-and believes that man is far more than a product of his environment or their genes.”  The estimated worth of the church science 2021 is about 1.5 billion dollars. And the reasons why it is worth so much is because of donations and for their mandatory therapy sessions which are known within the organization as “auditing” which can usually cost up to 800 dollars per hour. And there are also required courses that can reportedly cost upwards of 650 dollars. It is categorized as a religion, though many would say that it shares more factors with a cult. There are over thousands of current members, which does include some celebrities.  And some prime fundamental truths that they stand by are…

1. Man is an immortal spiritual being
2. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime
3. His capabilities are limited, even if not presently realized. 

And although this all relatively sounds normal, there are many reasons that point otherwise.

 It has been exposed for being a toxic environment. Many former members have spoken out about their experience and leaving the church. One well-known former member is Leah Remin, who was actually once a former public advocate for Scientology before her leaving the church in 2013.  She later came out with a show called “Scientology and the aftermath” where she met former church members like herself and shared stories of their experiences. On the show, they speak about how it was a very traumatic experience and how although it is perceived as a church, it was more like a cult. They spoke about how they were forced to do/say whatever the church wanted. The church also has educational camps provided for troubled kids, and in one of the episodes, they speak about their experience there and compared it to a hard labor camp for children.

 And although all of this information has been shared, Scientology remains to exist and is extremely successful. One of the main reasons that Scientology has been doing well and expanding over the years is…celebrities! as I mentioned earlier, there are many well-known celebrities that you may not know who are members and even fund the church, some being…

1. Tom Cruise (actor)
2. John Travolta (actor)
3. Bob Duggan ( Ceo/ well-known billionaire)
4. Danny Masteron (actor)
5. Frankie Jonas (public figure)

I realized that after briefly talking about these celebreties and how they are in Scientology to my classmates, almost every single one said that they had no idea what Scientology was and that they had no idea that the celberties were involved, yet all mostly knew who the celebrities were. Scientology is continuing on expanding with the help of stars who are known to make various donations. Like Tom Cruise who has donated upwards of 25 million, and Bob Duggan who has donated about 360 Million to the church. This article simply highlights why you shouldn’t easily idolize your favorite celebrities all too much because you never quite know what they could be influencing.