Scientology and Homosexuality
Critics of Scientology state that Scientology is homophobic or anti-gay using select quotations from Church founder L. Ron Hubbard. The excerpt most often quoted comes from the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950).
The sexual pervert (and by this term Dianetics, to be brief, includes any and all forms of deviation in dynamic two such as homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism, etc., and all down the catalog of Ellis and Krafft-Ebing) is actually quite ill physically. Perversion, as an illness, has so many manifestations... ('Dynamic Two' refers to the urge to procreate as a living being).
As a historical note it is worth mentioning that this was the view of mainstream psychiatry and psychology at the time - that homosexuality was a mental illness. Dianetics, however, evolved into Scientology over the following two years (while Psychiatry remained stagnant with its views up until the late 60s) and more and more discoveries were made regarding the nature of the spirit and its effects on the body and mind. It became clear that the thetan (spirit) was the individual and not something that the individual had.
A thetan is simply awareness of awareness, an individual consciousness. The term comes from the Greek theta meaning thought.
It has no gender.
There is actually a lot of data that has been found through Auditing, regarding Homosexuality.
"In auditing homosexuals, sometimes there would be some traumatic incident or valence shift (the assumption of another individual's personality, in full or in part) (going into mother's valence for example) which had pushed them into homosexuality, but this was not always the case. Once the charge had been run off, the most common result was that the person became bi-sexual and no longer avoided relationships with the opposite sex, but did not abandon homosexuality because all their games and friends and life style were already adapted to it." former Scientology Auditor, 30 Jan 1998.
There is certainly no discrimination against homosexuals in the Church of Scientology. In 1967 L Ron Hubbard wrote a policy cancelling all previous rules and statements made that inhibited the sexual freedom of all, no matter what orientation. In it he says:
"It has never been any part of my plans to regulate or to attempt to regulate the private lives of individuals. Whenever this has occurred, it has not resulted in any improved condition... Therefore ALL FORMER RULES, REGULATIONS AND POLICIES RELATING TO THE SEXUAL ACTIVITIES OF SCIENTOLOGISTS ARE CANCELLED."
The Church, acknowledging that people are immortal beings (and not their bodies) embrace individuals of all kinds. The Creed of the Church of Scientology makes that very clear.
We of the Church believe: That all men of whatever race, color, or creed were created with equal rights; That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance; That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives; That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity; ...That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments; ...That the souls of men have the rights of men; ...And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.
And we of the Church believe: That man is basically good; That he is seeking to survive; That his survival depends upon himself and upon his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe. And we of the Church believe that the spirit can be saved and that the spirit alone may save or heal the body.
To read the Creed of the Church of Scientology in full, click here.
For more information on Scientology and Homosexuality, click here.