Source: www.globalpost.com
NEW DELHI, INDIA, June 8, 2010: In India there’s a new self-help guru in town: Scientology. Founded in 1954 by United States science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is the religion of Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Isaac Hayes, claiming a worldwide membership of 12 million.
Ironically, however, in a country overcrowded with religions and beliefs, Scientology has taken a different approach: it’s being taught as a business tool. With 19 “technologies,” each focusing on a different area of life, Scientology courses give advice on business, disaster management, communication, the art of selling, even marriage and family. Scientologists, while not offering a direct explanation of what exactly these technologies entail, claim to have the best how-to manuals you’ll ever need.
Branches are called “Churches of Scientology” in the West, but in India the words church and mission are curiously missing. In the last six years since Scientology came to India, approximately 5,000 Indians have become members, according to estimates. Centers exist in several cities across the country, including the capital New Delhi.
But while controversy hasn’t yet followed Scientology to India, it’s well and kicking around the globe. A 1991 article in TIME magazine called Scientology a “thriving cult of greed and power.” Many critics of Scientology’s human rights abuses are deeply concerned about Scientology’s infiltration of India. They believe the Volunteer Ministers (VMs) routinely deceive the Indian public that they are a secular organization, when in fact, all of its practices are inseparable from the rest of Scientology.
“We are not trying to convert people to Scientology,” said 58-year-old Marion Whitta, an Australian Scientologist and trainer. “We are giving people a technology, teaching them life skills. [Scientology] helps a Hindu be a better Hindu, a Muslim be a better Muslim. We’re not, at the end of the course, giving them a certificate saying you are now a Scientologist.”