In each of the last several centuries
there have been a set of new religions born.
Most of those fall by the wayside.
A number of them
established themselves in a small place,
one region of the world, one part of a country.
A few in each generation,
each century, go on to become world
religions. In the 20th century there
have been several of the new religions
that have done that. Of the ones that we
documented, Scientology has probably been
the most successful of the 20th century
new religions. The first decade you measured
in one church here, one new country
where Scientology has been opened up to.
But the closer you get to the present,
the the faster that growth has proceeded,
both in terms of the number of new
countries that have been opened to
Scientology, and number of individual
churches and centers that have opened,
and the number of languages in which
Scientology teachings have become
available.
Scientology has been remarkably
successful. There are some of the new
religions, other ones that have been
in far more countries, but when you
actually look at them they don't have
much following. Scientology seems to have
a substantial following, at least in the
larger countries into which it has moved,
and seems to be a growing across Europe
into Asia, developing around the
Pacific Rim into South Africa, South
America. so it's had a very, very
impressive growth rate.
Scientology is different from a lot of
religions in that there is
a vast body of teachings. There is a vast
set of materials to be mastered. Along
with mastering the material is a period
of self-examination. One has to not just
learn the material but integrate it into
their whole being. That takes a lot of
time. For many people it would be easy
just to brush through the basics and not
pursue the rest of the teachings. To do
that would would be to miss a lot of
what Scientology is about. Scientology
like the other successful religious
groups, has an appeal to individuals,
because it offers them guidance about
their everyday life and things that they
can do to improve their everyday life.
When I stop and think of other groups
that have been successful, they tend to
be this way also. They provide people
with tools and immediate things that
they can use that improve their life and
that people recognize that it improves
their life immediately. And the church has
shown an ability to move with modern
technology, for example. That is very much
a part of its life, it's way ahead of most
churches in that way. And it's moving
into so many new areas that it is
encountering people with a set of
information and data which is entirely
new to them and which will be
encountered in a whole new way then
those of us who have known it in this past
generation.
Scientology will make its own future. If
it continues in its mission-oriented
role in the world and approach to life,
then it should do quite well and
continue to grow.
It's a big world, Scientology is still
relatively small
in a world of six billion people,
so it has a huge possibilities.
The sky is the limit.