Church of Scientology
organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system
The Church of Scientology was started in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard to promote and practice his Scientology theories and techniques. The term 'Church of Scientology' (abbreviated 'the Church') does not refer to any one corporate entity, but instead serves as a collective label for a network of privately‑held organizations, unified under the direction of its leader David Miscavige who serves as the central authority. Most of the top-level management divisions are located at 6331 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California, or the building's side entrance 1710 Ivar Avenue. The Church of Scientology International (CSI) is officially the "mother church" responsible for guiding the other public-facing Scientology centers, which are called "orgs". Management and advanced orgs are staffed exclusively by members of the Sea Org, which is a strict organization for the most dedicated core of Scientologists.
The Church has been the subject of a number of controversies. While in some countries it has attained legal recognition as a religious, a charitable, or a tax-exempt organization, it has also been described as a dangerous cult and a manipulative profit-making business in government inquiries, media investigative reports, superior court judgements and parliamentary debates.
History
In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard established organizations to manage activities related to his invention of Dianetics; the organizations went bankrupt and Hubbard moved to Arizona where he started Scientology. In 1952, Hubbard established the Hubbard Association of Scientologists (HAS), a secular organization, and in 1953 the first Church of Scientology organization was incorporated in Camden, New Jersey. The HAS was dissolved and the Hubbard Association of Scientologists International (HASI), a religious fellowship, was established to be the managing umbrella organization over all other organizations.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Church of Scientology” is organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Church, Scientology and organization, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1820380. VIAF identifies the subject as 132090559. The Library of Congress control number is n93041361. 3 of 13 selected statements include explicit references; 10 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1953, 1710, 1950 and 1952.
Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Church of Scientology”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Church of Scientology primary sources, Church of Scientology archive and Church research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Church of Scientology”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Church of Scientology” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.