Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard

Who started Scientology?

L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of Scientology.

Scientology grew out of the Dianetics movement, which began when people bought Hubbard's 1950 book, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, and began "auditing" each other.

From the early days, Hubbard offered courses and congresses to spread his new ideas about Dianetics. After internal squabbles and accusations of financial mismanagement, Hubbard and his colleagues incorporated the Church of Scientology in December 1953.

L. Ron Hubbard died in 1986. As of 2005, the Chairman of the Board of Scientology is David Miscavige, and the President of Scientology is Heber Jentzsch.

Did L. Ron Hubbard start Scientology to make money?

There's no way to know for certain what his private motivations were. However, there is evidence that he chose "the religion angle" to shield his organization from taxes and from outside scrutiny, as he described in a letter to Scientology executive Helen O'Brien<.

There is also considerable evidence that he said that starting a religion was the way to make money (usually reported as Hubbard saying "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion."). According to one researcher, at least eight people report hearing Hubbard say starting a religion was the way to make money<.

What was L. Ron Hubbard like?

According to many who met him, including non-Scientologists, he could be extremely charming, and he was quite a story-teller. Some Scientologists who were crew members on one of the Scientology ships report several occasions when he screamed and shouted obscenities at staffers, and several were troubled by what they saw as an increasingly punitive, paranoid attitude toward others.

Official Scientology publications describe L. Ron Hubbard as a humanitarian and researcher with a distinguished military career.

Critical observers point to his troubled family relationships (especially his committing bigamy and the suicide of his youngest son, Quentin, who was to be his successor), his admitted drug abuse (in an oft-quoted 1967 letter to his third wife, he wrote, "I'm drinking lots of rum and popping pinks and greys"), and his scrapes with the law, from being arrested and fined for leaving his infant daughter in a parked car to being found guilty of fraud in France.

Hubbard was named an unindicted conspirator in the massive Scientology espionage conspiracy code-named "Snow White."

More Information about Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard:

L. Ron Hubbard< at Wikipedia

Ron the War Hero< - analysis of Hubbard's military records

Documents of a Lifetime - The Uncensored L. Ron Hubbard Papers<

Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard< - online book

Quotes from L. Ron Hubbard's Writings<