"Going Clear" is a fascinating documentary/all religions pretty much work like this.

Pretty interesting documentary, on a bunch of levels.  The first is that Scientology - written by a science fiction writer, as a reminder -  is clearly a cobbled together synthesis of psychoanalysis, Christianity, some ideas from Buddhism, hierarchical military stylings, a soupcon' of standard brainwashing techniques and a the type of True Believer nonsense that arises out of all organizations and mass movements.  Not to mention some Crowleyan ritual and ceremony - most probably cribbed from Jack Parsons by L. Ron Hubbard.  And some science fiction and aliens, of course. 

Worth noting I tried to read Dianetics once, years ago, and found the writing fairly convoluted while it was paraphrasing some basic Freudian psychology & philosophies found in Buddhism, most notably the ideas of the divided mind and psychological pain arising from past events [or their attributed meanings] while confronting & releasing them.  Worthwhile, as far as it goes, but presented poorly, imho.

A lot of people get wrapped around the axle when talking about their absurd cosmology - planet Xenu and thetans and whatnot... but honestly, that's the most innocuous part of their rap.  And really, no more or less insane that most of the other religions, what with their Noah's Arks and walking on water, flying horses or magic breads that are *really* the body of a long ago blood sacrifice...  But I digress.

I was struck by the very obvious, to me, parallels with Christianity.  Thetans and souls.  "Body thetans" and original sin/sin.  Auditing & e-readers with the sacrament of confession. [With a dash of transactional analysis.]  The ostentatious symbology and language.  And like Christianity, Scientology purports that there is something inherently very wrong with you that only they and their magic have the cure for.  Scientology's "disconnection" is little more than excommunication & shunning, ideas that have been endorsed by mainstream religion for centuries.

Scientology has adopted the basic techniques of brainwashing 101 - cutting off former connections, instituting new peer groups, encouraging mind/body breaks through extreme emotional duress, giving them a whole new jargon/vocabulary that only the in-group is privy to...  A lot of the things you read/see/hear about how military boot camp works is exactly how brainwashing someone into a cult [or any other organization] works.  The cliche' is that boot camp "Breaks you down to build you back up."  And when they're built up you can inculcate almost anything, for most folks, and if done correctly.  The military has it easier, in fact, in the way the new structure heavily regulates and controls both your sleep and feeding cycles, returning you in many ways to a dependent childhood psychology.  You can see more of that in Scientology, not only in their very specific jargon and language, but in their adoption of military style uniforms.  Super creepy and right on the nose.

But hey, nothing inherently evil about that.  Folks choose to join those types of organizations all the time.  So many are willing to give up their own autonomy to be part of the "greater good" however that's defined.  So be it.

The doc also examines at length their accumulation of wealth, to which I can only think "meh."  Having been raised Catholic, the wealthiest organization on the planet supposedly dedicated to helping the less fortunate, bullshit financial impropriety in religion is kind of a given.  But I've grown cynical, I guess.  

The physical abuse, harassment, smear campaigns, stalking and other improprieties and criminal acts - of which there seems to be ton of evidence for - that the Church of Scientology engages in as a matter of course are inexcusable.  But I can't help but think, "Hey, well at least they didn't take part in a systemic decades long cover-up of the sexual abuse of children under their charge."  The bar of 'things to be shocked by' done by the religious is pretty fucking low for me.

It's odd, I guess the takeaway from the doc is supposed to be a reveal of the shocking and fucked up behavior & nature of the Church of Scientology.  And it is.  But I just can't help take a look at the larger context of harms inflicted by religious organizations and think that as bad as Scientology may be, they're rank amateurs next to the big guys.  The guys that no one seems to blink twice at.

Though the big question for me, in their clips of both L.Ron Hubbard and Miscavige is - how does nobody's bullshit detector go off?  They both strike me as wildly inauthentic, pinging my douchebaggery meter all the way up.  Like bad actors or lying politicians.  Crazy.  

Really interesting viewing though.  Worth a watch.