Scientology is a newsmaker. Stories about the Church and its members appear in newspapers, magazines and on radio and television stations around the world, today more than ever.

It is important, then, for the media to have the most up-to-date and accurate information available on Scientology. To that end, we have prepared this "Reference Guide to the Scientology Religion - Answers to Questions Most Commonly Asked by Media."

Please read this booklet and keep it on hand as a source for information about the Church of Scientology.

Considerable public and media interest was generated when the 40-year battle between the Church and the Internal Revenue Service ended on October 1, 1993. After an exhaustive examination of Church records and operations -- the most comprehensive examination in the IRS’s history -- the IRS announced what the Church knew would be the inevitable outcome of that process. The IRS concluded that the Church of Scientology International and more than 150 other related churches and organizations are all organized and operated exclusively for religious and charitable purposes and are fully tax-exempt.

That is what the Church had been saying for many years and, finally, the IRS recognition means that the United States government is now saying it, too.

The Church was founded in 1954, and it has grown from a single church in Los Angeles to more than 3,150 churches, missions, organizations and groups in more than 110 countries around the world. As with any new idea, Scientology has met with opposition and has been considered by some to be controversial. In that forty years, however, the Church of Scientology has become very much a part of the religious mainstream. The proof of that is the approximately 500,000 people who receive Scientology religious services for the first time each year. And in the IRS’s recognition of the Church’s exclusively religious and charitable nature.

Scientologists come from all walks of life. They are concerned about social problems and support numerous social betterment programs of the Church which provide successful drug abuse rehabilitation, improve educational standards and help reduce crime and moral decay.

The Church always has been a relentless voice in search of social reform and justice. We have brought to light such issues as the enforced drugging of school children, the dangers of psychiatric brutalities such as electric shock treatment and lobotomy; and the chemical and biological warfare experiments secretly undertaken against unwitting American citizens. The Church also has championed the principle of open government and pioneered the use of the Freedom of Information Act to eradicate abuses.

Because the Church is so active and so prominent, and because Scientology is a large and growing international religion, Scientology continues to be a subject of public and media interest.

This Reference Guide is thus intended to assist you -- the media -- in your coverage of both the Church and the Scientology religion.

In addition to this publication, Church representatives are readily available to answer your questions. Additionally, a complete reference authority -- the more than 700-page book called What Is Scientology? -- is available to members of the media free of charge on request.

Our goal in publications such as this and What is Scientology? is to inform others of our programs and activities and the active role we are taking in the world today. Our aims, as stated by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard are:

"A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights."

We sincerely believe this goal is attainable -- and we are working towards it every day.

Rev. Heber C. Jentzsch
President, Church of Scientology International