Scientology museum spurs questions

The Church of Scientology is a Hollywood institution. Sure, according to its website, Scientology an international religion with 15 million members worldwide, but the smattering of Scientology-owned buildings in Hollywood, including their West Coast headquarters, would suggest otherwise. Los Angeles also boasts the largest concentration of Scientologists, including some of the belief’s most prominent members, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

As a local of the Church’s domain, I’ve always been intrigued by the towering Scientology sign above its primary Hollywood Boulevard building. People frequently joke about Scientology in passing, but I’d bet that when prodded, most people wouldn’t be able to describe what the Church actually believes.

I decided that it was my journalistic duty to dive in and investigate. But then Lawrence Wright’s book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief, and its accompanying film adaptation, beat me to it.

But, I still wanted to enter that towering Hollywood Boulevard building under the prestigious Church of Scientology sign. So, I visited the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition, which promised the ability to follow Hubbard’s “extraordinary path of achievement” through over 30 different displays and presentations.

As we approached the museum, I was surprised to find members of the supposedly secretive and secluded church standing out on the curb, soliciting passerby, just like a Hollywood tour bus guide or nightclub owner. But even with the soliciting, my friends and I were still the museum’s only visitors for the duration of our time there.

The tour began with an introductory film about, well, the life of L. Ron Hubbard. If you didn’t know, before founding what the video calls “the largest major religion founded in the 20th century” — in other words, the only major religion founded in the 20th century — he was an accomplished science-fiction writer. With over 1,000 works, Hubbard holds the Guinness World Record for most published works by one author.

And before both his writing and religious career, he was apparently accomplished at everything. A college graduate, Hubbard dabbled in nuclear physics before finding a passion in writing. According to the Church of Scientology, Hubbard was America’s youngest Eagle Scout, one of the pilots and an accomplished Naval Officer who won a Purple Heart award. He even became the blood brother of the medicine man of a Montana Native American tribe at the age of six.

It doesn’t take an investigative journalist to test the veracity of these claims. Though it’s difficult to find an exhaustive anthology of the blood brothers of Montana medicine men, a quick Google search reveals Hubbard’s Navy records. According to online sources, Hubbard received neither a Purple Heart nor a college degree.

While the museum’s primary function is to recognize Hubbard’s life and accomplishments, his biggest accomplishment was founding the church — the very church that runs the museum. As such, the museum seems to serve a second function, allowing members a way to teach non-members about their beliefs, diffusing any circulating rumors that portray the Church of Scientology in a negative light.

We discovered this soon after beginning our tour, when our tour guide asked, “Have any of you guys heard that we’re with aliens?” She allowed a brief response from us — I barely mustered a nod — before answering her own question. “Well, we’re not. That’s a rumor.”

So what does the Church of Scientology believe? That remained a mystery for most of the tour, which focused on the life of Hubbard, rather than his religion.

Midway through the tour, we were introduced to the “Vice President of Scientology,” who came bearing informational materials for the media. I naively hoped they’d be a complete guide to the church’s beliefs. Instead, the pamphlets focused entirely on the humanitarian work of church members, with little to no mention of the church’s practices.

Luckily, we were then shown another video, this one about the church. The video explained that Scientology can help remove the memories of negative past experiences, creating a clear mind. How do they do this? I don’t know; apparently that’s in another video.

Finally, we got to the museum’s grand finale, the Electropsychometer, or e-meter.  If you judge the L. Ron Hubbard Museum only by its Yelp reviews, you’d think that the only item in the museum is the e-meter, which Yelpers rave over.

The e-meter features one needle that moves from left to right. It’s meant to measure whether a person has been relieved from their negative experiences, providing a starting point for future Scientologists. Our guide asked us questions, like “What is something that stresses you out?”, and as we thought of our answer, the needle moved to the right.

I’m neither a scientologist nor a scientist, but this process didn’t make any sense to me. Like all the other aspects of Scientology I witnessed at the L. Ron Hubbard Life museum, the e-meter raised more questions than it answered.

If you’re looking for an all-inclusive Scientology experience that teaches you every aspect of the religion, the Hubbard museum probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for an afternoon of confusion with a hint of propaganda, you’re in for a good time.

Erin Rode is a freshman majoring in environmental engineering and print and digital journalism. Her column, “The Rode Less Traveled,” runs Thursdays.