Scientology: Church Now Claims More Than 8 Million Members

Summary

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The Church of Scientology is 50 years old this year, having survived its skeptics and detractors, an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and John Travolta's box-office flop, "Battlefield Earth," based on a science fiction novel by the church's founder L. Ron Hubbard.

The church's 50th anniversary makes it a young religion as far as religions go but also attests to its staying power.

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Scientology: Church Now Claims More Than 8 Million Members

According to Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, the church now claims more than 8 million members in 159 countries. The current president of the Church of Scientology International is a former Utahn, Heber C. Jentzsch, who grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attended the University of Utah. As he once explained to TV interviewer Larry King, Scientology provided him with answers to questions such as "Who am I? What am I doing here? What are these other people doing here?"

The Salt Lake Church of Scientology numbers between 200 and 300 parishioners, according to lay minister t...

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