Is Scientology a Religion? What makes it religious?

Right now, I’m in the midst of reading what are known as The Basics - they’re the basic books of Scientology that comprise the essence of the religion.

It’s a bit of a revelation, even for someone like me who’s been in Scientology for 20 years, to read these basic books and find out what Scientology is really all about to begin with.

I’m right now reading a book called Scientology 0-8:  The Book of Basics.  The “0-8″ means from zero to infinity, as the book embodies the basic fundamentals of Scientology from “zero” (the beginning or fundamental) to “infinity”  (the ultimate truths contained in  passages like the Factors).

The particular passage I wanted to mention is this — this is from the chapter, Dianetics and Scientology Definitions (Sept 1981):

“Dianetics was a forerunner of Scientology.  By use of Dianetics, as early as 1950, it became apparent that we were dealing, not with cells and cellular memory, but with a beingness that defied time.  Anyone using Dianetics properly would make that same discovery.  For Dianetics reached deeper than Man had ever gone before in plumbing the mystery of life.”  - LRH

He went on to note how people engaging in Dianetics were more and more frequently hitting the subject of past lives and exteriorization — something which just couldn’t be ignored and which, when further researched, formed what became the subject of Scientology - dealing with the spirit.

He went on to say,

“When this was revealed, those who comprised the wide membership of organizations at that time were insistent that the organization was actually, then, one which was dealing in spiritual matters and therefore would have to be a religious organization in order to be factual.

“SCIENTOLOGY marked the point of change from a materialistic viewpoint to a spiritual one.”  — LRH